Resurrection Pictures

"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53: 7-12 NIV)

The idea of a Messiah goes back to the very beginning of man's apostacy and fall into sin and death. Immediately after man's rebellion and his judicial sentencing, Lord God gave to the world's first sinners the first promise of redemption and restoration, of forgiveness and salvation, and that by another man who would be "born of Eve's seed," a divine yet human Redeemer and Restorer, a Savior and Messiah.

"And I will put enmity between you (the Serpent or Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3: 15 NIV)

There was a long period of time between the time when Lord God uttered this oracle in the Garden of Eden to the time when Isaiah the prophet penned the above prophecy of the Messiah.

The prophecy of Isaiah in regard to Lord God's "righteous servant" is the most clear and expressive statement regarding the career of the Messiah, including his death, and burial, and resurrection, and glorification.

Prior to Isaiah's prophecy, and even afterward, however, revelation concerning the resurrection of the Messiah was given in mostly types and shadows, in prophetic pictures. Let us look at some of those Old Testament pictures.

"And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds." (Numbers 17: 8)

"Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant..." (Hebrews 9: 4)

Aaron's rod was caused to bud and blossom, and even to produce fruit, almonds, to prove to all that he was God's chosen one, his appointed high priest, and is recognized by Christians as a type or picture of resurrection, especially of Christ.

"Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham replied. "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22: 1-14 NIV)

"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 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." (Hebrews 11: 17-19)

This is one of the clearest "figures" of the death and resurrection of Jesus, besides other great important truths of the Christian faith.

Isaac is a person who prefigures Christ, just as did Moses and others in the Old Testament. The offering up of Isaac by Abraham is a picture of the career of Christ as a "sin offering." But, the liberation from death, that Isaac experienced, is also a picture of how the victim himself is delivered.

"Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas 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. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." (Matthew 12: 38-41)

This is another superb and clear "picture" of the coming death and resurrection of Christ.

Jonah's being "thrown overboard" during the divinely sent Hurricane was what brought salvation to those who remained on board the ship. They were saved and preserved "at his expense."

It was after Jonah's resurrection that he went to Nineveh, a Gentile city, and preached the message of repentance with great success. This clearly foreshadowed the preaching of the gospel and of the message of repentance by John the Baptist, Christ, and of the apostles and early Christian evangelists. It was after Jesus, the super Jonah, was resurrected from the "heart of the earth" that he appeared to his disciples and said to them -

"This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24: 46-48 NIV)

What a wonderful and spectacular fulfillment of ancient prophecy was the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah! Oh that more Jews today would see how these ancient prophecies were fulfilled perfectly in Jesus and could be fulfilled in no other!

Besides the clear prophecies given of the death and resurrection of Christ, as in the Isaiah prophecy, and besides the types and pictures of it, as shown in the examples of Aaron's budding cane, and of Isaac's deliverance from death, and of Jonah's experience, there are also logical evidences of it throughout the Old Testament.

The Old Testament prophesied of the death of the Messiah. But, the Old Testament also prophesied of the fact that the Messiah would "abide forever." How can these be reconciled without a resurrection of the Messiah?

"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." (I Corinthians 15: 1-8 NIV)

Friend, do you know that Jesus is the Messiah promised by the all the ancient prophets who have been since the world began?