THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS PREDICTED
Introduction
Jesus is dead and buried. Is that the end? Can I have a relationship with a corpse on a cross? Can the cross in and of itself fulfill all the promises of Jesus? Did he not promise us abundant life, joy, peace, freedom, love (John 10:10, John 15:11, John 16:33). Can the cross alone give this? Did he not say it would be better for him to leave his disciples (John 16:7)? It just does not make sense! All of these questions must have gone through the minds of Jesus’ disciples.
All hope, all ambitions (Mark 10:37) were dashed! Then they saw the empty tomb, yet they were still perplexed. They were afraid of persecution and led a clandestine life, in hiding, in case they were to suffer the same fate. However, something happened that was to change all of that: the resurrection.
The disciples had all the proof they needed; they saw their risen Lord and were transformed from a fearful bunch into a bold and dynamic group of witnesses proclaiming that he is alive. This is what distinguishes the faith of Christians from other religions. Let us examine the details of this extraordinary event.
The Resurrection Prophesied in Jewish Scriptures
Just as there are many prophetic moments and events pointing to the death of the coming Messiah in Jewish Scriptures, so also in the case of the resurrection of Jesus. From these we have not only confirmation that Jesus is the expected Messiah but also that everything was minutely planned centuries beforehand. The Christian faith does not depend on one individual in a given moment in time only but is the result of a careful plan from the beginning of time. The coming of the Messiah, his death and resurrection, is prophesied in many parts of Scripture.
In Isaiah 53:9 we read:
they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Having suffered the death of a criminal, between two other criminals, his burial was to be a criminal's burial. That was prevented by the offer of the rich man Joseph of Arimathea:
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock (Matthew 27:57-60).
In Acts 2:25-28 we have a reference to Psalm 16:10 of the Jewish Scriptures where we read
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.
Here we notice a clear reference to death and resurrection. Jesus rose on the third day before the decaying process began. His body did not remain in the land of the dead, the tomb (Sheol).
Jesus Predicts His Resurrection
Jesus fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures and also predicts his own resurrection in several places including in Matthew 12:40, referring to the prophet Jonah
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 16:21 is even more explicit
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
See also Matthew 17:22, 23 and especially John 2:19-22
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
Despite these predictions that Jesus made about his resurrection the disciples could only understand after the event itself
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead"
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Next: The Resurrection of Jesus Part 2, The Empty Tomb
Introduction to the Christian Faith - Index
© R W
bsgbiblestudyguide@gmail.com
