God raised Christ from among the dead! Holy Scripture witnesses this... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2024

Jesus of Nazareth ... whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
Acts 2:22.24.

God raised Christ from among the dead! Holy Scripture witnesses this fact just as clearly as it emphasises painstakingly elsewhere that Jesus Himself rose again in the power of an endless life (cf. John 2:19, 10:18; Hebrews 7:16).

This second aspect is connected with His being the Son of God (Romans 1:4), while the former truth stresses His perfect manhood. So Peter, too, here speaks of the Man Christ Jesus, the Man whom the Jews had "taken by lawless hands, crucified and put to death" (v. 22).

With this shameful death by crucifixion people expressed their contempt for the Nazarene. But through the resurrection God showed just how He honoured Him. He could not allow His holy One, who had glorified Him in His life and death, to see corruption like normal human beings. If He had allowed lawless men to kill His Son, He was now active with all the glory of His being. Indeed, it was the glory of the Father that raised the Son (cf. Romans 6:4).

The resurrection of Jesus was thus primarily a personal distinction and acknowledgement by God for His holy Servant who had served Him so faithfully all His life and whose obedience did not waver in face of that shameful death on the cross. It shows that on the cross of Calvary He not only fully met all God's demands regarding sin, but also honoured the Father in an incomparable way.

Today's reading: Genesis 8:6-22 · 1 Peter 4:12-19