The Anatomy Of Resurrection by Apostle Arome Osayi: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Gospel of God — Romans 1

Romans 1:1: "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God."

The Greek word rendered "servant" here is actually doulos — a slave. The difference between a servant and a slave is this: a servant can decide to serve another master, but a slave is bound to one master permanently. Paul identifies himself as a slave of Jesus. He had lost the right to choose another master. He had other capabilities — he could have been a governor, an attorney, a distinguished scholar — but he was separated from all of those possibilities and gave himself entirely to proclaiming the gospel of God.

What is the gospel of God? It is explained in the subsequent verses and concerns a person: Jesus Christ. Not Christ Jesus — that is his office. Jesus Christ speaks of his person. The gospel of God is about a person, and that person is the center and circumference of all good news from God to humanity.

Romans 1:3-4 reveals a duality in Jesus' identity:

• He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh
• He was declared to be Son of God with power, by the Spirit of holiness, through the resurrection of the dead

These two designations require separate treatment. One speaks to his humanity; the other to an event that shook the entire underworld.

The Covenant of David — Why Jesus Came Through That Line

There are five functional covenants in scripture. God operates in the earth through covenants — because by royal decree in Psalm 115:16, he gave the earth to the sons of men, and he is so principled that he cannot violate that decree. If God wants to do something on earth, he must do it through legitimate human authority established by covenant.

The fourth covenant is the covenant of David. Psalm 89:20-29 reveals its content: God found David his servant, anointed him, established him, and declared that his seed would endure forever, his throne like the days of heaven.

David was not a king who ruled from his head — from concern about his image and honor. He was a man after God's own heart. He was consumed with his affection for God, not with his own carriage or reputation. Because of the kind of heart David had, God was able to rule Israel through the throne of David. His rulership season was called "the days of heaven upon earth" because the throne was aligned as a tool through which God administered the entire realm.

That is why God immortalized his throne. And that is also why Jesus did not come through any other royal lineage — because the covenant of David had to do with a specific kind of heart toward God.

In Psalm 89:27, a subtle shift occurs in the text: "I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth." At that point, the psalmist has transgressed the David we know and moved to the greater David — the real David. That greater David is Jesus, the one who made the throne everlasting.

Acts 2:29-36 confirms this. Peter's explanation for the day of Pentecost was that Jesus had been resurrected, ascended, and coronated Lord and Christ. He was ushered to the eternal throne of David. As Peter declared: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ."

The Problem the Cross Was Sent to Solve

In Ezra 1:2, Cyrus calls God "the God of heaven" — not the God of earth. This was not merely a title. It was a description of jurisdictional reality. God was recognized as the God of heaven because his authority was not efficacious upon the face of the earth. The earth had been given to the sons of men, and the prince of this world had taken dominion through Adam's fall.

This is the problem the cross was designed to solve. God wanted to no longer be called merely the God of heaven — he wanted to be the God of heaven and earth. But that required displacing the current ruler of this world and establishing a new administrator.

The grace of God is not arbitrary — it flows from a throne. Hebrews 4:16: "Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace." Grace is administered from a throne. And the purposes of God could not advance — not one soul could be saved — until that throne was occupied by a legitimate administrator.

What Happened at the Cross — John 19

Pilate wrote the title on the cross in three languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin — the three languages of literacy in the ancient world. Anyone literate in any of those contexts could read what was written: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

The chief priests protested. They wanted the inscription to read: "He said, I am the king of the Jews." Pilate answered: "What I have written I have written." It stood. Because the reason for his crucifixion was precisely this: that the kingdom of God — the throne of heaven — would be made effective and potent upon the face of the earth. God would no longer be called the God of heaven only.

The Three Days in the Underworld

When Jesus died, his soul went down. According to Luke 16, there were two compartments in the underworld: paradise and hell — both down, both waiting lounges, not final destinations. Paradise was where the righteous who died in faith waited. Hell was where the wicked waited.

1 Peter 4:6: "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." Jesus preached the gospel to those who were dead — those detained in paradise. His preaching created the possibility for them to live in the spirit.

Why three days? Because it took three days on the beam balance of heaven's justice, judgment, and equity to evaluate the weight of the blood of Jesus over and against sin. The question was: is the blood of Jesus weightier than sin in the realm of the spirit? Does its cry supersede the cry of sin? This was not a foregone conclusion that required no evaluation. The court of heaven is a seat of justice — there is no lie in that place.

When that evaluation was complete and the blood of Jesus was found sufficient — weighty beyond measure, speaking better things, on a higher volume and higher plane — the court of heaven was ready to act.

The Declaration Sent to Hell — Resurrection as Power

Romans 1:4: Jesus was declared Son of God "with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead."

The realm that does not acknowledge Jesus as Son of God is the realm of the underworld. At his baptism, heaven declared: "This is my beloved Son." But hell had never received that memo. During his temptation, Satan challenged that very title: "If thou art the Son of God..." — signaling that the underworld did not recognize the authority.

But something happened in the underworld that changed this permanently.

After three days, when the evaluation was complete, the Holy Spirit was released from heaven to go to hell and resurrect Jesus. But note what had to happen first. Satan had mobilized all his forces — all principalities and powers — to ensure Jesus did not rise. Colossians 2:15: "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made an open show of them, triumphing over them in it." The word rendered "spoiled" in the Greek is ekdyō — a military term for a particular kind of surrender. The protocol: the defeated are stripped naked. Their weapons and armor are taken. An iron mark is pressed into their backs bearing the conqueror's crest. Then they are made to lie face down while the victor walks out of the prison house.

Satan was stripped. His armor was taken. He lay face down while Jesus walked out — leading captivity captive. All those who had been detained in paradise were led out in a procession. Everyone saw Satan naked. It was open. It was public. It was a declaration.

From that day, when a man dies in the Lord, he no longer goes down. He goes up. Hebrews 12:22-23: "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem — to the spirits of just men made perfect." The spirits of just men made perfect are in Zion. Paradise is currently empty. A monarch made a trip to the underworld — and he cleaned it out.

What Resurrection Means for Today

The declaration of Jesus as Son of God was not made to men — it was made to principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness. That is why, subsequently in the book of Acts, demoniacs acknowledge Jesus. The seven sons of Sceva tried to cast out demons and the demon replied: "Jesus I know." How did they come to know? Because a statement was made to them in the underworld that will never be erased. They believe — and they tremble. Not because they chose to, but because the act of power that registered his identity cannot be undone.

Resurrection emptied paradise, changed the configuration of the entire world permanently, and made hell's acknowledgment of Christ's lordship an established fact.

This is what Easter is. It is not a ceremony. It is the moment a monarch descended into the prison house of the universe, evaluated and found worthy by the court of heaven, walked out with the captives, stripped the jailer, and ascended to his throne — the throne from which grace is administered to every soul who calls upon his name.

We no longer go down. We are come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. That is the inheritance of the resurrection.