WHY CHRIST MUST BE RAISED

ACTS 2:24

Rom. 8:3 [WNT]. For what was impossible to the Law--powerless as it was because it acted through frail humanity--God effected. Sending His own Son in a body like that of sinful human nature and as a sacrifice for sin, He pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature;

      Jesus defeated death, the separation of the spirit from the body (Jas. 2:26), by bearing man’s sin in His own body (1 Pet. 2:24) and by passing unscathed through sin’s prison (Acts 2:27).

      G. Campbell Morgan wrote, “Having thus gained a victory over every conceivable form of sin, covering the whole territory of its domain, death cannot hold Him.”

  I. Who tried to hold Jesus

      A. Pilate (Mt. 27:65; kings of this world)

2 Tim. 2:9 [HCSB]. For this I suffer, to the point of being bound like a criminal; but God's message is not bound.

      B. Powers (Eph. 1:20; rulers under the earth)

Prov. 26:27 [NKJV]. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.

Est. 7:10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.

Jn. 12:31. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

      C. Priests (Mt. 28:11; clerics without the faith)

Act 5:28 [ESV]. saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us."

      D. Philosophers (Acts 17:18; rationalists about the after-life)

1 Cor. 15:32 [ESV]. What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

      Before drinking the poison hemlock (399 B.C.), Socrates said, “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways– I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.”

 II. Why Jesus could not be held

      A. Because the Scriptures must be fulfilled (Lk. 24:46; 1 Cor. 15:4)

      B. Because the devil must be defeated (Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14)

      C. Because the transgression must be atoned (Rom. 4:25; 1 Cor. 15:17)

      D. Because the curse must be redeemed (Rom. 8:23; Rev. 21:4)

      E. Because the Son of Man must be ascended (Jn. 20:17)

      F. Because the Power must be manifested (Rom. 8:11)

      G. Because the enemy must be conquered (1 Cor. 15:26)

      H. Because the miraculous must be believed (Acts 26:8)

      I. Because the hope must be realized (1 Cor. 15:19)

      J. Because the Son must be vindicated (Rom. 1:4)

      K. Because the death must be subjected (Jn. 10:18; Rev. 1:18)

      L. Because the deity must be proved (Jn. 20:28)

      M. Because the truth must be witnessed (1 Cor. 15:14)

      N. Because the Spirit must be sent (Jn. 16:7)

      O. Because the soul must be reunited (Job. 14:14; 1 Cor. 15:50)

      P. Because the corruptible must be changed (Ps. 16:10; Phil. 3:21)

      Q. Because the sadness must be turned (Lk. 24:17)

      R. Because the body must be glorified (2 Cor. 5:1; 1 Jn. 3:2)

      S. Because the crucifixion must be followed (Mt. 28:6)

Low in the grave He lay, Jesus, my Savior!

Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord!

Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus, my Savior!

Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus, my Lord!

Death cannot keep his prey, Jesus, my Savior!

He tore the bars away, Jesus, my Lord! (Robert Lowry)

III. What lost its hold on Jesus

      A. Authority given to death (Phil. 2:8)

      B. Time appointed for separation (Lk. 23:43; 1 Pet. 3:19)

      C. Suffering necessary before glory (Heb. 2:9)

      D. Corruption associated with blood (Lk. 24:39)

Acts 2:31 [WNT]. with prophetic foresight he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, to the effect that He was not left forsaken in the Unseen World, nor did His body undergo decay.

Heb 13:20 [ESV]. Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

1 Pet. 1:18-19 [HCSB]. For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

      The miracle of the resurrection meant that Jesus died a real death (Jn. 19:34) but the body did not see decay.

      On the first day of the week when the women returned to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, the women discovered that the body of Jesus needed no anointing for He had risen without corruption (Mk. 16:1).

      M. R. DeHaan explained, “As the First Adam’s sin corrupted the blood of the entire human family, so the pure sinless blood of the Last Adam makes atonement for the sin of the world.”

      M. R. DeHaan wrote, “Although the body of the Lord Jesus Christ lay in the tomb in death for three days and three nights, no corruption had set in for that body contained incorruptible blood.”