“And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6).
TEXT — Mark 16:1-8
Message
Writing his epistle of epic proportions to the Roman brethren from the city of Corinth during his third missionary journey, Apostle Paul would refer to Jesus his Lord as the “Christ that died”. But suddenly in the same 34th verse of Romans 8, Paul remembered that the narrative of the Saviour’s crucifixion did not end on the tree or in the tomb.
There was a greater story that followed, namely the resurrection of Jesus. So, very quickly, he changed the reference to Jesus as the One that “died, yea rather, (the Christ) that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
The apostle’s recollection of the events that announced the victory of our Lord over death and sin which we are commemorating today actually celebrates the power of God to raise the dead to life. The sisters left home early at sunrise for the grave of Jesus to apply spices on His corpse as part of honoring the Master they believed was dead.
But the women discovered that there was no dead body to be referred to but a risen Christ. The story had changed into a newer glory than the earlier one. Being born again through the perfected work of the Messiah also makes us rewrite our history. We tear the old one to make way for a fresh relationship piloted by God Himself with a picture of ourselves seated in heavenly places with Christ.
The Lord’s new status as the resurrected One makes that possible. As Jesus broke out from the grave, faith in the risen Lord also liberates us from the grip of the old man perennially trapped in death and sin. The Lord expects us to live a victorious life and to tell the despondent world that we have met a Saviour who has conquered sin and its consequences of misery, poverty, sickness, and death. Let us preach to mankind that it is only this resurrected Lord who can restore joy to them.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
