0187. 184. Christ’s Resurrection

184. Christ’s Resurrection

Mat_28:6

How many voices are heard in that silent tomb! We listen to three, as found in the following sentences: “As He said,” “He is risen,” “He goeth before you” (Mat_28:6-7).

1. Proclamation. “He said” He would rise. He looked beyond the shame of the Cross and the gloom of the tomb. His prevision enabled Him to see beyond the shades of the unseen, and caused Him to proclaim in anticipation, “Thou wilt not leave My soul in Hades, nor suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.” The disciples, too, recognised this, for after “He was risen from the dead” they remembered He had said “this to them;” and the consequence was, “They believed the Scriptures,” and the word He had said (Joh_2:22).

2. Power. There have been men in the past justly renowned for their prowess and power. We think of such a man as Caesar, who tramped on his way with unparalleled success; of Alexander the Great, who in his onward march of conquest was like the incoming tide, sweeping all before Him; we call to mind a man like Napoleon the First, whose raised hand made thrones and dynasties tremble; we think of the iron Bismarck, who made France bite the dust in the seventies; and in our own time we have seen the self-inflated William of Germany making the nations bleed and suffer. But these, with one exception, have had to bow before the King of Terrors, and today they are but a memory.

Who can dispute with death? Only One, and that One, our Lord Jesus Christ. In His uprising from among the dead we behold the display of the “exceeding greatness of God’s power.” Not merely His “power,” but the “greatness,” yea, the “exceeding greatness of His power.” Creation reveals God’s power, but Christ’s resurrection manifests the “exceeding greatness” of it.

3. Presence. Mark, the Spirit emphasises through angelic message “He is risen,” and “He goeth before you,” and ye “shall see Him;” and as the women went on their directed way “Jesus met them,” and greeted them with the salutation, “All hail!” And they “held Him,” and “worshipped Him,” and He assured them they should see “Him” after they had told the disciples He was risen.

As the Philistines knew the reality and power of Samson’s presence when he took away the doors, the gate, and the posts of the city of Gaza, and laughed at his enemies to their discomfort, so Christ, after He had carried away the gates of Hades by His death and resurrection, spoiled principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly. Now He stands before us in the glow and glory of His victorious presence, and says, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of Hades and of death.”

By: DR. F. E. MARSH