Compelling Love

The Bible records that Jesus (Yeshua) was crucified, buried, and rose again after three days fulfilling numerous Messianic prophecies. In Psalm 16, we see David predicting that the Messiah, “Your Holy One” would not see corruption:

7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (NKJV)

Yeshua’s resurrection was the “firstfruits” of the resurrection of the righteous, as described in the end time prophecy of Daniel 12:

1 “At that time Michael shall stand up,
The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people;
And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

In Psalm 110, David records this conversation between the Father and the Son of God hinting that the Messiah will be the one to fulfill the above prophecy of Daniel: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’”

Yeshua also fulfilled “the sign of Jonah”. The account of Jonah being three days in the belly of a fish and then emerging alive is a prophetic picture of the death and resurrection of the Messiah. In Matthew 12, Jesus predicted that like Jonah he would be “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”, before being resurrected:

Matthew 12 (NKJV) 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 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. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. 42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

Chuck Missler in his book, ‘Hidden Treasures in the Biblical Text’ (p. 17) notes that the meanings of the Hebrew names in the genealogy from Adam to Noah (spanning 16 centuries) spell out the following sentence:

Adam (Man) Seth (Appointed) Enosh (Mortal) Kenan (Sorrow)
Mahalalel (The Blessed God) Jared (Shall Come Down)
Enoch (Teaching) Methuselah (His death shall bring)
Lamech (The Despairing) Noah (Rest, or comfort)

“Man is appointed mortal sorrow; (but) the Blessed God shall come down teaching (that) His death shall bring (the) despairing rest.”

Isaiah 53 likewise describes the Messiah’s atoning sacrifice for God’s people:

4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Jesus described this supreme sacrifice in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

In John 10, Jesus described his mission as the Good Shepherd and also predicted his sacrificial death and resurrection:

John 10 (NKJV)
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

In John 11, Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life”, just before raising his friend Lazarus who had been dead for four days.

23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives [in that day] and believes in Me shall never die.”

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul teaches that the Messiah’s resurrection is the “firstfruits” of those who belong to him:

20 … the fact is that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died. 21 For since death came through a man, also the resurrection of the dead has come through a man.
22 For just as in connection with Adam all die, so in connection with the Messiah all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: the Messiah is the firstfruits; then those who belong to the Messiah, at the time of his coming; 24 then the culmination, when he hands over the Kingdom to God the Father, after having put an end to every rulership, yes, to every authority and power. (CJB)

Even now, those who believe in Jesus (Yeshua) are new creations in him:

Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! – 2 Cor. 5:17 – Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/, 3/31/13