Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. (Acts 2:22-24)

Death Cannot Keep Its Prey

Jesus taught His disciples that He was going to die. He described how He would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and the scribes. Jesus said that He would be killed, but three days later, he would rise from the dead. This is something He told the disciples on multiple occasions. He spoke this word openly of His death and resurrection. On one occasion, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke the Lord for saying such things. Jesus, in turn, rebuked Peter in front of the disciples and told them that His death was the will of the Father.

The announcement of His death was startling enough, but no one seemed to take seriously the news that after three days, he would rise from the dead. Jesus used Jonah’s story to illustrate how He would die but rise three days later. What Jesus knew and what He and the Father had planned before time began was for Him to suffer the death of a mortal man, and then God would raise Him up on the third day before corruption could set in.

Death reigned over the world with a deadly grip of fear. There had been no demonstrations of the power of the forces of Hades before Jesus. The death of Jesus was not only to redeem sinful man from the wrath of God but to break the bonds of slavery encased in the realm of the Hadean realm. Jesus knew He would die, but death would not be able to keep Him. The Father would not allow His Son to suffer corruption in the grave. On the first day of the week, the Son of God rose. Death was unable to hold Him.

Peter explained to the devout Jews gathered for Pentecost the death of Jesus was by the foreknowledge of God. The Jews had killed Jesus by lawless hands, but it was in keeping with the will of the Father. They crucified Jesus and put Him to death. God raised Jesus up, having loosed the pains of death. The reason is because death could not keep its prey. Jesus could not be held by the tentacles of death. The Son of God rested in the bosom of Abraham until the third day. He left the realm of the dead, returning to the world as a man for forty days. He then ascended to the Father.

Paul declared Jesus was seen by the apostle Peter and then by the twelve. After that, He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once. Many of those people still lived when Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. Jesus was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Paul writes Jesus appeared last to him as one born out of due time. Death did not keep its hold on Jesus. The Lord remained in the grave for three days and rose so His body would not suffer the corruption of the flesh.  

Robert Lowry (1874) wrote the hymn, “Christ Arose,” where he said, “Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior; He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord.” The sting of death is gone because Jesus rose from the dead. Victory in Jesus gives joy to the heart of the Christian, knowing that death will come, but death has no power to keep its prey. All men will die, but not all men will suffer the pain of death. Jesus said most will be lost, but the few will not be held hostage to the shackles of death. For the Christian, death is a release, a new beginning, an eternal journey of joy. Death cannot keep me. We will tear the bars away. Jesus, our Lord.