Scripture Reference: Luke 24

“Risen” Means that Death is Defeated

The word “risen” is full of significance, telling us first that death is defeated.

From the first sin in the Garden of Eden, death has been relentless. The apostle Paul wrote that “death reigned” (Romans 5:14, 17). It is like a tyrant exercising a reign of terror over the human race. Nobody can escape it. Everybody is subject to its awful cruelty.

In the Old Testament story, there were many great men of faith. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David all believed God’s promise, but death got every one of them.

What happened when they died?

We can be quite certain that they did not enter condemnation or judgment. They had trusted the Savior who was to come and looked for the sacrifice that would be made. They died before He came, and so we should think of them as waiting. They continued in a shadowy existence, separated from this life but unable to move forward into the presence of God. Death brought them to a place where there was a way in but no way out. They were stranded in a kind of “no man’s land” with nothing to do but wait.

From the time of Adam to the time of Christ, death had a way in but no way out. People went into death, but they could not emerge from it. But when Jesus died, it was as if He cut a hole in death itself. He changed its nature so that when I come to that moment of death, it will not be like entering a prison; it will be like going through a passage that leads right into the presence of God. There’s all the difference in the world.

Before Christ, people went into death. But Christ went through death. Death could not keep its hold on Him. He is risen, and in His resurrection, He has destroyed the holding power of death. “Risen” means that death is defeated.

“Risen” Means the Whole Person Will Be Redeemed

The message of the resurrection is not just that Jesus is alive. That is true, of course, but the resurrection story tells us much more. The message of the resurrection is that Jesus has risen!

It is worth thinking about the difference. The Son of God was alive in heaven before He ever took human flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). He was not only alive but actively engaged in the work of the Godhead in creating and sustaining the world. The Son of God has life in Himself, and nobody can take it from Him. All this was true of Him before He took human flesh.

So why did He not simply leave the crucified body in the tomb and return to the Father? After all, it was only flesh and bone. Why did He bother with it?

The angels could still have appeared on that first morning after the Sabbath and said, “Now look, His body is here in the tomb, but you don’t need to worry, because although you can see His body lying here, His Spirit is with the Father in heaven. He is alive, and He hears your prayers, and He is able to help you.”

After all, when a Christian person dies, is this not precisely what we say at the funeral service? We bury the body. We know exactly where it is. We visit the graveside. But then we say, “Even though we know the body is here; nevertheless, the soul of the person is with the Father in heaven.”

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.