A message from the pastor...

April 2025

God had set aside the seventh day of the week. According to the third commandment, this day of the week was to be kept holy. Unlike the other days of the week, no work was to be done. It was to be a day of rest.

God’s people were to rest on the seventh day of the week because he rested on the seventh day of the week. Scripture describes how God created the heavens and the earth in six days. On the seventh day, he rested. God then blessed this day and made it holy.

But the Lord not only rested from his work of creation on the seventh day of the week. He also rested from his work of salvation. On Good Friday, God’s own Son was handed over to Pilate and sentenced to die on a cross. As a result, he was led out to the place of the skull and was crucified between two criminals. Finally, he cried out and gave up his spirit. His lifeless was body was put in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

Because the next day was the Sabbath, the body of Jesus rested in the tomb. That is why the women went to the tomb on the first day of the week. They had to wait until the Sabbath was over before they could go and anoint the body.

But when these women arrived, they encountered an empty tomb. The body that they came to anoint was not there. What could have happened? An angel had the answer. He informed the women that Christ had risen.

The resurrection of Jesus means that the work of salvation is complete. The sacrifice that Jesus offered to God on Good Friday to pay the price for our sins and establish our forgiveness was enough. In other words, he completed his work on the sixth day of the week, and his body rested on the seventh day in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

Now we have rest for our troubled souls. No longer do we stand under God’s judgment because of our sins. No longer do we need to work and strive to make ourselves right our Creator. No longer can the law accuse us and condemn us. The empty tomb of Easter makes it clear that Christ has earned our righteousness by his death on the cross. The sins that should be the end of us have been removed. The work is done. Nothing else needs to added.

This is the Sabbath rest that God gives to you. This Sabbath rest is not just a day in which we do not work. It is the new life we have in Christ. But to the casual observer, our lives in Christ may not be very different. We still must earn a living. We are not immune from problems and difficulties. We battle temptation. We even die. What makes our life in Christ different? Where is this rest?

This rest is located in the salvation we have. Because of this salvation, our place is with the Lord. The empty tomb assures us that it has all been worked out for us. This means that there is more to our lives than the daily toil and drudgery we must endure. We are not just putting in our time and heading to a grave. We are heading to a glorious kingdom. That is what gives our souls peace.

Happy Easter!

  Pastor Nelson