The Resurrection Of Christ–Is It A Fact?
By Dr.
Rafat Amari
The solid truth of the resurrection
is compared to the false claims of founders of world religions and cults.
When we compare the solid proofs of the resurrection with the
claims of founders of religions, we see that the truth was not left obscure and
hidden. The founders of religions all claimed to have seen visions and claimed
experiences in secret without anyone testifying to the veracity of what they
claimed to see or experience.
For example, Mohammed confirmed himself in the eyes of his
followers as the greatest prophet in history by claiming he mounted the Baraq,
a winged camel, visited the Temple in Jerusalem, and preached to all the
prophets there. In reality, the Temple of Solomon did not exist in his own
time. It was destroyed in the year 586 B.C. and, though rebuilt by the exiles
after 70 years, was destroyed and leveled again by Titus in the year 70. The
Temple was never rebuilt again.
It is evident that Mohammed thought the Temple was in
existence at his time, and claimed he had made a night trip to the Temple in
the company of Gabriel mounted on the winged camel. When the Kuriesh tribe
asked him for a sign that proved he visited the Temple, he mentioned a camel on
the way to Damascus who had seen the Baraq–the winged camel–and as a result the
camel had lain down in fear.
Abu Baker is considered the most important Muslim, the vicar
of Mohammed, and the first Khalif. When Mohammed described the non-existent Temple
and claimed to have visited the Temple of Jerusalem, describing the doors or
parts of the Temple, Abu Baker claimed that the description of Mohammed was
accurate according to what he had seen of the Temple in Jerusalem. So Abu Baker
was a false witness to the unhistorical claim of Mohammed. Yet this incident
was the rationale for elevating Mohammed over the prophets in the eyes of
Muslims.
When we compare these claims with the proofs of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank God that He made the truth to
be clear and not hidden to the true seeker. The case for the resurrection of
Christ did need to be “helped” in order to be authenticated . There were no
human factors that promoted it. On the contrary, the resurrection was made
evident in spite of lack of expectation and doubt of the human factor.
After the death of Christ the disciples hid themselves in a
room. Peter had already denied Him three times during His trials, swearing that
he never knew Him. But the resurrection of Christ from the dead transformed the
disciples into strong witnesses ready to die for the fact of the resurrection.
Why? Because the risen Jesus appeared to them on the third day after His death
and ate with them.
The resurrection met the test of one
who was seriously doubtful and skeptical.
Doubting Thomas was absent when the risen Christ appeared to
the disciples. Thomas said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails,
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I
will not believe.” He was not disappointed. In fact, after eight days His
disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being
shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas,
“Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas
answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
The fact of Christ’s resurrection was examined by a doubter
who, even upon seeing the evidence, had decided not to believe unless he
touched. In 1953 Hillary and Tenzing of a British team put their feet on the
top of Mount Everest in the Himalayan Mountains. Thus the highest point of the
earth has been trodden by man. No one would dare to say that the top of Everest
has not yet been discovered unless I put my feet on the top of the mountain.
Similarly, the resurrection has been acknowledged by the most skeptical and
doubtful critic, that is, Thomas, who did not believe unless he put his finger
into the print of the nails, and put his hand into Jesus’ side where He was
pierced. So Thomas touched and was ascertained of the fact of the resurrection
as a representative of the doubters and skeptics of all time.
The resurrection dealt with the disappointment
of His followers, and brought faith to people who were not aware that the
resurrection was a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament.
The risen Christ was not an image portrayed on the walls, seen
by a man at night; such a thing would make it an experience of a man who could
have been hallucinating. But the risen Christ appeared to many men gathered
together. He not just appeared to them, but He sat with them, ate with them,
and continued to appear to them for forty days, instructing them on their
mission to evangelize the whole world.
He appeared in person on the day of the resurrection to two
of the disciples who were disappointed, and who had left the group before His
appearance to the whole group at night. This happened on the way to the village
of Emmaus near Jerusalem. He accompanied them on their way to Emmaus,
explaining to them the prophecies in the Old Testament about His death and
resurrection, without their recognizing Him. Finally, He entered with them into
a house and sat with them at the table. When He was at the table with them, He
took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Their eyes were
opened, and they recognized Him, and then He disappeared from their sight. They
said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us
on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that
very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” This was before
His appearance to all that same night.
The risen Christ appeared to many
people and interacted with them throughout forty days, so that it is impossible
to consider His resurrection as an abstract or hallucinatory experience or in
any way other than a reality.
If an historical figure sits and eats with a group of twelve
people many times during forty days, and gives them training for a task that
they should perform, would we consider that they did not meet with this
historical figure, but with his shadow, or that the group was suffering a
hallucination? A hallucination does not interact with a person. One never eats
or sits with the negative spirit that causes an hallucination. Another thing
that distinguishes between hallucination and reality is that a person
experiencing a hallucination, usually by a negative, wicked spirit, sees the
spirit in each direction he looks. This is because the hallucination is in his
mind. Mohammed spoke in regard to the spirit that appeared to him under the
name of “Gabriel.” He said that in every direction he looked he saw Gabriel.
This was not an angelic apparition, since true angels, when appearing to the
prophets, came in and were seen by the prophet or the person to whom they
appeared in the direction in which they appeared or stood.
Persons who are experiencing hallucinatory visions due to
negative spirits usually are also affected by a kind of schizophrenia. The
biography of Mohammed mentions Mohammed’s suffering a severe condition wherein
his wife and his close companions describe various symptoms, among them that he
used to think that he was doing a certain thing without doing it. This is one
of the symptoms of schizophrenia. Because schizophrenia at that time was not
diagnosed, his close friends thought that Mohammed was charmed by the Jews. But
the severe symptoms continued for more than six months. Mohammed's disease had
to do with the many hallucinations that he underwent. Medical science proves
that a person who suffers many hallucinations may end up with a form of
schizophrenia.
The resurrection was a reality that was seen and experienced
by the group of the early disciples. It was not just the experience of one
person who claimed to see in secret, as the founders of all religions, such as
Zoroaster, Mani, and Mohammed, who claimed to see angels alone. But the
resurrection of Christ was attested by all the disciples and the large group
who joined them. There was not just one experience, but continuing appearances
of the risen Christ during the forty days before His ascension.
The risen Christ before His ascension to heaven appeared to
five hundred Christians who were together. Of these people, many were alive
when the Christian message reached other parts of the ancient world. At the
time Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, most of them were alive.
In fact, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:6 “After that He was seen by over five
hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but
some have fallen asleep.” Paul could not say this if this experience was not
factual, famous, and well-known to many Christians. Many of those five hundred
may have been seen by the Corinthians themselves, since those who saw the risen
Christ witnessed about their encounter with Him not only in Judea but in many
parts of the Roman Empire.
The risen Lord appeared not just to
His followers, but to one who was among the most aggressive antagonists of the
Christian faith.
After the ascension of Christ to heaven, the Lord appeared
to Saul, who, after his conversion, became known as the apostle Paul. Saul was
a great persecutor of the early church. I present here part of his experience
in seeing the risen Lord.
“I
persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men
and women, As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of
the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to
Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be
punished.
“Now it
happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great
light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice
saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’
“So I
answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom
you are persecuting.’ The people with
me saw the light but didn't hear the voice.
“So I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’
And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be
told all things which are appointed for you to do.’
“And since I could not see for the
glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came
into Damascus.” (Acts 22:4-11)
Paul, through this
appearance of Jesus Christ to him, became a fervent apostle testifying to the
Jews and Gentiles about the resurrection.
From a position of great honor in Judaism, he became a humble servant of
Jesus after the risen Christ appeared to him. Paul was persecuted and was
stoned many times for Jesus’ sake, until his martyrdom in Rome. Paul’s
testimony of seeing the risen Lord is important because he was an enemy of the
Christian faith. He came to faith not through someone’s preaching to him the
Gospel, but through Jesus’ appearing to him in person.
The solidity of the resurrection fact contrasts with the
illogical excuses of those who wanted to hide it.
None of those who saw the risen Christ withdrew or turned
back from their assertion that they saw Christ risen after His death. All the
apostles of Christ became martyrs for the truth to which they witnessed,
namely, seeing the risen Christ.
Even the enemies of Christ testified of the empty tomb of
Jesus. But they found an illogical excuse for it, that the disciples of Christ
came at night and stole the body. How is it that a few disciples, who showed
fearfulness and cowardice toward accompanying Jesus in His trials the night
that preceded the crucifixion, who all denied Him, and who went to hide
themselves in a room, could be transformed by the next night into brave
fighters against the Roman Empire and against the Jews to the point of going to
challenge the soldiers who were put there to guard the tomb, and could succeed
in prevailing against the guards?
If this were what had happened, could not the Jewish
authorities have punished the disciples and chased them to see where they had
put the body of Jesus? The Jewish authorities would certainly have traced them
and found the body to prove that the claim of the disciples of Christ was
false. But the authorities never did so because they knew that the disciples
had not stolen the body. When the guards returned to them, they told the
authorities about what happened that morning at the tomb. “And behold, there
was a great earthquake; for an angel of the
Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon
it.” The Jewish leaders wanted to hide the news about the resurrection. We read
about this in the Gospel of Matthew:
When they had assembled with the elders and consulted
together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them,
‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away
while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease
him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were
instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this
day. (Matthew 28:12-15)
This shows that the tomb remained empty during the time the
authors of the Gospels were inspired to write. Christians rejoiced at the fact
that so many people had seen the risen Christ, and that the tomb was empty,
while the lie of the religious leaders and the guards who were bribed spread
among the unbelieving Jews, as if it were a reasonable excuse to oppose the
fact that Jesus was the Christ and risen from the dead.
Christ foretold His resurrection.
Christ mentioned that He was going to die and be resurrected
from the dead on the third day. We read in Matthew 16:21:
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.
Before His death on the
cross Jesus spoke about His death and the resurrection after three days as the
great sign given to His generation. We read about this in Luke 11:29-30:
And when multitudes were
assembled, he began to say, “This evil generation seeketh a sign; and no sign will
be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah became a sign to
the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation.”
Then in Matthew 12:40 He
explained this sign:
“For 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.”
The Lord said about His death and resurrection as a sign,
“The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater
than Jonah is here.” They believed a
prophetic symbol about the coming cross and resurrection of Christ, while most
of the Jewish contemporaries of Jesus Christ did not believe in the
resurrection of the One who is greater than Jonah, because He is the Creator of
Jonah. This sign of the cross and the resurrection is in fact given to all, and
is a sign by which the judgment will be applied to those who denied the
resurrection of Christ on the third day.
Jesus also spoke symbolically about His resurrection in John
2:19:
Jesus said to the Jews,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the
Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You
raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He
had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus
had said.
In other words, Jesus was telling the Jews, “It is true you
are going to kill me and destroy my temple [“temple” in the Scriptures
symbolizes the human body, as in “Do not you know that your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit?”], but I am going to raise my body on the third day.” Jesus
made His power to raise His body after three days of death a sign of His
everlasting divine Sonship in the Triune God.
The resurrection was prophesied in
the Old Testament.
Our rise to a new, spiritual,
victorious life was promised to us in the Old Testament as a consequence of the
resurrection of Christ.
The resurrection was prophesied in the books of the Old
Testament. In the book of Hosea there is a prophecy about a spiritual
resurrection for the believers. We read in Hosea 6:2, “After two days He will
revive us; On the third day He will raise us up.” Man could not live
victoriously because the human nature is unable to live according to God’s
spiritual requirements that He established for people to live by. But here is a
promise about a radical change that will happen. This change, we are told, will
happen on the third day. This is in reference to the resurrection of Christ who
rose from the dead on the third day. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He
became the firstfruit for all who will be raised in the future, as we read in 1
Corinthians 15:20, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
The resurrection of Christ gave us life, because the spirit
of the risen Christ was given to those who believe in Him so that they could
conquer their weakness and the Adamic dead nature in which they live. Therefore it is written in Ephesians 2:6,
“For he raised us from the dead along with Christ.” That is why the resurrection of Christ in the Old Testament is
portrayed with the resurrection of all believers.
It was prophesied that the body of
the Messiah put in the grave would not endure corruption, neither would His
soul remain in Sheol.
In Psalm 16:10 there is a
clear prophecy about the resurrection of Christ:
For You will not leave
my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
The Holy One is a divine
title, indicating that the psalmist is prophesizing about the death of One who
is originally divine, but One whose body reaches the grave. The Psalm tells us
that God the Father will not allow this divine person to remain in the place of
the dead with others who died in the Old Testament, neither will He allow His
body to undergo corruption like all humans who die. Corruption of bodies is a consequence of the curse that sin
brought into the human race. But Jesus the Messiah is sinless, so the curse of
sin has no power over His body.
This prophecy from Psalm
16 was quoted by the apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost in proving the
resurrection of Christ:
“Men and brethren, let
me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. 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 on his throne;
he, seeing this before, spoke 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.” (Acts 2:29-32)
The resurrection is alluded to or
mentioned every time the Old Testament prophets foretold the death of the
Messiah, as, for example, in Psalm 22.
The resurrection of the Messiah is a common theme of the
prophecies of the Old Testament. Every time a book of the Old Testament
describes the atoning death of Christ, there follows allusions and references
to His resurrection, that is, His return to life to be honored because He was
willing to die as a ransom for the sins of mankind.
As an example consider Psalm 22, a psalm that describes the
sufferings of Christ on the cross. There in verses 7 and 8 we read a prophecy
about the Jews ridiculing Jesus while He was on the cross:
All those who see Me
ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in
the LORD, let Him rescue Him; let Him
deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”
This was fulfilled
exactly. When Jesus was crucified, the Jews ridiculed Him, and said to him,
“Let’s see if He is the Messiah; let God rescue Him and deliver Him.”
The psalm describes how
horrible His death was. The one suspended on a cross feels that his bones are
out of joint, because he is unable to move any part of his body, and after a
short time all his joints are exhausted. Because the blood is diminished,
gradually the heart is weakened until the point that he feels as if it is
melted within his chest. The next step is a severe dehydration that precedes
death. We find the psalm in verses 14 and 15 describing this experience of the
suffering Christ, indicating His death on the cross:
I am poured out like
water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted
within Me.
My strength is dried up
like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the
dust of death.
Verse 16 specifically
alludes to the cross, indicating that the soldiers pierced the hands and the
feet of the Messiah. The verse specifies that the crucifiers were gentiles,
describing them as “dogs.” The Jews at the time of Christ considered the
Gentiles as dogs. Here is a prophecy that the ones who will pierce the Messiah
will not be Jews. In fact, the Jews who insisted that Christ be crucified used
the Romans to crucify him.
For dogs have surrounded
Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and
My feet.
In verse 18 the psalm
prophecies about something that happened after Christ's hands and feet were
pierced and He was put on the cross:
They divide my clothes
among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.
In the Gospels, you will
find that the Roman soldiers “when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments
and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic
was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among
themselves, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,’ that
the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: ‘They divided My garments among
them, And for My clothing they cast lots.’ Therefore the soldiers did these
things.” (John 19:23-24)
After this accurate
description of the scene at the cross, the psalm declares that the Messiah,
after His crucifixion, will lead the church–expressed in the psalm as the
"great assembly"–and will glorify the heavenly Father through the
church that will be born as a result of His sufferings. This is a clear
indication of His resurrection after His terrible death on the cross. We read
these words in verses 24-25:
I will declare Your name
to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise You. My praise shall be of
You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
The psalm in verse 26 mentions that seekers of truth will be
satisfied as the result of the death and resurrection of Christ:
The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him will
praise the LORD.
Let your heart live forever!
The poor intended here are the poor in spirit, the ones who
feel their need for the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.”
In verse 27 the psalmist
mentions the result of the death of the Messiah–that from all parts of the
world people will turn to the risen Messiah and worship Him:
All the ends of the
world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship
before You.
Verse 29 mentions that the “prosperous of the earth,” which are
the strongest nations of the earth, will benefit spiritually from the death of
the Messiah and worship him:
All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship; all
those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep
himself alive.
The last clause, “Even he who cannot keep himself alive,”
refers to those who did not live or have part in the blessed eternal life
because they failed to believe in the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
One day they, too, will bow before Him in fear. This will happen on the Day of
Judgment, when they will stand before Jesus Christ as the judge of all.
Verse 30 of the psalm prophesies about how the death and
resurrection of the Messiah will be spiritual good news for all generations:
Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told
about the Lord.
Verse 31 says that the righteousness of the Messiah and the
importance of His death will be told “to a people who will be born”:
They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who
will be born, that He has done this.
The people intended here are the people who will be
born-again through their faith in the redemptive death of Christ. The psalm
prophesies that the work of Christ will be the focal belief of the church,
which will be born spiritually as a result of faith in the death and
resurrection of Christ.
Accurate theological descriptions of the death and
resurrection of Christ are found in Isaiah chapter 53.
The death and resurrection of Christ is seen also in the
book of Isaiah, especially chapter 53. Isaiah lived in the 8th
century B.C., yet he prophesied about the death of the Messiah, and explained
the importance of His death and sufferings for our redemption and salvation. In
Isaiah 53:4-5 we read:
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet
we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for
our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Notice that he says, “He was pierced for our
transgressions.” This is a clear allusion to the death on the cross by which
the Messiah had to pay for the transgressions of the world. Those wounds of the
crucifixion are the cause for our spiritual healing from sin, which also gives
us peace with God. Our sins put us in continual animosity with God. Christ
removed such animosity through His atoning death in our place.
Verse six shows how we went astray from God, every one to
his own philosophy in life or religious thought:
All we as sheep have
gone astray; every one has gone astray in his way; and the LORD gave him up for our sins.
Notice that all the
consequences of our straying was put on Him, while He was our substitute before
the justice of God.
Verse 7 of Isaiah 53
mentions how Christ did not resist the cross:
He was oppressed and He
was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to
slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not
open His mouth.
He did not resist it
because He came to die as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John the Baptist, the one who came to prepare the way before the Lord as was
prophesied in the Old Testament, when he saw Jesus, said, “Behold! The Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus could easily have avoided the
cross and gotten rid of His persecutors, just as He calmed the tempests of the
sea with one word, but, as He said, “How then will the scriptures be fulfilled”
concerning his atoning death?
In verse 8, Isaiah
prophesied that the Jews, in the generation when Jesus was incarnated, would
fail to recognized the importance of His death:
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: who shall declare his
generation? For his life is taken away from the earth: because of the
iniquities of my people he was led to death.
Isaiah in verse 9 gave
some details about the Messiah’s death and burial:
And they made His grave
with the wicked–but with the rich at His death, because He had done no
violence, nor was any deceit in His
mouth.
In fact, two thieves
were crucified with Jesus. The Jews and
Romans wanted Jesus to die as an evildoer, though no sin was found in Him. When
we read the Gospels, we find that He was buried in the tomb of a rich man
called Joseph of Arimathea, who, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for
fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and
Pilate gave him permission. So he
came and took the body of Jesus, and buried Him in his own tomb.
What is the secret behind a God who loves His own Son, yet
is pleased to put on Him the penalty of our sins?
The sword representing the justice of God that descends on Christ
is found in many prophecies of the Old Testament. One example we find in the
prophet Zechariah 13:7:
“Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man,
My eternal companion,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd….”
The shepherd here is Christ who shepherds the angels and
humanity. He is described as the “eternal companion” of the Father because He
is a person of the Triune God from eternity. Yet Zechariah prophesied that God
the Father ordered the sword of divine justice to come down on the person with
whom He was united from eternity, who is also the Person who shepherds all
creation.
In the same chapter 53 of Isaiah, we see that when God the
Father saw His beloved Son on the altar of sacrifice as a substitute for sinful
humanity, in order to pay the penalty that divine justice required, the Father
was pleased to treat Him as the substitute for sinful humanity. The divine
justice was satisfied in putting on Him all the castigation which sinful people
should have suffered. We see this clearly in the 10th verse:
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an
offering for sin….
The acceptance of the Father that the sword of divine
justice should come down on Christ, who took flesh and was sacrificed for the
sin of humanity as the substitute, indicates that God saw in this a solution
for mankind's dilemma and for its future. God loves man, even though man fell
into sin and transgression. Yet God never would ignore or neglect to apply His
justice against man when man sinned. Even a human judge will not fail to do
justice–or will be unable to be unjust–so that he can't absolve a criminal from
his crime. How much more so the God of whom it is written in Psalm 89:14,
“Righteousness and justice are the
foundation of Your throne”? God can't say to the sinner that he is not a
sinner; therefore He can't absolve him from his iniquity. How can God, who is
holy and hates sin, allow Himself to be in fellowship with a sinful man?
In spite of the fact that God is love, and His love for the
human creatures whom He created for spiritual fellowship with Himself is a
great love, yet His love and mercy never surpasses His justice. Otherwise the
devil and his angels will accuse God of having accepted sin and that He is no
longer just.
But thank God, who provided the case for our justification
before the court or tribunal of heaven, which is watched by the angels and
watched also by the enemies of humanity who are the devil and his angels. God
had sent His Son in the flesh in order to condemn sin in the human flesh. In
fact, Jesus in His humanity lived in continuous perfection without committing
sin, nor was there found in Him any spiritual or moral defect. He behaved
blamelessly in all His ways. Ultimately He put Himself forward as a substitute
for man in order that He might endure the consequences of man's sin. Therefore
the loving Father was pleased to put on Him the penalty that every sinner was
worthy to endure.
When Jesus accepted making His own righteousness a
substitute for mankind's unrighteousness, and that the sword of divine justice
should come down on Him rather than coming down on man, He opened the way so
that the mercy of God, His grace and forgiveness, could descend toward every
person who believes in the redemptive work of Jesus–the work which Jesus
accomplished for the forgiveness of man's sins and for man's acceptance before
God.
Isaiah prophesied that the Redeemer
Messiah would rise from the dead and become the head of a new spiritual progeny–the
church–that would satisfy His heart.
We return to the 10th verse of Isaiah 53:
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You 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.
Here we see that Isaiah
prophesized that after the Messiah would die as a sacrifice for sin, He would
see His seed and prolong His days. This is a clear allusion, or reference, to the
resurrection that occurred three days after the death of Christ. The seed of
whom Isaiah spoke are the believers in Christ. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus,
who died for the sins and iniquities of men, becomes the head of a new seed. In
fact, we are born from the seed of Adam, who died in sin. But Christ, who died
and rose again, becomes the head of a new seed; therefore those who believe in
His atoning death for their sins are born spiritually from Him; that is, they
take on a spiritual nature through the work of the Spirit of the risen Christ.
Isaiah prophesied about
the success of God's kingdom in the hands of Christ after His resurrection.
This concept is expressed in these words: “And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.” The
good pleasure of the Lord is that He calls souls from each nation and tribe to
spiritual fellowship with His Son, as a bride for Him throughout eternity. This
good pleasure was fulfilled when the Holy Spirit came down on the day of
Pentecost and the church was founded in Jerusalem. Then the work of the Lord
continued to prosper and spread in all the earth, and still continues through
history. Because of His wisdom in leading His kingdom, it will have success on
earth and in eternity.
In the 11th verse of chapter 53 Isaiah prophesied
that Christ, because of His atoning death, will see great fruits:
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
This means He will see souls that trust in Him, be attached
to Him, and love Him. These fruits are “the labor of His soul” because He
sacrificed himself unto death in order to redeem those souls.
Isaiah prophesied about the
justification before God of those who will believe and have a spiritual
relationship with the Messiah as redeemer.
Isaiah continued to prophesy in verse 11:
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
for He shall bear their iniquities.
Justification means the one justified is coming forth
without blame or sin before God. How can it be that a sinner who is “wanted”
before the justice of God because of his transgressions of the laws of God–how
can he be counted as righteous and be justified while he is guilty? The answer
is that Jesus carried the sins of souls, though He is righteous and without sin
or any defect or blame. He carried on the cross the penalty of our
unrighteousness. Consequently, there is no more liability before the justice of
God for the sinner who puts his trust in the expiatory death of Christ. Divine
justice and all its requirements have been met through punishing the righteous
Jesus, who lay on the altar of the cross as the substitute for humanity.
Therefore the one who believes in Jesus the redeemer is seen before the court
of heaven as one whose sins were placed on Jesus when Jesus died on the cross
as the substitute for him. This is the justification that Isaiah spoke about.
When Isaiah says, “By His knowledge My righteous Servant
shall justify many,” he indicates that the One who died on the cross was not
the deity of the Son of God, but His humanity, since deity can't die. He died
as a man and obedient servant of God, so as to be a vicarious atonement for
humanity for whom He became the representative before the justice of God. We
see Isaiah prophesying that obtaining justification is through knowing the Messiah:
“By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many.” This means
that justification is by knowing Jesus personally and spiritually and not just
through intellectual faith, without spiritual relationship with the redeemer
who died and rose again to justify sinners.
The second part of the verse, “For He shall bear their
iniquities,” confirms that Jesus carried the sins of the world when He died on
the cross, since He hung there voluntarily as representative of humanity in
order that He might receive in His body the punishment which every sinner had
to encounter.
Isaiah prophesied about the honor
which the Father granted the Redeemer Messiah, by making the fruits of His
atoning death to be found among the richest and the greatest nations of the earth,
instead of those who despised Him and did not believe in Him.
In the verse that follows (53:12), Isaiah prophesied about
the honor which the Father gave to Christ the redeemer after His death and
resurrection:
Therefore I will divide Him
a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the
transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
The Jews rejected Him and they esteemed Him not, as Isaiah
prophesied about them in the beginning of chapter 53. Since they saw Him
humiliated and disdained on the cross, they despised Him instead of seeing His
sufferings for their redemption. Isaiah expressed this through the following
words in Isaiah 53:2-3:
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a
root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire
Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
With such an attitude of the people toward the sufferings of
Christ, the result was not limited to their unbelief. The heavenly Father made the fruits of the cross to be in the
powerful nations and among the great, as we saw in verses 10-12. History
testifies to the veracity of this prophecy of Isaiah. Many citizens of the
greatest and most powerful nations in the history of the world were believers
in Christ and in His great work of redemption. The sign of the cross took its
place on the crowns of Rome's emperors. Christ the redeemer has been venerated
by the most powerful leaders of the world and the richest nations. The reason
for this honor was mentioned in Isaiah's prophecy as we read, “Because He
poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors;”
namely, He voluntarily accepted death as the substitute for transgressors and
to be treated as if He were a sinner, because He carried the sins of the world,
though He was righteous.
Isaiah prophesied about the Christ’s
role in intercession.
Isaiah finishes His prophecy in the last part of verse 12
asserting:
And He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Christ died for the sins of whole world. But in reality, He
carried the sins of many, namely, those who placed their trust in this great
atoning death of Christ for them. For anyone who did not place his trust in
this great redemptive work, but went astray toward another way, the death of
Christ will not be counted toward him as atonement and expiation. Therefore he
will face the divine justice, the wrath and ire of God in the Day of Judgment.
But whoever believes in Christ is saved and will not pass through judgment.
In the second part of the 12th verse we see the
role of Jesus in intercession for sinners–those who believe in His atoning
death for their sins.
Though Isaiah prophesized such words in the 8th
century B.C., yet they express the Gospel declaration about the death of
Christ, His resurrection, His justification for everyone who believes in Him,
and His intercession for them.
The fact of the resurrection has a
solid foundation in Scripture and history and provides a solid basis for
believing.
The book of Isaiah in its entirety–including the prophetic words of chapter 53–is found
in the Septuagint version of Scripture that goes back to the third century B.C.
We find them also in the Qumran manuscripts that go back to the second century
B.C. These facts prove that the text of the Bible has not been corrupted.
One other thing to consider is that the Old Testament was in
the custody of Jews, who did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah. They expected
the Messiah to be a king who would liberate them from the Romans, not a
redeemer who would die for their sins as He is portrayed in Isaiah. So how is
it that the Jews would change their sacred books in favor of Jesus of Nazareth?
In spite of the misunderstanding of the Jews concerning the mission of the
Messiah, the prophecies about the death, resurrection, and deity of Christ
still fill the pages of the Old Testament.
The atoning death and resurrection of Christ has a solid
foundation in Old Testament prophecy as well as its fulfillment in the New
Testament. It is a historical fact that was attested to in the first century,
and not only by the church. In addition, the church was strengthened by the
fact that Jesus rose on the third day and was seen by many, not just the
leaders that Jesus selected, but also by large numbers of believers such as the
five hundred. This number may constitute a good part of the total number of
disciples who followed the Lord during His three and half years of ministry.
Besides this, there are also the appearances of the risen Lord to persons who
were not believers, such as James, Jesus’ half brother, or Saul, who was an
antagonist of the Christian faith. The resurrection is a solid foundation that
God provides for the seeker to believe in.