The Principle Of The Resurrection by Dr. Myles Munroe: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Death — The Greatest Fear

The greatest fear of mankind is death. All religions are motivated by the need to resolve the death question. Death is the only power that controls every human — no one can stop it, resist it, or avoid it. Hebrews 9:27 — it is required that all men die. Death is also the equaliser — whether you are a king or a housekeeper, death puts everyone in the same place.

Where Did Death Come From?

Death was not created by the devil. According to scripture, death was created by God — but death was created without power. Wherever there is life, death must be somewhere, because the opposite of life is death. Death is inherent in life. When God created life, death was in that life — but death had no power to kill.

In Genesis 2, God told Adam, "You are free to eat of everything in the garden. But do not touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat of it, you will surely die." God was the first to introduce the concept of death. Adam never knew what death was — the word never entered his mind.

Death was given the power to kill by man. God told Adam: death exists in this garden, but death cannot touch you as long as you don't touch that tree. Death is like a bee without a sting — beautiful, but has no power.

The Power of Death Is Sin

1 Corinthians 15:54–56:

"O death, where is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Death gets its power from sin. Sin brought death to life. Therefore:

• Death was created dead.
• Sin gave life to death.
• Without sin, death has no power over man.
• The key to destroying the power of death is to destroy sin.

The problem is that you are the sinner. You gave death power through disobedience. You cannot take the power out of death yourself.

Why a Man Had to Die

In Hebrews 2, the scripture says: "For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same — that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil."

The word "human" is two words: humus (dirt, flesh) and man (spirit being). A human is a spirit being living in a dirt body, possessing a soul. God said to that creature, "The day you eat, you will surely die." God was not speaking to an angel, not to a goat, not to a spirit alone — he was speaking to a human.

Therefore, in order to solve the problem of man's disobedience, a man had to die. Not an angel, not a goat, not a bull. God loved the children so much that he refused to destroy them — but he had to keep his word. So God decided: "I will become a man myself. It will please me to bruise myself."

Jesus Fooled Death

Jesus was born without sin. In order for death to kill him, death had to have sin on him to have the power to do so. But Christ said, "I know the Father loves me — because if I came down here, death can't kill me. The Father loves me because I love the children so much that I am willing to go down sinless, which means I'm going to embarrass death."

John 10:17 — "The reason my Father loves me is because I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again."

Death couldn't kill Jesus because he had no sin. So Christ had to do something so death could kill him — he had to find some sin. Not his own — the children had it. So he took it off them, put it on himself, and died. But death miscalculated — it didn't realise that once he was killed, he would come back. Death lost twice: first it lost you, then it lost its right to keep him.

The Resurrection Morning

The resurrection of your body is not a goal to achieve. It is the natural result of death not being able to keep you anymore, because what it was using to hold you — it lost.

Christ didn't struggle to come out of the grave. Death was struggling — but death couldn't find the power to use to keep him, because he had taken away from death the one thing it needed: sin.

Matthew 27:51–53 — At the moment Jesus died, the tombs were opened and many holy people who had died were raised. They came out of the tombs and after Jesus's resurrection, went into the holy city and appeared to many. Before he was raised, death had already realised it was over. Those saints couldn't go up yet — but they couldn't stay down anymore. Death said, "Oh Lord, I lost them."

The Message of the Resurrection

• The power of death is sin.
• The destruction of sin is victory over death.
• The resurrection is proof that the sin problem was solved.
• The resurrection is evidence that death no longer has the right to reign over mankind.

Your body will eventually go to the cemetery. But Paul says you can die in hope. Mourn because you miss those who are gone — not because you won't see them again. Because in this life, we live in the kingdom, and death lost.

Jesus said to Mary, "I am the resurrection and the life. Even if you die, you shall live again." Death's problem is it can only kill you once. Give God praise for freedom from the fear of death.