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In this lesson we will see how the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied concerning Christ’s resurrection.
Hosea 6:2 prophesied that Christ would be raised from the dead on the third day. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Paul speaks of the fulfillment of this prophecy: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” When the Lord was carrying out His ministry on the earth, He repeatedly revealed to His disciples that He would be killed and on the third day He would be raised (John 2:19; Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; 27:63; Mark 8:31; Luke 18:33). Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John testify concerning the fulfillment of this prophecy (Matt. 27:62—28:6; Mark 16:1-6; Luke 24:1-8; John 20:1-9). Christ being raised from the dead was not an accident; rather, it was planned by God in His economy for the accomplishing of His eternal purpose.
In Psalm 16:9-11 we have a prophecy concerning Christ as the Holy One of Jehovah whose soul Jehovah would not leave in Hades and whom He would not permit to see corruption (cf. Acts 2:27). Therefore, His heart was made glad, His soul exulted, and His flesh rested in hope while He was in Hades (v. 26). Hades is the place for keeping the spirit and soul of the dead (Luke 16:22-23). Corruption in Acts 2:27 refers to the corruption of the body in the tomb. The Greek word translated “rest” in verse 26 can also be rendered “dwell,” “reside,” and “pitch its tent.” After Christ died on the cross, His soul exulted in Hades, and His flesh, His body, was in a tomb, resting in hope because He trusted in God. Acts 2:24-31 and 13:35 speak of the fulfillment of this prophecy. Not only so, Jehovah also made known to Christ the ways of life (Psa. 16:11; Acts 2:28). The ways of life are the ways to come out of death into resurrection. God raised Christ up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Christ to be held by death (v. 24). Christ is both God and resurrection (John 1:1; 11:25), possessing the indestructible life (Heb. 7:16); hence, death is not able to hold Him. Rather, death was defeated by Him, and He rose up from it.
Psalm 2:7 prophesied that Christ in resurrection would be born as God’s firstborn Son: “He said to Me: You are My Son; / Today I have begotten You.” This corresponds with the prophecy in 2 Samuel 7:14a: “I will be his Father, and he will be My son.” Both verses are quoted in Hebrews 1:5: “To which of the angels has He ever said, ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You’? And again, ‘I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me’?” This day refers to the day of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 13:33). Through resurrection, Christ was begotten as God’s Firstborn. Christ is already the only begotten Son of God in eternity (John 1:18; Rom. 8:3). By incarnation, He was born of a human virgin and put on humanity, an element which had nothing to do with divinity. His humanity needed to be sanctified and uplifted by passing through death and resurrection. Through resurrection, His human nature was uplifted into the divine sonship so that He was designated the Son of God with His humanity to be God’s firstborn Son (Rom. 1:4; 8:29; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5). In resurrection the only begotten Son of God was made the firstborn Son, possessing both divinity and an uplifted humanity, and His believers were also born with Him on the day of His resurrection to be His many brothers and the many sons of God.
Isaiah 55:3 prophesied concerning the resurrected Christ being the sure mercies shown to David, the faithful things. Christ is the sure mercies and blessings to us. Acts 13:34 refers to this prophecy: “As to His having raised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to corruption, He spoke in this way, ‘I will give you the holy things of David, the faithful things.’” God promised to give the resurrected Christ to His people as a gift; this One is the holy and faithful things of David. The phrase the holy things of David, the faithful things indicates that Christ was of David, for it was out of David’s seed that God raised up such a One. The Greek word for “the holy things” is in the plural. The same Greek word is translated “Holy One” in Acts 13:35, but in the singular. However, it is not the regular word for “holy”; it is a Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word chesed, which is translated as “mercies” in Isaiah 55:3 and also in 2 Chronicles 6:42 and Psalm 89:1 in both the Septuagint and the King James Version. The word mercies (in plural) in Psalm 89:1 is the same word for Holy One in singular in verse 19. This shows that the Holy One is Christ, the seed of David, in whom God’s mercies are centered and conveyed. The word faithful means “trustworthy.” The resurrected Christ is the holy things, the faithful things, and the trustworthy One given to us by God. These holy and trustworthy things are all aspects of Christ. How much Christ is to us as the holy and trustworthy things! In the Old Testament these things are regarded as mercies. For this reason, Isaiah 55:3 speaks of the resurrected Christ being “the sure mercies shown to David.”
Isaiah 53:10b-11a says, “He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. / He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied.” These verses prophesied that Christ’s resurrection would be a reproductive resurrection. Seed here is singular, indicating that this seed is a corporate seed. In resurrection Christ will see a seed, which is His church. As His seed, the church is constituted of the many believers who are produced as the many grains by the death of Christ, the one grain, and by His reproductive resurrection (John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3). Christ not only sees a seed; He also extends His days. Today Christ is extending His days by living in His believers. As His seed, His believers are His extension, just as one of our hymns says, “We are Thy continuation, / Thy life-increase and Thy spread” (Hymns, #203, stanza 4).
“The pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand” (Isa. 53:10). According to Ephesians 1:5 and 9, the good pleasure of God is God’s eternal economy, accomplished through God’s dispensing, for the producing of many sons to become the members of Christ, who constitute the church as the corporate expression of Christ. This is the greatest pleasure of God, and it altogether depends on Christ’s death and resurrection. This great pleasure will prosper in the hand of the resurrected Christ. This means that Christ’s hand is still moving and working to produce more believers for the pleasure of God. The fruit of His travail is the fruit of the travail of His death, which is also corporate, including all believers, that is His church. When Christ sees the church, He is satisfied with the church, just as Adam was satisfied when he saw Eve.
Isaiah 53:11b says, “By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the many righteous.” This prophecy was fulfilled by Christ as the resurrected, righteous Servant of Jehovah through whom many are justified, as seen in Acts 13:39 and Romans 4:25.
Acts 13:39 says, “From all the things from which you were not able to be justified by the law of Moses, in this One everyone who believes is justified.” “This One” is Christ, who was resurrected to be the firstborn Son of God and our Savior. Christ justifies us from all the things from which we were not able to be justified by the law of Moses. Not only so, this One by whom we are justified is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). Today Christ in resurrection is our righteousness.
The New Testament also reveals that Christ’s resurrection is a proof of our justification by God. Romans 4:25 says, “Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification.” The death of Christ fully satisfied God’s righteous requirements; hence, we are justified by God through His death (3:24). His resurrection is a strong proof that God is satisfied with His death for us. His death satisfied God’s requirements and fulfilled whatever God wanted Him to do for us. Therefore, the resurrection of Christ is the proof of our justification by God. In Christ, the resurrected One, we are justified by God. Furthermore, as the resurrected One, He is in us to live for us a life that can be justified and accepted by God.
Psalm 22:22 prophesied that Christ in His reproducing resurrection would declare the name of the Father to His brothers and would sing praise to Him in the midst of the church: “I will declare Your name to my brothers; / In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” Hebrews 2:12 quotes this verse and indicates that this is a prophecy concerning Christ in resurrection.
Prior to His resurrection, the most intimate term the Lord used to call His disciples was friends (John 15:14-15). However, after His resurrection, He began to call them “brothers” (20:17). This is because in resurrection Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was born to be the firstborn Son of God; moreover, God’s chosen people were born with Christ to be the many sons of God, the many brothers of Christ, as the components of the church to be the corporate expression of the Father (Heb. 2:10-12). Hebrews 2:11 says, “Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers.” He who sanctifies is Christ as the firstborn Son of God, and those who are being sanctified are the believers of Christ as the many sons of God. Both the firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God are born of the same Father in resurrection and have the same divine life and nature (Acts 13:33 1 Pet 1:3). Hence, He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
According to Hebrews 2:12, Christ in resurrection declares the name of the Father to His brothers. Because the Father is the source of the divine life and nature, for Christ to declare the name of the Father is to show His many brothers that the Father is the source of the divine life and nature. The Jewish people in ancient times knew God, but they did not know the Father. They knew God as the Creator but not as the Father who regenerates people. Before Christ’s resurrection, not even His disciples knew the Father’s life and regenerating ability. However, on the day of resurrection the Lord came into their midst to declare the Father in order to enable them to know the Father as the source of life. According to John 20 the Lord Jesus visited His disciples in the evening on the day of His resurrection. According to the prophecy in Psalm 22, this was Christ coming to His disciples to make the Father known to them, that is, to declare the Father’s name to His brothers. This declaration was not simply a matter of mentioning the Father’s name; rather, it was an impartation of all that the Father is—His life, nature, and being—into the disciples. From such a declaration Peter came to realize that he was a partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). To us, the sons of God, God is no longer merely the creating God; He is also the regenerating Father (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:3).
Psalm 22:22 not only prophesied that the resurrected Christ would declare the name of the Father but also says that Christ would praise the Father in the midst of the church: “In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” The fulfilment of this prophecy is referred to in Hebrews 2:12: “In the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.” Sing hymns of praise refers to the firstborn Son, Christ, praising the Father from within the Father’s many sons in the church meetings. When we, the many sons of God, the church, meet together to praise the Father, the firstborn Son praises the Father in our praising. It is not that He praises the Father apart from us; rather, He praises within us and with us through our praising. The church is one corporate Body with the firstborn Son of God. In the meetings of the church the firstborn Son, who dwells in His many brothers who constitute the church, sings hymns of praise to the Father from within them.
The prophets in the Old Testament also prophesied concerning Christ’s resurrection. Hosea 6:2 prophesied that Christ would be raised from the dead on the third day. When Christ was carrying out His ministry on the earth, He repeatedly revealed this to His disciples. His disciples also testified concerning the fulfillment of this prophecy. Christ being raised from the dead was not an accident; rather, it was planned by God in His economy for the accomplishing of His eternal purpose. Psalm 16:9-11 is a prophecy concerning the resurrected Christ as the Holy One of Jehovah whose soul Jehovah would not leave in Hades and whom He would not permit to see corruption. Therefore, His heart was made glad, His soul exulted, and His flesh rested in hope while He was in Hades. God Himself also made known to Him the ways of life and raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.
Psalm 2:7 prophesied that in resurrection Christ, the only begotten Son of God, would be born as God’s firstborn Son. By Christ’s birth in resurrection, His human nature was uplifted into the divine sonship, and He was designated the Son of God to become God’s firstborn Son. His believers were also born with Him to be the many sons of God. Isaiah 55:3 prophesied concerning the resurrected Christ being the sure mercies shown to David, the holy and faithful things; He is the sure mercies and blessings to us. Isaiah 53:10 and 11 prophesied that Christ’s resurrection would be a reproductive resurrection. In His resurrection Christ produced the church as His extension. The pleasure of Jehovah, which is God’s eternal economy, will prosper in the hand of the resurrected Christ. Verse 11 prophesied concerning Christ being the resurrected, righteous Servant of Jehovah through whom many are justified. Today Christ in resurrection is our righteousness and is also the proof of our justification by God. Psalm 22:22 prophesied that Christ in His reproducing resurrection would declare the Father’s name to His brothers and sing hymns of praise to the Father in the midst of the church. After His resurrection Christ began to call His disciples brothers, because like Him, they had the Father’s divine life and nature. Christ in resurrection declared the Father’s name to His brothers to make the Father known to them. In the meetings of the church, Christ, the firstborn Son, sings hymns of praise to the Father from within the Father’s many sons.
