Grave Situations: When Death Met the Resurrection

Introduction: Life's Difficult Seasons

If you live long enough, you find yourself holding both amazing and tough situations in the same hands. Recently, I experienced both: I traveled to Cleveland to witness my brother Adriel's wedding to his wife Autumn—a blessed occasion. But just 48 hours before leaving Atlanta, I learned that my closest aunt on my mom's side would be buried in Jacksonville, North Carolina, my hometown.

When death strikes someone close to you, the announcement is just the beginning of grief. You travel to your hometown, walk into the spaces where that person lived, attend viewings and funerals. You're left with memories—of her hugs that felt like she'd never see you again, even though tomorrow she would. She was the type of person you felt loved you. When we gathered with her grandchildren and others at the funeral, everyone shared the same thing: how deeply loved she made them feel.

These are the spiritual and emotional realities surrounding grave situations and burials. Before we dismiss this as mere human emotion, understand that scripture reveals significant spiritual implications in how we handle death and the dead.

The Spiritual Power Over Death

Let's look at 2 Kings 13:20–21. It reads:

So Elisha, the man of God, died and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land. As a man was being buried, behold, they saw a marauding band and the man was thrown into the grave on top of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Imagine being present at that burial. You came to honor the dead, but suddenly you see danger approaching. In haste and fear, you lower the body into the grave—not your first choice for honor, but necessary for survival. Then it happens: the body touches Elisha's bones, and the man stands up alive.

Don't underestimate the Spirit of God in a person's life. Elijah is dead and gone, but they touched his bones and received an Old Testament resurrection. The spiritual authority and power that operated through that man of God didn't die with his body—it remained.

The Battle Over Bodies

Another grave situation involves Moses. Deuteronomy tells us God himself buried Moses in a valley, and to this day nobody knows the exact location. But then we turn to Jude 1:9:

But when the Archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment on Satan, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."

Wait. The Archangel Michael and Satan were fighting over the body of Moses. I didn't even know Satan wanted dead bodies until I read this verse. It puts a different spin on the question: "Who got the body?"

Jesus in the Grave

Now we come to the ultimate grave situation—that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Matthew 27:57–60 tells us:

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Prophecy Fulfilled Even in Death

Even after Christ's death, prophecy continued to be fulfilled. Turn to Isaiah 53:9:

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

The original assignment was with the wicked—Christ hung between thieves. But God orchestrated something else. A rich man named Joseph came and tended to the body. People say the Bible isn't dependable. But Christ is in the grave—how is He pulling strings? How is He navigating events?

There is a heavenly Father who sees the end from the beginning. He is the Alpha and Omega, navigating Christ to fulfill all prophecies. That same Father navigates your own life. We have the same Father, beloved.

The Paradox of the Grave

But look at the juxtaposition here. He who said, "I am the resurrection and the life," now lies in a grave.

We know how this ends, but stay with me in this moment. How would you feel looking at the one who claimed to be the resurrection and the life—you saw Him heal the sick, raise the dead—and now His body is in the grave?

Martha's Faith in Crisis

To understand what this moment meant, let's go back to when Jesus first made that claim. John 11:17–25 shows us the raising of Lazarus:

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their now dead brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

I want to pause here. Many of us have finite minds still receiving revelation from God. Sometimes things simply won't work out the way we think they will. How many of us have taken a detour in our Christian lives because we had our hearts set on a certain outcome—and it didn't happen? We said, "God, this is not fair. You do not love me." And we walked away.

This was Martha's prime opportunity to do exactly that. But look at her response:

Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

When things don't go the way you think they should, don't get on your heels when it comes to your faith.

It's easy to look at the promises of God, put God in a box, and say, "God, I know exactly how You're going to move." Then He doesn't move like that. And you question whether He's stable. You question whether He's dependable because you had it figured out. You were looking for Him here, but He moved over there. Now you're disappointed. Now you don't want to go to small group. Now you don't want to serve. Now you don't want to be on the praise team anymore. Now you don't want to pray. Now you don't want to post. Now you're done with Christianity.

I need to talk to disciples about this, because I saw something online that breaks my heart. A woman said, "I've been unemployed for six months, and I never wanted to not be a Christian anymore so badly."

Some of you can resonate. I've been unemployed before—one day feels like five weeks. You need a check. The rent is still due on the first. You don't know where to go. The walls start closing in. But family, six months is only halfway around the sun. And now you don't want a relationship with the only One who can save your soul?

That tells me she had a faulty foundation. I believe she heard bad preaching. Because there's no way we can talk about a trial 180 days long and now put off an eternal God. We cannot link the temporal with the eternal. We cannot judge the eternal on what we see. We have to judge the eternal on what we don't see—because it is the foundation of everything you do see.

When the earth was void and formless, God was still God. When a tree grows up and gets cut down, we can't be upset at what we see and judge God on something He created and has a plan for.

Some of you are saying: I thought this relationship was going to end in marriage. We were together three years. I went and got another master's degree. They still won't hire me. I don't want to be a Christian anymore. I thought I was going to have financial security. I'm still struggling. I don't want to be a Christian anymore. I thought opening a church would draw a thousand people. Only two showed up. One is my mama. I don't want to be a Christian anymore. Finally got a wife. Now she doesn't like me. I don't want to be a Christian anymore.

We laugh, but raise your hand if you've got your own story.

Jesus Continues the Conversation

Jesus said to Martha, "Your brother will rise again." Martha replied, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."

But here's her fault: she thought she understood how it would happen. "Yeah, You're going to do that over there. We'll see him later." She was missing the resurrection happening right now. She was consulting her own understanding instead of consulting Jesus.

What are you missing out on because you don't consult Him? You could be experiencing the very supernatural power and miracle of God right here, but you refuse to turn to the right. You just want to look straight ahead.

Jesus said to her:

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

Do you really believe that whoever believes in Him shall never die? Some of you do. Some of you don't. Some of you think you do, but you don't.

Let me probe your heart with this: If you were presented with death right now, would you be afraid? Most of us, when presented with death, get afraid. We say we're not sure Jesus will catch us on the other side. We have to lean into the scriptures like they're the actual words of a Savior, not just suggestions. If you don't lean in and seek to absorb and believe, it will show in your life.

Will you take an assignment to go somewhere there's persecution? "No, I think I'm good." But do you believe if you went on the battlefield, He would catch you in persecution? This is disciple talk. We have to lean into the words of Christ at all times as if He's a living Savior who will back up everything He said.

A Word to the Unbeliever

Let me speak to the unbeliever for a moment. I'm glad you're here. You're considering the claims of Christ. You can belong before you leave if you will believe.

According to the scriptures, you are dead. What do I mean? In the Bible, we talk about two types of death. At the very beginning, God said to Adam, "When you eat from the tree, you shall surely die." Adam ate the fruit—did he pass out physically? No. But he died spiritually. And beloved, if you are not in Christ, you are dead spiritually. There is no gray area.

Either you are grafted into Christ, you believe in Him, you are sealed with His Holy Spirit, you have biblical faith, and He's coming back to get you—or you will go to the lake of fire. I know we wish there was a middle ground. It would make the gospel easier to present. But there isn't.

When I say this, the room gets cold. Because when I say it, you start checking your heart. Are you with Him or not? This is the most important thing in your life.

For every person without Christ: you are born, you live, you die, and you are done. You can have fun. You can get joy. You can get money. You can go places. You can get accolades. People can love you. But you're going to die, and then it's over.

But the believer has been born. We've done some living. But by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have been born again. We've been grafted into Christ. We live some more. We win some and lose some. Either we'll be alive when He cracks the sky, or we'll fall asleep. Why do I say "fall asleep"? Because in the scriptures, believers don't even taste what's called the second death—eternal separation from God. When we sleep, as long as we're in Christ, we call it nap time. We just go to sleep: absent from the body, present with the Lord. It's body nap time.

Because Jesus' body is in the grave, we skip the second death. You actually don't even taste death anymore. Even when your lungs expire, you get to meet the One who loved you and paid for your sins on the cross.

I've got a saying: Don't threaten me with a good time.

Listen, I've got young babies. My wife Nia and I are coming up on eleven years of marriage, and that's amazing. I'm assigned to some of you, and I love the people around me. But outside of that, the world has nothing for me. It ain't got nothing for you either—you just don't believe it yet. Everything the world offers you steals from you on the back end. You may smile on the front end, but on the back end, you're losing.

I was talking to a good brother who went back to street life for a little bit. It destroyed him. He knew it destroyed him because he had tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Let me say it another way. Ephesians 2:1–3:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, which is Satan, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

You may be disobedient sometimes as a believer, but you are not a son of disobedience. That's good news, sir. I want to encourage somebody who has fallen, who isn't getting it all right. At least you're getting up and trying. You're leaning in. You're trying to access the grace of God. You're trying to repent. You're trying to figure it out. You're not a son of disobedience.

You're a son of God who needs to get it together, like the rest of us.

You're being conformed to the image of Christ. Lean into the Spirit instead of the flesh. Beloved, it takes time. I want to encourage you. I want to talk to the person who's trying, whom the enemy is eating up with condemnation at night. Keep trying. Keep trying. Keep trying. Get up again. Christ died for your ability to try again. I've been there. The first five years of being saved, I was still trying to figure it out. We just want to feel saved. We win way more than we lose now. But how do you even get access to the Holy Spirit to start winning? You've got to be saved.

Verse three says:

Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

I want to say something in front of the unbeliever. I can't stand a hardy believer—the kind who only wants to flaunt their flawless record, who only wants to judge from a place of perfection. But listen here: I ain't been jealous all day, but you gossip all night. Can't wait to hear the tea. That's gossip. That's one of those little sins nobody talks about. We talk about prostitution, sexual sin, ONLY FANS, homosexuality—God cares about those. But God also cares about jealousy, backbiting, envy, gossip, hate, and discord among the brethren. All of it is in the book.

You just want to be judged when you show up good. We all once lived in the passions of our flesh. We're still battling. We're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Go back to the unbeliever: If you're not saved with Christ, your nature is children of wrath like the rest of mankind. That's the truth, beloved. There's no middle ground.

Now watch what happens to believers. Look at Ephesians 4–7:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

The immeasurable riches. That's the bag I want. That's the wealth I'm after.

I can look at somebody and say, "I got that bag, and I got it in Christ." Unbeliever, that can be you. See that eruption of praise that just happened? We just talked about the salvation our Lord and Savior Jesus gave us. He didn't say we worked for it. It said by grace. Thank you, Lord. That's how you got it—by grace, in faith. That's why we belong to Him.

The Tomb Cannot Hold Him

Let's jump back to the core text. Matthew 27:61:

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.

Joseph closed the tomb after putting Christ inside. All the other disciples had fled. But there were two people still there.

I want to talk to anyone with a raggedy past when it comes to abandonment. Some people were supposed to show up for you, and they didn't. They were supposed to love you, and they abused you. They were supposed to raise you, and they neglected you—whether physically or emotionally, it doesn't matter. Unfortunately, too many of us carry that baggage into community and cast that same thought on our brothers and sisters.

I just want to point out: There are some people in the body who will not leave you. They'll go with you to your grave.

I've got four children—they're not babies anymore, they're toddlers, and they keep moving around. Pray for the Hayes household! On top of chasing them and raising them, I get to peek around corners and see something extremely beautiful. When I'm not even looking, I see them being kind to one another. If you're a parent, you know what I mean. If you're not, you don't. It warms my heart that they take care of each other.

We need more of those testimonies in the body. I'm not talking about codependency or trying to be somebody's savior. There's only one Savior, and His name is Jesus. I'm talking about doing what you can, when you can, as inspired by the Holy Ghost.

I'm not asking you to give $2,000. But if you see somebody struggling, can you give them a $10 gas card? I'm not saying take them to Ruth Chris—can you give them $10 for Chick-fil-A? A lot of times we get so overwhelmed we do nothing at all.

There's actually something in sociology and psychology called the bystander effect. If someone falls and hurts their knee and 25,000 people walk by, everybody essentially says, "Somebody else will do it." We do the same thing in the body. "Somebody else will pray for them. Somebody else will send them a scripture. Somebody else will give them a hug. Somebody else will think of them and send them a song. Somebody else will check in on them."

Listen, we're texting like crazy. You can still dial people and call them. You know that still works, right? We're saved—nobody remembers phone numbers anymore—but you actually have their number saved, it rings, and they pick up and you talk to them live. I'm being facetious, but sometimes we don't want to be inconvenienced with a live call. We just want a quick text.

But if you just lost your mother, wouldn't you want a call or an in-person hug? I'll take the text too. But sometimes we need to inconvenience ourselves more. Not to the point where we're on the other side of the ditch with a savior complex—that's a ditch on both sides of the road. I'm talking about being kind. I'm talking about acting like the body, even when someone is dying in an area.

As our pastor says often, sometimes people just need the ministry of presence. You don't have to have 65 scriptures in the Greek and Aramaic. Just show up.

Not everybody will leave you, beloved. But if you don't believe that, you won't lean into community. You'll be a bystander in the body of Christ. We need to change that.

The Final Conspiracy

Let's go to the final portion of scripture. Matthew 27:62–66:

The next day, that is after the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise.' Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people he has risen from the dead. And they said, 'The last fraud will be worse than the first.' Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers. Go make it as secure as you can." So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

The Evil of the Conspiracy

How evil and wicked are they? They won't even leave Christ alone in the grave. He's dead. They still conspire against Him, lie about Him, and call Him a fraud. On top of that, no doubt some, if not all of them, heard about all the supernatural things that happened when Christ died on the cross—the curtain torn from top to bottom, the earth shaking, rocks splitting, believers literally rising and walking the streets. And here they are, still calling Him an impostor and a fraud.

The Stone Cannot Keep Him

I can't preach the resurrection—that's not my lane. I'm trying to stay in my assignment. But we know how this thing ends, and it's not going to work.

They could have put 10,000 soldiers on guard—it wasn't going to work. They could have sealed it with steel and vibranium—it wasn't going to work. He's coming out of that grave. Oh, He's coming out of that grave to secure our salvation. He's coming out of that grave.

My family, you know what that means? Ultimately, for us who are in Christ, whatever your enemy sets up for you, it won't work. At the culmination of all things, trust and believe, some of us are going to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and taste that the Lord is good on this side. But definitely at the culmination of all things, we live forever.

We live forever. We have eternal life now, which is to know the true and living God. And it stands for now. When we go through nap time, when He raises us and we meet Him in the middle of the air and we are with Him forever—forever.

So now, beloved, we can confidently say:

Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?

We can look death in the face and say, "Oh death, where is your sting? Oh grave, where is your victory?" Because ours is in Christ Jesus.