Where are the death and resurrection of Messiah prophesied in Hebrew Scriptures?
There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the Messiah—Jesus—many involving His death and resurrection. Most of these prophecies were given hundreds or even thousands of years before Jesus was born; yet we see that He fulfilled all of them.
After God created Adam and Eve, they fell prey to Satan's temptation in the Garden of Eden and sinned against their Creator. Even as God handed down judgment for their sin, He gave hope by alluding to One who would "crush" Satan's head (Genesis 3:15). This is the first prophecy of the Messiah, spoken by God Himself.
As we go further into the New Testament, we see a wealth of prophecies about the Messiah, written by different men and spanning thousands of years. If we look back to one of the Jewish patriarchs, Abraham, we see God's promise to establish an everlasting covenant with him in which all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; 17:19; Matthew 1:1). The prophet Jeremiah declares that the promised Messiah would be a descendant of King David and an heir to his throne (Isaiah 9:7). Isaiah 53 is one of the better-known prophecies that tell of who Jesus is and why He came as the Messiah.
Many Old Testament prophecies give precise details about Jesus' trial and death. For example, the prophet Zechariah speaks of the 30 pieces of silver Judas took when he betrayed Jesus, and which were later used to purchase a potter's field (Zechariah 11:12–13). Isaiah 53:7 says that Jesus would be silent before His accusers. The same chapter also tells of Jesus' burial place, which was among the rich (Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 27:57–60). In Amos 8:9, we see a foretelling of the darkness that fell over the earth when Jesus died.
The Old Testament also records many prophecies of Jesus's resurrection. In Psalm 16:10, the writer (King David) proclaims, "… you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption." Isaiah 53 also speaks of Jesus' resurrection: "Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied" (Isaiah 53:11). Other prophecies allude to the fact that the resurrected Christ returned to heaven after His resurrection and rules with God the Father (Psalm 45:6–7; 110:1).
There are many more prophecies throughout the Bible, and we know them to be true and accurate because we can see that Jesus was the only one to fulfill each of them (John 5:39). The prophecies and their fulfillment are one of the strongest evidences that Jesus lived and that He was both fully God and fully man.
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