I don’t know if you’ve ever thought all that much about the day after Jesus’ death. But it was a sombre day indeed as His disciples were hit by the tsunami of the reality of what had just happened.

But while the disciples were lamenting, behind that heavy stone inside that tomb there was dead silence. There lay the stone-cold body of Jesus, not unlike any other body in any other tomb.

On that cross and in that tomb, He bore the wrath of God, the righteous anger of God towards the world’s sin – towards your sin, towards mine – on our behalf. Why? How?

Because our sin deserved punishment. The Word of God is clear on that – The wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) The unflinching justice of God demanded that the price of our sin be paid. And Jesus … Jesus paid that price on our behalf. He saved us from the wrath of God which – make no mistake – is a terrible thing.

So the reality is that He lay in that grave on my behalf and on yours.

Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (ESV)

The shedding of His blood has given you and me, if we put our faith in Him and what He did, a right standing before God – the same right standing any criminal has before the law today after his sentence has been served, and the price that justice demands has been paid.

And that right standing in Christ has saved us from the wrath of God. Friend, He lay in that grave on my behalf and on yours. That’s good news.

And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.