Raised according to the Scriptures

Jesus made many startling claims. Among the most startling, however, must be his assertion that the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms contain things written about him. Ask any Christian to point to Old Testament verses that contain things written about Jesus and you'll see just how startling a claim this is. The first Christians, however, faced no such problem. As the book of Acts demonstrates, the early church preached Jesus from the Old Testament. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul tells us that Jesus not only died according to the Scriptures but that he was raised according to the Scriptures. Paul asserts here that the Old Testament foretells Jesus's resurrection. Contemporary scholars will warn us to be wary about reading Jesus back into the Old Testament. They'll suggest that resurrection and the afterlife is an alien concept in the Old Testament. Paul, however, clearly invites us to search the Scriptures for precursors, promises, and prophecies about the resurrection. So, let's follow the lead of Paul and find Easter in the Old Testament.