FIRST EASTER EVENTS THAT MAKE CHRISTIANITY UNIQUE AND AUTHENTIC.
Sermon by Pastor P. Mundangepfupfu
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 3 days and nights after His crucification on the cross, is one of the key aspects that makes the Christian faith unique and authentic.
Many Christians wonder what exactly happened from the moment Jesus said “Father I commit my Spirit into your hands” and died on the cross to the time His spirit reunited with His body and rose from the dead that morning, three days later. (Luke23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (KJV).
This teaching tries to unpack, using available Biblical evidence, the events that took place in the spiritual realm during the 3 days whilst Jesus’ body laid in the tomb, to complete the work of atonement and making the Christian faith unique.
So what happened to the Spirit of Christ after it was released from the earthen vessel, the body? The Scripture says in Ephesians 4:9-10 (Now this, "He ascended" --what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) (NKJV).
We don’t exactly have all the events put in sequence in the Bible but we can tell from some of the scriptures in the Bible what really happened. The Scriptures say in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (NKJV), implying that there were certain things that happened during that period that only God knows about.
But one thing is very clear that this descend into this place of torment was essential for Him to complete the work of atonement for the sins of mankind. He experienced the torment of hell for our sakes. He had to endure in full, not only the physical consequences of man’s sins by the pain He suffered in the body on the cross and shedding His precious blood, but the spiritual consequences of sin by experiencing the torment of hell. The powers of darkness could not hold Him in that lower place. He triumphed over them.
Full reconciliation between man and God could only happen as a result of His own atoning death and resurrection. (John 12:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain”. (NKJV)
Watch the full sermon below: