The resurrection of the victorious Christ declared that He is victorious over death – He overcame death, He took the keys of death and Hades, and He is the living One.
Hallelujah for our victorious Christ who, in every step of His living and every stage of His work, has fought the spiritual warfare, has defeated the enemy, and was victorious over Satan, death, Hades, and the grave!
On the one hand Christ was God Himself, so He could not be held by death, for He is both resurrection and the life. On the other hand, Jesus Christ was a man, and as a Man, He was approved by God and was raised up by God as a proof of our justification.
Praise the Lord for our victorious Christ in His resurrection! When we speak of spiritual warfare and when we engage in the spiritual battle on the Lord’s side, we need to realize that Jesus Christ, our Forerunner and our Head and our life, has already won the victory, and we fight one with Him, standing in His victory.
The basis of our spiritual fighting and the standing in spiritual warfare is that Jesus Christ has won the victory, and now we proclaim it, we declare it, we apply it, and we bring it into being in situation after situation and place after place.
When Christ was on earth, in His human living, He defeated Satan by standing in the word of God and speaking the living word of God. He never succumbed to Satan’s temptation but absolutely defeated him, and wherever the Lord was, the kingdom of God was brought in.
In His death Christ on the cross continued the spiritual warfare, and through the cross He defeated and destroyed the devil. In His work on the cross, the victorious Christ caused the angelic rulers and authorities to be stripped off, to be made a display of openly, and to be triumphed over in the cross by God.
When Christ was on the cross, His cross became the center of the universe, for Satan was there, God was there, Christ was there, man was there, and Satan’s angelic rulers were also there.
All the negative things and persons in the world were hanging on the Lord, and the angelic powers and authorities were clinging to Him. So God stripped them off and made them of open shame, and He triumphed over them through the cross. Hallelujah!
Furthermore, through His devil-destroying death, Christ nullified death and made it of none effect.
Death is still here, but it has no effect on us because Jesus Christ, who is our Head, our life, and our person, has already overcome death and Hades, and He in us is delivering us from death, He swallow death, and death has no power over us or effect on us.
Hallelujah for our victorious Christ who defeated Satan in His human living, in His crucifixion, and in His resurrection! Hallelujah for our Christ who now lives in us and who enables us to live such a life and have such a victorious living on earth today!
The Resurrection of the Victorious Christ Declares that He is Victorious over Death – it was not Possible for Him to be Held by Death!
Hallelujah for Christ’s resurrection – He is victorious over death, and it was not possible for death to hold Him! A man rose from the dead, Hallelujah, and He is victorious over Satan, Hades, and the grave!
After He was crucified, He died, was buried, and He rose on the third day, according to His promise to fulfill all the prophecies, for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
The objective aspect of the Lord’s resurrection is that He was raised from the dead by God as an approval of His person and work, for God approved and accepted Him and His death for our justification.
The subjective aspect of the Lord’s resurrection is that, when He was raised, death was defeated.
The one thing that all human beings fear the most is death – yet death was defeated by the resurrected Christ, who is victorious over death! Christ was manifested to nullify death and bring in eternal, indestructible life.
He defeated death, He nullified it, and through His resurrection death has become of none effect – death has lost its power, its sting, and even its taste. Because Christ destroyed the devil, who has the power of death, He defeated death, Hades, and the grave.
Christ’s resurrection declared that He is victorious over death, Satan, Hades, and the grave. God raised Jesus up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it (Acts 2:24).
As a man, Jesus Christ was raised by God from the dead (Rom. 8:11). As God and as resurrection, Christ rose from the dead (Rom. 14:9) – He rose Himself up from the dead, for death could not hold Him. It was not possible for the Lord to be held by death.
The Lord Jesus is both God and resurrection (John 1:1; 11:25), and He possesses the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16), so it was not possible for Him to be held by death. Christ gave Himself to die, and He was buried, but death could not hold Him; He resurrected and was victorious over death.
Death and Hades tried to hold Him, for He was buried for a short time, but it was not possible for Him to stay in death.
How can you hold in death a person who himself is life and resurrection?
The warfare that the Lord began through His incarnation, which he fought in His human living and crucifixion, was now taken underground, in His burial, until He resurrected and completely defeated death.
Hallelujah for our victorious Christ who was raised from the dead, defeated death, and is now in resurrection as the One victorious over death!
As a Man, Jesus Christ was raised by God from the dead, and God approved His living and work; He was raised for our justification, and God vindicated Him. As God, Jesus Christ gave Himself to die and He rose Himself from the dead, for it was not possible for Him to be held by it. Hallelujah!
Praise You, Lord, for being victorious over death, Satan, and the grave! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ died and was resurrected, and now He lives forever, for it was not possible for Him to be held by any kind of death. Praise the Lord, death and Hades tried to keep Him, but Christ overcame death, He walked out of death, He defeated death, and He is victorious over death. Hallelujah for our victorious Christ in His resurrection, who is now our life and our everything for us to continue the spiritual warfare and execute His victory over His enemy!
The Resurrected Christ is the Living One, and He has the Keys of Death and of Hades!
Christ became dead, and now He is living forever and ever; and He has the keys of death and of Hades (Rev. 1:18).
He gave Himself willingly to die, and death tried to keep Him in Hades, but could not do it. Christ went into Hades, took a tour of Hades, and walked out of death; He then closed the door, locked it, and took the keys of death and Hades with Him.
Now Jesus Christ has the keys of death and Hades, and He is the living One – He lives forever and ever!
The very Christ who today walks among the churches, the One who is the Head of the church and to whom the church belongs, He is the living One, He is full of life, and He has the keys of death and Hades.
Christ our Head is living and full of life, so we as His church should also be living and full of life. The Christ who lives in us and who daily is our enjoyment and experience, this One is living forever and ever in resurrection.
He is the living Christ, the Christ who is victorious over death and who daily imparts His resurrection life into us.
All the churches should be as living as Christ, full of life and overcoming death. Yes, death is still here, but we in the church life should realize that Christ abolished death on the cross and overcame Hades in His resurrection.
Death is a collector and Hades is a keeper; Christ walked in death and Hades tried to keep him, but death had no sting and Hades had no power. Hallelujah for our Christ who is victorious over death!
It should be the same with us today. In the church life today the keys of death and Hades are in the Lord’s hand; it’s impossible for us to deal with death, but when we give the Lord the ground to move and act among us, death and Hades are under His control.
It’s impossible for us to deal with death, for death and Hades are much stronger than us, and we have no ability to handle it; when death enters, it will deaden many.
But praise the Lord, as long as we give the Lord the opportunity and the free way to move and act among us, both death and Hades will be under His control! But when Christ has no ground in the church, death becomes prevailing and Hades becomes powerful to hold the dead ones. Oh Lord Jesus!
May we see who Christ is and what He has accomplished, and may we as the church give the Lord the full ground to move and act among us, so that He who has the keys of death and Hades would abolish death and keep Hades under His control!
Our victorious Christ in His resurrection overcame death and is victorious over death, and today we can experience Him as such a One, and we can stand in His victory to deal with any attack of death on the church.
Lord Jesus, we praise You for being the living One – You became dead and now You are living, and You have the keys of death and of Hades! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, the victorious One who has overcome death and who now holds the keys to death and Hades. Lord, we want to give You the full ground, opportunity, and free way to move and act among us in the church life so that You may keep death in check and Hades under Your control! Lord, we stand in Your victory over Satan and over death, and we reject any attack of death on the church in the name of Jesus Christ, the victorious One!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Mark Raabe for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation, pp. 110-111 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 3, The Victorious Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Hallelujah, He is risen! / Death for aye has lost his sting; / Christ, Himself the Resurrection, / From the grave “His own” will bring: / He is risen, He is risen, / Living Lord and coming King. (Hymns #119)
# His kingdom cannot fail; / He rules o’er earth and heav’n; / The keys of death and hell / Are to our Jesus giv’n. (Hymns #146)
# Death by Him has been abolished, / Incorrupted life is shown; / Death’s enthralling bonds are broken, / Resurrection life is known. / All-sufficient grace He giveth, / With His pow’r He covers me, / Makes me glory in my weakness / And in weakness strengthens me. (Hymns #540)
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