The nails are gone. The crown of thorns removed. The body of God is wrapped in linens and spiced, and laid in a rock-hewn tomb.

He descends into hell and proclaims victory over all of your foes.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20)

How long did this take? Well, I doubt He spent an entire day telling the imprisoned spirits, “It is ended; I won.” Therefore, there was evening and morning, the sixth day—a very Good Friday.

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” As we heard last night, τέτελεσται, it is finished. (John 19:30) So, on this seventh day, the Sabbath, He rests. God the Father looks back on all the Son had done, culminating on Friday, and says, “It is good”...Good Friday.

He rests, dear hearers, for you. Oh, I know how much you like to get some rest in. A vacation is always desired. A day off is appreciated. But you are all busy-bodies. You get antsy when you are idle for too long. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” we are told. Not long into vacations, you look forward to getting back to work. A day off is often spent doing something—tasks that need attending around the house or errands that need to be run. And none of this counts those who work endless 7-day weeks. Rest is an unknown commodity; relaxation an unfamiliar friend—perhaps even an enemy; peace, simple peace for one’s life, is unrecognized!

So, Jesus rests in His tomb...for you! What comfort, even in your hectic busy-body-ness: the Third Commandment is ultimately and completely fulfilled for you, even after the death and burial of your Savior. There was evening and morning, the seventh day—your Sabbath Rest in Christ!

Now, a new days dawns. It’s the first day of the new creation. The stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. It’s the Eighth Day, dear hearers—the day of eternal peace and rest: peace with God because the death of Jesus Christ makes satisfaction for the sin of the world—for your sin—and rest because it is finished—there is no work to do to save yourself!

It is the Eighth Day, a fact that is celebrated on this evening when we take the earliest opportunity celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. As we do so, on this evening, we do so with our baptisms in mind. St. Peter continues after relating for us the proclamation of victory to the spirits in prison. In the ark built by Noah, a few, eight souls in all, were saved by water:

There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. (1 Peter 3:21-22)

So dear hearers, direct your eyes to the font. In this or one similar you were likely baptized. There, by water and the word, you have put on Christ and the Holy Ghost has worked faith in you as He has pleased. There, you first died to your sin and, just as Jesus rose from the grave, a new man arose from the water to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

It is no coincidence that the font here, and many the world over, are eight-sided. For, in addition to all of the stuff we are taught regarding baptism in the Small Catechism, a right and true exposition of Holy Scripture, at the font, when you were Baptized according to the institution of Jesus Christ, you were granted entrance into the Eighth Day of creation—the first day of the new creation. In your baptism, you are made a part of the new creation.

Consequently, you are a new creation, created in Christ Jesus’ image by water and the Word, given the benefits of His passion, death, and resurrection. No longer do sin and death have dominion over you, because Jesus died for your sin and rose again for your life. This, He proclaimed to you as you were baptized, clothed with a robe washed white in His blood, when He called you by your name, and the Father called you His son. You are made a co-heir with Jesus Christ of His heavenly things. Salvation is yours! Redemption is yours! Freedom from sin and death is yours! You are baptized!

At the font is given to you the self-giving love exemplified in Jesus’ foot washing and finished at the cross. There is declared of you, as Jesus said on the night when He was betrayed, that you are clean. (cf. John 13:10) Jesus called out τέτελεσται and won for you, in full, the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. This is Jesus’ self-giving love, that He lived and died for you, and grafted you to Himself by way of your being baptized into His death and resurrection.

Therefore, His peace and rest are yours. Jesus Christ won these for you by His death for your sin. You are made right with God through the satisfactory death of the Son, and this is given to you in the waters of Holy Baptism. Peace with God is yours! You can rest secure in the knowledge that you are saved because the Christ died, rested in the grave, and rose again in victory for you. These are yours by way of your baptism, and they all are summed up in one, small sentence: You are forgiven for all of your sins.