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Amen. Right, Matthew 28. I'd like to look just at the first few verses again from verse 1. Matthew 28 and verse 1 reads, In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to draw toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. And I want to focus on this last verse, now verse 6, our verse of the week, which reads, He is not here, for he has risen as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. He said, for he has risen as he said. And the title of my sermon today is Twelve Prophecies of Easter. Twelve Prophecies of Easter, I'd like to pray before we continue. Father, thank you, well, thank you for this day that we think about. We've got 2,000 years to go now. Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for us to be there. What that means for us is not only how amazing it is, but how amazing it is that it was preside about so many times previously, and it was clearly fulfilled in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please help me to preach this message just clearly and accurately and boldly today. Help everyone to have a tent of peace. Please fill me with your spirit please Lord as well, in Jesus' name I pray all this. Amen. So if any of you were here at Christmas, you might have remembered a sermon called The Twelve Prophecies of Christmas, and in that sermon, yeah, it kind of went off a little bit, the twelve days of Christmas, and I don't know, I'm not going to be breaking into song this time, but it was, we looked at some different prophecies of Christmas, and twelve for me is a nice round number in the Bible, and so I thought we'd focus on the twelve, twelve of the many prophecies of the resurrection. We're going to look at twelve very clear ones today, because we serve a risen Savior, don't we? And that resurrection was also prophesied too, which like I said, makes it much more amazing, doesn't it, that it was also prophesied, which is one of the reasons that the resurrection is such a key part of our faith, isn't it? Such a key part. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15, without the resurrection there would be no saving faith, and you would be yet in your sins. Okay, the resurrection isn't just sung, oh isn't it great that you rose from the dead, it's key, okay? It's a fundamental doctrine, it's a fundamental part of our faith. 1 Corinthians 15, verse number one, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse number one says this, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, by which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. So we're saved by the gospel, if you've really trusted Christ for your salvation, then you know that you're saved, you'll remember that you're saved. Ah, I just, I can't even remember, am I saved or not? No, you're going to know, okay, unless you have believed in vain, unless you haven't really believed, you haven't believed in the truth there. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. That's the gospel, isn't it? He died for our sins, he was buried and rose again the third day, and it was all prophesied according to the scriptures, yeah? You could add though that the resurrection was witnessed, he was seen. Verse five says, and that he was seen of Cephas and of the twelve, after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained unto this present, but some have fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. So, Jesus Christ's resurrected body was seen after his death and burial by all of these different people, because it's an essential part of the gospel, isn't it? Okay, that's why, it wasn't, well, I just know this one guy reckoned he saw him, no, it was essentially appeared to many people for that reason. Jump forward to verse twelve now, verse twelve there says, now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? These are unbelievers in the Corinthian church, okay? Verse thirteen, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain? Yea, and we have found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ, sorry, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, yea, yet in your sins. So, if Christ is not raised and the apostles and the scriptures are in error, we wouldn't be able to trust this Holy Bible, would we? Okay, if he wasn't raised, we can't trust any of this really. And if Christ isn't raised, then we wouldn't have the hope of our resurrection either, would we? And go back to Matthew twenty-eight with that in mind. But what's interesting is that Jesus Christ himself would have been a liar too, as he prophesied his own resurrection. Okay, if he had never raised from the dead, Jesus Christ's a liar. Okay, Jesus Christ is a liar, everyone, we can't trust a word of this, how can you trust salvation? Verse six where you were in Matthew twenty-eight says, he is not here for he is risen as he said, come see the place where the Lord lay. He said it out of his own mouth in the gospels and he said it out of the mouth of his prophets in the Old Testament too. Okay, Jesus Christ prophesied it many times through his own mouth in the gospels and through the mouths of the prophets. And today we're going to look at some of these and just to keep things different in case you're thinking, man, he's just rehashing this Christmas one, I'm going to work backwards this time. Okay, so instead of starting with the oldest one, we're going to start with the most recent prophecy and we're going to look at his last prophecy first. So turn back to Matthew twenty-six. Matthew chapter twenty-six, there's going to be a bit of Bible turning today, but we're a Bible-believing church, so I hope everyone doesn't resent that. We're going to be turning a bit, Matthew chapter twenty-six and verse thirty says this, Matthew twenty-six thirty, and when they had sung a hymn, Matthew twenty-six thirty, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of me this night, for it is written I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad, but after I am risen again I will go before you into Galilee. So Jesus prophesied that he would rise again and meet them in Galilee and that was on the back of another prophecy that they would all be offended as well. Okay, and this is then followed if you remember by Peter's famous bold words, but what's remarkable is that Jesus told them multiple times as recently as the night before he died and within a few days they'd forgotten, hadn't they? Within a few days they'd forgotten. But before we get too critical of the disciples, how often do we forget the promises of Christ when we go through trials? And I don't want to re-preach this too much because hopefully everyone here, if they weren't here, has listened to when I preached through the Gospel of Matthew, but we do, don't we? When we feel alone, we feel alone, we often forget the promises of Christ. When we feel abandoned, we forget the promises of Christ. When we feel ashamed, we forget the promises of Christ. Hebrews 13.5, you don't have to turn and it says, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And he's really talking about a promise made to Joshua, which was clearly applying to all of us. He will never leave thee nor forsake thee, yet how often do we forget that? So we can get critical of the disciples. How can they not even remember that? How often are you choosing or at least maybe not even choosing, just forgetting all those promises of Christ when we go through hard times in life? The disciples have been through a hard time here, haven't they? So let's keep going though. Turn to Mark chapter 10. We're looking at 12 prophecies of Easter, sorry, 12 prophecies of Easter. Wow. Nearly re-preaching the old one. Number one is the night before he died. Number one night before he died. So in Mark 10, they're on their way to the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This is Mark chapter 10 and verse 32 now. Mark 10, 32 says, and they were in the way going up to Jerusalem and Jesus went before them and they were amazed. And as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the 12 and began to tell them what things should happen unto him. We're in verse 33 now of Mark 10 saying, behold, we got to Jerusalem and the son of man should be delivered unto the chief priests and unto the scribes. And they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and shall kill him. And the third day he shall rise again. Jesus made it clear, didn't he? Condemned, delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, scourged, spat on, killed will rise on the third day. So like he didn't leave it sort of open to interpretation, did he? He just spelled it out to them. Why didn't they remember? Why didn't they remember? Verse 32 says they were afraid. They were afraid. It also says they were amazed earlier as well. They were amazed and they were afraid. And fear clouds our memory, doesn't it? When you're in fear, often your memory kind of goes a bit. It closes our ears. But again, the fearful times are when we need to remember his promises most, aren't they? They're the times when we need it, but so often that's when we forget what we've been promised by God. In Joshua chapter one of verse nine again, you don't have to turn there. He said, have not I commanded thee, be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. And as we saw earlier, that promise to Joshua was repeated in Hebrews for me to all believers. And the same thing when we're looking at it in Joshua one nine, he said, the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou goest. And again, something we can remember, can't we? And with these, I'm not going to be doing this with all of them. I just think these first ones out of the New Testament, there's some application we can get here. Turn to John chapter 10. We're looking at 12 prophecies of Easter. Number one was the night before he died. Number two, on the way to Jerusalem. So on the way to Jerusalem, this is again, a pretty short time before the actual resurrection. John chapter 10 is when Christ was in Jerusalem the second time during his ministry. And it says here in John 10 and verse 14, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. So this isn't the last time. This isn't the final part in Jerusalem. This is the second time he went to Jerusalem. He said, I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and have known of mine. As the father knoweth me, even so know I the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. And obviously referring to the Gentiles here. Verse 17, therefore does my father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received my father. And by the way, if you're going, didn't God raise him? Well, he is God. Okay, he is God. But he said, no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. He said in verse 17, I lay down my life that I may take it again. That's a little more cryptic, but again, we know it's talking about the resurrection, don't we? Okay, he's talking about the resurrection. Why didn't his disciples remember this one? Well, although it was a little obscure, perhaps it's because of the division it caused. Look at verse 19. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings, and many of them said he hath a devil and is mad. Why hear ye him? Others said, these are not the words of him that have the devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And it's often the parts of God's word that cause division that many Christians choose to forget, don't they? So often it's those bits of God's word that cause the division in our life that we then kind of conveniently forget about, and we just remember the ones that don't cause division, yeah? And maybe there's something in there, right, with these guys. It caused division, so they just quickly kind of forgot that bit, you know? Because we don't seek, most people don't seek division. Most people are seeking to get on with people seeking, seeking to not cause problems. So when there's things in the word of God which cause division, we often forget them. Many seem to forget the scriptures, for example, one that many people seem to forget nowadays, like Revelation chapter 3 and verse 9, behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. How many so-called Christians seem to forget scriptures like that? When it's much easier to worship and to call anyone an anti-Semite that dares to claim that the Bible's true when it says there are people that say they're Jews and they're not. When the Bible's very clear who the Jews are, it's believers now, yeah? Scriptures such as Matthew 19, 9, I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, comitteth adultery, and whoso maryeth her which is put away doth commit adultery. And again, how many people just seem to forget that? Cut it out, no, no, no, it's fine, it's fine. I'll go along to the family's remarriage. I'll go along to the divorcee's remarriage. But he said it's adultery, it's celebrating adultery. And Jesus said where we were, this commandment have I received of my Father. Okay, this commandment have I received of my Father. Turn to Mark 9. We're looking at 12 prophecies of Easter. Number one, the night before he died. Number two, on the way to Jerusalem. Number three, second time in Jerusalem. And Mark 9, this is now long before when they were in Galilee. So Mark 9 is in Galilee. And verse 30, it says, and they departed thence, there's a bit of a jump in, in Mark's Gospel, but in Mark 9 are in Galilee, and they departed thence and passed through Galilee, and he would not that any man should know it. For he taught his disciples and said unto them, The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, they shall kill him, and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask him. Why were they afraid to ask him, do you think? Was it that Jesus Christ was going to bite their heads off? I don't think so. The parallel passage, you don't have to turn there, you can if you want, but don't worry. Matthew 17, 22, 23 says, and while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again, and they were exceeding sorry. It says they were exceeding sorry, we just saw that they were afraid to ask him. Basically, for me, they didn't like the sound of it, so they didn't ask him, they were afraid of the truth. And again, how many Christians do that? Often we swerve truths in the Bible because we fear them. There's a truth in the Bible that we know if we just put a little bit of study in, we could get to the bottom of, but we don't want really that truth, so we don't really look into it. We don't really want to hear it. We're afraid to know the truth about something, aren't we? And many Christians are like that. But if we really want the truth, he's going to give it to us. Matthew 7, 8 says, For everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. If you really want the truth, you can find it, can't you? Yeah, but so many hide from the truth. There's so many truths in God's word that we avoid and that we swerve. Turn to Matthew 16. We're looking at 12 prophecies of Easter. Number one, the night before he died. Number two, on the way to Jerusalem. Number three, the first time in Jerusalem. Number four, back in Galilee. Now, Matthew 16, this is now just before, outside Galilee. This is just before where we've just looked at, now he's outside Galilee. Matthew 16 and verse 20 says this, Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Why didn't they believe it this time? Well, look at verse 22. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from the Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. So sometimes we openly reject the things of God. We even rebuke him because we don't like the truth, don't we? We don't like it so we reject it. We don't like the truth that all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So then when it happens, we start to complain. Why, God? You know, why are you letting this happen? And we start to basically rebuke him because we don't like that truth, do we? We don't like the idea of following the Lord and taking up our cross. So we then complain about the Christian life. But who said that the Christian life was going to be easy? Yet we complain and we don't like that truth, so we don't remember that truth. We don't want to know that truth. Jesus said, For thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. And sadly that's a lot of people out there, isn't it? They savour us not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Turn to John chapter 2. We're looking at 12 prophecies of Easter. Number 1, the night before he died. Number 2, on the way to Jerusalem. Number 3, first time in Jerusalem. Number 4, back in Galilee. Number 5, outside Galilee. Now John 2, having just whipped the traders out of the temple. If you remember they're trading in the temple. Just a quick thing on trading in the temple. Clearly God doesn't want trading in the house of God. People trying to organise work, work with people in the house of God. People trying to talk about, you know, oh well I'll pay you this for this or this or that. God hates that. God whipped them out of it for it. People coming to church at the house of God to try and discuss work and getting people involved in your businesses and things like that. That's wicked. You need to get your priorities right. You've got something to talk to someone about when it comes to money and cash and work and business. Do it outside of church. Do it away from a Sunday please. Otherwise you start to get to the point where you just covetous or something. You come in a trade in the house of God. Is that what your goal is when you come to church? It's wicked. Let's keep going with that. But John 2, having just whipped them out of the temple, verse 18 says, Then answered the Jews and said unto them, What signs showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest he sings? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building. Wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. And this is the one that they were accusing him with, wasn't it? And we've looked at this in depth in our Matthew Bible study, but really they understood it. Okay, really they did understand it because Matthew 27, 63, they say to Pontius Pilate saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days I will rise again. So they're claiming even at the end, they're getting these false witnesses to come forward saying he said that, you know, he's going to destroy this temple. But deep down they knew exactly what he's talking about. Okay, sadly, a lot of these people are these accusers, these people that want to try and accuse men of God and obviously here it's the Lord Jesus Christ, they know exactly the truth, but they want people to assume the worst of it. It says here, it says here in verse 22 where you are though, when therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them and they believed the scripture in the world which Jesus said. So this is the one where they did remember. Okay, this they remembered, it just needed a bit of fulfilment to jog their memories, didn't it? And sometimes it's the same with us, isn't it? We need a bit of Christ coming through for us to remember the promises. Yeah, often, look, sometimes you bemoan the fact you're going through a trial of tribulation, but Jesus Christ comes through for you and that helps you to remember the promises. Okay, and here they remembered once Jesus Christ rose to the dead, they went, I remember him saying that now. You know, and sometimes it actually helps us when we go through stuff, in fact, it always helps us. That's why Romans 5, 3 to 4 says, and not only so, but we glory, we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation work with patience and patience, experience and experience hope. You get experience when you go through tribulation, you get the patience and going through it and with that you get the hope, don't you? Okay, and look, as hard as it sometimes is at the time, it's good for us, isn't it? We're looking at 12 prophecies of Easter, number one the night before he died, number two on the way to Jerusalem, number three second time in Jerusalem, number four back in Galilee, number five outside Galilee, number six third time in Jerusalem. Okay, or at least it's the first time in Jerusalem. So they were nice clear prophecies out of the physical mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, weren't they? Yeah, they were nice and clear, but there were some slightly more cryptic ones in the Old Testament too. I don't know if anyone's ever looked into some of these before, and there are actually many, but these for me are probably the most clear ones, some of which are then explained in the New Testament as well. And the first one that we're going to look at, Jesus Christ explained the Gospel of Matthew before the event. So go to Jonah chapter one, where Jonah, if anyone has never kind of looked into this before, is an obvious picture of Jesus Christ being sacrificed for the men on the ship. He's cast into the sea and they're saved as a result. Okay, they're saved as a result of Jonah giving his life for the men on the ship, yeah. Jonah chapter one and verse 17 says this, 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. Is that a coincidence that Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights? Obviously not. And by the way, this wasn't a Pinocchio-style fishing trip, okay. This wasn't, you know, he got swallowed by this huge monstrous whale and was there kind of fishing and hanging out there going, one day I'm going to get out, you know. Just a bit of a shame that all we've got is these fish to eat, let's hope we don't end up with scurvy. No, Jonah was burning in stomach acid, okay. He was burning in the stomach acid of a whale as close as a picture of hell you can get, pretty much. Can you imagine being swallowed by a whale and burning in the acid in that whale's stomach? This is what really happened, okay. And all these stupid stories they try and come out with, there was a guy that was once swallowed by a whale and he had like, I heard this once, there was some news article, he came out and he had white hair all over. Now he'd probably come out and be absolutely burnt and fried and everything else, okay. Don't listen to that stuff, this was horrendous. Jonah went through something horrific, okay. Jonah chapter 2 and verse 1 says, and Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I and now heardest my voice. Why did Jonah say I cried out of the belly of hell? Because where he was, was a picture of hell, yeah. For thou has cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods compass me about and all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. And then I said, I am cast out of thy sight yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compass me about even to the soul, the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. It was a whale kind of eating mountains, no. Was it a picture of hell? The earth with our baths was about me forever, yet has thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. And that's an interesting thing now. And I remember when we studied Jonah we were looking into the depth of mountains and especially the very tall mountains. They have roots basically and many things we're looking at. The earth with our baths about me forever, yet he said, yet has thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake thy own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I'll pay that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And that was a picture of the tasting death for every man followed by the resurrection. Okay, that's what that was. Turn to Matthew 12 where Jesus then confirms this. Matthew chapter 12 with that in mind. The Gospel of Matthew chapter 12. Jonah said out of the belly of hell, he said, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with our baths was about me forever. And Matthew 12 verse 38 says, then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, this is Matthew 12, 38, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered, said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. There shall no sign be given it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas with 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. That's as clear as day, isn't it? That is as clear as day from the Old Testament to the New Testament that he spent three days and three nights in hell. Yeah. Why would you take that away from him? Why would you claim it's heresy? Why would you claim it's some sort of Catholic doctrine? It's not in the Bible. It's clear as day. Without going anywhere else, that's clear as day, isn't it? But anyway, turn to Isaiah 53 for another prophecy of his resurrection. He's saying people that say that. They're like, you're trying to say that, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ went to hell. Yeah. And we're also trying to say the Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross. None of it's exactly fitting for God, is it? But however, it just shows the love and the sacrifice that he is willing to give for us. Yeah. And why would you take that away? But anyway, turn to Isaiah 53 for another prophecy of his resurrection. So 12 prophecies of Easter. And number six. So in case you're worried, he's going to keep reeling this out. We're going to start for number six now. And this was number one in the Old Testament and it's number seven. Sorry, not number six, number seven. But number one in the Old Testament is Jonah. Okay. Jonah. Isaiah 53 is clearly speaking of the coming Christ. He says this. Isaiah 53 in verse six. So again, we're just going backwards now through the Old Testament. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Clearly talking about Jesus Christ. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. 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? That's a prophesied death, isn't it? And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. That's a prophesied burial because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He had put him to grief when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. And that's the resurrection. He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Having just said that he'll make his grave with the wicked and the rich in his death. And when the Ethiopian eunuch asks who Isaiah was speaking about here in Isaiah 53, Acts 8.35, it says, And Philip opened his mouth and began the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And clearly Jesus Christ, that's the death burial resurrection. Turn to Psalm 40. So 12 prophecies of Easter. We're into the Old Testament now. Number seven was Jonah. Number eight was Isaiah 53. Famous passage of the Bible there. In fact, we've memorized all of that as a church as well. And Psalm 40 is a psalm of David who often pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. So Psalm 40 we're going to, it's a psalm of David. David is often picturing Christ. And it says in Psalm 40 in verse one to the chief musician, a psalm of David before we start it. It then says in verse one, I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. And he brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Now, how do we know that this is prophesying the resurrection? Now you could go, well, maybe he's just talking about David kind of was in a bit of a bad situation. He said he brought me out. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit. Well, firstly, the pit is a name given many times to hell. Revelation 9, 2, you don't know what it is. It's a psalm of David. It says, in Psalm 40, he opened the bottomless pit, rose a smoke out of the pit, there's a smoke of a great furnace in the sun, the air was darker by reason of the smoke of the pit. But secondly, in Psalm 40, we see the result of the pictured resurrection. Look at verse 3 in Psalm 40. And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall see it and fear and shall trust in it. And that's the end of the resurrection. It was a gospel going out to many, many went out all over the world, didn't it? Okay, so turn to Psalm 16, 12 prophecies of Easter. Number 7, Jonah, number 8, Isaiah 53, number 9, Psalm 40. And Psalm 16, like we said with David is another psalm of David. Psalm 16, and we're going to look from verse 8 here. So Psalm chapter 16 and verse 8 says, I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices and my flesh also shall rest in hope. This is Psalm 16 and verse 10, 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. That's the prophecy of Christ in hell and the resurrection explained clearly in Acts 2. So if you turn to Acts 2, he just said, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. And Acts 2 again explains this, and so often in the Bible, there are, you know, passages in the Old Testament will be explained in the New Testament. We should always try and look for that when we're trying to interpret them. Acts 2 and verse 29 is Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost. He says this in Acts 2 and verse 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. So David's body hasn't been resurrected yet. Verse 30 says, 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 in his throne, he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. So in Psalm 16, David was prophesied in Jesus Christ's resurrection. Okay, and what was the resurrection from? From hell. From hell, clear as day again in the Bible. And you know when these people kind of get all angry about this, what were they really saying? They were just saying, we don't believe the Bible. That doesn't fit into our doctrine. Yeah, or we don't even know the Bible. It's one of those, isn't it? Okay, but the Bible's clear about it, okay. So turn to Psalm 2, 12 prophecies of Easter. Number 7, Jonah. Number 8, Isaiah 53. Number 9, Psalm 40. Number 10 was Psalm 16. And Psalm 2 is another psalm of David, according to Acts 4. So if you're looking at going, when does it say it's a psalm of David? Well, Acts 4 actually states that it's a prophecy of David and it's a prophecy of the conspiracy to kill Jesus. Acts 4 makes that clear. Psalm 2 says, Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder. Whose is anointed? Here it's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex him in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill in Zion. I will declare the decree. The Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Now the begotten son, in case anyone's ever wondered about this, is referring to his regeneration from the dead. Okay, it's not that he was a generated son. This is a prophecy of the resurrection. So turn to Acts 13 while I read Revelation 1-5. You turn to Acts 13. Revelation chapter 1 and verse 5 says, And from Jesus Christ there is a faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. That was the day that Jesus Christ was begotten. This isn't talking about some day of birth. Jesus Christ always was, wasn't he? Okay. He was in the beginning. All things were made by him without him was not anything made that was made. It was being begotten from the dead. That's why he's the only begotten son. And in Acts 13, Paul is preaching a synagogue in Antioch, Pisidia, and he gives them a history lesson. This is another Antioch, by the way, not the Syrian one. And he gives them a history lesson before speaking of Jesus. He says this in Acts 13 and verse 29, And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher, but God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who were his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. So what's the begotten talking about, being begotten from the dead? He has raised up, it said, God hath fulfilled the same, this is verse 33 again, unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee. That's what was being prophesied in Psalm 2. It's the resurrection from the dead. Okay, so finally we're going to turn to Job and it's chapter 19. Job 19. They were quicker than you thought. Some of you I bet were sitting there thinking 12 prophecies, come on, this is going to be a long sermon. It's actually, it's a short one so far, but we'll see how we do here. Maybe I'll have a little rant about something for a minute, you know, finish off nicely. Okay, Job 19, 12 prophecies of Easter, number 7, Jonah, number 8, Isaiah 53, number 9, Psalm 40, number 10, Psalm 16, number 11, Psalm 2. And the last one is here in Job 19, where Job is responding to his friends trying to find some way of blaming him for his affliction. And that's again, something, you know, just a quick point on that, we've got to be careful not to do, you know, many Christians like to do this, don't they? See someone go through something and it must be chastisement. It must be because of this, oh, did that happen? You know, and you can almost just see it in their eyes, you know, it's like, you can see them just looking at you going, oh, just wonder why that would have happened. Like they're just thinking, you must be getting chastised. You know, no, no, that's not why we go through that. We can get chastised. Yeah, we do sometimes get chastised, but that's not the explanation for every problem you go through and Job wasn't getting chastised, was he? Okay. And this is a lesson for us here, because he's got all these, his clown friends here going, oh, you know, it's because of this, because of that. Well, he said this in verse 22, why do you persecute me as God and are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen and led in the rock forever. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. Now he's looking forward to the resurrection of his Redeemer. Job knew that redemption could only come through the sacrifice of the coming Christ, didn't he? But he also knew that the Redeemer would rise again, that he would still stand at the latter day upon the earth. And why would he say that? Which basically means that Job will one day rise too. Okay, Job understood this. He said in verse 25, for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reigns be consumed within me. And that's exactly, isn't it, what the resurrection means for us. It means that in our flesh we shall see God. And without the resurrection, there's no resurrection for you either. It's essential. But you've got to believe it. You have to believe it. There's no good going, well, yeah, well, probably rose from the dead. Let's hope so. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. No, well, Romans 10, 9 says it. In fact, let's turn to Romans 10, 9. I know everyone knows these words, but look at it closely. Romans chapter 10 and verse 9 says, we just read Job saying, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reigns be consumed within me. And Romans 10, 9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Why does it say only the resurrection there? Anyone ever wondered that? Because it's all the same. It's all one. It's a death, burial, resurrection. It's the gospel. That's what you have to believe. Okay. And if you believe just part of it, well, I think you might have died for me, but I don't know if he, you know, I'm not so sure about that resurrection part. Anyone ever had anyone when you're preaching a gospel claim and they just don't believe the resurrection? Yeah, I've had one or two before over the years say that. Just, yeah, just don't believe that he rose again. And if they don't believe that he rose from the dead and he's shown verse after verse, they ain't saved. They don't believe everything else. If they don't believe that, they're not saved. Okay. The resurrection is key. He said that if thou shalt confess thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead. That's the gospel. That's the death, burial, resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, paying for your past, present and future sins. If you believe that and you'll confess it with your mouth again, they just go hand in hand. Okay. If when you put your faith in Christ, you call on his name in faith. Okay. It's the same thing. He said thou shalt be saved. Great message that is, isn't it? Thou shalt be saved. It's as easy as that. And although there are plenty more, these for me are 12 of the clearest prophecies of resurrection. Okay. Which show that there's no reason not to believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. You've got prophecy after prophecy being fulfilled. You've got prophecies from really even earlier in the Old Testament. Okay. I'm just showing you some of the clearest ones. I mean, you could, you could go back to Abraham with Isaac, you know, and, and we see when we see it explained to us, I think in Hebrews 11, that basically he was, he knew that God was able to raise him up and he knew really, and it was a prophecy of Christ because he said that God will provide himself a lamb for the offering, didn't he? And that's what he's prophesying of there. And, and throughout, we just see picture after picture, but, and there's some others, you know, slightly more cryptic ones, but here for me are 12 clear ones, six clear as they from the New Testament, six for me, pretty clear as well from the Old Testament, 12 prophecies of Easter. Number one, the night before he died. Number two, on the way to Jerusalem. Number three, second time in Jerusalem. Number four, back in Galilee. Number five, outside Galilee. Number six, third time in Jerusalem. Number seven, Jonah. Number eight, Isaiah 53. Number nine, Psalm 40. Number 10, Psalm 16. Number 11, Psalm 2. And number 12, Job. And I hope that was clear to you as they were to me there. I hope that, I hope I've kind of got that out there quite clearly today. That was the, there were 12 prophecies of Easter. On that, we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for, well, for everything, you know, that this day means to us. Thank you for Easter Sunday. Thank you for the resurrection. Thank you for, for everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. Thank you that, you know, all we have to do is put our faith in that death bell resurrection as being enough for our sins to be saved. Thank you that the gift of salvation is just that, it's a gift. Help us all here to just really, if we don't, if we don't believe that, Lord, if there's anyone here that really doesn't, you know, have their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, help them now to just want to get saved, Lord, to want to just call on his name in faith, to put their trust in him alone, not their own works, not their previous works, not their continued works, and help us to find those out there that, you know, that are receptive to your gospel, Lord. Help us to go out this week to get involved in the soul winning times for this church, to make an effort to get out there and preach the gospel, to work for you, to roll up our sleeves and labour for you, Lord, and just get out there and reach the losses you've commanded us to do and to preach this message, which includes the amazing prophesied resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we just pray that you bless our fellowship time together, bless our food, help us to just have a nice afternoon and to be able to be back in the evening service. Jesus' name we pray all this. Amen.