The Necessity of the Resurrection — with Brent Aucoin
Today, we welcome back Janet’s husband, Pastor Brent Aucoin, to the podcast to talk about Jesus and the importance of His resurrection, in light of Easter weekend.
Brent walks us through the Old Testament, including some Christological psalms to shed light on how the Passover relates to Christ. He teaches how Jesus perfectly fills the role of the Passover lamb as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
Also, our new memory verse for this next quarter will be Psalm 90: 2, 5, 10, 12, 14, 17.
Visit the Joyful Journey website to sign up for our newsletter, view a transcript, and search previous episodes.
Emails us with questions or comments at joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com
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Joyful Journey Podcast is a ministry of Faith Bible Seminary. All proceeds go to offset costs of this podcast and toward scholarships for women to receive their MABC through Faith Bible Seminary.
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Unjust Suffering - Joyful Journey Podcast
The Hesed Love of God - Joyful Journey Podcast
Transcript:
Jocelyn: I don't just need to feel better. I need the truth. And ultimately that will make me better.
Janet: I just want to make it as totally simple as possible for ladies to see that the Bible is really applicable to their everyday life.
Jocelyn: When they understand theology, the application flows out of it quickly with joy.
Janet: It is a journey, but even the journey itself is joyful when I'm doing it, holding the hand of my savior and trusting him all along the way. This is the joyful journey podcast, a podcast to inspire and equip women to passionately pursue beautiful biblical truth on their journey as women of God. When you choose truth, you're choosing joy.
Janet: Okay, welcome back and happy Easter. My name is Janet and I'm here with my lovely co-host, Jocelyn, once again.
Jocelyn: Hey friends.
Janet: And I have a special guest.
Brent: Hi.
Janet: My husband Brent, who's so excited. He just jumped right in there to say hi.
Brent: And you didn't call me lovely.
Jocelyn: Aw.
Janet: My handsome husband, Brent.
Brent: That’s better.
Janet: Who we are excited to have for our Easter episode to talk to us about the significance of the resurrection, right honey?
Brent: That's right. It's good to be back on the podcast. You ladies are doing a great job. Whenever in my travels I go and speak, I hear many ladies just talking about how blessed they have been by what you ladies have been doing. So I'm very thankful for that.
Jocelyn: Oh, that's cool.
Janet: Oh, that's great.
Brent: I regularly tell them that yes, Janet and Jocelyn are the rock stars and I'm just there to support them. So,
Jocelyn: Aww.
Brent: And I have a question for you ladies today and this
Janet: Uh-oh.
Brent: question, it's about the resurrection. It tends to stump the seminary students often that I teach.
Janet: Oh, then I'm sure we'll have the answers.
Jocelyn: We'll probably get it.
Brent: And I don't want this question to stump your theologically informed audience, if it were ever asked of them as well. You know, we've been so accustomed to the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in Christianity, that we often don't understand the logic of why it was necessary in God's redemptive plan. So,
Janet: So what is the question?
Brent: Well, if the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so essential, and we know it is, to Christianity, and it's so essential to the logic of God's redemptive plan, here's my question. Where was it predicted in the Old Testament?
Jocelyn: That's a good question. The Old Testament is big
Janet: and I don't know that I have an answer for that. I would say, I would ask my husband.
Jocelyn: Oh my word. That's her answer for so many things. Lemme check with Brent and I'll get back to you.
Brent: Okay.
Jocelyn: I was thinking about Psalm 16:10 and 11. It doesn't say why the resurrection is important, only that it is important, and that God would not allow his holy one to rot in the grave. At least as I understand it.
Brent: Psalm 16:10 and 11.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Brent: So can you read that? Do you have it there?
Jocelyn: Yeah, I do. For, you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave, you will show me the way of life granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. I know that about that verse, but I also get so tripped up because it's a messianic psalm and the whole David -Jesus juxtaposition thing is challenging.
Janet: That's very confusing
Jocelyn: for me to understand.
Brent: Yeah, that was gonna be my question to you. So it's a psalm of who?
Jocelyn: It's a Psalm of David.
Brent: Referring to who?
Jocelyn: Jesus.
Brent: Are you sure about that?
Jocelyn: No, I'm never sure about most of the names. That's what I've heard about Psalm 16.
Brent: Okay. And it says The Messiah is gonna be risen again on the third day.
Jocelyn: No. It just says he will not allow his holy one to rot in the grave.
Brent: We're gonna get there at by the end of our time together today.
Jocelyn: Good. Cause I've wondered about Psalm 16 for a long time.
Brent: Well, the other passages that are commonly put together or at least put out there as a prediction of the resurrection. When Jesus says in Matthew 12:40, that Just as Jonah was in the belly of the well, three days and three nights. So will the son of man will be. But Jonah, do you have a sense of what's wrong with. Is Jonah a prediction of something?
Jocelyn: I think it was just a connection to a historical event, like comparing it.
Brent: Okay.
Jocelyn: It wasn't necessarily predicting it,
Brent: So we wouldn't necessarily say Jonah was predictive prophecy.
Jocelyn: No.
Janet: Right. When we were reading it before Matthew, you wouldn't have looked at that and said, oh, that means something's supposed to happen later.
Jocelyn: No, yeah.
Brent: And you know, something as essential and as important as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you would think possibly that it might be predicted like the virgin birth was
Jocelyn: Right.
Brent: Okay. There's another passage that's commonly referred to like Hosea 6:1-3. That passage says, come let us return to the Lord for he has torn us, but he will heal us. He has wounded us, but he will bandage us. He will revive us after two days, he will raise us up on the third day that we may live before him. Now there's some context around that, but do you see any immediate problems with that being a direct prediction of the, Messiah's raising again?
Jocelyn: The pronouns are hard for me cause it's saying he will raise us.
Janet: I know. I was thinking, that's a lot of people.
Jocelyn: On the third day. We may live before him. It doesn't say he will raise the Messiah up on the third day.
Brent: And there is debate about this particular interpretation, but it is right after God rebukes Israel. And then there is these three verses placed in there as Israel's response. it can be read as this, Israel's superficial repentance once again.
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Just like the judges when they were delivered over into captivity. And then God would raise up a judge. And for a moment they would be repentant, but then they would go right back in. This could be something referring to Israel's flippant repentance right here. And it's not clear that. If it were a direct prediction of the Messiah, that would be a struggle as well. so. Ladies, any more thoughts about the predictions of the res? Are you stumped yet?
Jocelyn: I feel slightly more confused than when we started actually. . .
Janet: I'm pretty sure it was never talked about ever.
Brent: Well, even after Jesus, constantly talked to his disciples in the latter part of his ministries, he had told them specifically about his resurrection.
Janet: Yes.
Brent: You know, sometimes we are like Jesus' disciples in this regard, but in John 20, verse nine, even as Peter looked into the tomb and he saw that Jesus was not there, John reports this: as yet they still did not understand the scriptures that he must rise again from the dead. The disciples did not understand the necessity of it.
Janet: So we're in good company. They didn't get either.
Jocelyn: Yeah. That's good.
Brent: You and the seminary students.
Jocelyn: And John writing that at the end of his life had had his whole life to think about it.
Brent: That's right. And in Matthew, right after Jesus confirmed that he's going to build his church on the rock. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders and the chief priest and scribes, and be killed, and raised up on the third day. Now, Peter's response to that was, God forbid it, may it never be. So Peter did not understand something here.
Janet: Yep.
Brent: So the moment that Jesus began to talk about his death and his resurrection, he didn't understand it. Now they had the scriptures, but again, this is probably showing us that there may not be a direct prediction that was so obvious to them. And in Peter's case, Jesus said something about, get thee behind me, Satan, because you're thinking about your plans and not God's. This is probably a case of selective hearing by Peter and the disciples. They just don't want to hear the things they don't want to hear. You know, in Luke 18, verse 34, Luke says, the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said about Jesus and his resurrection. it was not entirely clear.
Janet: And I think, when I think back on that, because of what you're probably going to show us from the Old Testament, and it was not clear to them in the Old Testament, they had no category for that. So they couldn't even comprehend it when he was saying it. Like they had no category for the Messiah's gonna die.
Brent: Right.
Janet: Because maybe they should've.
Jocelyn: It was totally. It was totally opposite from everything they were expecting.
Janet: Right.
Brent: Well, there's a bit of confusion in that regard as well. And God purposely, here's one of the things I tell my seminary students, the Old Testament is like walking into a, very elegant, rich mansion, except with the lights turned off. So all the tapestries, all the elegant furniture, all the rich colors are there. So they were always there in the mansion. But the moment you turn the lights on is when you see all of the threads, all the beautiful colors and all that comes together. So that's my analogy of what the Old Testament is like. And one other place in Isaiah. Janet, you had just said something about, they didn't have a concept of maybe a suffering servant, but they had that, but they just didn't understand how it all fit together. For example, in Isaiah 52 verse, 13. This begins the passage on the suffering servant. Isaiah says this, behold my servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up, greatly exalted. But it goes on to say this, just as many were astonished at you, my people, so his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than any of the sons of man. Right there you have two seemingly contradicting statements. The servant will prosper, but also he's gonna be marred. So how do those things fit together? Also, as you go on to Isaiah 53, and this is where the suffering servant comes to the forefront. In verse 10, but the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief, if he would render himself as a guilt offering. So he dies, but notice the next statement. He will see his offspring. how do those things go together? Again, the Old Testament is like, it's all there. it's like a mansion in the dark. Only when the light of Jesus comes onto this, do we begin to see how it all fits together.
Jocelyn: That's super cool to think about it that way.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: And very helpful.
Brent: Okay, so I asked you a question about where do you find a direct prediction, and so far we've been stumped on that. Let me ask you another question. So in your Christian upbringing, what you've been taught in church, what have you heard about the necessity of the resurrection?
Janet: That it's the bedrock of our faith. I think about, and I should be able to give you chapter in verse and I can't, but, where Paul says, if Christ isn't risen from the dead, we are of all men to be like most pitied. Like our faith is nothing if Jesus didn't rise from the dead.
Brent: That's right. First Corinthians chapter 15.
Janet: That's what I was thinking.
Brent: Called the resurrection chapter.
Jocelyn: I was thinking of everything that I've been told about the resurrection. Why did Jesus have to be resurrected, was that God accepted the payment for the sins.
Janet: It was proof that it was accepted.
Jocelyn: It was proof that it was accepted. My mind doesn't wrap around that totally. But that's what I know I have been taught.
Brent: Okay, proof of the acceptance of the payment and, there's obviously validity to that, but there's also proof of something else that I think is more clear as well. And that's what we're gonna unpack today also. Jesus makes it plain that the scripture somehow point to this direction of these cross events surrounding the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We all know the road to Emmaus story about the disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus and a man joins them and they didn't understand who it was at first. But over time, Jesus opened their eyes and in verse 25 of Luke 24, Jesus says to them oh foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Notice he said all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary? Okay, so something about the resurrection was necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter into his glory. Then beginning with Moses, that's the first five books of the Bible and all the prophets. Okay, in the Jewish, scriptures, that's the second half of the Jewish scriptures. He explained to them the things concerning himself. So it's there. It's there.
Jocelyn: I've wished all of my life that I could have been in on that conversation.
Brent: Oh, that would've been..
Jocelyn: Because I really want to understand how all those threads work together.
Janet: Right.
Brent: The way that the disciples ultimately inscripturated the New Testament, you can be there. And the reason why is because they brought the threads together. If we have eyes to see how they worked in that regard. And that's one of the things I'm gonna show you even today. Now you ladies have heard of the phrase missing the forest for the trees.
Jocelyn: Yep.
Janet: Yes.
Brent: What does that mean?
Jocelyn: Something so obvious in front of you.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And you can't see it because of the whole.
Janet: You can't see the big picture.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Because you're so focused on the little things.
Brent: And so let's start with this: hidden in plain sight in the Old Testament are the countless examples, countless, of God delivering his people from their various hard circumstances. So let's just start with that. When we think of the resurrection, let's first start: it's a deliverance. Okay.
Janet: For sure.
Brent: So what are some of the deliverances in the Old Testament that you're very familiar with?
Janet: The Exodus. Moses taking the Israelites out of Egypt. God using Moses to do that.
Brent: Okay, great.
Jocelyn: I was actually actually thinking about when God used Joseph to deliver all of that part of the world from starving to death, including the Israelites.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Because they went to Egypt to get food.
Brent: And that's exactly right because, Joseph at the end of his life says something like, you, my brothers meant this for evil, but God meant this for a great deliverance for the saving of many of lives. And that was the saving of the Messianic seed family, Israel, so that they would bring forth ultimately the Messiah. So there was a great deliverance there.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: Any others?
Janet: Isaac is delivered from being killed by Abraham when God provides a substitute.
Brent: Absolutely.
Jocelyn:There's so many times that God delivered the Israelites in battle, like they were, you know.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Backed up against a wall and God miraculously moved.
Brent: Yep.
Jocelyn: To make a tiny little army able to make a big victory.
Janet: Yep.
Brent: Excellent. So Israel was constantly delivered over, she was put into captivity and then she was delivered out of captivity over the whole book of judges, and into the book of, first Samuel and Second Samuel as well. Once we get into First and second Samuel, we have the story of David. Okay. And the Psalms are all about David as well. And, so let's kind of think about this, God is in the habit of deliverance and the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a deliverance. Now we're going to push that a little bit further. it's not that general, there is something else going on here, but that's the beginning point. The resurrection was a deliverance. but we need to kind of, what was so significant about Jesus' deliverance compared to every other entity or person or nation in the scriptures. But let's do this. Let's start with David's life for just a moment. Ladies, when you think about David's life, what is characteristic of many of David's personal psalms? So when you're reading through psalms tend to be the Old Testament favorite out of all the Old Testament collection of books. What are characteristics of many of David's personal psalms?
Janet: Some kind of a crisis. It makes me think about like how many times Saul was just trying to kill him. And he is in trouble and crying out to God. Which is I think why, one of the reasons we love the Psalms, cuz we all have trouble. But that's what I see a lot is him asking God for deliverance in a variety of ways when he couldn't do it himself.
Jocelyn: And someone is oppressing him. Someone is chasing him.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Someone's trying to kill him and he's stuck in a cave somewhere.
Brent: Right. What does he do?
Jocelyn: Cries out to God for help.
Brent: And what typically happens?
Jocelyn: God helps him.
Brent: Right.
Janet: Yep.
Brent: So let's look at two of those in particular right now. Psalm 17, if you're listening with us and you wanna turn to Psalm 17 verses one through seven. I'm sure these will be linked to also in your show notes as well. But in Psalm 17, here is one of David's many, prayers of lament that also turns into a deliverance. In verse one, David says this, hear a just cause oh Lord, give heat to my cry. Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips. Let my judgment come forth from your presence. Let your eyes look with equity. You have tried my heart. You have visited me by night, you have tested me and you found nothing. I have purpose that my mouth will not transgress. As for the deeds of men, by the words of your lips, I have kept from the paths of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped. I have called upon you. And you will answer me, oh God. Incline your ear to me. Hear my speech. Wondrously show your loving kindness. And Janet, you have an episode on, what is the Hebrew word behind loving kindness? Which is Hesed.
Janet: Yes. My favorite word.
Brent: And the last phrase of verse seven, oh, savior of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them. I've only read the first seven verses here, but eventually also God rescues David from whatever this event was. Do you notice anything about this particular Psalm and what David claims about himself?
Jocelyn: He claims to be righteous.
Janet: Yeah. He claims to be innocent.
Jocelyn: Yeah, I was just noticing that. It says, my prayer is not from deceitful lips. I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. You have tested me and found nothing. Which I was actually troubled in my head about. Cuz , he was not, he was not innocent.
Brent: No. You know, we don't know exactly when he wrote this one in particular. but, if this was when he was running from Kings Saul,
Jocelyn: even then though he's not innocent.
Brent: He's innocent from what King Saul was accusing him of.
Jocelyn: That's true. That's true.
Janet: It would be unjust.
Jocelyn: It would be unjust.
Brent: So going back to one of your other podcasts of dealing with unjust suffering. so it might be true here. Okay. It is true. David wrote this here, that at this moment in time, as far as his conscience is, his conscience is clear. Okay. How about Psalm 18? This was maybe a little bit more troubling. Okay, so another Psalm of David. I love you, oh Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. These are great verses that we love to repeat. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call up on the Lord. He is worthy to be praised and I'm saved for my enemies. He goes into one of his various many encounters with death, maybe again, running from King Saul. The chords of death encompass me, and the torrents of ungodliness terrified me. The chords of Sheol surround me. The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and he cried to God for help. And he heard my voice out of his temple and my cry for help came before him and came to his ears. Now jump down to verse 16. This is the account of God's deliverance. He sent from on high. He took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted in me. Now this is a verse you might have a little bit of problem with. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness.
Janet: Whoa.
Brent: According to the cleanness of my hands, he has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not acted, wickedly or departed from my God. All of his ordinances were before me and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was blameless with him, and I kept myself from iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanliness of my hands, in his eyes. Okay? So, what's the problem with David's deliverance at the tensions in our minds and maybe all of the Old Testament deliverances? What are you thinking?
Janet: There seems to be almost like a works righteousness. I earned it and therefore God did this.
Brent: Okay. So at least with David in some of the incidences.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: But there was not necessarily works righteousness with Israel. Time, after time and time. Remember judges?
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Okay. So with the children of Israel, the deliverances were all temporary?
Janet: Yes.
Brent: They went back to their struggles and it was just God's graciousness in that case. And ultimately David died. The generations of Israel died. Okay. So let me ask you ladies one more question. So here's what I'm doing with this. I'm asking you questions, and then we're gonna draw all of this together.
Jocelyn: Cool.
Brent: Okay. What's the ultimate trouble that we need deliverance from?
Jocelyn: Ultimately, if we have sinned, the consequence of sin is death. And so we need to be delivered from death.
Brent: Okay. So the ultimate trouble. So it's not just that, I have bad circumstances in my life. but there's an ultimate trouble here is death. During times of trouble. King David asserts to God, you tried my heart, you have tested me and found nothing. And in his running from King Saul, he was undergoing innocent, unjust suffering in that regard. And God did rescue him.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: Okay. And David was taking God at his word that God would certainly deliver the righteous from times of trouble. Now what I'm about to read to you is Psalm 91 and is not a Psalm of David. But I want you to notice the grand sweeping-ness of the promise of deliverance, and there's a few verses in here that are gonna remind you of somebody, okay, in just a moment. Verse one of Psalm 91, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions. That's like an eagle with his claws, that is just rescuing someone. And under his wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. Verse 10, now notice this. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent, for he will give his angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Have you heard that verse before?
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Where have you heard it before?
Jocelyn: Satan misquoted that to Jesus during the temptation.
Brent: Did you say misquoted?
Jocelyn: Well, I mean, that's not what God meant.
Brent: Okay.
Jocelyn: Like throw yourself down off of that spire.
Brent: Off the temple height. Yes.
Jocelyn: And I will send my angels to catch you.
Brent: Okay. But, it says
Jocelyn: But it's there.
Brent: he's gonna give his angels charge concerning you.
Jocelyn: It's like mis-context more than misquoted.
Brent: To guard you in all your ways. the angels will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against the stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra. The young lion and the serpent you, will trample down. Now at the end of, or closer to the end of that psalm, God responds to the individual who dwells in the shelter of the most high. God responds in verse 14: because he loved me, therefore, I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. What is the ultimate trouble again?
Jocelyn: Death.
Janet: Yeah, death.
Brent: And who will God rescue?
Jocelyn: Him?
Brent: Who is the him?
Jocelyn: I don't know.
Brent: Okay.
Janet: Someone who is?
Jocelyn: Somebody who trusts in the Lord?
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Okay. And all of the ones, the description in Psalm 91: 1 through 4. So because he has loved me, I will deliver him. Verse 14. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him with a long life. I will satisfy him. How long was Christ's life?
Jocelyn: Short.
Brent: How many years?
Jocelyn: Only 30-ish.
Brent: 30/33 - ish years. I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation. Okay, now we're gonna pull these things together. You know, David, in the Psalms, at least on certain incidences, certain events classified himself as one of the righteous and he expected deliverance and God did deliver him from the hand of King Saul. However, is David dead?
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: He is. Been dead for a long time.
Brent: Okay. Was he delivered from the ultimate trouble?
Janet: No.
Jocelyn: No.
Brent: Not at this point. Why? Why was he not delivered from the ultimate trouble?
Janet: Well, I think about what Jocelyn said earlier, because we've sinned, there is death. And David may have been innocent in certain suffering, but David was not innocent overall.
Jocelyn: Right.
Brent: Right. So David could not, I mean, you know the story of David. your audience most likely knows the story of David. yes. He was a man after God's own heart initially. And David eventually, committed the sin of adultery, committed the sin of murder, like basically violated all 10 commandments in one day. So David could not assert nor maintain his innocence throughout his life, until the very end. In fact another psalmist recognizing the ultimate trouble of when I finally die, he laments in Psalm 89 :48. He says this, what man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of sheol the ultimate death? And then the psalmist asks this question, where is your faithfulness? There is your word again, Janet. What's your word?
Janet: Hesed.
Brent: Hesed, where is your loving kindness, Lord. This psalmist in Psalm 89 questions God by asking, where is the Lord's faithfulness, his hesed to deliver, and God's very sobering answer is this, that God's faithfulness to deliver will only be toward the faithful one. So here's a question for you ladies in that answer. Okay? All of humanity is immediately robbed of any hope for deliverance, from the ultimate trouble. Why is that?
Jocelyn: None of us are faithful.
Janet: That’s right.
Jocelyn: All of us have sinned.
Brent: Right.
Janet: I mean even if I could stop sinning today. it's too late.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: Because I have not been faithful.
Jocelyn: And even like in some of those Psalms of David, if I was faithful, and having not done the thing that I was accused of in that moment, there's thousands of things that I should be accused of.
Janet: Yep.
Brent: Yeah. Okay. Where does that leave us? What does that necessitate if there is no hope for us, okay, where does this leave us? What does that necessitate?
Janet: We need somebody else.
Brent: Okay. So let's say that there is somebody who comes along. Okay, so it wasn't David. and this is where one Old Testament theologian said that the Old Testament is like a headless corpse, meaning that it, gets us to a place, but it has no ending. All of the Old Testament saints were not the Messiah. It always pointed forward to something cuz a king would arise. A king would fall. What hope is there?
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: But let's say there is somebody who comes along and is thoroughly righteous and let's say he fulfills the law. So in Deuteronomy 28: 1 through 7, let me just read you the blessings associated with the law for just a moment. And let's say that somebody comes along, and fulfills this in verse one of Deuteronomy 28. It shall be if you diligently obey the Lord, your God, being careful to do all of his commandments, which I commanded you today. The Lord your God will set you on high above the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if they obey the Lord your God. Blessed shall be the city and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of the ground and the offspring of your beast, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out. The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you, and they will come out against you one way and will flee before you in seven ways. Oh, this passage says that the man who fulfills this is blessed. Now, lemme ask you a question. And the 33 years of Jesus did you see that to be the case?
Janet: No.
Jocelyn: I did not see that these fulfillments came true in Jesus', 33 years on Earth.
Janet: It seems to be the opposite. I mean, he's slandered and he doesn't have a lot, and in the end he's killed.
Brent: Okay, so let's look at this from another angle. Psalm one is the introduction to the Psalm. It talks about a blessed man, how blessed is the man, verse one who does not walk in the council of the wicked. Did Jesus walk in the council of the wicked?
Jocelyn: No.
Janet: No.
Brent: Nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates on it a day and night. Was that true of Jesus?
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: Absolutely.
Brent: He will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And whatever he does, he prospers. 33 years. And then what happened?
Jocelyn: Dead.
Brent: Or 30 or 33 years? depending upon his age. The wicked or not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. And the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. It seems like God, the Father knows the way of Jesus, but Jesus perished. Or even we talked about Psalm one. How about even Proverbs 4:4. Then he talked to me and said to me, let your heart hold fast to my word. Keep my commandments and live. Okay, here's a question, did God fulfill? As we look at these Deuteronomy 28, Psalm one, Proverbs four, did God fulfill these passages to Jesus on the surface?
Jocelyn: It almost seems unfair. Like he did. He did meditate on the law of the Lord day and night. He delighted in it. He was righteous.
Janet: He always kept the commandments.
Jocelyn: He always kept it, and it's like it seems unfair. And then he died.
Brent: Right. so God promises and this is the sweep of the Old Testament. So hidden in plain sight. Hidden in plain sight. This is the sweep of the Old Testament. God promises that the righteous one will live and not die. Okay.
Janet: It's so interesting cuz when I read the Old Testament, those concepts always bother me.
Jocelyn: Yeah, me too.
Janet: And so I'm like, yeah, but he wasn't righteous. Yeah, but, and you're saying No, that is the sweep of the Old Testament. The righteous one will live and not die.
Jocelyn: Are you saying those are the prophecies?
Brent: Well, it's all over, not just, so it's, the in the mouth of David. Okay. it's in the proverb, keep My Commandments and live. it's in the covenant Deuteronomy 28. how about this? You realize also that God promises the righteous will be delivered from trouble?
Janet: Yes.
Brent: So that's hidden in plain sight in the Old Testament. But then we have this contradiction here, or seemingly contradiction. Jesus was the only one who was righteous, the only one who was perfectly righteous, and he died. Also, Jesus was the only one who did not merit trouble. but experienced it.
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Okay. So as we pull all of these things together, then here is the question. What is the only way God the Father could keep this scripture? How could God keep his word and his promises that the righteous one would be delivered and the righteous one would live? Even if he died? What's the only way?
Janet: Yeah. He has to somehow deliver Jesus. So Jesus has to live again.
Jocelyn: Right. He has to be alive.
Brent: And there is the sweep of the Old Testament. The only way that that could be true, only if death was temporary. Okay. An earthly death was temporary. And only if God raised the righteous one up and vindicating him for all to see. So here's the point of this podcast. So Jesus was the only righteous one. We know that.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Brent: He was the true David. Although not meriting the trouble that we deserve, here's what he did. He voluntarily took on humanity's ultimate trouble. Now, he didn't deserve it.
Jocelyn: No.
Brent: He voluntarily took on the ultimate trouble: death. Okay, so the resurrection of Jesus Christ is God's grand and glorious display of the approval of his son. God delivered Jesus from the ultimate trouble: physical death, the grave. So all of those psalms, Psalm 91, the one who dwells in the shelter of the most high, God will surely rescue him. Okay. So God delivered Jesus from the ultimate trouble, physical death, the grave, and spiritual death, separation from God the father, because, and here's why. The resurrection as God raised him up shows Jesus was the only faithful one. It wasn't David. It wasn't anybody in the Old Testament. All the promises are tied up in Jesus. Showing now this one is the only faithful one. And not only that, not only was his son, God the Father's, son, Jesus, perfectly faithful to his Father to the point of death. The Son, in addition, suffered vicariously on behalf of humanity. So truly in that act of love, inviting the ultimate trouble upon himself, the Father delighted in his Son. God's resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the culmination of all the Old Testament patterns of God's deliverance of the righteous one. Okay. Or more specifically The One capital T, capital O. In the psalmist's words, God did indeed wonderfully show his hesed.
Janet: Hesed.
Brent: Okay. if God promises, I will deliver the faithful. Then his loyalty was wondrously shown to Jesus Christ, the ultimately troubled one, even though he did not deserve it. With that in mind, okay, so let's hear David Psalm again. Psalm 17. Okay. And yes, David wrote this the first time about his own circumstance. But the stories of the Psalms, Jesus appropriates because he is the ultimate David. So Psalm 17, let's read this with the lens of Jesus again. Hear a just cause, oh Lord. And give heed to my cry. Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips. Now, no problem if that is Jesus.
Jocelyn: Right.
Brent: Let my judgment come forth from your presence. Let your eyes look with equity. You have tried my heart. You have visited me by night. You have tested me and found nothing. Okay. I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress. As for the deeds of men, by the words of your lips, I have kept from the paths of the violence, my steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped. Verse six, I have called upon you. When did Jesus call upon him? On the cross.
Jocelyn: On the cross.
Janet: Yes, yes.
Brent: My God. My God. Now he certainly was in the grave you know, three days. But God turned his face back to Jesus and victoriously raised Jesus up and said, this one is my son. So I have called upon you and you will answer me, oh God. Incline your ear to me. Hear my speech. Wondrously show your loving kindness. So that's Psalm 17, one through seven. Thoughts or comments at this point?
Jocelyn: Can you imagine being Jesus and hearing those in the temple during a time of scripture reading and knowing that's about him.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: Yeah. And you know, there was one time, and it wasn't in the tabernacle, but when he was standing in a synagogue and he quoted Isaiah and he said, today in your presence this is fulfilled.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Brent: So Jesus had a certainly an awareness and an understanding that these pointed toward him.
Janet: Then I look at, you know, we've said it, I struggle with Psalm 17 from the standpoint of David was not sinless, I need to not read into it David's saying my whole entire life.
Brent: Right.
Janet: You've tested me and found nothing. But David could say, at a point in time these things were true. Jesus could say, on a much more full way my whole entire life,
Jocelyn: at all times,
Janet: all of these things were true.
Brent: And therefore you have such a grand and great demonstration and the pivotal point of the resurrection. It was true of Christ, all of his life. And God would say, look at this one. This is my beloved son. This is the faithful one. This is the ultimate David. This is the ultimate Moses. This is the ultimate true Israel. And to show you that I have vindicated him. I have raised him from the ultimate trouble.
Jocelyn: That's so cool.
Janet: That's awesome.
Jocelyn: That's amazing.
Brent: Now, Jocelyn, you mentioned Psalm 16 early let's just this is one passage that, people might say predicted the resurrection, but again, it is a Psalm of David and our same tension is going to apply here in regard to, it was probably true of David at one point in his life. but then the New Testament picks it up and applies it to Jesus. So Psalm 16. Preserve me, oh God. I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good beside you. I'm just imagine Jesus on the crossing. My God, my God. Skipping verse four. The sorrows of those who have bartered for another God will be multiplied. I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. David, when he says this, this is a, pure heart that is finding his refuge only in God and not any other God. Now, David could say that at one point in his life. Okay, so he's finding his refuge in God alone. He's not chasing after other gods.
Janet: For a moment in time.
Brent: For a moment in time. Verse five, and that continues. The Lord is my portion, the inheritance of my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. Verse seven. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad. My inner man. My inner man. The hearts is glad and my glory rejoices and my outer man. The next phrase, my flesh will also dwell securely. If the Lord is my life. Okay, my inner man is glad and David makes a statement. Somehow my flesh will dwell securely. Verse 10, God will not abandon my soul to the grave, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay. Now, who does? you immediately apply that to who normally?
Jocelyn: Jesus.
Brent: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Brent: And there's good reason to, but again, this is a Psalm of David. At a moment in time, if his trust and his confidence is in the Lord, he has some kind of expectation. My inner man is secure and my outer man is secure, but he doesn't fully understand why. verse 11, you will make known to me the path of life, and David somehow expects in your presence is fullness of joy in your right hand there are pleasures forever. Just one quick note here also, that, you know, in the Old Testament, we constantly hear this refrain. Nobody can see the face of God and live. Do you remember that ladies?
Janet: Oh yeah.
Brent: Okay, well, verse 11, the second phrase there in your presence is fullness of joy. That word presence is before your face. So somehow David expects to be before the face of God.
Janet: Wow, and live.
Brent: And live. Now, again, this was David at a moment in time. Who was the only one who never chased after any other God at any point in his life.
Janet: Yeah. Jesus.
Jocelyn: Only Jesus.
Brent: Right. when Satan came and tempted him, Jocelyn, you mentioned this earlier. and Satan said, if you bow down to. I'll give you all the kingdoms of this earth, and Jesus said, you shall worship God and God alone. Jesus was the only one who had ever said, that my heart is pure and I have never gone after another God. So Jesus will become the ultimate Psalm 16 guy. Now, acts chapter two. Okay, and we're getting close to the end here. Acts chapter two, when Peter stands up and says, and ties the threads together. Okay. And he quotes Psalm 16. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered over by the predetermined plan and for knowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. But God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death. There is the overcoming of the greatest trouble since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says of him, and this is a quote of Psalm 16, I saw the Lord always in my presence for He's at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad, my inner man, the inner man that trusted only in his father. Moreover, my flesh, the outer man somehow, even though it might die, it will live because you will not abandon my soul of Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to undergo decay. You have made known to me that ways of life you will make me full of gladness with your presence. Peter goes on to say this, brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died. Okay. And was buried. and because he was not the faithful one, okay? His bones are still in the tomb that at that time was with them toward that day when Peter said this. And so because David was a prophet and knew that God had sworn him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That Christ was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay This Jesus, God raised up to which we are all witnesses. There's the vindication. It was not David. His bones are in the grave. Okay? Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Therefore, let all the House of Israel know for certain that God made him both Lord and Christ. Meaning this one is the Messiah. Now, so hear me on this. I agree that God accepted his payment because of the resurrection, but it was more than that. It was the vindication that this was the only ever promised faithful one. Okay. And in addition, he paid the price for our sins. Okay. So the entirety of the Old Testament speaks that the righteous one shall live, and thus, if Jesus was righteous, then we have to conclude that even if he died, he must live. There's your resurrection.
Janet: Wow.
Jocelyn: That's cool.
Brent: And the entirety of the Old Testament then necessarily implies the big picture forest. The entirety of the Old Testament necessarily implies of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jocelyn: Wow. That's amazing.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: So where does that leave us at Easter time? let me say this. You know, David said, I hope to see the face of God sometime, but I don't know how, because nobody can see the face of God and live. Why is that even possible now? Because on the cross, Jesus Christ, in the darkness of the cross, the Father turned his face away from Jesus. Jesus forsook the face of his father, so that we might forever behold the face of God. And because of that act of great love, Jesus Christ, God reached down and vindicated his son, brought him to heaven with him. And now for us, God's deliverance from the ultimate trouble, our ultimate trouble of death is amazingly available to you and me. We are the faithless one. And it's only available to you and me by faith in the faithful one. And that's the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jocelyn: That's really cool.
Brent: Thoughts, comments?
Jocelyn: It's just a lot to think about because if the entire Old Testament, speaks to the necessity of the resurrection, then the entire Old Testament is the prophecy that Jesus fulfills.
Brent: Yes. On the road to Emmaus, he opened their minds to understand the scripture. Thus, it has written that Christ would suffer and rise again. Okay. And all of that was the implication of the scriptures.
Janet: And I think, you know, I am a tree person. Like I want the verse that says this. But when you see that, it's the whole Old Testament. Then it seems like a silly question to say, what verse shows.
Jocelyn: I know. I feel a little cheated by that question.
Janet: Yeah. I think you were stumping us on purpose, but I think it just shows again, just how big our God is. Even Jesus rising from the dead had many implications. I mean, it was the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. It was to show that the payment was accepted. And in my mind you do one thing for one reason and God's doing things. He's putting it all together and, it's amazing.
Jocelyn: It's also interesting because at Easter, a lot of times we think about Jesus dying. I noticed some of my, believing friends often talk about the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus, I've never really made that a point myself to talk about the death and resurrection. I talk about Jesus dying for our sins. But it's interesting to think about at Easter, especially the importance of honoring the fact that Jesus died to pay for our sins, but that he was resurrected from the dead like you said, proving he is the only faithful one.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: Yeah. And the importance of that for the Jews was that he was the Messiah, the long awaited Messiah and the resurrection was the crucial point of that to vindicate Jesus in front of all the Jews. This day, Peter says, let all the House of Israel know that it is god who has made Jesus the Messiah. So repent and believe, and on that day, many did. And it was the resurrection that vindicated Jesus and that the early church focused on.
Janet: My mind goes so many places. That even makes me think about Matthew five, six, and seven. If that's a sermon on what is true, righteousness, at the end of it, they should have felt hopeless.
Brent: That is, yes.
Janet: Because unless somebody else does it. And I think if I have an understanding of the Old Testament, there had to be such a tension in their mind because they're reading, God always delivers the righteous knowing they're not perfectly righteous. So now do I either lessen righteousness to something I can attain, or do I know it's hopeless?
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Like how do I put all that tension together and then to see jesus puts it all together
Brent: Well those are the tensions, the Pharisees would lessen it to something that was achievable. So tell,
Janet: And it helps me understand why they did that.
Brent: The rich young ruler coming to Jesus and saying, what commandments do I need to keep in order to get, so tell me the list. but Jesus Christ and the Sermon on the Mount, five, six and seven Expounds, what is true, righteousness is not just external things, it's an internal attitude. Psalm 16, the inward man that is trusting in God alone, that also extends to the outward man of righteous behavior. But then Jesus Christ, after he preaches the Sermon on the Mount, he goes out and lives it. Now he lived it all of his life. But,
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Matthew is strategically sequenced so that after the Sermon on the Mount, you begin to see Jesus actually living that out.
Jocelyn: That's so cool.
Brent: Okay, so, and the Pharisees try to boil it down to, well, most of us try to boil it down to tell me the one or two,
Jocelyn: the rules. Yeah.
Brent: The 10 rules that I need to apply or as you said, Janet, it is hopeless.
Janet: Right.
Brent: You're telling me that I cannot just, so I should not commit adultery, but I cannot even lust. what do you, who doesn't?
Janet: It's not possible.
Brent: It's not possible and that's the point.
Janet: Yeah.
Brent: Okay. So, I need somebody else in order to do this. And Jesus lived that out. He lived out the heart of the law of righteousness. And the reason why is because he is righteousness.
Jocelyn: And that's why God had to raise him from the dead.
Janet: Yes.
Brent: Yes.
Jocelyn: He was righteous.
Brent: Yes. To fulfill all the promises that he will deliver the righteous one vindicating him in front of everyone.
Jocelyn: That's so cool. It's so neat that we have one time a year where the focus is on thinking about Jesus' death as a payment for our sins and his resurrection, because it gives us an opportunity to think about really important things at a deeper level.
Brent: Yeah. Well, happy Easter. He is risen.
Janet: He is risen indeed.
Jocelyn: He is risen indeed.
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Host Janet and her husband, Brent, also speak at a variety of conferences as a way to raise money for the seminary. If you want to look at what they offer or book them for a conference, go to their website.
