Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday are not just days on the Christian calendar; they are stages of the Christian journey—each one corresponding to pivotal moments in our own lives. These three days shape the rhythm of Christian faith, and in their interplay, we find a model for our own suffering, waiting, and eventual triumph. The gospel’s power is fully revealed in these moments: sacrifice, silence, and triumph.

Good Friday: The Day of Sacrifice

Good Friday is the day of sacrifice—the day when Jesus bore the weight of humanity’s sin and paid the price that we could not. This is the day when the world seemed to fall into darkness, as the sinless Lamb of God was nailed to the cross. Jesus’ final words, “It is finished” (John 19:30), mark the completion of the redemptive work He came to accomplish. There is finality in these words, yet it is also a declaration of victory. Jesus’ suffering on the cross was not a failure, but a victory over the powers of sin and death.

We, too, have Good Fridays in our lives—the days of deep loss, of grief, and of suffering. It’s in these dark moments when we experience the depth of our brokenness. Theologian J.I. Packer reflects on the profound nature of Christ’s sacrifice when he writes, “The cross is the most potent emblem of God’s love… Christ suffered not merely to be a moral example for us, but to bear God’s wrath on our behalf” (Packer, Knowing God). Just as Christ’s sacrifice was necessary for our salvation, so too are our moments of suffering often the places where God’s deepest work is done. In our losses, we experience not just the weight of sin but the profound depth of God’s love for us.

In the darkness of Good Friday, we see how God uses the worst of humanity for the greatest good. As Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The cross was the work of a divine hand; the suffering was of a divine nature, and yet it was accomplished by human hands, by human instruments” (Spurgeon, The Cross of Christ). It was in the sacrifice that life began, and it is in our own personal sacrifices—whether of relationships, dreams, or health—that we often encounter the profound mystery of God’s love.

Holy Saturday: The Day of Waiting

Good Friday cannot be fully understood without Holy Saturday, the day of waiting. This is the day when the disciples sat in silence, unsure of what was happening. It is the day between grief and hope, between death and resurrection. In this space of waiting, the disciples did not know what would come next; they simply grieved and waited.

Holy Saturday in our own lives is the time when we face seasons of uncertainty and confusion. It is a day, or a period of life, where we live in the space between our disappointments and our redemption. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Waiting is an active thing, not a passive thing. It is the place where hope is born” (Life Together). The waiting may feel passive, but it is in this tension between suffering and glory that we learn the most. Scripture tells us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). Just as the disciples did not yet understand the promise of the resurrection, we, too, must trust that God is at work even in our moments of greatest uncertainty.

Holy Saturday is often a place of silence, where it seems that God is absent. Yet, it is precisely in the waiting that God does His quiet, transformative work. C.S. Lewis captures this well in The Screwtape Letters, where he writes, “The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s “real life.” The truth is that this is real life—real waiting, real hope, real transformation.” God’s presence is often not loud in Holy Saturday, but it is steadfast and sure.

Resurrection Sunday: The Day of Triumph

Resurrection Sunday is the day of victory—the day when Christ triumphed over death and sin. This is the day when the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty, and the promise of eternal life was sealed. The resurrection is the “yes” to every promise God has made. “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Matthew 28:6). It is the day of new life, where the final victory over sin and death is declared.

In our own lives, Resurrection Sunday represents the triumph of God’s grace in the midst of our darkest hours. Resurrection is not just a theological concept, but an ongoing reality in the lives of all Christians. In moments of despair, when everything seems lost, the power of resurrection bursts forth, bringing hope and new life. As N.T. Wright writes in Surprised by Hope, “The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of God’s new world, the world of life after death, and we are already participants in that world” (Wright, Surprised by Hope). Resurrection is not a future event we simply look forward to; it is a present reality that transforms the way we live today.

We live in a world that is constantly being transformed by the power of resurrection. When we encounter moments of death—whether the death of dreams, relationships, or health—the resurrection gives us hope that death does not have the final say. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Resurrection power is the ultimate answer to life’s greatest fears. It assures us that death is not the end, but the beginning of eternal life.

3 Inseparable Days

Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday form an inseparable rhythm, each day following the other in a divine cadence. These three days reflect the normal rhythms of the Christian life, and the sacred order in which they unfold is important. The reality is that Friday and Saturday always precede Sunday. We cannot skip through the sorrow and waiting of Good Friday and Holy Saturday as we move toward Resurrection Sunday. The gospel itself is ordered this way: suffering comes before glory, waiting comes before victory.

In our lives, we are often called to walk through each of these days—sometimes with sorrow, sometimes with uncertainty, but always with the anticipation of the invincible hope that Resurrection Sunday brings. There are times when life feels like a Good Friday—filled with suffering, loss, and grief. There are seasons where it feels like Holy Saturday—silent, full of tension, and seemingly without answers. But these are not abnormal stages; they are a natural part of the Christian journey. We are invited to embrace these seasons as part of our spiritual rhythm as they drive us forward to the hope of Resurrection Sunday.

The reality of Good Friday in our lives teaches us that suffering is not foreign to the Christian experience—it is woven into the very fabric of our faith. It’s in the seasons of loss and pain that we learn to lean most deeply on the sacrifice of Christ. But just as Jesus’ suffering was not the final word, neither is our suffering. Even when it feels overwhelming, it is always, always, leading somewhere—toward the hope and new life that are promised in the resurrection.

Holy Saturday, with its silence and uncertainty, also has its place in the Christian life. This is the day of waiting—the day when it seems as though God is distant or inactive. Yet, even in our uncertainty, we are reminded that God’s silence is not absence; it is the waiting for something greater. The pain of not knowing what comes next is a shared experience for believers. We all face moments when the future feels unclear, and our hearts ache with questions. But in those moments, we must remember that God has a purpose even in the waiting, and it is this tension between grief and hope that refines us.

Then, Resurrection Sunday comes, just as it always does. It may not come in the exact moment we expect, but it always comes. And when it does, it brings with it the invincible hope that death does not have the final say. It brings the certainty that in Christ, all things are being made new. The victory of Resurrection Sunday doesn’t negate the pain of Good Friday or the uncertainty of Holy Saturday; it redeems them. It makes all things—our losses, our struggles, our waiting—part of the story that God is telling, a story that ends in triumph.

The good news is that Friday and Saturday always give way to Sunday. The suffering we endure today will one day yield to the glory of God’s resurrection power. Our moments of grief and confusion are not wasted; they are leading us toward the invincible hope of eternal life in Christ. As Paul wrote, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). The cycle of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday reminds us that suffering and waiting are temporary. They are, in fact, the very means by which God is shaping us to experience the fullness of the resurrection life.