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The Risen Prince of Life and His Servant, the Angel

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The Risen Prince of Life and His Servant, the Angel

7 minuten leestijd Arcering uitzetten

“The Lord is risen indeed” (Luke 24:34a).

Rev. C. Vogelaar, Clifton, NJ

It was a joyful message that could be brought on the day of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection. Easter means, “The Lord is risen indeed.” It is the divine stamp “satisfied, paid, or received” placed upon the work, the sacrifice, of Good Friday. It is God’s public acquittal of the Son. No human eye has seen this, but God’s church will receive the benefits of it.

The angel descends from heaven

Angels are ministering spirits; they serve God and are near Him. We read, “The angel of the Lord descends” upon God’s command. He comes in God’s name, for here something from heaven is going to happen. The work that the Servant of the Father had promised to do is finished. Sin has made a breach between heaven and earth, God and man. Have we already seen this? When the Lord opens our blind eyes, we will experience this. We live as guilty creatures under a closed heaven; we may try to bridge this gulf between God and us. We may try to pray heaven open or to break heaven open with our tears, promises, and reformations, but all is impossible. Although, sometimes, there are encouragements, a holy and righteous God can have no fellowship with a guilty sinner.

However, Easter means that heaven is opened; the breach is restored. On Golgotha, Christ stood in the breach between heaven and earth, between God and the sinner. Now, the heavens bow to the earth, condescending to it. Heaven approves of the work of the Son. Easter is the “Amen” of God upon the work on Golgotha. Christ is raised for the justification of His people. They have learned, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” They come into the workhouse, but in that house no peace will be found. When the heavenly Judge demands payment, they have nothing to give. Also, with the precious promises and manifestations of the Saviour to their soul, they cannot stand before this Judge. They are cut off from everything and will declare that God is just if He would cast them away forever. What a wonder that heaven descends to the earth, for God is pleased with the price that His Son has paid.


The closed grave is the preaching of death. The opened grave is the preaching of life. This sepulchre is open towards above, towards heaven. This will now also be true for the grave of God’s people for Christ was laid in their grave, which was an entrance to eternal destruction. Now the grave is open towards fellowship with God. Now they may say with the psalmist in Psalm 118:19, “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD.”


The angel opens the grave

When the angel of the Lord descends from heaven, there is an earthquake. The Lord is going to break the chains of death. The earth shakes as a token of God’s majesty. Easter tells us there is hope even for dead sinners. As God moved the earth, so He can do with the hardest of hearts. Divine omnipotence is required, and it is there. The earthquake does not open the grave. This, the angel does. He opens the door that the Bridegroom may come out of His chamber; He is the Sun of Righteousness. We read of the sun in Psalm 19:5, “Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.”

The Lord Jesus has conquered death and the grave, and He could have opened the grave Himself. He is the majestic Victor, yet a servant from heaven does this work. He comes, breaks the seal, and rolls back the stone from the door. It is as if the angel says to the grave, “You have neither the power nor the authority to keep the King of glory there any longer.”

We, too, have sealed the grave. We do this a) with our unbelief, “How can this be?”; b) with our self-righteousness when we want to be saved by the works of the law; c) even after having received grace, we hold on to the seals of the grave as the women coming to the grave on Easter morning; we seek life in so much outside of Christ. However, the seals are broken, and the stone is rolled away. What a wonder this becomes for people who have learned with the poet of Psalm 116:3, “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.” Now the bonds will be broken, and it will be “He has delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears.” The closed grave is the preaching of death. The opened grave is the preaching of life. This sepulchre is open towards above, towards heaven. This will now also be true for the grave of God’s people, for Christ was laid in their grave which was an entrance to eternal destruction. Now the grave is open towards fellowship with God. Now they may say with the psalmist in Psalm 118:19, “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD.”

The angel sits upon the stone

Taking a seat is a verb that expresses continual action. The angel takes a stone as a seat and sits on it as though it were a throne, thereby taking possession of it. What a glorious view this is. The stone preached the power of death, but it is now a throne. The stone spoke of the invincible power of death, “In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” In Paradise, a stone has been laid before the grave of our life. Nobody could remove this stone. Death is absolute and is the beginning of eternal separation, but the sting of death is sin. Christ, the precious, glorious Saviour, has taken away sin, has made atonement for it. The power of sin is broken. The angel sits, which is a victorious sitting.

The stone which is rolled away and upon which the angel sits is now the symbol of new life. That stone which reminded us of the terrible judgement of God was a sign of His righteous punishment, but now the angel is sitting upon it. That means Easter proclaims the Prince of Life has reconciled death and has taken away the terror of it. What a comfort it is when the Holy Spirit shows this to distressed and burdened souls with debts they cannot pay— souls who miss a Surety. There is a heavy stone of fear of death upon their heart. However, if the light of Easter, of the risen Sun of Righteousness, may be shed upon their heart, they may see that death lies at the feet of Christ. He who is Victor, who descended into death, is now risen. What a wonder of grace it is if the Holy Spirit testifies in the heart of a condemned sinner that He has risen without my sin and guilt. Now after death, life is prepared for them. Now the gate of heaven is open, and there is access to a holy and righteous God. He has found a ransom. He is satisfied with the work of His Son. This is what Easter preaches.

Blessed are they who may experience that God’s wrath is removed from them and with the disciples may hear, “Peace be unto you.” Such sinners have lost everything, even all grounds of hope to stand upon, and they must sink away under the well-deserved anger of God. Now they can say, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” (Psalm 118:17). The hardest sinner can still be converted because the grave is open and the mighty Conqueror, the precious Lord Jesus, can bring him to His feet. Ask the Lord that this power may also be known in your life and the place of a beggar for mercy may be no longer strange to you. For God’s oppressed people, who are tossed with tempest and not comforted, there is the joyful tiding that the grave is open. The Lord Jesus is alive, and He will give peace and rest to those who, by God’s grace, may flee unto Him.

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