How Does Jesus Fulfill Resurrection Prophecies?

Title: How Does Jesus Fulfill Resurrection Prophecies? 

Text: Miscellaneous

PP: Wholeheartedly trust that God made prophecies about Christ rising from the dead hundreds of years before. 

RTL: If you don’t, you won’t see God had a plan the whole time, and you’ll miss out on one of the big highlights of the entire OT. 

Points:

Know God Has Always Promised to Defeat Death 

Know the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Was Predicted

Know Jesus Christ Predicted His Own Resurrection 

Goals: 

Understand How God Kept His Word in Raising Jesus from the Dead 

Value the 39 Old Testament Books 

Motivate You to Carefully Study the OT by Looking for the Prophecies of Christ 

Intro:

Well i really enjoy watching game show … Anyone else with me?

One of my favorite’s … that’s just a classic … is this one … (SLIDE)

You guys know what this is? … Even has it’s own catchy song —> Jeopardy

I want you to imagine that you are on Jeopardy … and the Bible verses category pops up

So you as someone who comes to the Narrow … and being a good Bible student … you are like

“Oh yeah I got this” … & it’s your turn and you pick Bible verses for $200

(And remember you are given a statement …. so have to answer with a question) (so what is…)

And I want you guys all to join in & play …

So here’s Bible verses for $200

Verse about God’s love

NEXT … Bible Verses for $400

OT PSALM that begins with “The Lord is my Shepherd, I Shall Not Want”

NEXT … Bible Verses for $600

Verse reference for this verse: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

NEXT … Bible Verses for $800

A prophecy about the Messiah coming

Last one … Bible Verses for $1000

Verse in the OT that’s a prophecy about Christ’s resurrection from the dead

Hmm … a little harder than the others …

I hope this can show you that … you might know a lot of verses about God’s love … you know some about the gospel … even prophecies about the coming of Christ …

but how familiar are you with OT prophecies about the resurrection of Jesus

and this is not only you … but I think a lot of X’s are not as well versed when it comes to this

And that’s the topic we’ll be handling this morning … resurrection

And specifically answering the question … How Does Jesus Fulfill Resurrection Prophecies? (SLIDE)

At the end of this I want to walk away … wholeheartedly trusting that God made prophecies about Christ rising from the dead hundreds of years before

If you don’t get this big concept … you’ll misunderstand God’s plan throughout all time and in the Bible

So it’s important for you to understand this

Goals: (SLIDE)

Understand How God Kept His Word in Raising Jesus from the Dead 

Value the 39 Old Testament Books 

Motivate You to Carefully Study the OT by Looking for the Prophecies of Christ 

We’ll talk about all these in more detail … and we’ll look at different passages

But for now … whenever we undertake studying the Bible and trying to figure out what the Bible says about a certain topic

We have the mindset that Doctor Luke describes in the first verses of his gospel (SLIDE)

You have to be detective

Luke 1:1–4 “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

Luke wants be sure what this is all about … he want certainty

We have to be like detective’s (SLIDE)

And we gather all the data … think hard about it … connect the pieces

and come to a conclusion so that we can be certain

I want you to be certain that God promised that Christ would come live … die … and resurrect

and because he promised that he would resurrect … this means that God has always promised to defeat death

1. Know God Has Always Promised to Defeat Death 

And to be good detectives as we seek to understand this …

We have go back to the Beginning

Genesis 2:16–17 (SIDE)

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””  

Problem of Death has been a thing throughout the Bible and all of history (from Gen 3-Rev 20) (besides Gen 1-2 and Rev 21-22)

2 Ways the Bible Describes Death

Spiritual Death (you are relationally separated from God)

Isaiah 59:2 “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

—> and then Consequence of Spiritual Death —->

Physical Death (which is the primarily what we are talking about today)

(your soul separates from your body)

you breath your last breath and you don’t breathe another here on earth

this is a permanent thing

Death both S & P is the curse of sin —> IOW bc of sin there is death

And this is not the way it was supposed to be … man was supposed to live with God forever

But going back to A & E … they eventually physically died …

and A & E had a special role for humanity (they served as our team captains)

so whatever they did … we would face the consequences and repercussions

Romans 5:12 (SLIDE)

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”  

so it’s not that we are not culpable … we are … but we see that death came through the very first sin

So everyone ever since A & E is born spiritually dead and ends by physically dying

Death is Terrible

Think about all that it causes —-> Sadness … separation from loved ones … grief … tears

Death does not pick and choose … it’s after everyone (young, middle aged, old, rich, poor )

Everyone throughout all time has been feeling … this horrific consequence

As early on as in the very first written book of the Bible (SLIDE)

“If a man dies, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14)

so early on in the OT … people are asking is there a way out of this curse

Death is eating up people left and right

(like when you are really hungry … and you go to your favorite snack)

Have you guys ever seen the Snicker’s commercials?

sometimes we can be like that … with our favorite snacks … our Trader Joe’s essentials

Death eats people for breakfast … lunch … and dinner

That’s exactly how the Bible describes death

Isaiah 5:14 (SLIDE)

“Therefore Sheol

Sheol = is the OT concept of death and the grave

has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure”

So that’s what the Bible says about death (that it’s terrible)

And throughout the OT God is saying he would fix that through the Messiah

What is going to do reverse the curse of sin and death (Spiritual and Physical)

So Bible also says that God is loving

Which means that he goes out of his way to do something for our good

Because he could have just left us to face our consequences forever

But he didn’t!

So out of his love … God promises a solution to our biggest problem and enemy

See God is in the business of making things right

His Solution … his Fix for the sentence of death —-> is the Reversal of Death 

Isaiah 25:8 (SLIDE)

“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”

It’s this crazy image of death being swallowed up by God

which is crazy if you think of it … death is the one who swallows up people

so now God is saying I am going to swallow up death

“I the God of life … will eat up what takes people’s lives”

He will reserve death

To put it in NT language … God will pay what everyone must pay

Romans 6:23 (SLIDE)

For the wages of sin is death”

He does that through a one man ….

Romans 5:17 (SLIDE)

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”

Jesus Christ is the one who God predicted (back in the OT) that would defeat death

and he would do that through physically raising from the dead

So we have to know that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was predicted

2. Know the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Was Predicted

For this we start by looking to the NT … to see that people knew that the OT … predicted that Jesus would resurrect

Flip to … 1 Corinthians 15:3–5

Now this is being written 20ish years after Jesus died and rose again

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

“In accordance with the Scriptures” - So this was known in the Scriptures … (the people knew about before J came)

What are these Scriptures ? —> OT

So Jesus was expected and anticipated

I want you to think back to 2020 (the Rona days)

Covid 19

We know that there was a vaccine made to help with the virus

and lots of people were really looking forward to the vaccine before it was made

and ik the virus effected people differently … some way worse … some not as bad

But imagine if it hit everyone really really bad …

and the vaccine was proven to be the cure!

You would anticipating the cure … you’d be eager to hear when it’s done and ready to go

think about the kind of anticipation you would have

Now picture this as the anticipation … that ppl had for Jesus come and defeat death by resurrecting

Jesus himself says this …

After he resurrects .. there is a lot of talk amongst ppl … he is seen walking with two men … who don’t really comprehend what’s going on with those whole resurrection thing

Luke 24:25–27 (SLIDE)

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

So Jesus says that when you read the OT … you are reading about the predictions of his coming death and resurrection

IOW the OT points forward to Jesus Christ

Guys that means that this book … is not just any other book (it’s actively involved in real history)

Bc it’s author … is God!

So when there was something being written in the OT …

about the prediction of Christ … it effects real life … and real people … and real history

So as God was using men to write what he wanted in the Bible … God was also writing HIS-STORY

This book is amazing (SLIDE)

bc it keeps one consistent storyline — that is all about Christ!

66 individuals books

it was written over the span of 1500 years

with 40 different authors

in 3 different continents

written in 3 different languages

There’s another unique thing about the Bible that gives us tons of evidence for why it is true and reliable

that’s Predictive Prophecy (SLIDE)

Predictive Prophecy = something that God says in his Word that predicts the future … years before it actually happens

there are hundreds of these in the Bible

There are specific ones about Jesus … which are called Messianic Prophecies

and people say that it’s just a coincidence that all of these happen to correspond to him

but it’s not

There are some smart people that wrote a book titled “Science Speaks” that wanted to see if all these prophecies about Christ really were a coincidence

… so they did some mathematical probabilities

what they did was examine only 8 prophecies (this comes from the book Evidence That Demands a Verdict)

so this is straight from there (SLIDE)

The messiah was to be born in Bethlehem

He would be preceded by a messenger

He was to enter Jerusalem on a donkey

He would be betrayed by a friend and his hands would be pierced

His betrayer would be given thirty pieces of silver (SLIDE)

The betrayal money would be thrown into the house of God and used to buy a potter’s field

He would be silent before his accusers

His hands and feet would be pierced and he would die accounted among criminals

So what are the chances that one man fulfilled all eight prophecies —> 1 in 10.17 (or 10 to the 17th power)

SLIDE

or 1 in one hundred quadrillion (17 zeroes after the 1)

The author of this study … Peter Stone … gives a helpful illustration … it goes something like this

Do you guys know what a silver dollar is? —- Old coin they used to use (twice the size of a quarter)

Imagine if you had 10.17th silver dollars and laid all over the state of Texas

they would cover the entire state of Texas … 2 ft deep (SLIDE)

And I put a Narrow logo on 1 of them

Now imagine if we did the most epic Narrow game … and I picked one of you … to go and look for that one coin with the Narrow logo

the chances of you finding that Narrow logo coin is —-> 1 in one hundred quadrillion

those are exactly the chances of one the Biblical writer … writing these 8 prophecies and having them all come true in the one person of Jesus

IOW humanely speaking it’s impossible

But bc God is the author and is writing history … it did come true … He is that 1 in in one hundred quadrillion chance

So God predicted the death and resurrection of Christ

Let’s look at some of those OT prophecies

First I want to give you 2 Foreshadows — that are passages that are not explicitly about the resurrection of Jesus … but as we read the NT we can see that they are talking about Christ

1st — I want to refer to one passage …. that you have read since you were little

Abraham and Isaac (Gen 22)

If you remember Abraham is told by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and he obeys God … he’s about to kill him

when God provides a ram … to sacrifice … instead of Isaac

We read that and we think wow the willingness of Abraham to obey … but there was a reason why he trusted God

Hebrews 11:19 “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead”

So Abraham back in the day … knew that would capable of raising his Son from the dead if he did kill him

this is what’s known as a “foreshadowing” to what Jesus does in the NT

2nd

We go back to Job … as he talks with his friends he says this …

Job 19:25–27 (SLIDE)

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”

He talks about the Redeemer — who is Christ … who is physically standing

and he says one day after my skin has been destroyed … I will see him

So Jesus is seen is seen as resurrected bodily

Alright let me give you … 3 Undisputed Prophecies about the Resurrection of Jesus

1st we go to one of the coolest books in the Bible … the book about a man and a giant fish

Jonah 1:17 (SLIDE)

“The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

Ok … why is that significant? —>

Jesus says in the Gospels that what happened to Jonah … is actually something pointed forward to his resurrection

this was a prophecy about him

In Matthew 12 the scribes and Pharisees are demanding that Jesus give them a sign (or another miracle to show that he is the Messiah)

He says this in Matthew 12:39–40 (SLIDE)

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

What’s the sign of Jonah that should make it clear that he is the Messiah?

40 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.”

So just like Jonah was in the fish and then spit out … Jesus will die and then resurrect from the grave

this was the ultimate miracle that was gonna show the entire world that this is the Messiah

BTW this is 700 years (ish) before Jesus

2nd Clear Prophecy about the Resurrection of Jesus (Psalm 16) (SLIDE)

The Psalmist says that the Lord leads him … he’s his comfort … his joy … and his security

Psalm 16:8–10 “I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.

Why?

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”

He knows that God will not leave him in the grave forever … and he won’t let him corrupt forever

That’s one thing … for the Psalmist

But God says in the NT says that this is about Jesus and his resurrection

(this is what’s known as a dual fulfillment)

David has hope for his resurrection

But also this is about Christ’s resurrection

The Apostle Peter in the book of Acts (Acts 2:25-31) talks about this passage (SLIDE)

He actually says look there’s a difference … David is dead in the tomb now (v.29)

But Jesus was not abandoned to the grave nor did experience corruption (quoting Psalm 16:8-11)

It says (in v.31) that David “foresaw” the resurrection of Christ

So Jesus through the mouth of David in the Psalms is predicted to rise the dead

1000 years before

Last passage predicting the resurrection of Jesus is Isaiah 53 (SLIDE)

Isaiah 53 is about the Suffering Servant of the Lord who will be

be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities (v.5)

Isaiah 53:5 “5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

This is a prophecy written roughly around the year 700 B.C. about coming Messiah … would suffer and take the place of sinners

(SLIDE) v.10a - “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

So Jesus was predicted to die in place of you and me … he will be a substitute

but he won’t stay dead because …

v.10b - he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

He will come back alive!

Bc how can you see your offspring (those that come after you — those that place their F & R)

He has to rise from the dead! He will keep on living!

v.12 (SLIDE) also says that while he will die … he’s actually going to be victorious

v.12 - “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors”

So throughout the OT there are many prophecies about the resurrection of Jesus

people knew that there was going to be a Messiah that would solve the problem of death … by reserving death

And not only do we see evidence of his resurrection in the OT … but also by what Jesus said

That’s our final point … we have to know that Jesus Christ predicted this own resurrection

3. Know Jesus Christ Predicted His Own Resurrection 

Throughout the Gospels you read that Jesus gives insight into what was going to happen him

Which we have to remember … Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen

He knew this from the very start

He knew he would die … and not stay dead

It was not “plan B” or something like

This was the plan of God from the beginning of time

Listen to some of these prophecies that Jesus gave about his resurrection (before it happened)

Matthew 17:22–23 “As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.”

Mark 8:31 “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Luke 9:22 “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.””

John 2:19–22 (SLIDE)

After Jesus had cleansed the temple and rebuked the people … and said “this is my Father’s house .. what are you doing?”

They ask him “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

v.19 - “Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.”

so Jesus constantly in the last few years of his life … predicted that he would raise from the dead

It was known … so much so that even the guards at his tomb said this …

Matthew 27:63 “we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’”

Jesus being God … knew what going to happen … He was in control

Now I think it’s important that we ask the question … Why does this all matter?

Why does it matter that there were prophecies of Jesus raising from the read hundreds of years before?

Well it matters because it demonstrates that God kept his word the entire time

God promised a solution

He delivers that solution

and that problem is resolved

This proves that God is a God … who fulfills his promises

the attribute that I am describing here … is that God is Faithful

Numbers 23:19 (SLIDE)

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”

God kept his word guys … this is the best news for us

Because God swallowed up death for you through the resurrection of Christ

SLIDE

If you place your confidence in what God has done for you … by dying in your place … and living in your place … and proving it by raising from the grave

… God will make you a new creation … where the old will pass away and the new will come (2 Cor 5:17)

And this based on 2 Corinthians 5:15 “he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

See God from the beginning promised that sin leads to him saying to you “You shall surely die”

See God now because of the resurrection of Christ … and you placing your T & R … promises to say to you “You shall surely live”

LET’S PRAY