Love Unstoppable

Matt. 28:² Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. ³ His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

When you look at that story in John 20:1-20 [please read], it almost does not make sense that Jesus would put so much at stake just to respond to Mary. However, the reason why He would do that is because He is love. Jn.20:¹⁷ “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” [with emphasis]. This was Sunday morning and Jesus died on Friday, so where was Jesus between Friday and Sunday? His body was in the tomb but, where was He when He died?

To understand this, you need to understand that when someone dies back then, the person goes to a place called shoel. Shoel in Hebrew means the place of the dead, it is the same word translated hades in the Greek. Shoel is divided into two sections; the place for the evil dead and the place for the good dead. The place for the evil dead is call hell, the place for the good dead is what is called the bosom of Abraham or paradise. In Luke 16 [please read], Jesus tells a story of Lazarus and the rich man; it was not a parable, it was a story. Lazarus died and went to the bosom of Abraham, the rich man died and went to hell, there was a golf between them. The thief on the right hand said to Jesus, “Remember me in Your kingdom”, right? And Jesus’ response was, “Today you will be with me in paradise, not in heaven in paradise [the place of the good dead]. I will take you to paradise” [paraphrased]. Jesus went to the bosom of Abraham [to paradise] and trusted His soul to the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, He trusted the Holy Spirit to raise Him up from the dead.

I like to tell this story every Easter, I really cannot get over it, so please indulge me. Day one, Friday, I can imagine satan saying, “We got the Son of God! I told Him to bow to me willingly, I tried to negotiate with Him, but He did not agree. Now we have killed Him – rejoice hell!” That Friday, there was a party in hell. On Saturday, the party intensified. On Sunday morning the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, the party was still going on they did not know. Jesus left paradise, set Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Moses, free and He went to the gate of hell. And as He approached the gate of hell, they were hearing His footsteps. So, they sent a messenger go and check who it was. The messenger reported back, “you would not believe who it is approaching the gates”, “who is it” satan quarried. “It is Jesus” as soon as he said that confusion broke out in hell.

Prayer [song]: Death could not hold You, the veil tore before You. You silenced the boast, of sin and grave. The heavens are roaring, the praise of Your glory. For You are raised to life again. What a powerful Name it is (2x), The Name of Jesus Christ my King… Amen!