The tomb of Jesus Christ was found empty on the third day of his burial. His is the only truly empty tomb in human history. By this we are not considering many Cenotaphs around the globe, which mark the grave of the Unknown Soldier. Those are empty tombs with a difference. The difference lies in the fact that no human remains were ever buried in those cenotaphs! Jesus Christ went through a pulsating, terrifying, agonizing, period of prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane. His agony was so great that his sweat drops became mingled with blood. At the end of the prayer, victory was won and he fully submitted himself to be crucified. He was initially exposed to a grueling, prolonged period of mockery of a trial. The witnesses assembled contradicted each other. It was Jesus himself who provided the basis for the eventual accusation and condemnation. He spoke the truth when, in answer to the High Priest’s question, he confirmed that he is the Son of God, thus claiming equality with God. According to the Jewish leaders, he had blasphemed! The penalty for blasphemy was death. Jesus was willing to die, not for the alleged blasphemy, but for the eternal plan of salvation which was drawn ages ahead with his Father, Almighty God! He was sentenced to die as a criminal. Jesus Christ was crucified on the first Good Friday, outside the city walls of Jerusalem, in-between two thieves. Thus Jesus Christ gave himself by his incarnation, gave himself at Gethsemane and gave himself at Golgotha in order to fulfill and perfectly execute the plan of everlasting salvation for mankind! Much earlier, in response to a question by a Jewish elder and scholar named Nicodemus, Jesus said:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved(John 3: 14-17).
In the wilderness journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, the people rebelled against God and Moses and there was instant punishment in the form of deadly fiery snakes which bit many. There was mass death. Moses and Aaron were scared and quickly cried to God for help and mercy. God instructed Moses to make a brass copy of the fiery snakes and hang it upon a pole. Moses was to tell the whole emerging nation to look upon the brazen serpent in order to recover from the deadly venom of the snake. Moses did exactly as God told him. It was a miraculous turn around because all the remaining sufferers from the snake bite who looked at the hung brazen serpent(snake) recovered and lived! Correspondingly however, anyone who defied the instruction would have perished in that wilderness episode! God Almighty, in his infinite wisdom and plan decided to re-enact the episode on a global scale using reality in place of similitude. Jesus Christ, the Son of God had to be nailed to the cross, made of two poles. Then he was lifted up crucified on Calvary Hill! The location was strategic, in that it was a public junction, with many passers- by. People from different parts of the world visited Jerusalem at that time because of the Jewish festival of Passover. The Passover lamb was killed by each Jewish family in remembrance of the great exodus from Egypt several centuries before. On that fateful Passover, the REAL PASSOVER LAMB was being killed for the whole world! Jesus Christ, the Real Passover Lamb was slain for the sins of the whole world. As it was on the eve of Jewish departure from Egypt, after 400 years of slavery, the blood of the lamb killed was collected in a basin and was applied to the door posts of each Jewish home. It was significant and strategic in that there was judgment upon Pharaoh and the whole of Egypt, resulting in the death of the first born of every family, including the first born of their domestic animals! There was sorrow, wailing and fear across the whole nation of Egypt because the LORD visited the land in judgment! In the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived, no life was lost, because of the applied blood! With fear and trembling the Israelites were begged to depart from Egypt by both Pharaoh and his people! The Israelites left with great deliverance and jubilation. Egypt was literally spoiled and plundered in the sense that they willingly and hastily parted with their riches as Israel demanded PAYBACK FOR 400 YEARS OF OPPRESSIVE SLAVERY! That was the downturn for Egypt till date 2013, because the exodus marked the rapid decline of the Egyptian dominance in world civilization, economy and politics! We challenge scholars to contest this issue! This is the Twenty-first Century and the necessity for the application of the blood of the Lamb of God(Jesus Christ) is still in place for every human being! Dear friend, you need to look upon Jesus Christ nailed and hung upon the cross, lifted up on Calvary Hill, because of your sins. You look and live. Refusing to look brings avoidable disaster. The blood of Jesus Christ has been applied for you to protect you and give you victory over Satan, our No1 enemy! Underrating the situation as Pharaoh and Egypt did thousands of years ago, would become too late and regrettable for you! God planned your salvation; Jesus Christ executed it. God said earlier through Prophet Isaiah: Look unto me, and be saved, all ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else (Isaiah45:22). Jesus was nailed to the cross, his blood was shed and he died on that cross, as it was written before in the Scriptures. He was buried. On the third day he arose from the grave, as written in the Scriptures. He showed himself to Mary of Magdala, Peter and other disciples after his resurrection. Before he went back to heaven, he showed himself to over 500 witnesses at a time. Those were proofs overwhelming enough to convince any form of skepticism, logic or legalism! If you shall confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord of your life; and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are made righteous and with your mouth you confess and you are saved (Romans 10:9-10). Typologies of Resurrection: Resurrection is likened to a grain of corn or wheat after it is planted. The grain first rottens and in the process, the dormant, potential plant, called the embryo, which contains new life, emerges to produce the new corn or wheat. It is a new life emerging from death. For us human beings, when a person dies, the whole body or ash from the cremated body is buried. At the resurrection, we Christians believe that the spirit unites with the body to produce a new body which becomes immortal. However, there are two kinds of resurrection. The righteous dead come back to life never to die again. For the wicked or unrepentant dead, they come back to life to face the judgment of God before the white throne. An inevitable condemnation follows which leads to everlasting torment in the lake of fire in hell! Jesus Christ describes the state: Where their worm never dies and the fire is not quenched(Mark 9:42-48). Worm refers to the human entity. The horrible state of the wicked is such that it is one of conscious, unending torment in the lake of fire! Contrarily however, the righteous is ushered into everlasting life of joy, peace and fulfillment. Jesus Christ’s body died as a sacrifice for sin. In the spirit, he went down to the dark abode of the dead. There Jesus fought the determinant battle against Satan and all his army. Satan was defeated and disgraced! Jesus Christ snatched the keys of death and hell from Satan. After that significant victory, Jesus Christ arose from the grave, in triumph! Therefore as Christians down through all ages we are able to sing: Up from the grave he arose; With a mighty triumph o’er his foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And he lives forever with his saints to reign; He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose! Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, wrote:
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the Apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time
(1Corinthians 15: 3-8).
Death has been subdued by Jesus Christ! It is important to note that many Old Testament Saints appeared in Jerusalem unto many people just at the time of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! These are those who trusted God in their generations. However, because of the sell-out to Satan, out of disobedience to God and ignorance of the tricks of Satan by Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, Satan took over the rightful status of mankind as ruler of this world. Satan also took charge of the place of the dead because our Redeemer has not come. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, as SEED OF THE WOMAN wrestled against Satan, defeated Satan and took the keys from him. Jesus Christ therefore led out this multitude of saints from the captivity of Satan! In part of Chapter 27 of the Gospel according to Matthew, which definitely must have been observed before the later part of the 28th Chapter happened and was written, has the following account: And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. And came out of the grave after his resurrection, and appeared unto many(Matthew27:51 -53). There had been earthquakes between The Good Friday and early morning of the First day of the week which we call Resurrection morning. The Earth must be inevitably troubled because its Maker deliberately and voluntarily died for the redemption of mankind. The same earth was thus forced to give up the bodies of the risen saints who had been led out of captivity by their Captain, Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is the first to arise from the dead, never to die again! Thus he became the firstfruits of the dead! Jesus Christ, as the Captain of our salvation is alive forever. At the trumpet call of the archangel, signaling the gathering of saints prior to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with his Bride the Church, Saints would be raptured. We shall be given new bodies, never tiring, never sick and never dying again! We shall be as Jesus Christ is! Anyone who has this expectation or hope in him or her should keep himself pure, just as Jesus Christ is pure! (1 John 3: 1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18).
Much earlier, prior to his death, Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this? (John 11:25-26). Reconciliation with God the Father has been made through the blood of his cross. There is no more enmity between us and God. God has forgiven us and given us power to become his children. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was proof of God’s approval on the redemptive work he did through the shedding of his blood on the cross. Jesus said; because I live you shall live also. His resurrection gives assurance for our own resurrection too! We believe this. Do you believe? Jesus who was initially held captive defeated his captors led by Satan. Then Jesus the former captive led out a host of captive victims in victory. In deed CAPTIVE LED CAPTIVITY!
Up from the grave he arose:
AgapeFocus 
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