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The Desire of Ages
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Now was fulfilled
the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, “Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
John 10:17, 18
;
2:19
.
Over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, Christ had proclaimed in tri-
umph, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” These words could be
spoken only by the Deity. All created beings live by the will and power
of God. They are dependent recipients of the life of God. From the
highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replenished from
the Source of life. Only He who is one with God could say, I have
power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again. In His
divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death.
Christ arose from the dead as the first fruits of those that slept. He
was the antitype of the wave sheaf, and His resurrection took place
on the very day when the wave sheaf was to be presented before the
[786]
Lord. For more than a thousand years this symbolic ceremony had
been performed. From the harvest fields the first heads of ripened
grain were gathered, and when the people went up to Jerusalem to
the Passover, the sheaf of first fruits was waved as a thank offering
before the Lord. Not until this was presented could the sickle be put
to the grain, and it be gathered into sheaves. The sheaf dedicated
to God represented the harvest. So Christ the first fruits represented
the great spiritual harvest to be gathered for the kingdom of God.
His resurrection is the type and pledge of the resurrection of all the
righteous dead. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.”
1
Thessalonians 4:14
.
As Christ arose, He brought from the grave a multitude of captives.
The earthquake at His death had rent open their graves, and when
He arose, they came forth with Him. They were those who had been
co-laborers with God, and who at the cost of their lives had borne
testimony to the truth. Now they were to be witnesses for Him who
had raised them from the dead.
During His ministry, Jesus had raised the dead to life. He had
raised the son of the widow of Nain, and the ruler’s daughter and
Lazarus. But these were not clothed with immortality. After they were
raised, they were still subject to death. But those who came forth
from the grave at Christ’s resurrection were raised to everlasting life.
They ascended with Him as trophies of His victory over death and the