Michael Koulianos passionately preaches about the resurrection of Christ, emphasizing its profound significance and the mystery of God becoming man. He connects the resurrection to the Protoevangelion in Genesis and highlights how the Old Testament foreshadows Jesus' victory over death. Koulianos illustrates that the grave could not hold Jesus due to His perfection, and he encourages believers to recognize that Christ's resurrection is also their own. The sermon culminates in a call to worship, acknowledging the wonder of God's plan for salvation and resurrection.

Let's jump into the resurrection. Guess what I'm preaching? Christ is risen. Imagine that! It's worked out so perfectly. Last week I, obviously Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, I taught on Psalm 16, verse 5 through 11, and then I touched on Genesis 3, that is called the Protoevangelion, or the first declaration of the gospel. The word proto is where we get the word prototype, first type, and evangelion means good news or the good message. How many of you know the gospel is very good news? Alright. It's great news, and if you can make complete sense of it, you haven't seen it by the Spirit. It should still, even within the nuts and bolts and fundamentals of the gospel, it should still strike a wondrous mystery in the heart. That who is this God who became man, listen carefully, fully God, fully man, and has remained fully God and fully man? Part of the reason, if not, well, let me say it another way, forever, forever, and I mean that literally, forever we will worship the one who is still incarnate in heaven. Does that make sense to you? So John says in the book of Revelation, I saw a lamb in the midst of the throne. So Jesus Christ is centerpiece in heaven because his father is a good father, and his father is okay with that. Any good father is okay with their children receiving the attention that is due them. Does that make sense to you? An insecure parent loves to get glory when their kids deserve glory. So forever in heaven we will gaze upon the majesty, the love, the wonder of the one who became man and has remained man and God as our high priest. It's incredible. This is one aspect of the gospel that strikes wonder. Although it does make sense to a degree, the wonder of it all should cause us to do something, and that's called worship. Does that make sense to you? So the first gospel is Genesis 315, or that's what it's called in the Greek, the Protoevangelion, and that Scripture reads, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he's speaking to the enemy here, her seed with a capital S, and he shall bruise your head, speaking of Jesus, to the enemy, and you will bruise his heel. That's Genesis 315. And then we talked about how the Scriptures teach in the book of Genesis that on the third day the seed broke ground and began to bear fruit. So anytime we see the seed mentioned in the Old Testament, speaking of Jesus, and that was a prophetic foreshadowing of the moment. Imagine this, that even in creation the Father was declaring the resurrection. He did not allow seed of its kind to sprout vegetation until the third day of creation. The Father was saying on the third day the seed who would bruise the head of the devil would break the ground on the third day, and that he being the first fruits would be the first of millions of fruits. You sitting here, by the way, his resurrection is your resurrection. You need to say thank you Jesus. So I want to touch on the resurrection a bit more. For the sake of review, or you can just go back and watch it online, but the Scripture references we use were Psalm 16, 5 through 11. I hope you take notes. I would recommend you take notes. A great theologian from the Jesus movement in the 70s used to say the only thing smarter than your brain is a piece of paper, it never forgets. Or, you know, whatever, a device. Type it in, just don't get on Instagram, the Lord will send a warring angel. Somebody said to me at this Slavic conference, my friend Andre and his wife Natasha lead, they were asking me, they did this panel for preachers, and they said, what does your prayer time look like? So I did my best to show them, and I'm going to do that in school this week, by the way, just literally get a chair and walk you through how the Lord has led me to pray for people, to pray and be in his presence. So they said, do you take a phone in there? I said, the phone is a demon. They go, oh. I said, you think Jesus is going to share the secrets of his heart with us when we're scrolling with our thumb? They're like, someone told me, but this is a social media generation. I go, what's that have to do with Jesus? Who cares? It's not changed. Joy Dawson said, he changes the rules for nobody, sweetie. Do you think generations affect the Lord? He's the ancient of days. He affects generations. Side note, so don't get squirrely with your phone. So we touched on Psalm 16, Genesis 3, 15. We touched on Psalm 22, verses 21 through 31. I also touched on Isaiah 53, verse 10 through 12, and I'd love for you to go back and read these. This is where I want you to turn today. Daniel 12, verses 2 through 3. Oh, my. Daniel 12, verses 2 through 3. When you get there, is everybody there? If you're there, say, Lily. There you go. Didn't that feel good? Feel recognized? Good. If you're there, say, Lily again. There you go. Daniel 12, verses 2 through 3. And many of those who sleep in the dust, I still have some pages, so I'll wait. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. The subtitle of Daniel 12 is The End Time, the prophecy of the end time. We see here in verse 2, many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Say this. Jesus has been raised from the dead, incorruptible. Therefore, I shall be raised from the grave. Say this. Close your eyes. His resurrection is my resurrection. Thank you, Jesus. Yeah, you can say thank you, Jesus. Oh, this one's amazing. Jonah 1, verse 17. Oh, this is powerful. This is just too much. Jonah 1, verse 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Interesting. Very interesting. Some theologians believe that Jonah actually died in the fish's belly. I'm not going to tell you what I think, but some think that. Nonetheless, and that's possible, by the way. I mean, if you're in the fish's belly for three days, it's not like the, you know, the Ritz. So it's safe to assume that it wasn't the best living environment. And some people look at this passage, they go, this is just the one thing I can't believe about the Bible. Come fishing with us one time. There are absolutely massive fish that could swallow you in a second. Go watch YouTube. There's a fish that tries to swallow a guy on a kayak. Not even a whale, just a big fish. Go catch a goliath grouper. They don't even have to bite down on the fish you're trying to catch. They come up behind it and suck it in from six feet away. So if you're wondering, are there any fish on the planet that could handle this, there are plenty. Plenty. Okay. And you want to come to a place with such faith, I tell the school this all the time, that if somebody says, do you believe that the fish swallowed Jonah? Do you believe the Bible? Your response will be, of course I believe it. And I would believe the Bible if it says Jonah swallowed the fish. Yes, I would. It's the word of God. It is forever settled in heaven. Therefore, it's settled in my heart. All right. Now I want you to look at Jonah 2 verse 3. And I want you to think of the resurrection of Jesus. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me. All your billows and your waves passed over me. Is that pretty clear? Now go to Psalm 88, verse 6 through 7. And I'm telling you, you should have brought a chapstick because you're about to get fried. You should have brought sunscreen. Your lips are going to get all jacked up right now. I'm telling you, this is so amazing, this next verse. And I want you to read this verse in relationship with the two verses we just read from the book of Jonah. Psalm 88, verse 6 through 7. You ready? You laid me in the lowest pit. What did I just read to you in Jonah 2? You've cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas. Floods surround me. Listen, listen, listen. In darkness, in depths, Psalm 88, verse 6 through 7. Your wrath lies heavy upon me. And you have afflicted me with all your waves. I love this at the end of this verse. Selah. In other words, chew on that one, big boy. You'll need prayer to figure that one out. That's basically what the Lord's saying. I'm going to blow your mind here with Messianic utterance in the Old Covenant just to mess you up. And the only way you're going to get this is through Selah. You're going to have to pray this one in. You need revelation. We need revelation to see the beauty of this. It only comes by the Spirit. Now, I want you to look for the similarities in the language of Jonah 2 and Psalm 88. It's the same language. You've afflicted me with all your waves. And Jonah writes, all your billows and your waves pass over me. When you begin to read the scriptures with the Holy Spirit, the one thing he will determine to teach you is that Jesus is speaking throughout. The whole Bible is about Jesus. The whole thing. Now, Jesse and I went to Caiaphas' dungeon, and we've begun working on an Israel trip for 2022 to give everyone a chance to calm down, get things in order over there, and then we'll see what happens. But we have begun the initial conversations. We're really excited about it. Jesse and I went the first trip together. She had been many times, but my first trip to Israel was with Jess and her dad's ministry. And so we went. And in Caiaphas' dungeon, which is where the Lord spent the night when he was arrested, there's a, you know, I don't know, maybe you'd know better, but from what I remember, it was about this, the ceiling was like that high. It's a dungeon. It's under the earth. And there's a little circular hole cut out in the top, like a manhole, without the cover. And you just see a little hole. That's where they dropped Jesus down from. And they say that they did it by tying ropes under his armpits, ropes, big, thick, rough ropes, and just dropping him down there. And that's where the Lord spent the night that night. When you go in to this dungeon, there's a pulpit in the middle, and there's a Bible on top of the pulpit, and it is open to Psalm 88. And the scripture that stands out on that pulpit is what we just read. You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness and the depths. Your wrath lies heavy upon me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. And if you continue to read Psalm 88, it actually says, and darkness became my only friend. The Messiah, speaking through David, by the Holy Spirit, says through the psalmist, I should say, this verse just messed me up when I read that. My acquaintances are far from me. It's in Psalm 88. So think that Jesus is literally revealing the fact that his disciples would run from him that night, and that his only friend, the only friend he was left with was darkness. This is all in Psalm 88. Now, why is it even important to look at Jonah in Psalm 88 regarding the resurrection? Because I want you to discover the fact that the resurrection has been spoken about for thousands of years, and has been perfectly fulfilled. In Jonah 2, verse 10, give me five more minutes, then we'll close and receive communion. In Jonah 2, verse 10, the scripture says, So the Lord spoke to the fish. I know that feeling. I have done it many times. Lord, please send them to my lure. It doesn't work as well for me. So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited, oh gosh, Jonah onto dry land. Luke 11, 29. Turn there quickly. Luke 11, 29. You there? And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, he began to say, This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. This is Jesus speaking, likening the resurrection to what happened to Jonah. And that's why many of these theologians believe that he could have possibly died in the belly of the fish. I'm not saying that, but that's why they believe that. The sign of Jonah is speaking of the resurrection. Notice that the fish vomited Jonah out of his mouth onto dry land, assuming it was a boy fish. It's mouth. The Bible says, speaking of Jesus's resurrection, that it was not possible that the grave hold him. When something is vomited out, it's because whatever it is, whatever it is inside of, it rejects it and cannot hold it. It's a foreign substance that it cannot hold. Now, while Jesus identified perfectly with the grave and truly died, the grave had no choice, listen carefully, but to vomit him out because of his perfection. The grave is the place for the dead, right? And what did the angels say when they came to the tomb? Why do you seek the living among the, in other words, the one you serve? He doesn't belong here. This is for the dead. Listen very carefully. There's a law in place. Well, it'll be abolished, but there's a law in place right now called, in many ways, it will forever perpetuate, actually. There's a law in place called the law of sin and death. That means sin and death are two parallel tracks on the same track. So the scripture says, the Lord speaks to Adam and says, do not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely, there you go. Again, the Lord says this, the soul who sins shall, sin and death are best friends. That means the grave is meant to hold those who sin. And if the grave vomits up someone, it is a declaration of the perfection of the one it was holding. It doesn't say the grave did not want to hold Jesus. Trust me, at some point the grave and death go, oh my gosh, what have we done? Our pride caused us to accept him. That's why the scripture says, had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. I said it last week, they thought they swallowed a little M&M, but they swallowed a nuclear bomb. They should have never accepted the Christ, the God-man into the underworld, because when he got down there, he destroyed it with his dazzling perfection. And they thought, oh, we've received. No, you don't know who you received. You should have never had him. And that's why I read that ancient church prayer to you last week. You should have never received the son of the virgin for he has come to destroy you with his dazzling divinity. Grave, yes, the grave swallowed a man, but the grave also swallowed God and the grave swallowed the sinless one. And because he is sinless, death could not hold him.