Hail! Thou holy and triumphant LORD JESUS!

"His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption." -Acts 2:31 [KJV] 

Two sweet, but distinct thoughts, arise out of this scripture: one, concerns the soul of Christ; the other, respects His body; and both are most blessed to the believer in the review. My soul! Thou hast attended to the parched state of thy Redeemer, as represented on the cross, and made it the subject of thy morning meditation; do thou now behold what this scripture states, under all His humiliating circumstances, that neither hell nor the grave can have dominion over Him. His soul shall not be long in a way of separation from the body, in the invisible state; for very shortly it shall arise from hades, the hell here mentioned. And His body is too holy, harmless, and undefiled, to admit of putrefaction; yea, it must be presented before the Lord for a sweet-smelling savour.  

Precious thought to the believer! Jesus needed not to lie long under the dominion of death: He had fully paid the debt of sin by death; and therefore there needed no detention to make farther restitution for the sins of His people, when thus fully cancelled. And as the infinite holiness and purity of His nature could not become subject to the power of corruption, He needed not to lie longer in the grave than might clearly and fully ascertain to His people in all ages, the reality of His death, for the better confirmation of the resurrection that followed.  

Hence Jesus could not be left, as the great representative of His people, in a situation so comfortless, when the work was completed which the Father gave Him to do. And as His holy nature could not admit the possibility of corruption; so the covenant of redemption exempted Him from it. Add to these, it was needful that, both in soul and body, He who had died for our sins, should rise again for our justification, and not only triumph in our nature over death, hell, and the grave, but return to the right hand of power, "there to appear in the presence of God for us."  

Hail! Thou holy and triumphant Lord! I bow the knee before Thee! In Thy holiness Thy people are considered holy: and as Thy spotless soul could not be detained in hell, neither Thy flesh see corruption, so all Thy redeemed shall be accounted holy before Thee, and through Thy righteousness, be considered righteous before God and Thy Father for ever. Amen. 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)

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