"Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together...Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." (Genesis 22:8, 13-14 NIV)
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26 NIV)
Few of us understand that the doctrine of resurrection originated very early. There are at least two, not so cryptic, references to resurrection in the Old Testament. The first reference to resurrection is in Isaiah “But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise-- let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy-- your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead. (Isa 26:19 NIV)”
The second reference is in Daniel and states, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (Dan 12:2 NIV)” Both Jesus and Paul affirm Daniel’s prophetic words in the New Testament (cf. John 5:29; Acts 24:15).
However, there is a third even earlier reference in the story of Abraham offering up his son for sacrifice in Genesis 22. God had earlier told Abraham that the Covenant He had made with him will be established through Isaac (Genesis 17:21). However, in Genesis 22, he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham must have known that either God would not let him go through with the act or that God would raise Isaac from the dead so that the Covenant would be established as promised. Isaac becomes a type of Christ. Thus, Abraham believed God for a resurrection if necessary in order to fulfill His plan!
The Jewish understanding of resurrection was that it would be a mass resurrection at the end of the age. It was a surprise to Jesus’ Jewish disciples when confronted with the resurrection of the solitary Man Jesus!
Pray: "Lord Jesus, we are thankful that the Father provided you as a perfect sacrifice. We are grateful for your love and care for us."