The Story - Death Is Dead

A story without hope is nothing but a dark night without any stars. 

At the moment, that's where the disciples are. The night has been dark these past few days; the darkness even fell at an unusual hour, right in the middle of the afternoon when Jesus died. Their hope is gone. There is no silver lining—their Messiah, who they had believed was the "way, the truth, and the life," now has no life in him at all. They're doubting his truth, and the way ahead looks bleak. 

Meanwhile, Jesus's body lies in the tomb where they put him. A man named Joseph from the town of Arimethea donated the tomb so that he wouldn't be buried in a pauper's field, and would at least be given the dignity of privacy in death. He is wrapped in burial clothes, almost like the swaddling cloths that his mother dressed him with as an infant. 

He lies there, lifeless. The Sabbath day passes.

On Sunday, three women who had been his followers make the walk to the tomb. They're carrying funeral spices to preserve his body with; a gruesome task, probably, but they want to do what they can for Jesus. The one thing stopping them is that they don't quite know how they'll open the tomb—in front of the cave-like crypt's mouth there's placed a large stone, and it's too heavy for them to lift. 

They approach the burial ground. They see the stone. And they stop walking. 

The stone isn't where it should be. It's to the side of the cave, and the path inside is uncovered. 

The women are shocked. Did some of the Pharisees come and do some indignity to the body? Did someone come before them to do what they intended? Weren't there guards stationed there anyway; what could have happened to them?

Fortunately, there's a man there who can explain it all to them. "Are you looking for Jesus?" he asks the women. 

"Yes," they respond. 

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?" he tells them. (I can almost imagine the wild tearing of hope these words inspire in the hearts of the women.) "He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise?" (Luke 24:6-7)

What?

Now, the women remember. Jesus had said something like that, hadn't he? Told them beforehand of all the sufferings he'd endure, and that his death wouldn't last forever? Why hadn't they remembered before? 

Because their eyes were closed to understanding, before. Now they're wide open. 

And Jesus, their teacher, Savior, and friend, is alive.

 

They don't all see Jesus for another few days, but some do immediately. Mary Magdalene meets him at the tomb after mistaking him for the gardener. Two men meet him on the road, and, not knowing who he is, tell him all about what happened three days ago. And shortly after that, Jesus appears to his disciples as they're hidden away and shares a meal with them. 

All this is proving to his people that no, he's not a ghost or a hallucination. He's a real person who everyone can see. Ghosts don't eat food—hallucinations aren't shared between a crowd. But Jesus does, and Jesus is. 

Jesus is alive, in his spirit and in his body. Yes, even his body is the same as it once was, albeit much more living than his body was just last Saturday. His hands still bear marks of the wounds from the nails and the spear, and he is recognizably Jesus from Nazareth. 

Why is this important? Because if it's proven to the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus is a real, living human being who's in the same body as he always was, they can't pass him off as a fake. So many people have seen him. They know he's alive, and they know he's true. 

 

This event is not only such a joy for the people to experience, but it's the climactic fulfillment to all the prophecies made about Jesus. It's the realization to all the foreshadowing. And it's the only reason that Christianity, as a religion, works.

Remember the very first prophecy we talked about? How God told Satan that he would send his offspring to crush him? "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel," were the exact words—hasn't that happened?

Jesus's sufferings were temporary. But Satan has been destroyed. He thought he'd won. He'd thought death was on his side—after all, it's death! Not much that's more permanent than that. 

But death is dead. 

Jesus is alive, now, even though he truly had died. Cold and dead, unmoving as a stone. But now he's living and breathing and walking around and eating and talking, and it's plain to everyone who looks at him that death has absolutely no power over him. How could it? He's alive! 

And you know what that means? 

Death has no power over us, either. 

Everyone who truly trusts in and follows Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is held safely in his hands. Nothing can conquer us—not people, not disasters, not the devil, and not even the very fact that everyone's going to die. 

Because death doesn't have any power anymore. God has the power! God has all the power! They killed Jesus, but it didn't work, because he didn't stay there!

Not only that, but Jesus died as a sacrifice. Jesus was killed on Passover weekend, the very time when the sacrificial lambs were prepared. He was the firstborn of God, and absolutely spotless—never once did he sin. He fits all the criteria for the sacrifice. 

And the sins that he died for were ours. All of his people were atoned for in that very moment, because of the awesome
power of the Son of God. Though our sins really were horrible, and really did need to be paid for—they were. 

It is finished. 

Death is dead. The Seed of the Woman has come, and has won. And we have been eternally set free.

That's the story of the Bible. It's the true history of the world, and it's one grand narrative stretching from the dawn of time to time's sunset. And it's the most important story that you'll ever hear. 

The question is, do you believe it? Will you surrender yourself to Jesus's sacrifice? Do you believe that sin and death will never hold power over you ever again? 

I hope and pray that you do. Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, waiting for you to let him in. He loves you, and he loves you so much that he was beaten and flogged and spit upon just to take your sins and set you free. 

Will you answer?