29 Abib/Nissan 31 AD
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 1 Cor 15: 1-8
I found this interesting commentary from Chuck Smith -
So Paul, first of all, declares that this is the heart of the gospel. The gospel that Paul preached, he preached the gospel that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. The scriptures that he would have to be referring to would be the Old Testament scriptures, because the New Testament was not yet written. So where in the Old Testament does it speak of the death of Jesus Christ? Many places. Psalm 22 , a description of death by crucifixion. Isaiah 52-53. That He was buried and rose again according to the scriptures on the third day…now this presents a little more difficult problem. Where in the scriptures does it speak about Jesus rising again the third day?
When they asked Jesus for a sign, He said, “a wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale so shall the Son on Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Matt 12:39-40. And so the third day and rising again, Jonah, perhaps, as sort of an example and yet it’s really hard to tie that in a very definite way.
But if we go back to the book of Genesis, we hear God saying to Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice on the mount that I will show you.” Gen 22:2. Now, when God said to Abraham take now thy son thine only son, we have an equivalent to that in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son.” And you remember that Abraham gathered his servants and Isaac, and they began to journey from the area of Hebron towards Jerusalem. And they had journeyed for three days when they came into view of the mount that the Lord showed unto Abraham. Mount Moriah, which is in Jerusalem. During that three-day journey . . . and Isaac is an interesting type of Christ in the Old Testament. During that three-day journey in the mind of Abraham, Isaac was as dead.
We read in Hebrews 11 that by faith Abraham offered Isaac believing or knowing that God, if necessary, would raise him from the dead. For God had said, “Through Isaac shall thy seed be called,” and Isaac at this point did not have any children. And so Abraham had such confidence in the promise of God that through Isaac shall thy seed be called that he was willing to obey the Lord, if necessary, to offer him as a sacrifice, knowing that God would raise him from the dead. So it was Abraham’s faith in the resurrection that caused him to be willing to obey this command of God.
As they left the servants and journeyed together, father and son, toward Mount Moriah, Isaac said, “Dad, we’re missing something. We’ve got the fire and the wood for the sacrifice, but we don’t have any sacrifice. Where’s the sacrifice, Dad?” And Abraham said, “Son, the Lord will provide Himself a sacrifice.” What an interesting phraseology. He didn’t say, The Lord will provide a sacrifice for Himself, but, The Lord will provide Himself a sacrifice. In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. And so they journeyed together, and Abraham built the altar and he placed Isaac thereon. And as he raised the knife, the Lord said, “Okay, Abraham, far enough. Now I know that you will not withhold from Me. Behold there is a ram caught in the thicket. Go ahead and offer the ram as a sacrifice.”
Now the interesting thing is Abraham left the servants. He said to the servants, “You wait here, and I and the lad will go and will sacrifice and will come again.” Abraham told the servants, “We’re coming back. I and the lad are going we’re going to sacrifice and we’re going to come again.” Faith in the promise of God, “through Isaac shall thy seed be called.” He knew that somehow, someway, if necessary, God would even raise him from the dead. And thus, the belief in the resurrection after three days, dead in his mind, in that he had to sacrifice him according to the commandment of the Lord.
And Abraham offered the ram as the sacrifice and he declared, “Jehovah-Jireh.” He called the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh, for the Lord will provide. And then again he prophesied, “For in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.” Interesting! Not, “It was seen, I saw it, I’ve seen it,” but future, “It shall be seen.” Very interesting that 2,000 years later on the top of Mount Moriah, the very same mount where Abraham offered Isaac, God provided Himself a sacrifice. And God’s only begotten Son was crucified on Mount Moriah in the spot where Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice. And so Abraham was only in a play act drama, play acting what God would do in the future and prophesied of that day in the future when God would provide Himself the sacrifice. “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen,” and it was. – Chuck Smith
