Did Jesus Predict His Resurrection?

Posted On October 30, 2020

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Yes, he did. In this post, we’ll look at what Jesus said, and why this is so important.

We Know What Jesus Said

Recall that we have excellent evidence that the New Testament is historically reliable. That means we know what Jesus said.

First, we know we have an accurate copy of the original New Testament documents. Thousands of manuscripts from throughout history have been meticulously compared to identify copy errors or variants, resulting in a  purified text.

Second, other evidence provides great confidence that the original writers told the truth. For example, we have multiple eyewitnesses who were all willing to die for their stories. And the writings came way too soon after the events to contain myth or legend.

What Did He Say?

How then did Jesus predict his Resurrection? We hear of it from three different writers. From Matthew:

One day, some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”

But Jesus replied, “Only and evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. (Matthew 12:38-39).

Later, Jesus began to tell his disciples very plainly about his coming Resurrection. First:

From then on, Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. (Matthew 16:21).

And again in Matthew:

After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” (Matthew 17:22-23).

Luke also recorded when Jesus predicted his Resurrection. Quoting Jesus:

“The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” (Luke 9:22).

And recorded by John, after Jesus cleared the temple of all the corrupt merchants:

…The Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”

“All right,” Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

“What!” They exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.” (John 2:18-22).

Why Is This Important?

So clearly Jesus predicted his coming execution and Resurrection. Why is it so important?

Simple. He never expected us to just believe him in blind faith. He intended to prove that everything he said was true.

That he would do this for us, in my opinion, is an astonishing act of compassion; so that we could know.

In predicting his Resurrection, Jesus was attaching what would become the entire Christian worldview to a single historical event. Thus, Christianity becomes an historical religion. It can be tested.

The Apostle Paul pointed this out in his classic text:

… If Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless… In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact he has been raised from the dead. He is the first of [many] who have died. (1 Corinthians 15: 14-20).

The stakes are incredibly high, purposely set by Jesus himself. All of Christianity stands or falls on the Resurrection as a real historical event. So what do we do with this? Well, as with any miracle claim, we look at the evidence to see if it’s compelling.

And we’ll begin doing exactly that, in our next post.