They laughed at Wilbur and Orville Wright. “It’s not possible for man to fly,” they said. But the Wright brothers did fly, and we fly today. Sometimes what we think is not possible, really IS possible. On the other hand, there ARE some things that are absolutely not possible.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not specializes in revealing the seemingly impossible. But there is one thing that Ripley will never include in its repertoire, and that is a dead Jesus. In his sermon on the day of Penticost (Acts 2:24), Peter said, “Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.” Now that was a true impossibility! It was not possible for the pains of death to hold Jesus.
The word “possible” is a Greek word that means “powerful and strong.” It carries the idea of having the strength or the means to do something. But when the little word “not” is added, the concept is exactly the opposite. There is no strength or means to do it. It is an impossibility!
Well, that is what Peter said about death. We are all afraid of death because it seems so powerful. Once a person is in the grip of death, they are gone. The bands of death are too strong for us to break them. But with Christ, it was different—Death came face to face with a superior strength. The omnipotent God simply reached down and broke the bands of death.
It’s like Gulliver, who laughed at the little thread which the Lilliputians had tried to bind him. Their puny ropes were no match for Gulliver’s giant strength. Well, the bands of death were no match for God’s giant strength. He snapped the bands as if they were mere threads, and raised up Jesus form the dead because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
Now you know the real meaning of the word.
So, don’t be afraid of death. Because of Christ, God will break the bands of death for you, too, if you have placed your trust in Him.