Passover, Easter: Gospel of John Holy Saturday

THE Holy Saturday was a very somber day for Jesus disciples.  Some scriptures below must have filled the minds of His followers.  Looking back on THE Holy Saturday, the day marked the end of one Covenant and the complete newness of The Covenant of Salvation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ.

John 14

"Don't be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly."

 Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

...In just a little while the world will not see me again, but you will. For I will live again, and you will, too.  When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  "I am leaving you with a gift -- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives."

 "So don't be troubled or afraid." 

"Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, because now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. 

 I have told you these things before they happen so that you will believe when they do happen."

John 15

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ... Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me." "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing....  

... I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 

You didn't choose me. I chose you.

 I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. I command you to love each other.  "When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you."

."Do you remember what I told you? 'A servant is not greater than the master.' Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you! The people of the world will hate you because you belong to me... They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me hates my Father, too. 

 If I hadn't done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be counted guilty. But as it is, they saw all that I did and yet hated both of us -- me and my Father.  This has fulfilled what the Scriptures said: 'They hated me without cause.'  "But I will send you the Counselor -- the Spirit of truth."

John 16

"I have told you these things so that you won't fall away....

...it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Counselor won't come. If I do go away, he will come because I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world of its sin, and of God's righteousness, and of the coming judgment. 

The world's sin is unbelief in me. 

 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the prince of this world has already been judged.

 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

John 17

..."During my time here, I have kept them safe. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold. And now I am coming to you. I have told them many things while I was with them so they would be filled with my joy. 

 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not.  I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They are not part of this world any more than I am. Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth. 

As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.  And I give myself entirely to you so they also might be entirely yours."

"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father -- that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. 

"I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are -- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. 

Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you've given me to be with me, so they can see my glory. You gave me the glory because you loved me even before the world began! 

"O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me." 

"And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them." 

--be blessed---c