Hence according to the very ordinance of life in paradise Death had no claim on Him, and in no particular could he validate his right to take Jesus as his spoil.

Death could serve no summons on Jesus and could not steal Jesus away, but of His own free will Jesus could give Himself over unto Death, and allow Himself to be stolen away.

Already in His dying therefore Death did not stand superior in power to Jesus, but helpless over against Jesus, and it was Jesus Himself, Who by His moral superiority over impotent Death gave Himself.

Thus in Immanuel Death had to do with One Who was mightier than he, not first at His resurrection, but already before He died and in His dying.

Before Adam fell into sin Death had no power over him. But Adam was just as little able in spite of this to give himself over unto Death.

But both these meet in Jesus. Death had no power over Him, but He had power to give Himself over unto Death.

So He died; so He allowed Death to take away His earthly life; so He permitted His soul and body to be put asunder; and He let it come to pass, that His body was laid away in the grave.

But far from having Death therefore permanently triumph over Him, presently He triumphed over the terrible power of Death.

For as Death could not lay hold of Him nor get Him, except by His own willingness, neither could Death for this very reason hold Him longer than He Himself would permit.

So when His hour had come, and He willed to free Himself again from the bands of Death, He repulsed Death, and went out free; and, having risen the third day, He gave us our glorious Easter.

Our glorious Easter! For even though by His rising from the dead there were no prospect offered us of our own redemption from the pit, it would still have been refreshing to our heart, to know, that in the face of that One at least Death had given up, and that thus there were bounds to his almost almighty violence.

A cruel tyrant, who thus far slew everyone, finally to be seen slain by one still mightier than he, already gives one a feeling of relief. If we knew nothing more, than that Death had found an opponent in Jesus, Who was too strong for him, this itself would give us the knowledge that there does exist One still more mighty than Death, and of itself our cry and our prayer would ascend unto Him: “Mighty Immanuel, Thou Who hast fought thyself free from Death, have an eye to our fear and our dread, and make the way clear before our feet, and give us results that shall be able to stand against that Death!”

But see, our Easter jubilation climbs far higher.

For before Immanuel willingly went into Death, He prophecied to His own, what was to come. He told them in advance, that Death should not be able to hold Him; He rejoiced in it beforehand, that He should ascend to heaven in glory; and, He added: “Then I will draw you all unto me. I am the Resurrection and the Life. He that believeth on me shall live, even though he were dead!”

Hence it was not, that for Himself Jesus had to go through the dark portals of Death, and for Himself would make a way of escape. No, for Himself He had nothing to do with Death. He did not need to go into death, and when glorified on Tabor He glistened before the eyes of His astonished disciples, just as He was He could have ascended from earth to heaven, without ever having undergone the chill touch of Death.

His going into Death was not for Himself, but for us. He died, not because He had to die, but to save us. All His life and dying is one mighty act of divine love, an act of divine mercy and unfathomable compassion for others.

All His struggle with Death therefore tends, not that He might Himself escape Death, but to break the power of Death over us. It happened alone for our sakes, in our behalf, to redeem us from death and fear.

And when we know this and read again, that it was impossible for Death to hold Him, that He rose, and actually showed Himself the mightier over that mighty Death, then we feel that by His Resurrection the stone is lifted from our own grave, and in His Resurrection there comes to us a delightful prophecy of a triumph of our own over that terrible Death.

Could Death not hold Him; was that impossible, because He proved to be stronger than Death, well, then Death may be able to take us away as spoil, but as spoil he shall not be able to hold us, if Jesus does not will and permit it.

Then His resurrection implies, that as soon as He speaks a word and commands Death to let go of his prey, after he has hold of us, Death shall not be able to resist, but shall have to obey, and the Jesus Who made Himself free, shall also make us free, and deliver us from the power of Death.

The power is here at stake. Is Death stronger than Jesus, then there is no hope for us. But now that Jesus is proved to be stronger than Death, there is no hope for Death, that he shall be able to hold us in his bands.

When Jesus speaks he shall have to let go. He can still take hold of you, and take you away from this earthly life, but he can no more rule over you.

Yea, even when once you go into Death, and perchance years or centuries shall pass away, before Immanuel returns upon the clouds, and order Death and grave to return His treasures unto Him, yet in that meantime Death shall not be able to exercise power or dominion over you; Immanuel shall all that time be merciful to your soul; and in your dying say to you, what He said to the murderer on the cross: “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”

Yea, the glory of our Easter climbs higher still. It does not only imply, that Death could not hold Jesus, and that once He shall not be able to hold those who are in Christ, but the glorious prophecy is also given us, that once Death himself shall be brought to nought.

He will truly be the enemy, that will hold out longest. When all other enemies shall have been slain, Death shall ever yet be the last remaining enemy to keep standing. But yet his hour too surely comes. The last enemy that shall be overcome is Death.

And herein alone is our triumph over Death completely triumphed!

It is not enough that he proved unable to hold Jesus, and that once he shall not be able to hold those who are in Christ, but this too must be taken away, that as a constant living enemy he shall continuously make us afraid and fill us with fear and dread of his terrible power.

And therefore rest, blessed, God-devoted rest can only come to us when we see Death himself broken down, when Death himself is slain; yea, more still when we hear, that once Death himself shall devour death, and in the death of Christ be destroyed.

Only when we know, that it comes to this, jubilates everything that has breath, with the prophetic and apostolic word: “Death, where is thy sting, and grave, where is thy victory?”

It is no victory that only goes half way, but one that goes through to the end. And as often as dreadful Death takes another of our loved ones from our home, or menaces us ourselves, this is the inward rejoicing of our heart, which we put over against his cruelty and his menace, that we can say to him: “Once, O Death, comes your turn!”

One thing alone we do not grasp or understand.

We mean this, that the whole world, that every child of man, that every mortal that once must die, does not fall down at Jesus’ feet, does not offer that mighty Jesus homage and glory, and that even at Easter there are still thousands by thousands, who feel no impulse, no enthusiasm in themselves, to take the psalm of Resurrection in their lips.

If ever an epos has been sung, that can inspire and delight, it is indeed the glad story of Jesus’ rising from the dead.

Death is mourned the world over. There is no human eye, from which Death has not forced tears of grief and sadness. No child of man lives, that shall once not sleep the sleep of Death, and see, here is the eternal Vanquisher of Death, a triumphator such as mighty Rome has never known, and Who guarantees life from Death to all that will cling to Him,—and yet that poor world in its excitement and false hollowness keeps standing afar off, and when it hears God’s children in holy inspiration sing the “Christ is risen”, curls its lips with the sneer of unbelief, and turns back into its own somberness again.

That the children of God, from sheer pity for that somber, insunken world, might make their Easter psalm sound ever louder from land to land, from pole to pole!

Whatever be made dumb, that Song of Resurrection must never die away.

It is the song of hope for our human race.

But above all that God’s children might show their real faith in this victory over Death and Grave.

Show it by putting away all fear of dying. Show it, in daily life, that they do not reckon merely with this short life that passes away, but far more with the eternal life that comes after. Show it yet more still, by radiating already here the glow and lustre of the new life, and by not letting the band hang loose, that binds them to the Prince of Life.

For this and nothing less, O, ye children of the Kingdom, you owe to Immanuel, Who arose, that your praise might be the escort of His triumph. You owe this to yourself, that your life be no longer from Death and for Death, but from the Resurrection of Christ and for the eternal Resurrection. You also owe this to the world that does not yet believe, and that from your faith must learn to know Immanuel, the Prince of Life.

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