COV LIFE BLOG

Easter 2018 – Acts 2:24 – The Grave Couldn’t Hold Jesus

Satan conspired with Judas, Pilate, and the Jewish leaders to kill the Author of life, but God raised him from the dead (Acts 3:15), “loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). And if you believe in him, death cannot hold you either: “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live’” (John 11:25).
 
Jesus rose to prove that he had defeated death. Until he rose, death seemed to swallow up every ounce of life and hope from generation after generation. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). So, how could sinners have any hope of escaping death?…
 
The death of Jesus looked like the single greatest defeat God’s people had ever experienced. Instead of ascending to a throne and conquering his enemies, the promised King had been humiliated and crucified. But at the precise moment when it looked like evil had won, God was wielding every ounce of wickedness to accomplish his greatest victory. As Peter preaches to the Jewish officials,
 
“Jesus of Nazareth . . . delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:22–24)
 
Jesus rose to prove that God is sovereign even over the worst evil in the world (Acts 2:23). In the ultimate act of rebellion and injustice, God was pivoting all of history, with love, to save and satisfy his people. And by raising his Son from the dead on Easter, he promised to work all things, including the hardest and most painful things in your life, for the good of all his sons and daughters.

Marshall Segal

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SCRIPTURES FOR THIS SUNDAY
Read Acts 2:24 and meditate on the fact that the grave couldn’t hold Jesus. What confidence can you take from this reality for your life, your struggles, your walk with Jesus?

SONG FOR THIS WEEK
Praise the King by Corey Voss