Someone, in describing the resurrection of Christ said, “The Savior burst forth from the tomb which could no longer hold Him; He broke out of the prison which could not confine Him.”  There is no doubt but what the almighty Savior arose.  He certainly could have pulverized the stone that lay across the entrance into His sepulcher, but He did not do that, for it would appear as if He did indeed break out of prison.  To suggest that He broke out of prison is inconsistent to the truth that He had finished His redemptive work.  When someone breaks out of prison, they have defied the law; they are, therefore, a fugitive from the law because they short-changed justice.  They failed to live up to the demands of the penalty for breaking the law.  When a prisoner serves their time, the prison door opens for them because all that the legal system required as satisfaction for the crime of which they were guilty has been fulfilled.  The judicial authorities declare, as it were, that the prisoner must be released.

    The Lord Jesus did not break out of the tomb; He was freed from the prison of death for He had paid the debt which His people owed to the justice of God.  All that the law demanded as perfect compensation for our guilt, the Savior successfully rendered.  It is written, “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).  An angel was commissioned from the Father and “rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it” (Matthew 28:2).  All that divine justice required was accomplished by our glorious Substitute to the Father’s satisfaction; nothing more could ever be exacted from Him and no indebtedness remains for those in whose stead He died.  The resurrection announces that a just God is satisfied, the work which He sent His Son into this world to accomplish has been perfectly achieved and His people were redeemed back to God by the blood of His cross.