BIG & small QUESTIONS OF THE FAITH

1. BIG& smallQUESTIONS OF THE FAITH Jason S. DeRouchie, PhD Associate Professor of OT and Biblical Theology Bethlehem College & Seminary www.derouchie-meyer.org Bethlehem Baptist Church, 2016

2. Where the OT did Paul get the idea that “Christ . . . was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:4)? QUESTION

3. NT Texts That Teach Third-Day Resurrection According to the Scriptures • Luke 24:45–46. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” • John 20:8–9. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

4. Acts 17:2–3. [Paul] reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” • Acts 26:22–23. To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.

5. 1 Cor. 15:3–5. 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, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6. NT Texts Citing OT Resurrection Texts • Mark 12:26–27 (cf. Exod 3:1–4, 17).And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoken to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”

7. Acts 2:25–31 (cf. Ps 16:10–11). For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

8. Acts 13:32–33 (cf. Ps 2:7). And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” • Acts 13:34–35 (cf. Isa 55:3; Ps 16:10). And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.” Therefore he says also in another psalm, “You will not let your Holy One see corruption.”

9. 1 Cor 15:54–58(cf. Isa 25:8; Hos 13:14). When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

10. Isa 25:7–9(cf. 1 Cor. 15:54). And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” • Hos 13:14(cf. 1 Cor. 15:55). Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

11. Some Foundational OT Resurrection Texts • Deut 32:39. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. • 1 Sam 2:6. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. • Isa 26:19. Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

12. Isa 53:10–11. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

13. Ezek37:11–14(cf. 1 Thess 4:13–18). Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

14. Psa 22:28–29. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. • Psa 49:14–16. Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.

15. Ps 73:24–26. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven by you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. • Job 14:14; 19:25–27. If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. . . . 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.

16. Dan 12:1–2 (cf. John 5:29). At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. • John 5:29. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

17. Potential Resurrection Typologies and Third-Day Possibilities • Jonah’s three-days in the fish. Jesus paralleled his own coming resurrection with Jonah’s resurrection-like deliverance from the belly of the fish. • Matt 12:40(cf. Jon 1:17–2:10[H 2:1–11]). 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.

18. Israel’s restoration from exile. • Hos 6:1–3. Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third dayhe will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. • Christ represents and identifies with Israel (Isa 49:5). • Christ and Yahweh are part of Israel’s restoration (Hos 3:5). • Christ bears Israel’s curse (Gal 3:13–14).

19. The third-day “resurrection” of Isaac • Heb 11:19. [Abraham] considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. • Gen 22:4–5, 12–13. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” . . . [The angel] said, “Do not lay young hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the tram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

20. OT “Baptism” Events as Resurrection Through Watery Judgment • The NT Pattern: • Rom 6:3–4. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. • Col 2:11–12. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

21. Christ is the ultimate Passover Lamb, whose death is a “baptism” that brings about an “exodus.” • 1 Cor 15:7. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. • Luke 12:50. I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! • Luke 9:30–31. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure [lit. exodus], which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

22. Paul portrays the Red Sea episode as a baptism. • 1 Cor 10:1–2. For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. • Conclusion: Because Israel’s Passover marked their birth as a nation and because the Red Sea episode likely happened on the third-day after the new creation, the exodus may point to Christ’s third-day resurrection.

23. New creation through water • The NT pattern for resurrection • Deliverance through water (Rom 6:4–5; Col 2:12) • Sprouting seeds • 1 Cor 15:35–38. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.

24. The exodus as new creation planting • Exod 15:17. You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which your hands have established. • Third-day “resurrection” in creation week • Gen 1:11–13. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

25. Take Away • Paul said that the gospel that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures was of “first importance” (1 Cor 15:1–5). Why? • Through his resurrection, Jesus was appointed the Son of God in power, which supplies us power for salvation. • Rom 1:4, 16. [He] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. . . . I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

26. Through his resurrection, we are no longer dead in our sins. • 1Cor. 15:17, 20–21. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. • Through his resurrection we are born again to a living hope. • 1 Pet 1:3–4. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

27. Through his resurrection, we gain a good conscience before God. • 1 Pet 3:21. Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. • We gain victory over the second death. • Rev 20:6. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power.