RESURRECTION

Soft sand slid under His feet.

The air was pure and fragrant, redolent with the life it carried as He breathed it deep into His lungs, His body regaining strength as lifeblood coursed again through His veins.

Three days in the grave, bound and lifeless as His Spirit travelled on its crucial journey into the depths of hell.

His mission? To reclaim the Keys of death and hell, crucial keys upon whose ownership the whole of creation depends.

Winning them back will release mankind from the chains of certain destruction. Thereafter, should they choose, they could walk in victory, the new life He’d won for them through the sacrifice of His own life.

As He walked through the blackness in that daring mission, He remembered His own words just a few days before – His desperate plea … if it be possible…’

But it was not possible.

This was the route chosen for Him to walk since before the beginning of time.

Resident within Him was the destiny of mankind.

He’d endured the Cross, and the work was done.

There now remained one final detail.

Striding through the emptiness of the underworld, the excitement, the glory of knowing He had done His Father’s will sustained Him.

He walked in a victory already won through the laying down of His own life.

His thoughts dwelt on the love and grace of Father’s heart toward those He came to save.

His deepest anguish, His most heartfelt despair, surrendered in obedience, had become His greatest triumph, the power of salvation to those who believe.

Ahead, gleaming in the darkness, was the prize.

Those Keys, lost to the liar so many aeons ago, now incredibly, no longer protected.

The captor of the Keys and human hearts, so sure of his victory, had dispensed with the guard.

In an instant, light blazed through the gloom.

The accuser spins, horror imprinted on his face.

He is not dead!

The screams of hell’s anguish go howling down the centuries as the Christ, eyes blazing with fire and face shining like the sun, strides out of death and into everlasting Life. And falling into line behind Him, a mighty army of believers – the Church of Jesus Christ.

The ancient enemy is defeated.

Death has died.

Jesus reigns.

Crown Him Lord of all!

Photo Attribution: Waiting for the Word – Christ Resurrected 27