Easter in the Old Testament

 

Paul makes an interesting statement in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 with respect to the resurrection of Christ, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” Notice in that passage the phrase, “in accordance with the Scriptures” is mentioned twice. Obviously, when Paul mentions the “Scriptures” he had in mind there the Old Testament, as the New Testament canon wasn’t even complete at the time he wrote these words.

Of course, we can clearly see the death of Christ in prophetic places like Exodus 12, Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, but the resurrection is not as overt. This begs the question – where would you go in the OT to find prophetic foreshadowings of Christ’s resurrection? Allow me to suggest four OT heroes that perhaps Paul had in mind.

·         Abraham – The Patriarch of Resurrection

In Genesis 22 we find Abraham and Isaac on Mt. Moriah. This was undoubtedly the greatest test of Abraham’s life as God asked him to offer up His only son, Isaac. Of course, we know that before the Patriarch plunged the knife into Isaac’s heart that the Angel of Lord stopped the sacrifice and provided a ram caught in the thicket.

Now the question naturally arises, “How did Abraham have the faith, to offer up Isaac?”  By the way, didn’t God make an unconditional, unilateral covenant with Abraham back in Genesis 12 promising that from him God was going to produce a great nation and that through his descendants all the nations of the world would be blessed? How was God going to fulfill that promise by having Abraham kill off his seed?

The writer of Hebrews gives us a clue into what Abraham was thinking at that moment. Hebrews 11:17-19, states: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’  He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.”   

In other words, the reason why Abraham had the incredible faith to bind Isaac on the altar was because He reasoned that God would be able to resurrect his son back to life. Raising Isaac, the Son of Promise, was the only way that God could keep His promises. Fast forward some nineteen centuries and what God didn’t do with Abraham’s son, He did with His Son. Jesus, unlike Isaac, was killed, and three days later was raised back to life. From afar, Abraham saw the Gospel through eyes of faith and that’s why Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).

·         Job: The Patient of Resurrection

Besides the Lord Jesus, there’s probably no other person who suffered as much as Job. In a single day he lost his finances, fitness, fame and family. But he did not lose his faith. Job became a pitiful patient who received discouraging council from his friends and who’s only relief came from scraping his sores with a potshard. In the depths of his despair, Job cried out “If a man dies will he live again?” (Job 14:14). Little did he know that Jesus would give the answer – a resounding “Yes!” - standing beside the tomb of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). Moments after saying this, Jesus brought Lazarus from an early grave.

Later in his painful ordeal, Job had an epiphany. Listen to his amazing words in Job 19:25-27: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

Job believed in a mediator, someone who could bridge the gap between God and man. Job also voiced a resurrection hope to stand in a new body free from sickness and pain and with clearer eyes behold His God. Again this hope was later promised by Christ, "Because I live, you shall live also" (John 14:19). Job’s plight caused him to long for redemption and a sinless, deathless, ageless, painless body. And that’s what pain and loss does for us as well. The more heartache and suffering we face in this world, our desire for eternity grows stronger. Thank God, even in the distant past, Job had the hope of Easter.  

·         David: The Psalmist of Resurrection

In Psalm 16:10, David makes an amazing statement of prophetic significance, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption.” “Sheol” was an OT reference to the underworld where the souls of the dead dwelled. The word “corruption” speaks of the decay which sets in on a corpse. Here David was looking down the tunnels of time uttering a resurrection reality about the coming Messiah. In other words, the Anointed One would die, but his body would not be dead long enough for the decomposition process to begin.

When we get to the book of Acts this Psalm shows up again in a famous sermon. In Acts 2 Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and preaches his very first Gospel message. Like all good sermons, Jesus was the central theme. Peter preached on the ministry of Jesus’ life (2:22), the meaning of Jesus’ death (2:23), the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection (2:24-31) and the majesty of Jesus’ reign (2:32-36). When speaking about Jesus’ victory over death Peter quotes from Psalm 16:10, pointing out to his audience that they should not be surprised by the empty tomb because David predicted it 1,000 years earlier! Peter’s sermon hit like mighty hammer blows upon an anvil, as hearts were convicted and 3,000 souls were saved (2:41)!   

·         Jonah: The Prophet of Resurrection

At first Jonah ran from God, then he ran into God and then he ran with God. Our prodigal prophet was given a second chance to go to Nineveh and preach after he spent some time sloshing around the fish’s belly. Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish is a prefiguring of Jesus’ internment in the tomb.  In fact, Jesus preached on Jonah in Matt. 12:38-40: 

“But he answered them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.’”

Jonah was a type of Christ. Just as Jonah was buried in the depths of the sea, Jesus was buried in the depths of the earth. Just as Jonah came out of the great fish after 3 days, so too Jesus would come out of his tomb after 3 days. 

I imagine that Jonah came out of the fish’s belly looking much different than when he went in. The whale’s gastric juices probably bleached his skin and did a number on his hair. Perhaps, Jonah looked like an albino from another planet. What a strange sight he must have been to the Ninevites as he preached on their streets. In the same way, the sight of Jesus to his followers inspired all manner of reactions – amazement, fear, joy and even doubt. What a strange sight it must have been to see the One who had suffered so much, now before them in a resurrection body complete with wounds. The disciples could not deny it – He had risen and that was no fish story! -DM

The Firstfruits / Resurrection Connection

 

If you read too fast through Matthew’s account of the Easter story you may miss one of the strangest and most mystifying details. “51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also 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 went into the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matt. 27:51-53).

If that passage leaves you scratching your head, then you’re not alone. Matthew is the only Gospel writer who mentions this event and it feels like it gets lost in the flurry of activity that took place between Jesus’ cross and the resurrection. But what does it all mean?

Admittedly, we wished that Matthew would have given us more information, but from what we can tell the word “saints” implies they were disciples of Jesus prior to Calvary. Obviously, they died before Jesus’ own suffering and death. As Jesus hung on the cross supernatural signs screamed that something significant was happening – the sky darkened, an earthquake shifted fault lines around Jerusalem, the 4-inch-thick veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom and the stones covering the graves of these saints crumbled. Powerfully, gloriously, triumphantly, Jesus conquered the grave and soon after the Marys, Peter and John discovered the empty tomb these saints were raised back to life and visited people in the city.

My, my, can you imagine the havoc, joy and bewilderment these reunions created? So many questions emerge – Who did these risen saints appear to? Did they receive glorified bodies like Jesus or were they raised in the manner of Lazarus, destined to die again? Why did God perform this miracle? I’m not sure there’s any conclusive way to answer these vexing questions, but perhaps we have some clues in the Old Testament Feast of Firstfruits.   

Tucked away in Leviticus 23 are the seven festivals of Israel. We know that Jesus literally fulfilled Passover, Unleavened Bread and Firstfruits on the calendar day they fell. His crucifixion fulfilled Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), His burial fulfilled unleavened bread (John 12:24) and His resurrection fulfilled Firstfruits (1 Cor. 15:23). According to Leviticus 23, Firstfruits was a spring celebration that anticipated the barley harvest. Every year before the spring harvest the people were instructed to take sheaf of barley, cut it, and have the High Priest wave it before the Lord, offering God the first and best of the harvest in recognition of His ownership of the land. Firstfruits marked the beginning of the barley harvest and it anticipated the full harvest of wheat to come later in the fall.  

The New Testament writers saw the rich symbolism of this feast pointing to Jesus as the “firstborn of the dead” (Col. 1:18; Rev. 1:5). Just as the Jews looked forward to the rest of the harvest coming in, when Jesus rose from the dead He was the Firstfruits of a future resurrection harvest. His resurrection is the first installment and guarantee of more to follow.

This agricultural connection also helps explain the curious event in Matt. 27:52-53. The harvest season in Israel consisted of three parts: First fruits, general harvest and gleanings. These phases of harvest also correspond to phases of resurrections in God’s prophetic timeline. These who were raised with Christ were part of the “Firstfruits” resurrection. The church which will be raised at the Rapture constitutes the general harvest (1 Thess. 4:13-18). While the resurrection of the Tribulation martyrs, two witnesses (Rev. 11) and OT saints (Dan. 12:2) makes up the gleanings.[1]  

But there’s more. According to Jewish tradition there are three steps involved in First fruits: marking, gathering and presenting. The Temple priests would select workers to go into the barley fields outside Jerusalem to find the first mature barley. The workers would mark the barley and bind it in a sheaf, usually with a red chord to make it easy to spot. Then on the day of Firstfruits, this chosen barley was cut and brought to the brought to the High Priest to be presented by waving it before the Lord at the altar (Lev. 23:10-11). It’s interesting that about the time the Caiaphas, the High Priest, was trying Jesus, the servants of the Temple were in the barley field judging which would be harvested for Firstfruits. Moreover, on the day the Romans were binding up Jesus for crucifixion, the Temple servants were binding up the barley sheaf for the Firstfruits.  

According to scholar Michael Norton, Firstfruits also helps shed light on another Easter mystery. When Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus He says something puzzling to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” (John 20:17). Why couldn’t Mary touch Jesus? Norton explains his revelation:

            “I discovered the reason when I read what historian Flavius Josephus, a member of the Temple priesthood, wrote in The Antiquities of the Jews about the barley. He explained that the Jews could not touch the barley for harvest before the Feast of Firstfruits. Once the barley sheaf was presented to God by the priest, the barley crop could be harvested for use. Since Jesus was the Firstfruits, He had to go to the Father before anyone could touch Him. We see that after He had been to the Father and back, Thomas could touch him as John 20:27 states.”[2]     

Jesus fulfilled the Firstfruits prophecy right down to the gnat’s whisker. And what happened with the resurrected Easter saints is a preview of coming attractions. Because He lives, we shall live also (John 14:19). Jesus is the means and model for the believer’s future resurrection. When He calls our name, we will rise, “28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). -DM

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[1] M.R. DeHann, Studies in Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1988), 162.

[2] Michael Norton, Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2015), 33.

The Gnostic Gospel

Gnosticism was a thorn in the side of the early church. In fact, the Gnostics were one of the first cultic groups that formed and took on a force of its own in the ancient church. John dealt with their heresies as did Paul. In Colossians, the apostle took on the Gnostics like a bulldog on a porkchop, writing, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (2:8).

The Gnostics were a hodge-podge of Greek philosophy, mysticism and Christianity. The title comes from the Greek word gnosis which means, “knowledge.” The Gnostics believed that salvation came from the discovery of secret knowledge which would lead to a spiritual awakening. While the Gospel said salvation was faith alone in Christ alone, the Gnostics added “human wisdom” to the equation.

The Popular Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics defined Gnostic beliefs like so, “Gnostics saw the material world as a prison for the god-spirit in each person. This divine spark longs to escape the body and return to the place of origin. A spiritual awakening is needed to recognize that the Gnostic does not belong to this world and salvation comes by knowledge of one’s divine origin.”[1] 

So why am I writing about an ancient cult and their false doctrines? Because the lie of Gnosticism is still prevalent today. In fact, it has infected the church. Especially the idea that we are “little gods.” If you’ve ever listened to celebrity pastors from the word-faith/prosperity camp then you are familiar with the “little gods” teaching. Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland and Kris Valloton of Bethel Church in Redding, CA are a few proponents. In fact, Kris Valloton writes on his blog, “When you’re acting like your heavenly Father, you’re actually being yourself!”[2] Yikes! It’s amazing how closely related that statement is to the teachers of New Age spirituality.      

One of the world’s most popular spiritual guru’s is Deepak Chopra, whose books are NY Times bestsellers and he’s been endorsed by Orpah and Good Morning America. Chopra says:

“I set out many years ago to show that there’s another way to view God . . . Once you drop the storybook image of a patriarch sitting on his throne above the clouds, room is made for a different story. In reality we are divinity in disguise. Every person is a god in embryo which seeks to be fully materialized. We must find out for ourselves that inside us is a little god or goddess that wants to be born so we can express our divinity.”[3]

You can see how the musings of modern philosophers like Chopra sounds deep and profound. There’s nothing that strokes the ego more than hearing you are god, you just don’t know it yet.

Pastor Erwin Lutzer hits the nail on the head. “’I believe in God’ is perhaps one of the most meaningless statements we can make today. The word God has become a canvas on which each is free to paint his own portrait of the divine; like the boy scribbling at his desk, we can draw God according to whatever specifications we please. For some He is ‘psychic energy’; for others He is just a ‘Higher Power.’ To say that ‘I believe in God’ might simply mean that we are seeing ourselves in a full length mirror.”[4]

By the way, haven’t we heard this line before—like from the lying tongue of Satan? When Satan tempted Adam & Eve in Eden he said “God knows that when you eat forbidden tree your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good from evil” (Gen. 3:5). Don’t be fooled! Former Bible Answer Man Walter Martin said it best, “Old error in new dress, is still error nonetheless!”[5]  

This is why we need spiritual discernment in these days of deception. Lord, help us to “take every thought captive under the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5) so that we are not kidnapped by the lies of the Enemy. -DM

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[1] Ed Hindson & Ergun Caner, The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2008), 234-235. 

[2] Kris Valloton, “False Humility is Killing Us,” September 4, 2018 <https://www.krisvallotton.com/false-humility-is-killing-us>

[3] Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, (San Rafael, CA: Amber Allen, 1994), 98.

[4] Erwin Lutzer, 10 Lies About God (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2009), 2.

[5] Walter Martin, Screwtape Writes Again (Santa Ana, Calif.; Vision House Publishers, 1975), 16.