No Longer In the Grave

Written by Victor Uyanwanne

Easter Celebration

A short poem on resurrection

The Lord I serve
Is no longer in the grave.

On the third day
He came out alive.

Some Angels rolled the stone away
An my Saviour came forth.

The Lord I am serving
Is no longer in the grave.

I penned those words about thirteen years ago. I was on holiday in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria during the 2003 Easter celebration with my elder brother and his family.

On the Easter Sunday morning, I stayed in bed reading Luke’s account of the resurrection episode (Luke 24:1-7):

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’

As I meditated on that passage of Scripture, the Holy Spirit quickened my heart and a heavenly song welled up from within me. I jumped to my feet and I began to sing in other tongues and then later in English (which I perceived was the interpretation of the tongues):

“No longer in the grave.”

Jesus resurrected with power and glory

Yes, Jesus is no longer in the grave. And it was not His disciples that stole Him away as alleged in the propaganda churned out by the religious cum political authorities of that era.

Jesus Christ resurrected from death with great power and majesty. God would not allow His Son to suffer decay:

…..because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay Psalm 16:10.

Speaking by the Holy Spirit, Peter tells  us that:

But God raised him [Jesus Christ] from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” Acts 2:24.

That’s the crux of Easter celebration: Jesus Christ, crucified and buried in the grave, conquered death and rose from the dead and never to die again.

That is what separates Christianity from other faiths. No religious leader in history resurrected like Jesus did.

All other religious leaders (before and after Him) died and remain rotten in their grave. Death still kept them in its grip till date.

But for my Lord Jesus, it was impossible for death to hold Him captive. He died and came out from the grave alive.

Jesus Himself declared:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:18.

Jesus Christ is no longer in the grave. He has conquered death once and for all. And He is alive forever.

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