Can't Stop the Resurrection!

God used the evil works of wicked men, along with the faithful acts of His people, to bring about the crucifixion of Christ, the slaying of His Lamb in the place of His poor sinful people.

The wicked wanted to murder Jesus, and His people wanted to honor Jesus.

No matter, God worked His purposes providentially in it all to accomplish our salvation at the cross!

But in God's resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the grave, He required no help from anybody!

Nobody could assist God in raising Jesus from the dead. Nobody could assist Jesus in rising from the dead.

That's because resurrection from the dead is utterly contrary to the way this old world works. Death comes upon all sinful men, and none of us can save anyone from the grave.

Thus, unlike the crucifixion of Christ, His resurrection is pure miracle!

Some might suppose that the angels helped Jesus arise from the grave when they rolled away the stone, but that is wrong. Jesus left the tomb without the stone being rolled away. The angels rolled it away so that we might inspect the tomb and confirm that Jesus was risen indeed!

This stark contract between those who God used to sacrifice His Lamb, and God's unaided raising of Christ from the grave, is underlined on several occasions by the Apostles in their preaching.

When Paul preached to the synagogue in Antioch of Psidia, he was very stark in his sermon: wicked people put Messiah to death, but God raised Him from the grave!

Peter had told the crowd the same thing at Pentecost. Jesus was delivered up by God to your wicked hands, and you crucified Him, but God raised Him up, because it was not possible that death could hold Christ in the grave!