Death Overcome

God’s sovereign providence does not mean that our Creator is the only cause of what happens in creation. Although we cannot fully explain how it is that creatures truly and freely cause the things that God has ordained, divine providence does not eliminate our agency. Peter makes this clear in Acts 2:22–23 when he attributes the crucifixion both to God and to the evil men who actually put Jesus on the cross. The Lord in His plan established that the crucifixion would happen, and He did this with a good and holy intent, for He ordained to save His people through our Savior’s death (Rom. 3:21–26). He is the ever-righteous First Cause. Evil men, however, sinned in crucifying Jesus, for they willingly murdered an innocent man. With respect to the good accomplished, the crucifixion was a work of God, but with respect to the evil of its perpetrators, the crucifixion was a work of man. John Calvin comments: “Whereas Christ was delivered by the hands of wicked men, whereas he was crucified, it came to pass by the appointment and ordinance of God. But treason, which is of itself wicked, and murder, which hath in it so great wickedness, must not be thought to be the works of God.”

Our Creator’s good work did not end with His ordaining the death of Christ for our salvation. It continued in His raising Jesus again from the dead, “loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). Jesus’ resurrection was required in the eternal plan of God, so our Savior could never stay dead for long. He had to rise again so that we would be saved by His life (Rom. 5:10).

Death could not hold Jesus because God ordained that it would not, but that is not the only reason that Jesus rose again. He also had to rise again because of the perfect justice of God. Genesis 2:17 indicates that death was not part of the Lord’s original good creation; rather, God established it as the punishment for sin. Death has claim only over sinners; it has no rightful authority over the righteous. Jesus, the only man who has never sinned, could die only because the sins of His people were imputed to Him on the cross (2 Cor. 5:21). He was not personally guilty of any transgression. Thus, when God’s wrath against our sin had been exhausted on the cross, there was no wickedness left to keep Jesus in the grave. He had to rise again for our justification (Rom. 4:25). By raising Jesus from the dead, God declared that His Son is righteous and that in Jesus, through the imputation of His righteousness to us, God regards us as righteous as well.