Death Couldn’t Hold Him Down

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

On the third day, Christ rose from the grave with all authority given to Him. Christ lives today!

Today’s devotional reading: Acts 2:22-32

Peter said that the pains of death couldn’t hold Christ. As Paul said, Christ died, rose, and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and living (Rom. 14:9). Death couldn’t keep Christ down because He truly was/is the only begotten Son.

Many of us believe that Christ rose from the grave, but we don’t truly understand why He had to rise from the grave. When He first began His earthly ministry, Christ read from Isaiah 61, proclaiming to be the good news of salvation, the one clothed in its garments, to deliver the world from sin (Luke 4:16-19). Jesus said to Nicodemus that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life (John 3:16). To Martha, after Lazarus had died, Jesus said that He is the resurrection, and that no one who believes in Him will ever die, but will live (John 11:25-26).

Christ had to overcome death because He had to be faithful to His proclamations – He had to be faithful to what was promised by God in the garden. Death could never hold Christ down because God is faithful to what He promises.

Because death couldn’t hold Him down, Christ proved His deity as being the Messiah, the only begotten Son of God. Jesus’ resurrection stands as proof of the fourfold witnesses of Christ – John the Baptist, the Father, the written word, and His works, which testified to this truth but were not accepted by the religious leaders (John 5:31-47).

So, for all of us, when we read the written word, cry out to the Father, and testify of the works He has/does within and around us, we testify to the truth. Let those who doubt continue to doubt, but let us continue forward in faith in the one who overcame the grave.