by Obi Rowland

Created on: July 16, 2007

"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay". (Matt. 28:6).

This was the statement of the angel sitting on the stone at the door of the tomb. He knew the curiosity in the eyes and minds of the women. The women though active in service were shortsighted as regards the firmness of the Lord's resurrection. They did not come to witness the resurrection but to anoint Him customarily.

Shortly before they came, the angel had descended from heaven to remove the stone. He did not open the grave for Jesus to come out but to show the emptiness of the grave. This gave absolute and undeniable evidence that the resurrection had taken place in spite of the big stone seal, and watch over the tomb. The apostle Matthew recorded that the appearance of the angel was so overwhelming on the watchmen that they felt like people long dead. I think the preservation of their life was for one sole purpose- to relate what they saw and all that happened.
The angel came also to save the women the trouble of rolling away the stone. It was also to give them honour as the first (sex) to witness the resurrection of the Lord; otherwise, they could have lost that credit. The question now should be, when and how did Jesus resurrect since it was not the angel that removed the stone for Him? Though the Scriptures did not give us a clear-cut account of how it happened, yet it is a reality. The power that planted Him in the womb of Mary raised Him from the dead. This is the power of the Holy Spirit and the connecting practicality of His true existence. It is not a fiction. Jesus truly resurrected to the shame of the devil. The very truth being that the eyes of the crucifiers and their master Satan were exactly closed from His arrest to His ascension. Jesus had in a matter of hours conquered the devil in hell recovering its keys. And to this effect, Satan entered into mourning, nursing his wounds, re-organizing his disordered army and punishing the soldiers that allowed Jesus into his premises. Death willingly surrendered itself by saying, "Master, I surrender". All the forces of darkness went into hiding because the influence of the power of the Almighty had filled the entire universe and spiritual spheres. Notably, Jesus fulfilled the first messianic prophecy by bruising the serpent's head as God had said after the unfortunate fall of man in the garden. He made a public spectacle of Satan. The quickening at His death sent a violent signal concerning the conclusion

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