Previous article:Jesus Conquered Death

Posted on Sep 27, 2025 by Mike LeDuke

What if a historical event had been predicated before it happened? Would you be impressed? Or would you be skeptical? What if it were predicted over and over, hundreds of years before it took place? That might be hard to dismiss. And yet, that’s what happened with the resurrection.

No matter how one dates the contents of the Old Testament, its authors penned its contents long before the time of Jesus. Nevertheless, numerous passages present pictures, not only of his death, but also of his resurrection.

Just consider the Jewish calendar. God established the Passover holiday on the 14th day of the first month (Leviticus 23:5). The celebration continued with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which happened on the 15th (v. 6). That day, the 15th, was also a special sabbath day––and, directly after that day, on the 16th was a final holiday, the Feast of Firstfruits. This final holiday celebrated the first harvest.

Do you see the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection? Jesus was crucified on Passover, spending three days and three nights in the grave (John 19:31; he was specifically crucified on the day before the special sabbath). That means that his resurrection took place on the 17th, as soon as the new harvest had been celebrated. The slain lamb and the first of the harvest both symbolized Jesus’s mission — his death and resurrection.

Hezekiah’s story presents a similar picture. After hearing from the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah expected death (2 Kings 20:1). Nevertheless, God reversed Hezekiah’s sickness, but not immediately. Certainly He could have, but He didn’t. Instead, God told Hezekiah that He would heal him, and he would be healed on the third day (2 Kings 20:8). In other words, Hezekiah “died” on the first day, was told that he would eventually be healed, and “came back to life” on the third day. Sound like a familiar story?

The story of Esther also makes the same case. Because Haman, representing sin, sought to kill the Jews, he was going to kill Esther and Mordecai. However, God foils Haman’s plan through Mordecai and Esther, and Haman is crucified (Esther 7:9 - the word in the Greek is “crucify”). All of this takes place on the 17th of the first month (Esther 3:12; 4:16; 5:4; 5:8). Just as Christ conquered the grave on the 17th day of the first month, so sin and its power was conquered on the 17th of the first month.

If this were just something that happened once or twice in the Old Testament, that would be one thing. But it isn’t. It’s in every story. Pictures of Christ’s death and resurrection appear everywhere. They’re in the story of Joseph, the story of Moses, the stories of the judges, the story of David, and the stories of the prophets. The Torah and its symbolism point towards the same two events. Over and over, God predicted Christ’s death and resurrection before it happened.

There’s no way that can be an accident––and thus this book, unlike any other, must indeed be the word of God.

— Jason Hensley, PhD