Bev Murrill looks at what Jesus did for us

Bev Murrill

Soft sand slid under His feet; the air was pure and clean, redolent with the life it carried as He breathed it deep into His lungs, His body regaining its strength as He felt the lifeblood coursing again through His veins.

Three days He'd spent in the grave, bound and lifeless as His Spirit travelled far into the depths of hell on its vital journey. His mission? To reclaim the keys of death and hell, vital keys upon whose ownership the whole of creation depended. They must be won back so that mankind could be released from the chains of their own destruction. Thereafter, should they choose, they could walk in the victory of the new life He'd won for them through the act of His death and the miracle of His resurrection.

The blackness He walked through in that desperate mission reminded Him again of His own words, desperate pleas to His Father ... if it be possible...' But it was not possible! This was the route He'd chosen to walk even before the beginning of time. Resident within Him was the destiny of mankind!

As He walked through the emptiness of Sheol, the excitement, the grandeur of doing His Father's will sustained Him. He knew He was walking in victory, a victory already won through the laying down of His own life. He thought again of the love and grace of His Father's heart toward those He came to save. The greatest anguish and the most heartfelt despair, when surrendered in obedience ... had become the mightiest triumph and the most incredible salvation.

And there ahead he could see the keys, lost so many centuries before, given blindly to the cheat, the liar ... and now incredibly, no longer even under guard. The captors of the keys and people's lives, in their stupid vanity were now so sure of their victory; they had no need to guard them any more. They had destroyed the Lord of Glory; the Father's final trump card was dead and in the grave.

Too late! They turned and saw ... not dead but alive.

The screams of anguish go howling down the centuries as He, eyes blazing with fire and face shining like the sun in all its brilliance, strode out of death and into Life everlasting!

The Keys of death are His ... the enemy is defeated. Crown Him Lord of all!