F. The Resurrection of Jesus

JESUS PREDICTED HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

The Jews were often pressing Jesus to do more signs and miracles to prove he was the long awaited Messiah and Son of God. On one occasion Jesus rebuked them for this but also stated that the sigh of Jonah the prophet who spent three days and nights in the belly of the sea monster would be given them. While not understanding Jesus at the time it later became clear that he was predicting that he would spend three days and nights in a tomb before his resurrection from the dead. When speaking with His opponents on this occasion, Jesus used veiled language that foreshadowed His coming death, burial and resurrection.

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” {39} But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; {40} for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Mat 12:38-40)

On the other hand, when warning the disciples of what was soon to come, Jesus spoke plainly of His death and resurrection and how it was predicted by the Old Testament prophets, even though His disciples did not grasp what He was telling them until afterwards.

And He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. {32} “For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, {33} and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.” {34} And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. (Luke 18:31-34)

THE RESURRECTION WAS WITNESSED BY OTHERS

Each of the four Gospels gives an account of the events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. There are also numerous descriptions in the Gospels, and other parts of the New Testament, of the many times that Jesus appeared to various people after His resurrection. In the following portions of the New Testament, starting with Peter, we read some of the testimony given by the eyewitnesses to these resurrection events.

After healing a man who could not walk, the people who observed the healing were amazed and thought that the apostles Peter and John possessed some special power. Peter addressed them explaining that the man was healed in the name of Jesus whom God had raised from the dead a fact to which both Peter and John were eyewitnesses,

“Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? {13} “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up, and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. {14} “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, {15} but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.{16} And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. {18} “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled. {19} “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:12-15; 18-19)

On another occasion Peter was sharing the Gospel with a small group of non-Jewish people when he made the following comments about Jesus death and resurrection to which he again claims to be an eyewitness of:

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him. {39} “And we are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And they also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. {40} “God raised Him up on the third day, and granted that He should become visible, {41} not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us, who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. {42} “And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. {43} “Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.” (Acts 10:38-43)

The apostle Paul gave the following two reports about Jesus and the resurrection. First he explains how Jesus had appeared to his earthly disciples after his resurrection and how those witnesses were presently engaged in preaching about their personal experiences as witnesses to the resurrection.

“Brethren, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of this salvation is sent out. {27} “For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Him nor the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him. {28} “And though they found no ground for putting Him to death, they asked Pilate that He be executed. {29} “And when they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb. {30} “But God raised Him from the dead; {31} and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. (Acts 13:26-31)

Paul then gives a list of all the people who were witnesses to the resurrection and lastly includes himself because of the famous appearance that Jesus made to Paul on the road to Damascus.

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, {2} by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. {3} For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. {6} After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; {7} then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; {8} and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. {9} For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. {10} But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. (1 Corinthians 15:1-10)

In all of these accounts which make reference to the resurrection there are four important elements found in each: 1. Jesus was crucified by the Romans; 2. Jesus was raised from the dead; 3. The Old Testament prophets predicted the resurrection; 3. Many people saw Jesus alive after His crucifixion and gave witness to that.

THE RESURRECTION AND THE SON OF GOD

Finally, in the book of Romans the apostle Paul makes mention of the prophet’s predictions about the resurrection, but then in verse four he makes the important point, that by virtue of the resurrection Jesus was declared with power to be the Son of God.

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, {2} which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, {3} concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, {4} who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 1:1-4)

We have just learned how the miracles of Jesus, fulfilled prophecy and his resurrection from the dead establish that Jesus is the Son of God. These three strands of evidence do not stand alone in the record of the New Testament in declaring Jesus to be the Son of God. Please continue to read more to learn how a multitude of voices together give testimony to this important truth!