In the last chapter we saw something concerning the Son’s resurrection in His divinity (Rom. 1:4; 1 Pet. 3:18) with His humanity (1 Cor. 15:44a). In this chapter we will see four major items concerning His resurrection: the Son laying down His life that He might take it again in resurrection, God raising Him from among the dead, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead, and the marvelous issue of the Son’s resurrection.
The Son laid down His life that He might take it again in resurrection (John 10:17-18). He died and rose (1 Thes. 4:14). To Christ, resurrection was something subjective. Christ Himself initiated the resurrection. In John 11:25 He said He was not only the life but also the resurrection. Resurrection is something living and rising up. If resurrection is put down, it rises up. Christ is not only life, but also resurrection. He is living all the time; He is rising up all the time. The New Testament tells us that the Roman soldiers killed Him, but it also tells us that He Himself laid down His life. When the soldiers came to arrest Him, He asked them whom they were seeking. When they said they were seeking Jesus of Nazareth, He answered, “I Am,” indicating He was Jehovah (John 18:3-6; cf. Exo. 3:13-15). He was Jehovah and if He had not been willing to give Himself to them, who could have arrested Him? If He had not been willing to lay down His life, who could have killed Him? Even the entire Roman army could not have killed Him (cf. Matt. 26:53). Apparently the Roman soldiers killed Him. Actually, He laid down His life which means that He died.
In the three days after His death He was taking His life back again. He had the ability to lay down His life and He also had the ability to take His life back again because He was the resurrection, and resurrection always rises up. When the soldiers were killing Him, the life within Him, the resurrection within Him, was rising up. This rising up of the resurrection made His spirit powerful with His divinity. It empowered His spirit and strengthened His spirit. After His body was buried, His spirit with His divinity went to the abyss to proclaim God’s victory over Satan to the disobedient spirits. After that proclamation, He came to His killed and buried body and His resurrection invaded and raised up His body. This was the process of His resurrection.
God has raised Jesus from among the dead (Rom. 10:9). The New Testament tells us that Jesus Himself rose from among the dead, and it also says that God raised Him up. Jesus and God are one. When Jesus rose up, that was God within Him rising up. The Triune God was fully involved in the resurrection of Jesus. While Jesus was rising up, God was within Him. Because Jesus was born of the divine essence intrinsically, God was in His nature. In the conception of Jesus, God became His very essence. Therefore, when He was a babe in the manger He was the mighty God (Isa. 9:6). The Mighty God was His intrinsic essence. When He was twelve years old, He was the mighty God; God was His essence. When He was standing in the water after baptism, He was the Mighty God; the Mighty God was the essence of His being. When He was nailed to the cross, that was the Mighty God being put to death since God was His intrinsic essence. When He was being raised from among the dead, He was God rising up; the very God Himself was the intrinsic essence of this rising up One. Therefore, His rising up was God’s rising up.
Jesus could never be separated from God since God was His intrinsic essence. Death could not hold Him because He was the resurrection. This resurrection is the Triune God Himself, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Life is the Triune God and resurrection is the Triune God. Since the Triune God was the intrinsic essence of Jesus, the intrinsic essence of Jesus was also resurrection itself. Death cannot overcome resurrection, but it is so easy for resurrection to overcome death. Hallelujah, He arose! He arose because He was God intrinsically, essentially, and He was resurrection itself.