Why Satan doesn’t want you to believe in the resurrection

The entire teaching of fundamental Christianity pivots around the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Satan could convince you (as he did the Sadducees in the New Testament times) that the resurrection is a hoax, then we would be of all men most miserable. Sad-u-see. One of the prerequisites to salvation is to believe in the resurrection “that God hath raised Him from the dead.” The resurrection of Christ was the central theme of Peter’s sermons and resulted in several thousand believing on Jesus. Acts 2:24; Acts 3:15; Acts 4:33; Acts 10:40; Acts 17:3 and in Romans 1:4. He’s alive!

In Peter’s greeting to the church in I Peter 1: 3-4, he credits the fact of the resurrection is the source of their lively hope. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a Lively Hope by the resurrection of Christ from the dead — to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away — reserved in Heaven for you.”

The reason that Satan does not want us to believe in Easter is obvious. He wants us to be miserable, he doesn’t want us to have a lively hope, and doesn’t want us to have any power. When Jesus rose from the grave, he conquered death, the grave and hell. Ephesians 1: 20&21 tells us that the Power that God gave to Jesus, who he raised him from the dead, placed him above – far above all principalities and power and might, and far above every name.

To know him in the power of his resurrection is a goal that Paul was working toward and one we as Christians should head for today. Get to know this Living Savior. You ask me how I know he lives – he lives within my heart.

The empty cross and the empty grave were signs to the early church that death had been conquered. Resurrection was the word of that young church. Jesus’ breakout of the prison of death was at the center of their heart. They didn’t greet each other by saying “Happy Easter,” their greeting was “He Is Risen.” They weren’t preaching a creed, they were announcing with assurance and confidence that, “God is God, not of the dead, but of the living.” They didn’t offer any explanation, because the event was the talk of the town. It was God’s awe-

some doing for it was incomparable. God had stepped into the stream of time and given us a glimpse of eternity. And they were telling it.

The angel moved the stone and sat on it as if challenging death to put it back. The tomb stood with its mouth open and the pale horse of death went limping off into the mist.

That empty grave is a silent prophecy that all of Gods’ people shall conquer death through Christ. He’ll find his own, no matter where they’re buried. He’ll empty oceans and overturn mountains. His resurrection

assures us of eternal life with him.

Paul said, “I want to know Him and the Power” (or energy) “of His resurrection” Philippians 3:10. Resurrection life energizes the believer. Our own assets, our own abilities become as so much junk, and we need to get rid of the junk so that we may know that Power. In the NIV Luke wrote this about the early church — Acts 4:33 “and with great Power the apostles continued to testify of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them.”

We have come out of death with him into a New Life. Old things must pass away. Priorities must be in line with his plan. Our will must be in line with his will, and we must turn our back on sin, and self, and Satan.

A person knows when a tooth ache is gone and a person knows when sin is gone. The wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23) and Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6) — that’s you and me. I fit in that picture. The guilt is mine, the sentence is mine and, without Christ, the death is mine. But God was not willing that I should perish. He made it possible for me to have a new beginning.

We need to be in Christ. To invest ourselves in him! My past, my present, my future is in a person, a crucified, and risen Savior.