The Resurrection of Jesus Christ - Part I

Everyone wants to avoid death. Few people, in their right mind, wish for death or can honestly say, “I look forward to death.” For man, death is scary, but inevitable. No man can avoid it. 

However, for those who believe in Jesus Christ, death is not the final stop on the road of life. Anyone can have the hope of bodily life after bodily death. That is the magnificence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus said, speaking to Martha, the sister of His friend Lazarus,

John 11:25 (LSB)

​25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies…

The Lord does not, here, deny that death comes to those who believe in Him. Rather, He promises that even after death, a man can live! That is to say, even after the body dies and is laid in a tomb, that body can one day come out of the tomb and live again, if he believes in Christ. 

How is this possible? 

It is possible because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in this very way. Because Jesus Christ was laid in a tomb, and was made alive bodily, those who follow Him are promised the same result after death. 

The Prophecy of the General Resurrection 

The general resurrection from the dead for all men is attested to in the Old Testament in a few verses. Yet, the reality of the resurrection of all men is the backdrop of much of the Old Testament, as passages in the New Testament will show. 

A couple clear passages of a general resurrection in the Old Testament are these:

Daniel 12:1–3 (LSB)

​1 “Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will stand. And there will be a time of distress such as never happened since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 

​2 “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to reproach and everlasting contempt. 

​3 “And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Daniel, the prophet, writing during the exile of Israel in Babylon, prophesied of a time in the future in which those who “sleep” in the dust of the ground will awake either to everlasting life, or to everlasting contempt. Jesus said that will be the fate of the righteous at the judgment seat before His Millennium, as well as the fate of the wicked at the end of His Millennial reign.

The Prophet Isaiah also wrote of the resurrection of man in this passage:

Isaiah 26:19 (LSB)

​19 Your dead will live;

Their corpses will rise.

You who dwell in the dust, awake and shout for joy, 

For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, 

And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

Speaking to the nation of Israel, Isaiah teaches that the saints of Israel will arise from the dead, from the dust of the earth, and will live on the earth again. Since these people “shout for joy,” this is a reference to the righteous and their resurrection at the start of the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ. According to the these promises to Israel, the resurrection of the body of God’s people is sure, and will happen.  

Yet, when we come to the New Testament, the promise of the resurrection is even more explicit. It is important to note this fact and to take time to understand why the resurrection is more explicit in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. 

Some of the more explicit passages are:

John 5:28–29 (LSB)

​28 “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 

​29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

John 6:39–40 (LSB)

​39 “Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 

​40 “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

And, even more amazing was a preview of the resurrection of man after the Lord’s crucifixion. 

Matthew 27:50–53 (LSB)

​50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 

​51 And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 

​52 And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

​53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

These passages concerning the resurrection of the saints from the dead are directly related to the resurrection of Jesus Christ in that the reason for the saint’s resurrection is the resurrection of the Son of God. His bodily resurrection is the basis for the resurrection to new life for the saints of God of all time. This is the connection. 

Therefore, it is necessary to remind ourselves that the resurrection of the saints forms the example, pattern, and reflection of the resurrection of the Son. As the Son was raised to new life, so the saints also are raised to new life. 

The Record of the Resurrection of the Son

The New Testament is a record of the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. From the pens of men like Peter, John, Luke, Mark, as well as latecomers like Paul, the record of eyewitness accounts of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is clear and consistent. He did, indeed, rise from the dead in bodily form. 

 Therefore, the reason the resurrection of the saints of God, both Jew and Gentile, is more explicit in the New Testament than in the Old Testament, is due to singular fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has come and was, Himself, raised from the dead in bodily form. 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the singular reason for the resurrection of the saints of God to eternal life. The wicked are also raised from the dead, but their’s is a resurrection to judgment, which will occur at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ. Although the resurrection of the wicked is for the purpose of Judgement, it is eternal and it is bodily.

Consider the following passages concerning the Lord’s teaching about His arrest, death, and resurrection.

Mark 8:30–31 (LSB)

30And He warned them to tell no one about Him. 

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

Matthew 17:22–23 (LSB)

22And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men;

23and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

Matthew 20:17–19 (LSB)

17And as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the wayHe said to them, 

18“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 

19and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

Matthew 27:62–63 (LSB)

62Now on the next day, the day after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 

63and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’

The Lord, midway through His ministry, asserted the plan of the Father was for the Son to be delivered over to the Roman and Jewish leaders for disgraceful crucifixion. This action would lead to His death. His death, of course, presupposes His resurrection in three subsequent days from His crucifixion. 

This rising from the dead and emergence from the tomb was an inevitable result based upon the promise of the Old Testament as well as the above-recorded sayings of Jesus Himself. The Son of God must rise from the dead in order to accomplish the “eternal purpose” of the Father.Without this resurrection, it would be impossible to save anyone from the penalty of their sins. Further, it would be impossible for men and women to be made in the image of the Son of God, as Scripture indicates is the purpose of God, in creation and in eternity.