Victory over Death
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Key Verse: “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” Selected Scriptures: |
THE SUBJECT OF THIS lesson centers around the most important event in all human history, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. This was in fulfillment of the prophecy written many centuries earlier by the psalmist, who wrote, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”—Ps. 16:10
What a tender scene it must have been that Sunday morning when Mary Magdalene, and the other women, rose early to anoint the body of Jesus with the spices and ointments they had prepared for him. Mark says, “When the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.”—Mark 16:1
They were hardly prepared, however, for the astounding events they were about to witness. Matthew tells us, “There was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” (Matt. 28:2-6) The women had overlooked the fact that a great stone would block their entrance to the sepulchre, and that they would thus be unable to anoint Jesus’ body. In God’s loving providence we learn that he had sent an angel to remove the obstacle.
Much more dramatic was the angel’s news to the women that Jesus was not in the tomb, for he had risen from the dead, and was now a powerful spiritual being. There was much excitement as the women hurried to tell the disciples what had occurred, and they all ran back to the sepulchre together. In his account, John says, “Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.” (John 20:6,7) This striking scene was indeed evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.
The second part of our scriptural reading comes from Paul’s epistle to the Romans, chapter 6. He explains that those who consecrate their lives to God are thus baptized into Jesus’ death. We become “buried with him” into his death and now walk with him in “newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3,4) Further, he says, “If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead [with Christ] is freed from sin.”—vss. 5-7
God’s children are given opportunity to sacrifice their fleshly lives, and be dead with Jesus. “If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.” (vss. 8,9) Now, we live unto God with the grand prospect of being raised as spiritual beings to share with our Lord Jesus in the restoration work of the next age.