When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelation 1:17-18).
The resurrection of Jesus is the greatest event in human history. It is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. And it is the triumph that transformed the world forever. It is the moment when the Son of God triumphed over Satan and death. And it is the beginning of the New Creation.
The power of His resurrection has implications for believers and all humanity. This article will discuss how Jesus’ resurrection is conclusive evidence that He conquered evil, sin, and death. His sacrificial death on the cross effectively reconciles humanity to God and provides eternal life to those who believe in Him. We will also discuss the authority He delegated to the believers, by which they can enforce His resurrection power over the forces of darkness. We will also briefly touch on our identification with Christ and how it empowers us to live victorious lives. Join us as we celebrate the greatest triumph in history!
Humanity’s Need for Christ’s Death
Humanity fell and became separated from God due to sin. The Bible teaches us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). This desperate state of humanity created a need for a Savior who could reconcile us to God and provide a solution for sin and death. The requirement is that someone must die to pay for our sins. However, the person to do this must be a human and must be spiritually and physically alive, meaning the person must be totally sinless. Since all die in Adam, no human qualifies for this. In fact, no man can even save himself. Therefore, humanity was helpless and doomed to suffer eternal death. This was when the love of God stepped in.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus died on the cross for your sins.”(Rom 5:8). This is the Gospel: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3) and also that “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (1 Cor 15:3, Rom. 4:25). Christ’s death and resurrection were necessary for our redemption.
The Necessity of Christ’s Resurrection for Salvation
The death of Jesus on the cross was a sacrificial payment for the sins of humanity. Through his death, he bore the punishment for our sins and provided a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to God. Jesus’s death on the cross was necessary for atonement, but it is His resurrection that guarantees eternal life for us believers. Without His resurrection, there would be no victory over death, and our faith would be in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). In Jesus’ resurrection, He conquered death and guarantees believers ultimate victory over sin and death. And He offers the hope of new life to all who believe in Him.
Furthermore, after He rose from the dead, He seized all authority back and said to us, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.–(Revelation 1:17-18). He now has all the keys in His hand. When He shuts, no one can open, and when He opens, no one can shut.
Death, Where is Your Sting, Grave, Where is Your Victory?
The resurrection of Jesus was a glorious and triumphant event. As the apostle, Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, “Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?” Jesus’ resurrection disarmed the power of death and the grave, bringing hope and victory to believers. It shattered the fear of death and transformed the human understanding of mortality. Through Jesus’ resurrection, believers have the assurance of eternal life and the hope of resurrection, knowing that death has been conquered once and for all.
Through the resurrection, Jesus conquered sin and death, giving us the chance to experience this transformation in our own lives today. The Scripture says in Romans 8:11:
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
Jesus’ Took on Our Nature So He Could Break the Power of Death Over Us
Hebrews 2:14 teaches us that Jesus, as the Son of God, took on human flesh and blood and willingly shared in our human experience. He did this so that through his sacrificial death, he could nullify the authority of the devil who held the power of death. Rotherham’s translation renders it as “that he might paralyze the death-dealing authority of the devil.” Both translations convey the same message clearly. Hallelujah! before Jesus rose from the dead, he triumphed over Satan, destroyed the power of death, and stripped Satan of the authority that he had stolen from humanity in the Garden of Eden.
“My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?”
As humans, we cannot comprehend the magnitude of what Christ Jesus did for us and the price He paid. The Bible tells us that He endured unimaginable anguish and horrific pain, starting with the brutal scourging from the hall of Pilate to the excruciating pains on the cross. But this does not tell it all. Adding to the agony was the fact that God the Father had to turn His back on Him.
Because He was bearing our sins on the cross, He died spiritually, separated, and forsaken by God the Father. God had to turn away from Him. That was the greatest anguish He endured on the cross. And in great agony, He cried: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”(Psalm 22). The righteous man, Jesus, forsaken by His Father, went through the agonies of death and Hades meant for us sinners. Peter succinctly put it this way, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Pet 3:18).
New Creation: The Greatest Miracle
At that instant, when the payment for the wages of our sin was complete, the demand of God’s Justice was met, and our Sin-Bearer was declared guilt-free. He was declared righteous. The Apostle Paul teaches us this in his Epistle to Timothy 3:16: “And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory” (1 Tim 3:16). Which means, we, whose sins He bore, were all made righteous by His sufferings. And it came to pass what the Scripture says through the Apostle Paul, That God “hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). So, Christ (and we in Him) was declared righteous and He(and we in Him) was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, becoming the firstborn of the New Creation of God.
Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had said to Nicodemus: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” – John 3:3
While the resurrection of Jesus is a mighty visible miracle, the new birth is the greatest miracle in redemption. It is a spiritual transformation that happens in the realm of the spirit. Today, millions of men and women have experienced the miraculous spiritual recreation of their inner man and are newly created children of God.
Through the new birth, we are totally recreated, the old man of sin is discarded, and a new creature is born by God and put inside us. This is precisely what happens to every person who is born-again through faith in Jesus’ shed blood, death, and resurrection. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 and a series of articles on this important foundational truth in the Christian faith. LINK—The New Creation.
Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates!
To understand the magnitude of Satan’s defeat, let’s listen to what Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 11. He said, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes all his armor from which he trusted and divides his spoils.”(Luke 11:21,22). This was precisely what happened.
There are two strong men in this illustration made by the Lord Jesus. One strong man is seen fully armed, guarding his kingdom and palace. His property is safe until the second strong man, stronger than he, shows up and defeats him.
The stronger man does three things, according to Jesus:
1. Attacks and overpowers the strong man.
2. Takes away his armor. Disarms and takes away all the weapons which the strong man trusts in.
3. Divides the loot of the strong man; takes all the strong man’s possessions from him and walks away with them.
Who is the armed strong man guarding his mansion where he keeps his loot?
Correct! The Lord is referring to the devil and his host here as the strong man. Then the stronger “strong man,” JESUS the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord of hosts, the ‘King of glory’ showed up. Then He, the Lord strong and mighty, knocked down the gates of hell and overpowered the kingdom of darkness. Prophet David sang of it in the 24th Psalm:
“Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory” (Psalm 24:7-10, NKJ).
Jesus Disarmed the Devil’s Kingdom and Took Back All Satan Stole
The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote that Jesus “disarmed principalities and powers, and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them”(Col 2:15). After Jesus completed payment for the penalty of our sins, and God raised Him from the dead, He also had to confront and overcome Satan’s armed forces in their inside their stronghold.
Jesus had completed the work of redemption at that point; however, He needed to take back all authority and dominion that Satan stole from man at the fall. Of course, Satan, the strong man, would not give it back without a fight. Yes, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force; Jesus took it all from the devil, overpowering and defeating Satan and his armed forces in their kingdom. And “To the victor goes the spoils.”
Jesus Spoiled Principalities and Powers
This is precisely what the Lord Jesus meant in the illustration in Luke 11:21-22 discussed above. And the King James Translation of Colossians 2:15 is even closer: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” Jesus, the Victor, spoiled the kingdom of Satan and made a public spectacle of them.
Satan’s dominion over a man ended. Jesus defeated the hosts of hell, shattered their ability to bring death, and stripped Satan of his authority, leaving him paralyzed and broken. Then He rose, came out, and proclaimed, “All hail!” for the dawn of Redemption had come. Our redemption was now certified and ratified. Colossians 1:13 became a reality as Jesus “delivered us out of the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of God’s Son, in whom we have our redemption, the remission of our trespasses.” This momentous event in human history is eternally remembered when Jesus stood before his bewildered disciples and proclaimed victory with triumphant joy.
God ‘Raised Us Up’ Together With Christ
“Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Col 2:12).
Baptism is a symbol of our identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection. It symbolizes that we were crucified with Christ, died and were buried with Him, and raised with Him to newness of life. Therefore, when the sixth chapter of Romans states that we were “buried with Christ by baptism,” it means that God nailed our old man of sin on the cross with Christ and that it died there with Him. Furthermore, God buried our old life in the grave with Christ. And it didn’t end there. When Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we were raised together with Him and are, therefore, to live in the newness of life. 
God Made Us Alive With Christ
Ephesians 2:4-6 reads: But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
When I was immersed in water, and my body was under it, It indicates that God buried the old man of sin out of His sight. And when I was raised out of the water of baptism, it is the symbol that I have been raised with Christ, and in Him have a new incorruptible life which the grave can no longer take away.
But there’s so much more to this. Christ died. He was buried and was in the grave. But on the third day, we heard the good news from the angel at His grave site. “He is not here; He has risen!” And He is alive forevermore. And even more good news is this, “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
Delegated Authority: Enforce His Victory
The Lord Jesus Christ triumphed over Satan at the cross and in the grave. There He overpowered the devil and spoiled goods. He robbed Satan of his powers and his authority. Jesus took away Satan’s armor from him and totally disarmed him as far as we, God’s children, are concerned. Then He arose and became Lord of all. He then gave us the authority to use His Name to overpower the enemy. He gave us supernatural armor to fight, dismantle satanic strongholds, and enforce His victory on earth.
Authority to Trample Upon the Enemy’s Power
He spoiled principalities and powers and dispossessed them of all authority and powers. Then He gave the keys to the church. We are more than conquerors through His Name. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me,” Jesus said; then He turned to us, His disciples, and gave us authority to trample over serpents and scorpions and over all other forms of the enemy’s power and nothing shall by any means hurt us. He said
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Mat 28:19, 20).
We have the Name of Jesus; He gave us authority to use His Name
In the Name of Jesus:
Every knee shall bow,
We have authority over demons,
We have authority over sickness and diseases,
We have authority over all the power of the enemy,
And nothing shall by any means hurt us.
In the Name of JESUS, Every Knee Shall Bow
The Apostle Peter, on the day of Pentecost, spoke, saying: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Act 2:36). God Almighty raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord over all. In Hebrew Scriptures, He is “Adonai,” the Lord, the Master, who is overall and above all.
He is the one who has the keys. He has all dominion and power. What He shuts, no man can open, and what He opens, no man can shut. He is the One who speaks and is obeyed; when He commands, it is done. Even the winds and the waves obey His voice, and “fire, hail, snow, vapor, and stormy winds fulfill His words” (Psa 148:8).
Every Tongue Shall Confess Jesus As Lord
The message in the second chapter of the Epistles to the Philippians is even more emphatic: “And every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phi 2:11). This passage tells us how, after Jesus completed the work of redemption for us, God highly exalted Him. God gave Him the Name above all names. And in the Name of JESUS, every knee shall bow. God made Him Lord overall.
I am glad, and I give thanks to God Almighty, that I am one of those who have willingly chosen to bow the knee to JESUS the LORD and acknowledge Him as my Lord, Master, Savior, Redeemer, and King. And I hope this is true for you, my reader, too.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a historical event but a life-transforming reality. It has implications for believers, humanity, and the entire creation. The resurrection confirms that Jesus is who he claimed to be, the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Through his death and resurrection, we have been reconciled to God and have access to eternal life. As believers, we have been given authority to enforce His resurrection power over every situation in our lives. We can declare His victory over sin, sickness, and death and live victorious in Him. Let us identify with Christ in his death and resurrection and walk in the power of his resurrection every day.
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