CHAPTER XXXIII
SERMON—GIFTS FOR MEN
“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; we for the rebellious also, that the Lord might dwell among them.” Psalms 68.18.
After all the life of Jesus, after all his mighty signs, and wonders, and miracles, “Behold the Man!” “He spake as never man spake, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds, and the sea obey him?”
If he had stopped short at Calvary, or at going down into the cold grave, his work would have been a failure. Many people look only at the dead Saviour. They have only a dead religion: of form; and of works. They have no life, or power. Remember Jesus brought life, and immortality to light, to us, through the Resurrection. No, the grave could not hold him, though all hell was up in arms to hold him cold in death. A hundred or more armed soldiers stood around his grave, for fear that his disciples would steal his lifeless body away. They also sealed the sepulchre with the governor’s seal, and it was death to break that seal.
A mighty battle was fought. All the armies of heaven were engaged with the hosts of hell, in fierce array around the rock casket, or tomb, where the mangled body of Jesus, our crucified Lord, lay cold in death. Hear the demons, “We have got him, and we will hold him captive. Where is your prince? Where is your King?” But hark, listen! The battle turns, victory is near, help is coming. The Lord God Almighty is coming himself, with his great Angel, that rolls back the stone from the sepulchre and sits upon it. His countenance was like lightning, his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did quake. They fell, and lay as dead men.
God, with his mighty presence, sent a great earthquake, and with a great shout over death, and hell, and the grave, we see the Conquerer come forth, holding the keys to unlock the prison house of the dead.
We see the women last at the cross, the first at the grave. The angel said, “Fear not, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which
was crucified, he is not here for he has risen. Come and see the
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