"Jesus … whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that He should be holden of it" (Acts 2:24).

A stanza from an old hymn says that Jesus Christ "burst the bars" of the grave and "tore its bands away." If a man bursts the bars of the state prison, the entire police force of the commonwealth will be after him to bring him back. If, on the contrary, he has served out his full time, all the power in the state cannot retain him a single hour longer.

It was prophesied that Jesus Christ must remain in the grave three days, but after that time had expired there was not enough power in heaven nor in hell to retain Him even one more moment.

—A.J. Gordon