“The Lord Is Risen”
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grave. These, said Christ, are no longer the captives of Satan; I have
redeemed them. I have brought them from the grave as the first fruits
of My power, to be with Me where I am, nevermore to see death or
experience sorrow.
These went into the city, and appeared unto many, declaring, Christ
has risen from the dead, and we be risen with Him. Thus was im-
mortalized the sacred truth of the resurrection. The risen saints bore
witness to the truth of the words, “Thy dead men shall live, together
with My dead body shall they arise.” Their resurrection was an illustra-
tion of the fulfillment of the prophecy, “Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out
the dead.”
Isaiah 26:19
.
To the believer, Christ is the resurrection and the life. In our
Saviour the life that was lost through sin is restored; for He has life
in Himself to quicken whom He will. He is invested with the right to
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give immortality. The life that He laid down in humanity, He takes up
again, and gives to humanity. “I am come,” He said, “that they might
have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” “Whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
into everlasting life.” “Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood,
hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 10:10
;
4:14
;
John 6:54
.
To the believer, death is but a small matter. Christ speaks of it as if
it were of little moment. “If a man keep My saying, he shall never see
death,” “he shall never taste of death.” To the Christian, death is but a
sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. The life is hid with Christ
in God, and “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with Him in glory.”
John 8:51, 52
;
Colossians 3:4
.
The voice that cried from the cross, “It is finished,” was heard
among the dead. It pierced the walls of sepulchers, and summoned
the sleepers to arise. Thus will it be when the voice of Christ shall be
heard from heaven. That voice will penetrate the graves and unbar the
tombs, and the dead in Christ shall arise. At the Saviour’s resurrection
a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all the precious
dead shall hear His voice, and shall come forth to glorious, immortal
life. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His
church, and glorify it with Him, above all principalities, above all