It was the Sabbath day, a holy day. No one felt like observing it, however. The disciples and others were gathered together in hiding. Their grief was overwhelming. Their fear of being executed themselves was captivating. They had no plan or alternative direction to go since they did not apply Jesus’ promise that he would be resurrected.
The disciples gave up their families, their jobs, their way of life to follow Jesus for three years. They still had ingrained in them the idea that the Messiah would be an earthly king overthrowing the Roman empire. No matter what Jesus taught them, they could not grasp the reality of the Lord being murdered and then come back to life as the resurrected Christ. They heard the words he said. They did not process them.
Imagine the emotional trauma all his followers felt. Try to understand how they hovered away from the possibility of being arrested. When Jesus was on trial at the palace of Annas, Peter was already identified as a disciple. He felt the only recourse was to deny that and he even swore that he did not know Jesus. His claim to the fire outside was to gather with others to be warmed in the cold night air.
In less than 24 hours everyone’s life collapsed at the crucifixion of Jesus. They saw how mutilated his body was. They knew he had been given preliminary treatment for the dead in anticipation of the Sabbath so he could be placed in a borrowed tomb. In hiding, they probably shared experiences as they could when all scattered; all but John.
While they were in turmoil, Jesus with the penitent thief was in the place of the departed. The Bible says he preached to those who were alive at the time of Noah. This preaching was not for the sake of repentance. In the Greek language there are several words that can be translated preach. In the case of what Jesus told them, he was announcing to those across a great gulf fixed who were in the place of torment.
In the same way that the ark that Noah built was the only means for salvation from the flood, the death of Christ on the cross is the only means for salvation then and today. In essence, Jesus told them how big a mistake they made in not listening to Noah. He presented himself as the Son of God who took the sins of the world on himself at the cross. There is a distinct parallel between Noah’s Ark and the cross of Jesus. The ark was only for those believers to go into it. That meant the meager eight people were saved. The cross is now the only means to have our sins forgiven through Jesus.
Jesus died for the sins of all mankind. He died for the multitude of people who lived before him. In faith, they were obedient to the law and made sacrifices of animals pointing to the cross. The massive number of people in Jesus’ time since then also had their sins placed on the body of Christ. As God, Jesus did not die. As a human being, his blood was shed as the ultimate sacrifice appeasing the wrath of God against sin. It is up to each of us to accept his sacrifice in our behalf.
Christian Writer 