263 Easter Message. It had to happen - or did it‪?‬ Great Bible Truths with Dr David Petts

It had to happen – or did it?
This week, as I was reading through the Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, I was struck by a statement in John 20:9 which tells us that the disciples did not yet understand the Scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.
 
I found myself asking:
·      Why didn’t they understand?
·      What was the scripture that John was referring to?
·      Why did Jesus have to rise from the dead?
We’ll deal with the first two questions fairly quickly, before answering in more detail why Jesus had to rise from the dead.
 
Why didn’t they understand?
Four possibilities:
Some things we don’t understand until after they have happened
Their minds were clouded by unbelief – too good to be true?
Jesus had not yet opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45)
They had not yet received the Holy Spirit who would guide them into the truth (John 16:13).
 
What was the scripture that John was referring to?
It’s clear from Acts 2:24-32 that Peter, having been filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, now understood Psalm 16:8-11 to be a clear prophecy that Jesus would rise from the dead. He says in verse 24 that God raised (Jesus) from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
 
Quoting where the psalm says
my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay,
Peter applies it directly to the resurrection of Jesus, saying in verse 31 that David saw what was ahead and
spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay.
There are, of course, many other OT passages which prophesy the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (notably Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53). But we can’t be sure exactly what scripture John had in mind because he doesn’t tell us. What we do know is that Jesus himself had explained to his disciples that
he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life (Matthew 16:21, Mark 8:31, Luke 9:22).
But notice that these verses not only say that he must be raised to life, but that he also must suffer and be killed. So that now widens our question. We need to ask not only why Jesus must be raised to life, but why he must suffer and die in the first place.
Why did Jesus have to suffer, to die and to be raised to life?
Because:
·      The Scripture must be fulfilled
·      It was the only way that we could be saved
The Scripture must be fulfilled
Matthew 26:53-54
Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?"
 
Luke 24:25-27
He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
 
Luke 24:44-47
He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
 
Why are these references to the fulfilment of Scripture so important? Because what God says in the Bible MUST come to pass. He said, Let there be light, and there was light. What he says, hap