Pierre Bittar - The Resurrection of Jesus

November 16, 2011

Painting No. 13

The Burial of Jesus Prophecy
In Isaiah 53:9 “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death...” The above prophecy which was announced 700 years before Jesus’s death was fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-60.
57	As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
58	Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
59	Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60	and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

The Resurrection of Jesus

John 20:11-18
11	Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb
12	and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13	They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
14	At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15	He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16	Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17	Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18	Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Many prophesies about Christ’s death and resurrection were also fulfilled, like for example:

Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

Jesus’s Disciples seem to have totally forgotten what Jesus told them in regard to His resurrection. In John 2:18-19 ‘The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”’ By temple Jesus meant his body, and by destroying it he meant killing him, and he rose it up by his resurrection.

In Matthew 16:21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

In Matthew 17:22-23, Jesus predicted, for the second time, His death and resurrection. “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief.”

Also, in Matthew 20:17-19, Jesus predicted, for the third time, his death and resurrection. ‘Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”’

Hopefully, we won’t forget and will always believe in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because this belief is necessary for our salvation and emphasized by the following verse.

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”