Matthew 27:63
“I will rise again.”

Man has made many outlandish promises, but none so daring as the one Christ made when He said, “I will rise again.” Christ had authority from His Father to accomplish two unusual feats -1) lay down His life and 2) pick it up again.

The first mention Christ made of His death and resurrection took place at Caesarea Philippi when He asked His disciples to identify who He was.  The influence of pagan gods permeated this area, so it wasn’t the safest place for someone who would associate with Christ.  But He promised to build His church on the statement, that He was the “Christ the Son of the living God.” From this time on Christ revealed to His disciples how He must go to Jerusalem to suffer, be killed and rise again the third day (Matt. 16:21).

In John chapter ten Christ compared Himself to the Good Shepherd.  If there is a shepherd there must be sheep. So Jesus reminds His disciples that the “good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11,15,17). No hostile force can strip His life from Him. He voluntarily surrendered it. The Greek emphasizes this by translating “I Myself lay down my life.”

Matthew Henry sheds some eastern light on what “laying down His life” meant. It was a pledge or purchase money for the sheep. The word is used in an economical sense, meaning “to invest money” (Luke 19:21). The sheep appointed for the slaughter, ready to be sacrificed, were ransomed by the shepherd. Christ fulfilled all this by pledging His life for the sheep, paying for the sheep with His own blood. Sheep never die for the shepherd.

A good shepherd may hazard and expose his life for the sheep. Jacob did so while tending Laban’s sheep (Genesis 31:40-41) David wrestled with a lion and bear while shepherding (I Samuel 19:36).  Hazarding one’s life for the sheep is one thing, but laying down your life for them is another. Christ did this in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 13:7:  ”Awake, O, sword, against my shepherd…smite the shepherd.”

Christ had authority from His Father to lay down His life and pick it up again. Now we can know Him in the power of His resurrection (Philippians 3:10).

Mar 24th by admin