40 hours

Nothing in the Scriptures is there by accident.  The accounts of the death of Jesus make a point of telling us the time that Jesus died.  It appears that He was crucified at ' the third hour'  - according to scholars this equated to 9am  ( Mark 15:23) -  and He was still alive at ' the sixth hour'  - twelve noon. ( v 33) Darkness fell across the land between the sixth and ninth hour ( between noon and 3pm) and then Jesus died.

I had not thought about it before, but today I found myself wondering why it was so important to note the time of Jesus's death.  Thinking about Saturday and wondering what was happening in spiritual realms whilst Jesus was in the tomb I thought Id work out just how long He was ' dead' for.   If He died at 3pm on Friday and was resurrected at sunrise on the Sunday ( sunrise tomorrow in Jerusalem will be at about 6.30am according to Google) then Jesus may have been ' dead' for forty hours.   And the number forty is significant in the Bible.   40 years in the desert, 40 days in the wilderness 40 days between the resurrection and ascension of Jesus ( Acts 1 :3 ) and 40 hours in the tomb. 

We tend to forget that numbers are very significant to the Jewish understanding of Scripture.  According to Dr Google   The number forty to the Jews is a number that, when used in terms of time, represents a period of probation, trial, and chastisement (not to be confused with judgment which is represented by the number 9). As the product of 5 and 8, it also signifies grace (5) ending in revival or a new beginning (8).

I'm sure I don't need to join the dots for you. For forty hours, whatever He was doing it was a probation (as in a trial period in a new job) and an act of grace resulting in the greatest 'new beginning' in history.  I have never thought of Jesus having a new job after the crucifixion.  Maybe it's stretching a point as He was crucified from before the foundations of the world. But in another respect, until the moment of His death He was Redeemer-in-waiting. At the moment He died He took the keys from Satan and became Redeemer King.  I'm not sure if that makes sense to you but it does to me.

Hallelujah.  Sunday is coming. 

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