Pastor Anderson with a fullness in the power of the Holy Ghost as he preaches your word.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen.
The title of my sermon this morning is The Resurrection in the Old Testament.
The Resurrection in the Old Testament.
You can stay there in Isaiah 53, but if you want to keep a finger there and go over to
1 Corinthians chapter 15, we have the famous passage in 1 Corinthians 15, which is pretty
much the resurrection chapter of the New Testament.
That's the theme of this great chapter.
And at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, the Bible reads, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received and
wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved.
So we are saved by the gospel, right?
It is the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that saves us, not
our own works or our own deeds or the fact that we followed his commandments or did
the things that were pleasing in his sight.
No.
We're saved by the gospel, by believing in the gospel.
He says, by which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you unless
you believed in vain.
And believing in vain would of course be believing the wrong thing, like they don't even remember
what he preached to them.
They don't even know what the gospel is.
Well then, they're not saved because it's believing not just in something but believing
specifically in the death, burial, and resurrection that saves us.
The Bible says in verse 3, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and
that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
And the context here is that he goes on to talk about in this chapter how some people
have started teaching that there's no resurrection, that there is no resurrection.
Maybe they've been influenced by the Sadducees or whatever but they have this idea that there's
not a resurrection.
That's why he says if you keep in remembrance the things that I preached unto you lest you
believed in vain because if you don't believe in the resurrection of Christ, whatever you
believed about Jesus, you believed in vain because you better be believing in the resurrection
of Christ.
That big if there, you know, when he says, If you keep in memory what I preached unto
you, verse 2, unless you believed in vain, is in the context of the fact that people
later in the chapter have been denying the resurrection of Jesus.
But the thing I want to point out here this morning is that in verse 4, it says that he
rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
And so what we can see from that verse is that the resurrection is something contained
in the Old Testament scriptures.
Now when Paul is writing this, there's no Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Luke, John.
Most of the New Testament hasn't been written yet.
The earliest part of the New Testament are the epistles of Paul.
And so when he says according to the scriptures, he's referring to the Old Testament scriptures
in this verse.
And so there must be some teaching of the resurrection of Christ in the Old Testament
in order for him to have risen again the third day according to the scriptures.
Now obviously in the Old Testament they saw through a glass darkly and many things in
the Old Testament are not super clear or explicit.
But yet looking back, knowing about the resurrection of Christ, it's definitely easy to find foreshadowings
of the resurrection back in the Old Testament.
Now let's start here in this famous passage of Isaiah chapter 53 where we have a very
powerful messianic passage pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ coming to be the savior
of the world.
I mean verse 5 says he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him.
And with his stripes we are healed.
What a powerful prophecy of Jesus Christ coming and dying for our sins, paying the price and
being punished for our sins.
All we like sheep, verse 6, have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
So every sin that I've ever done, every sin you've ever done was put on Jesus and he was
being punished for our sins.
If you jump down to verse number 8 it says he was taken from prison and from judgment
and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living
for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
So again he died for our sins and this question who shall declare his generation, what the
Bible is referring to there is that he didn't have any physical descendants because he died
before producing any physical descendants.
And so who shall declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living.
So he died is what that's saying.
Well in verse number 9 he made his grave with the wicked.
So not only did he die but he is buried.
He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, notice his death.
So multiple ways here of saying that he died, right?
He's cut off from the land of the living, he made his grave in his death because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth, verse 10, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him.
He had put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, watch this,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand.
So what we see is that even though he dies without children, who shall declare his generation?
He's cut off from the land of the living but yet after his death, after his soul has been
made an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.
His seed meaning his offspring, not a physical offspring but a spiritual offspring because
those of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are his sons and daughters spiritually.
And so he lived to see that because not only did he die but he also rose again and he liveth
forevermore.
And so this is a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Jesus Christ by talking about the fact
that he died and that he made his grave, he's buried and that after that he sees his seed,
he prolongs his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.
And he's going to see the fruit of what his death accomplished.
He's going to see the result of that.
He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied and by his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with
the strong because he had poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors
and he bear the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
So we can see that although Jesus Christ dies on the cross for the sins of the world, it's
later explained, he gets to see the result of that because he prolongs his days, he resurrects,
he lives again, he comes back from the dead.
Now go if you would to Acts chapter number eight in the New Testament.
So in Acts chapter eight, this scripture is quoted because you've got the Ethiopian
eunuch and he's traveling down the road in the chariot and Philip, the evangelist, goes
running toward the eunuch to meet up with the chariot in order to preach the gospel
unto the eunuch.
And when he gets there in verse 30 it says, and Philip ran thither to him and heard him
read the prophet Isaiah and said, understandest thou what thou readest?
And he said, how can I except some man should guide me?
And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
The place of the scripture which he read was this, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter
and as a lamb dumb before his shearer, so he opened, so openeth, excuse me, so opened
he not his mouth.
That's exactly what we saw in Isaiah 53 verse seven.
In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation?
Remember that?
For his life is taken from the earth.
And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this
of himself or of some other man?
Then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.
And so this is an important question that the eunuch asks here when he says, is the
prophet talking about himself here or is he talking about someone else?
That's an important question because if we take that logic of the eunuch there that says
he's talking about someone else and apply that to other prophecies, they make a lot
more sense with regard to Jesus.
Because what's the answer to that question of is he talking about some other man?
Well the answer is he's talking about some other man because then Philip begins to preach
that other man, Jesus, okay?
So if you would go with that in mind, go to Psalm 16.
Because we need to understand that a lot of times when the prophets are talking about
themselves or using like a first person pronoun like I, me, my, a lot of times they're
speaking prophetically about Jesus.
You know, we might like the Ethiopian eunuch wonder, hey, is he talking about himself there?
But in reality he's talking about some other man.
He's talking about Jesus Christ.
So look at Psalm 16.
And remember we're looking for the resurrection in the Old Testament.
So far we found Isaiah 53 where he dies, he's buried, and then he lives to see the fruit
of his death on the cross.
But it says in Psalm 16 verse 8, I've set the Lord always before me.
Now of course this is David speaking, but he's actually talking about some other man.
He's talking about Jesus.
I've set the Lord always before me.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth.
My flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt
thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life.
In thy presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
Now here's the thing.
In order not to be left in hell, there is no right hand.
There is no right hand.
There are pleasures forevermore.
Now here's the thing.
In order not to be left in hell, you got to be in hell.
You got to be there saying, I have hope because I believe that I will not be left here.
So obviously this is another powerful scripture telling us about the resurrection of Jesus.
His soul is not left in hell.
Now obviously he has died to be in hell and it says that his soul was not left in hell,
neither will his flesh see corruption.
And then it says in verse 11, thou wilt show me the path of life.
So he's going to live again.
In thy presence is fullness of joy.
At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
So not just life, but eternal life.
So after he dies, he's going to be resurrected and live forever.
This is about Jesus.
Now you say, I don't know if that's about Jesus.
Well again, Acts chapter two, go to Acts chapter two if you would, and we'll see that the Bible
explicitly tells us that this is for sure about Jesus.
And so the prophet David is not talking about himself only, but he's also talking about
some other man.
He's prophesying of Jesus' resurrection.
Look at Acts chapter two verse 22.
I'll start reading it while you get there.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves
also know him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God has raised up having loosed the pains
of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
For David speaking concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face.
That's Psalm 16 and he's saying, David said this about Jesus.
I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he's on my right hand that I should not be
moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad.
Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou is made known to me the ways of life.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David that he's both
dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
He's saying, look, there's no way David is just talking about himself because yes, he
died.
Yes, he was buried, but we could literally go to his sepulcher if you want right now
and we can show you that his corpse is still there.
His bones are still there.
David is still dead.
David has not resurrected from the dead in Acts chapter two and even to this day he still
hasn't resurrected from the dead of course in 2022.
So we're not talking about David, but therefore verse 30, therefore being a prophet and knowing
that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the
flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
He's seeing this before.
So David saw this, he understood this through a glass darkly, but he saw the fact that this
spake of the resurrection of Christ, right?
This he's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ.
So there's any doubt that the Old Testament deals with the resurrection.
Here we have the Bible explicitly saying, here's an Old Testament verse about the resurrection.
He's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption.
Now some people have wondered about, you know, the three day figure because the Bible said
in first Corinthians 15, that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
Okay.
Now here's the thing about that.
Jesus rising again, the third day, according to the scriptures, you could make the argument
and just say, he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
And the part that's according to the scriptures is the fact that he rose from the dead, not
necessarily the three days part, but in reality, the three days are consistent with what we
find in the Old Testament scriptures as well.
Okay.
There are actually, I think, at least three different places in the Old Testament that
allude to this three day figure.
But not only that, in addition to three places in the Old Testament that would allude to
the fact that Jesus is going to resurrect on the third day or after three days, there's
also this idea that his flesh did not see corruption, which could also be seen as like
putting a time limit on how long his dead body is going to be in the grave before the
resurrection takes place.
You know, you could say like, it's not going to be in there for a super long time.
Because if you think about it, you know, why does this matter?
Who cares?
Three days, five days, two days.
Well, the thing about it is that if his flesh saw corruption, then that could be seen as
just like an end times resurrection, like, okay, David died and David was buried.
Is David eventually going to rise again in the last day?
Yeah.
I mean, at the end of the world, he's going to resurrect.
But that's a little different because David saw corruption.
His body is sitting in the grave for thousands of years.
Do you see the difference there?
So the significance of rising again on the third day is that this isn't an end times
resurrection.
This isn't a final judgment kind of a resurrection.
This is a resurrection three days later, long enough to where you're sure he's dead, okay,
but short enough to where it's not waiting until the end times or something.
It's coming three days later.
But what about that number three days?
Is there any indication of that number of three days?
Well, the Bible first of all said in verse 31 there, he's seeing this before spake of
the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh
see corruption.
This Jesus had God raised up where of we all are witnesses.
Now go to the book of Jonah, if you would, Jonah chapter one, Jonah chapter number one.
So I hope you're grasping this concept that we've seen twice now that many times the prophet
of the Old Testament will talk about himself like I, me, my, but that he's actually referring
prophetically to Jesus because didn't we see that with Isaiah 53 and we see that with Psalm
16, right?
That will not leave my soul in hell.
Well Jonah is the same way.
So Jonah in the same way is going to talk about himself, but much of this applies prophetically
to Jesus using that same logic that we saw with Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch about
talking about some other man.
Okay.
Look if you would at Jonah chapter one verse 17.
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly
of the fish three days and three nights.
It's always funny to me when people say, Oh, you know, Jonah being swallowed by a well
is scientifically impossible because our esophagus is not the right size.
You know, they come up with all these dumb things, but did you even read the verse because
it says the Lord prepared a great fish.
Now does that sound to me like this is just a typical, normal, great fish or whale?
No, he prepared one.
And then you say like, wow, whales are mammals, not fish.
That's obviously an arbitrary designation that came later.
Okay.
In the Bible days, the word fish could be applied to it.
Okay.
That's just an arbitrary label, you know, telling us that a duck billed platypus is
a mammal or whatever.
But anyway, you know, those are just, obviously those are categories that are based on, you
know, opinions, subjective designations and, you know, any who, obviously a whale is a
mammal.
Okay.
But you know, that doesn't prevent it from being called a fish thousands of years ago
before anybody had even came up with those categories.
Okay.
So anyway, he's in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Now that three days and three nights is prophetic of Jesus Christ because Jonah in the belly
of the whale is basically experiencing something similar to death.
He's not dead, but he kind of feels like he is.
Okay.
And then being sped up from the whale's belly is like a resurrection as it were.
Okay.
It's a picture and it's three days and three nights.
Now what does the Bible say in verse one of chapter two?
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason
of my affliction unto the Lord.
And he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I, and now heard it's my voice.
Now again, Jonah is literally not in hell.
Jonah's not dead.
Jonah is literally in the whale's belly, but yet he says, I cried out of the belly of hell.
Why?
He's prophesying of Jesus.
Just as in Psalm 16 11, his soul was not left where?
In hell.
Neither is flesh.
See corruption here.
He's crying out of the belly of hell.
He says, and that hurt is my voice for thou has cast me into the deep.
Now the deep has to do with deep water.
So that's his literal situation.
He's literally been thrown into deep water and swallowed by a whale in the midst of the
seas.
That's literal.
The floods compass me about.
That's literal.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
That really physically literally happened.
Then I said, I'm cast out of thy sight.
And that kind of reminds one of Jesus Christ when he died saying, my God, my God, why is
thou forsaken me?
Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
The waters compass me about.
That's literal.
That really happened even to the soul.
The depth closed me round about.
The weeds were wrapped about my head.
You think of seaweed, uh, in the stomach of the whale.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
Now this is not literal because being inside the belly of a whale in the ocean, you're
not really going down to the bottoms of the mountains.
Are you?
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
The word about here means around me.
Okay.
So the earth with her bars was around me forever.
Is that literally true of Jonah?
Did he literally have the earth with her bars around him down at the bottoms of the mountains,
the earth with her bars about him forever?
No, but Jesus Christ though, his soul being in hell, that is in the heart of the earth.
The Bible says in Matthew 1240 as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly.
He says, shall the son of man be three days, three nights in the heart of the earth.
So it was Jesus who was in hell, in the heart of the earth, the earth with her bars around
him forever, down at the bottoms of the mountains.
Yet has thou brought up my life from corruption, Oh Lord, my God.
And on and on we go.
And so the point is that Jonah is clearly a picture of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection,
his soul not being left in hell.
It says as much in Matthew 1240 that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So this is probably the strongest scripture of the Old Testament that gives us that three
days that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures is the third day resurrection.
Is it in accordance with the scriptures?
Yeah, because it matches up with Jonah one and two.
Okay.
Now if you would flip over to Genesis 22, Genesis 22.
And while you're turning to Genesis 22, I'm going to read for you from Hebrews 11.
So Hebrews 11 is referencing Genesis 22 and in Hebrews 11 it says, by faith Abraham, when
he was tried, offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten son.
So Abraham offered Isaac upon the altar of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed
be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence
also he received him in a figure.
So the Bible tells us that Abraham understood the fact or somehow knew or believed or thought
that if he were to sacrifice Isaac upon that altar that God would possibly resurrect him
from the dead, that God was able to bring him back from the dead because he knew that
God had promised that in Isaac would his seed be called.
And so when God commanded him to offer Isaac as an offering upon this altar, the reason
that he was willing to do it is because he believed that God was able to raise him up
even from the dead.
Now of course he did not actually sacrifice Isaac upon the altar, but he puts him on the
altar, he lifts up the knife and he's about to plunge the knife into him and of course
the angel stops him at the last moment and there's a substitute found, the ram that's
caught in the thorns of the thicket which represents Christ being our substitute, Christ
substituting for us and the ram had his horns caught in the thicket because Jesus wore the
crown of thorns and so that's the substitute that dies instead of Isaac.
But Abraham offers Isaac, he's willing to offer Isaac because he believes that God would
raise him from the dead if necessary.
Now what's interesting is that Jews refer to this passage and it's really bizarre to
hear their interpretations of Genesis 22 because this story is pretty hard to understand without
understanding Jesus.
Genesis 22 is a great chapter when you know that the father gave his only begotten son
you know to die on the cross for our sins, then it's a great chapter.
But without that it'd be a very strange chapter indeed and so they struggle to interpret this
but what's funny is that they don't, what they call this is they call this story the
binding of Isaac which is not really the main thing that happens in the story.
You know when you read Genesis 22, if it was like describe this passage in one word, well
it's where Isaac got bound.
I mean that seems like kind of a side detail doesn't it?
Kind of like missing the forest for the trees.
What's interesting is that Christians consistently refer to this as the offering of Isaac or
the sacrifice of Isaac which is funny because he doesn't actually get offered.
He doesn't actually get sacrificed so why do all Christians, myself included, we would
always refer to this passage as oh Genesis 22 that's where Abraham offers up Isaac or
that's where Abraham sacrifices Isaac.
Why do we do that?
And in Hebrews 11 17 that's what it says right, it says by faith Abraham when he was tried
offered up Isaac.
Why do we think of it that way?
The reason that we think of it that way is that although Isaac didn't actually end up
getting offered, we know that Jesus eventually did.
So basically we look at it as a completed act because it is fulfilled or completed in
Jesus and so the operative thing in Genesis 22 is that Abraham offered up Isaac.
Now ultimately he didn't have to make that sacrifice but here's the thing, we know that
that actually did happen in the person of the Father and Jesus so we look at it as a
done deal.
The Jews look at it as something that didn't happen or didn't finish so they're like well
he didn't get offered he just got he got tied up it was kind of weird it's kind of awkward
when that one time dad tied me up that was kind of weird you know kind of freaked me
out with the knife and everything you know because they can't interpret this properly
because they don't understand Jesus, they don't understand the gospel.
So they turn it into well it's the binding you know of Isaac.
So here's what's interesting about this passage are you there in Genesis 22?
Don't miss this okay in Hebrews 11 it says accounting that God was able to raise him
up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure.
Now that's kind of an archaic language there but let me just translate that into our modern
vernacular what it's saying is that figuratively speaking Abraham received Isaac back from
the dead.
Everybody get that?
Let me read that again.
Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence meaning
from the dead also he Abraham received him in a figure.
It was like receiving him from the dead.
Does everybody understand that because basically Abraham is considering him as dead because
he's being commanded to kill him so basically it's like he's dead.
It's sort of like when somebody is on death row and they call them like a dead man walking
or something because it's like they're as good as dead they're going to die they're
slated for death and so basically untying Isaac and receiving him safe and sound from
the altar was like symbolically or figuratively receiving him from the dead.
Does everybody understand that?
Well with that in mind look at Genesis 22 verse 1 and it came to pass after these things
that God did tempt Abraham and said unto Abraham and said unto him Abraham and he said behold
here I am and he said take now thy son thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee
into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains
which I will tell thee of and Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his ass and
took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and clave the wood for the burnt offering
and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him and then look at verse 4
and on the third day Abraham said unto his young men abide thee here with the ass and
I and the lad will go yonder worship and come again to you and notice I and the lad will
go yonder worship and come again to you he's basically saying I and the lad will come
again to you we're going up and we're coming down because remember he accounted that God
was able to raise him up even from the dead but notice he is slated that from the day
that he is prescribed unto death slated for death to the time that he's unbound and loosed
from that is three days does everybody see that because it says on the third day is when
this took place so so far we found two mentions of the number three day in regard to how many
days for the resurrection because we had Jonah three days and three nights in the whale's
belly then we have here Abraham receiving Isaac safe and sound as it were from the dead
on the third day now go to Hosea chapter six Hosea chapter number six Hosea chapter
number six now some people will get confused about the fact that on the one hand it says
he rose again on the third day and then on the other hand it says that he rose again
you know basically after being dead or in the heart of the earth for three days and
three nights so they basically have trouble reconciling those two things how can it be
the third day and also be three days and three nights well here's the thing let me just tell
you right now Good Friday is bogus Jesus Christ was not crucified on Friday and here's why
because there is absolutely no way in the world to get three days and three nights if
Jesus crucified on on a Friday because if you think about it if he's crucified Friday
afternoon because you know the Bible talks about what time of day it was and everything
it's in the afternoon and toward the evening that Jesus dies on the cross okay you know
last time we see him it's it's like 3 p.m. and he's still alive and he dies shortly thereafter
so let's say we took Friday afternoon and let's just count the whole day Friday let's
count that as one day so Fridays a day and then Friday night and then Saturdays a day
and then Saturday night um so then it's like okay Sunday morning for a couple minutes or
something but before it was light he's already risen you know so so what's going on well
here's the thing about that even if you did count that where you get that third night
because if he dies on Friday you got Friday night and Saturday night how in the world
you can't use Sunday night you can't use Thursday night what in the world it's just it's just
not gonna work folks it just doesn't work now the Roman Catholic Church doesn't really
care because if you talk to if you ask the Catholic priest about this he'll just tell
you well the Bible's written by man and so people make mistakes in one of the Gospels
he dies on this day and another gospel he dies on a different day and the Bible's filled
with contradiction that's the kind of bogus answer you're gonna get from some guy who
doesn't even realize that dresses are for women you know and to put on a pair of pants
like a normal person you know some some do father so-and-so is gonna tell you some bogus
answer like that but here's the thing about that Jesus Christ was not crucified on Friday
now you know I've always said that it was either it's basically what we would consider
what we would think of as either Wednesday night or Thursday night okay now throughout
my ministry I've leaned more toward that Wednesday night death on the cross what we would consider
so you know the evening in the morning of the first day so he's kind of like dying as
it's becoming the next day but honestly you know Pastor Jonathan Shelley did a lot of
research on this and he and I spent hours and hours talking about this and and he I
believe that he is correct about this I believe he's kind of settled this issue because I
was kind of like I could see both sides I was leaning toward Wednesday that's how I've
always preached it was the Wednesday thing but basically I believe that he pretty much
settled it with the the research that he did and it really solved a lot of the question
marks and problems that were still in my mind and so I'm convinced now that it was on Thursday
that Jesus Christ was crucified and that and that basically the math adds up and it actually
is consistent with everything that the Bible says so the bottom line is the three days
are basically it's not 72 hours as I had previously thought I would say it's basically
part of it's covering three days and three nights it's part of three days and three nights
it's basically Thursday Thursday night Friday Friday night Saturday Saturday night and there's
your three days and three nights and the reason that's called on the third day I could show
you several examples in the Bible where when the Bible says on the third day it means after
three days or when it says in the third hour it means after three hours or in the third
year it's actually three and a half years later I'm not going to belabor that point
for sake of time but the bottom line is on the third day and three days and three nights
are both consistent with Jesus being crucified on Thursday what we would call Thursday obviously
they didn't call it that back then so Jesus dies on Thursday afternoon he's he's in the
he's basically dead on Thursday he's dead on Thursday night he's dead on Friday he's
dead on Friday night he's dead on Saturday he's dead on Saturday night he rises again
early before the sun is even up on Sunday morning that's the resurrection so here's
the thing when you're reading the Bible it's important to realize that different biblical
authors are going to count differently so for example you know this used to really throw
me off when I was a teenager and reading the four gospels because I didn't realize
that that John's clock is different than Matthew Mark and Luke's clock because when when John
says the ninth hour he's talking about what we would consider the ninth hour like 9 a.m.
like nine hours into the day like starting the day at midnight whereas when the synoptic
gospels say ninth hour they they're starting the day at 6 a.m. like a Jewish mentality
where it's like the ninth hours like three o'clock in the afternoon and so I'm wondering
like you know over in the synoptic gospels Jesus is already on the cross but then over
in John you know he's standing there before Pilate what's going on it's because it's two
different clocks and so a lot of people are just quick to just say oh Bible contradicts
itself contradiction in the Bible instead of actually stopping and realizing that the
Bible is written by like 40 different authors different time periods different languages
even and so it's written from human perspectives from Matthew's perspective Mark's perspective
Luke's perspective everything in the four gospels is 100 percent true but it's written
by a human being it's divinely inspired it's the perfect word of God but yet it's written
through the lens of a human being and so there are going to be differences in perception
of that human who's being used as the instrument to write the word of God and so that's important
to understand in the Bible so that basically when you think about the resurrection of Christ
if he you know dies on the cross on what we would think of as Thursday you could say the
third day because you just you don't count Thursday it's just like Friday Saturday okay
Sunday he rose again the third day or you could say he's dead for three days and three
nights because you know Thursday he's already dead it's still Thursday and he's dead so
Thursday Thursday night Friday Friday night Saturday Saturday night etcetera so look at
Hosea chapter 6 verse 2 this is a cool verse it says in Hosea 6 2 after two days he will
revive us in the third day he will raise us up and we shall live in his sight he's that's
not about Jesus but here's the thing though it could still be prophetically pointing to
Jesus just as David can talk about himself and it's prophetically referring to Jesus
here this could be an allusion to Jesus's resurrection as well okay now here's the thing
about obviously this is not as strong as the other two the Jonah passage is stronger Psalms
Genesis are much stronger but the thing that I want to drive in with this one though the
In fact it says after two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up and
we shall live in his sight is that one of the key teachings about the resurrection of
Christ is that Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection meaning that just as Christ
was raised up from the dead we are one day also going to be bodily raised from the dead
and so Christ's resurrection is the prototype for our personal resurrection later on in
the future you know unless we're alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord in which
case we would we would just you know get to skip death and go straight to being translated
and caught up in the clouds with Christ but if we're to die a physical death then we're
going to be resurrected as Jesus was resurrected so the fact that after two days he will revive
us in the third day he will raise us up even though that timing doesn't literally apply
to us because if we die we're gonna have to wait more than three days to be resurrected
but you know what the symbolism is though is it's tying basically our resurrection to
Christ's resurrection because the Bible says in first Thessalonians if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him
so the Bible is teaching that because Christ rose again from the dead we if we believe
in Christ if we are in Christ we also someday ourselves will rise again from the dead so
all that to say this you know we've seen in the Old Testament plenty of evidence that
the Apostle Paul wasn't just blowing smoke when he said that Jesus Christ rose again
the third day according to the scriptures because he rose again the third day as it
was prophesied in Genesis Psalms Isaiah right it was prophesied in Jonah it's according
to the scriptures that Christ was raised from the dead it was taught in the Old Testament
it's taught very clearly in the New Testament we didn't look at it this morning but that
is just that kind of goes without saying that is clearly taught in the New Testament anybody
who denies the resurrection of Christ is a heretic and they're not saved because the
Apostle Paul flat out said by which you're saved if you know and he said if not basically
you believed in vain if you're denying the resurrection you believed in vain and so that's
why the Jehovah's Witnesses aren't saved they don't but one of the many reasons why they're
not saved but they deny they deny the resurrection of Christ and what you know it's funny their
biggest service of the year is Easter define irony but you know what they say they say
that he did not bodily rise again from the dead but you know Jesus said destroy this
temple and in three days I will raise it up and he spake of the temple of his body Jesus
rose bottle and by the way if he didn't rise bodily he didn't rise at all because the Jehovah's
Witnesses will say well his spirit left his body that's called dying right in the Bible
when somebody dies as they gave up the ghost well his spirit left his body and then I'm
like I'm like what happened to his body and they say it just kind of like disintegrated
but the point is if his spirit left his body that's called death that's not called resurrection
and by the way you have to just completely have disdain for the Word of God in order
to believe that Jesus didn't bodily rise from the dead when the Bible tells us that Jesus
after he rose again from the dead shows them the holes in his hands they touch the holes
in his hands he challenges them to put their finger in the hole in his hand to shove their
hand into the hole in his side he says to them do you have anything to eat he eats and
drinks with them and he flat out says to them a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see
me to have I have flesh and bones I'm not just a spirit here in fact give me something
to eat put your finger in this hole in my hand it's like well I just think it's a spiritual
resurrection you hate the Word of God is what you do you hate God's Word because God's Word
could not have been any clearer I mean it almost belabors it to the point where you're
like okay we get it but nope they still don't get it do they and it's not just Jehovah's
false witnesses unfortunately because sometimes you'll be out soul winning and and you'll
talk to people and they don't believe that Jesus bodily rose from the dead guess what
you got to believe that to be saved you got to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and so and and you know
even saying bodily resurrection is redundant because if it's not a bodily resurrection
is it's no resurrection at all okay to sit there and say his spirit left is by its meaningless
and I've asked Jehovah's Witnesses this and pinned him down and said how do you get holes
in his hand if it's not really because they said well he it was like a loner body like
when your car's in the shop and you get a loner they said that he showed up in a loner
you know Jesus showed up in a borrowed body or something so I'm like okay well that's
interesting so the loner had holes in the hands well you know Jehovah just did that
so that it'd be convincing so basically it's like a deception it'd be like if my car had
a certain dent in it and then I get the loner vehicle and just put the same dent in it now
nobody will know the difference God's not a deceiver the whole point of showing the
holes in his hands was to show that it's him that it's a very him the same guy who was
buried is the same guy who's talking to them that's the whole point of the holes in the
hand and the holes aside so I've pinned them down and argue with them and then finally
this one guy I'm talking to about this household and he just said why does it even matter well
that's that's always a great place to go when you've been proven wrong you know once you've
lost the arguments like well I mean you know but why does it matter though oh I don't know
maybe because it's the cornerstone of our entire faith I don't know maybe because it's
the one thing that you have to believe in order to be saved according to Romans 10 9
it's the key crux of everything in regard to the gospel it's the most important point
but I mean other than that it's not a big deal say what in the world but the bodily
resurrection my friend is scriptural it's taught in the Old Testament the New Testament
and you know the Bible tells us to him give all the prophets witness the whole testaments
about Jesus to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins and notice it's not whosoever keeps all the commandments
it's not whosoever joins the church it's not whosoever turns from all their sins and lives
a good life no it's that whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins and
those of us who have believed on Christ will one day also be resurrected even as Christ
was resurrected let's borrow that word of prayer father we thank you so much for your
word Lord both Old and New Testament that can teach us so much about Jesus and Lord
if there's anyone here today who's not saved I pray that they would get saved before it's
eternally too late and in Jesus name we pray amen
amen take your hymnals please and let's go to him number 34 number 34 I like the way this one
begins I know that my Redeemer liveth him number 34 let's sing it out together on this first verse
number 34
I know that Jesus liveth him, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know his promise ever failed, and the word he seeks, it cannot die. I know, I know, that my flesh shall stand, and then I shall see him by and by.
I know, I know, that Jesus liveth him, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand. I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, I know, that Jesus liveth him, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, I know, that life be given, and on the earth again shall stand. I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand. I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand. I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand. I know, that life be given, that grace and power are in his hand.
Thank you for watching.
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