Years ago, while
attending a church in Canton, OH, the Pastor encouraged me to study the
Word through a method known as S.O.A.P. What is S.O.A.P? Scripture,
Observation, Application, Prayer. If you’d like to find out more, I
recommend the book, Divine Mentor by Wayne
Cordeiro. It is life-changing. While S.O.A.P-ing this morning, I turned
to Matthew 27 and I was reading about the death of Jesus’ and what I read
stopped me in my tracks!
In verses 50-53:
In verses 50-53:
Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his
spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in
two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs
opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from
the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the
holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.
Hello!!!...did you see that? The moment of
Christ’s death, the Resurrecting power of God went to work and it was so
powerful that the earth couldn’t contain it…it began to split rocks and open
tombs. Godly men and women were brought back from the dead.
But what really blew me away was that it appears that
being brought back from the dead wasn’t what made Jesus’ Resurrection
special. Something more was involved, an EVEN GREATER work.
It was what Jesus did while He was down there. Jesus paid the
price. He was a righteous man who died as a cursed man, with the weight
of the world’s sin on Him.
He went into Hell and
showed that He had paid the price for sin and then He proceeded to clean house
because we know that when the rock rolled away on the First day of the week,
Sunday morning, Jesus emerged with the keys of Death, Hell and the
Grave…VICTORIOUS!
Revelations 1:17-18: The Message “Don’t
fear: I am First, I am Last, I’m Alive. I died, but I came to life, and my life
is now forever. See these keys in my hand? They open and lock Death’s doors;
they open and lock Hell’s gates."
It wasn’t just victory over death but, sin and
death that made Jesus’ Resurrection so powerful! If that doesn’t
make you shout Hallelujah, nothing will! If that doesn’t make you jump up
from your pew and shout Glory! Then you may need to check your pulse.
"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NLT
And everyone can take part in this victory that Jesus
wrought because Romans 10:9-10 tells us:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
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