The Mystery of Death and Resurrection

KEY VERSE: “He saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.” —Mark 16:6

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Mark 15:33-39; 16:1-8

THE RESURRECTION OF the dead promised in the Bible is to bring back billions of humanity who have died; all who have gone to dust under the Divine sentence, “dying thou shalt die” (Gen. 2:17, Margin), and “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19) There could be no resurrection, no escape from that Divine sentence, except through God’s gracious plan whereby the perfect man Jesus would give his perfect human life a ransom for all, a price corresponding to the original sinner, Adam. Purchasing Adam from the death sentence meant the purchase of all who died in him. Concerning this, the Apostle Paul said, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—I Cor. 15:22

Jesus had foretold his death on the cross in saying, “As Moses lifted up the [brazen] serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”—be crucified. (John 3:14; Num. 21:8,9) The brazen serpent on a pole was a type of Jesus taking the sinner’s place and though he was holy, harmless and undefiled he was treated as a sinner. Suddenly, on the cross Jesus felt utterly abandoned. The people and the rulers derided him, taunting him to come down from the cross. (Luke 23:35) His dying cry, “My God! My God! why hast thou forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1) confirms how Jesus endured to the very limit the penalty of the sinner. He was not only to die, but also to experience loneliness, to be filled with despair and cut off from fellowship with God. For a brief moment he endured the sinner’s full alienation from God. Finally, “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last … And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, Surely this man was the Son of God!”—Mark 15:37-39, NIV

Commenting on Jesus’ death, the Apostle Paul said, “Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.”—Phil. 2:8,9

For forty days before ascending to the Father, Jesus was with the disciples a number of times, during which he showed his followers that he was no longer dead, but a risen spirit being. There could be no Gospel message of hope through a dead Savior. The Apostle said, “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. … But now is Christ risen from the dead. … For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—I Cor. 15:14-22

How does Jesus’ death and resurrection give meaning to our faith? Paul assures us that death is not the end. We know the Apostle understands the mysteries of death and resurrection , for he says in II Timothy 1:10, Jesus Christ “hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.”

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