What a wonderful day Easter day is! At the heart of every aspect of our walk with God is the resurrection of Jesus; actual resurrection, physical and real. It vindicates all he did on Calvary, prepares the way for his ascension, and for the coming of the Spirit. Spiritual life starts with meeting the risen Lord. Revivals and judgement both start with the risen Lord.
Jesus himself lived his earthly life and moved through his earthly ministry with a profound awareness that he would rise from the dead. It was the load star that guided him through all he faced. That awareness no doubt came from deep inner conviction, but it is also very evident that Jesus drew strength from an incisive understanding of Old Testament prophecy concerning his resurrection. It is not easy to imagine just how alive Jesus was in his spirit to the prophecies of the Old Testament; he didn’t simply work with “proof texts” but lived with the burning truth and revelation that those texts conveyed. It was something of that same burning revelation that he conveyed to his disciples on the Emmaus road. The prophetic revelation of his resurrection was of this calibre.
The book of Jonah provides a very clear example of his prophetic encounters. Jesus saw the emaciated Jonah fresh from three days in the belly of the fish as a startling sign to the Ninevites, but just as clearly he knew his resurrection from the dead would be an even greater sign to his own generation. He profoundly identified with the three days that Jonah spent in the fish; he could see with great clarity that those three days foreshadowed his death, and Jonah’s deliverance from the fish also spoke directly and powerfully of his own deliverance from death and his resurrection. (Matt 12:39ff)
The words of Isaiah, “After the suffering .. he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:10) would have had equal impact. Coming immediately after the poignant description of the death of the suffering servant, these words spoke clearly of that servant looking back with satisfaction on his death, indicating clearly that death had been overcome. Jesus, of course, knew he was that suffering servant and grasped the truth that after the agony of the cross would come the massive joy and satisfaction of his resurrection and glory.
Equally powerful to his soul would have been the words in Zechariah which come in the midst of an extraordinary restoration prophecy which said of the Israelites “they will look on me whom they have pierced” (Zech.10:10). Jesus knew the Israelites would pierce him, but equally he knew that later they would see him again as their resurrected and glorified Messiah.
This (and a great deal more) prophetic understanding became the key to his disciples in their understanding and preaching of the gospel after the resurrection.
Bob
To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue.
Jesus himself lived his earthly life and moved through his earthly ministry with a profound awareness that he would rise from the dead. It was the load star that guided him through all he faced. That awareness no doubt came from deep inner conviction, but it is also very evident that Jesus drew strength from an incisive understanding of Old Testament prophecy concerning his resurrection. It is not easy to imagine just how alive Jesus was in his spirit to the prophecies of the Old Testament; he didn’t simply work with “proof texts” but lived with the burning truth and revelation that those texts conveyed. It was something of that same burning revelation that he conveyed to his disciples on the Emmaus road. The prophetic revelation of his resurrection was of this calibre.
The book of Jonah provides a very clear example of his prophetic encounters. Jesus saw the emaciated Jonah fresh from three days in the belly of the fish as a startling sign to the Ninevites, but just as clearly he knew his resurrection from the dead would be an even greater sign to his own generation. He profoundly identified with the three days that Jonah spent in the fish; he could see with great clarity that those three days foreshadowed his death, and Jonah’s deliverance from the fish also spoke directly and powerfully of his own deliverance from death and his resurrection. (Matt 12:39ff)
The words of Isaiah, “After the suffering .. he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:10) would have had equal impact. Coming immediately after the poignant description of the death of the suffering servant, these words spoke clearly of that servant looking back with satisfaction on his death, indicating clearly that death had been overcome. Jesus, of course, knew he was that suffering servant and grasped the truth that after the agony of the cross would come the massive joy and satisfaction of his resurrection and glory.
Equally powerful to his soul would have been the words in Zechariah which come in the midst of an extraordinary restoration prophecy which said of the Israelites “they will look on me whom they have pierced” (Zech.10:10). Jesus knew the Israelites would pierce him, but equally he knew that later they would see him again as their resurrected and glorified Messiah.
This (and a great deal more) prophetic understanding became the key to his disciples in their understanding and preaching of the gospel after the resurrection.
Bob
To make a comment: click on word “comments” below, write your comment in the white box which appears and add your name and e mail address (if you wish), choose “select profile”, click “anonymous” and then continue.
to the powerful prophetic pronouncementsthat Jesus made about the future, we find that some had their focus on the Jewish nation and the inevitability of judgement, since in rejecting him it rejected “the time of God’s coming” (Lk 19:41ff). These pronouncements came to pass in the succeeding decades. We find his other pronouncements had their focus on essential features in human history before his return in glory (Matt.24). Two millennia of history have endorsed his words, and future history will further endorse them.
Posts
