The Resurrection Prophecy – Part 1 (Matthew 16:21-24)

Valley View Baptist Church                                                                  Pastor Curt Audet

6N656 Route 25                                                                                    March 29, 2026

St. Charles, IL  60174                                                                       vvbcil.com

“The Resurrection Prophecy” (Matthew 16:21-24)

BI: God so loved the people of this world that He designed and prepared the resurrection prophecy for our redemption.

Jesus had on several occasions provocatively promised that He would rise from the dead following His execution.  He entered what we traditionally call the Holy Week knowing full well what was on the itinerary for the next seven days. He had on multiple occasions made clear to His disciples the high stakes of this week in His Resurrection Prophecy.  The implications of promising to ‘rise from the dead’ are profound. And, they are also easy to debunk if it never happens or to confirm if it does happen.

I. The King Is Coming! Jesus had purpose and meaning in His prophetic promises of resurrection. Who the ‘coming messiah’ would be was filled with everlasting kingship in the Old Testament foundations.  Zechariah 9:9 promises the Coming King and Mark 11 proclaims the fulfillment by Jesus marked by today’s Palm Sunday:  

PROMISE – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech 9:9)

FULFILLMENT – “When they drew near to Jerusalem . . . at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples ²and said to them, ‘Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ⁴And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵Some of those standing there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ ⁶And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and He sat on it. ⁸And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy [palm] branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is Hewho comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!’  ¹¹And He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. (Mark 11:1-11)

The coming King came riding on a donkey . . . why a donkey?  Why not a horse?

Why is the King riding on a Donkey?

• Promise Made, Promise Kept: Fulfillment of prophecy: Jesus’ entry on a donkey fulfilled Zechariah 9:9, which foretold the coming of a humble king.
• Public declaration: This act publicly proclaimed His messianic identity, inviting recognition from the crowds.
• Contrast to expectations: It challenged the expectations of a conquering king, emphasizing His spiritual kingdom over a political kingdom.
• Triumphal Entry: This was Jesus’ coronation as the true King. This was His last major public appearance before His crucifixion. The importance of this event is indicated by the fact that this is only the second time in all four gospels that the same event is recorded.
• Humility: Riding a donkey reflects Jesus’ humble nature and His identification with all people.  Note: At His 2^nd coming He’ll be riding a white horse.
• Symbol of peace: Unlike a horse—symbolizing war—a donkey represents peace, highlighting Jesus’ redemptive mission to seek and save the lost.
• Foreshadows The Crucifixion: The Jewish leaders of His day rejected Jesus as their King and as their Savior.  Jesus came to bear our sins upon His own body.  The next event the public would see of Jesus would be the crucifixion.

So Palm Sunday both fulfills prophecy and promises another prophecy.  Many praised Jesus and recognized who He was—the Coming King.  Yet the authorities refused His kingship and in the process  fulfilled the prophecies of death and resurrection.  Vividly and particularly found in Isaiah 53:2-12 –

“He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,  smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.  ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him  the iniquity of us all.⁷ He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,  yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. ⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? ⁹ And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth.¹⁰ Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. ¹¹ Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous one, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the many, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

II. The King Is Here! The aspect of the suffering Messiah, the crucified King was not a popular one in terms of anticipating the coming Anointed One.   But it was a critical one.  It was often ignored and overlooked because of its distasteful subject.  The prophecies of the Old Testament show us the two phases of the Coming King’s work.   First to suffer, die and resurrect as the substitute sacrifice for sinners.   Second, to reign in power and glory for eternity.  

At least five times in the New Testament Jesus Himself prophecies to His disciples primarily that He was going to die and resurrect in the course of time between His Triumphal Entry and His Conquering Resurrection one week later.

All four of the New Testament Gospel writers record explicit affirmations of the resurrection prophecy, with Jesus Himself predicting His resurrection.

The Gospel Of Matthew: “From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21).

The timeline for Matthew 16 is about a year before the Holy Week, a year before Palm Sunday. We know this prophetic statement is unpopular because of Peter’s vitriolic response to the announcement:

²² And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” ²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matthew 16:21-24)

Content Of The Resurrection Prophecy

Jesus must go to Jerusalem

Jesus will suffer at the hands of the Jewish leaders.

Jesus will be killed.

Jesus will be raised three days later.

A disciple of Christ denies himself, takes up his cross and follows Jesus.

Again in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus promises:

 “‘The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, ²³ and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.” (17:22-23)

 ¹⁸ “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death ¹⁹ and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” (20:18-19)

The Gospel Of Mark:  Many of the verses in the Gospel of Matthew have parallel verses in the Gospel of Mark and in each of the Gospel accounts.   Each Gospel account serves as testifying witnesses to the person, the work and the word of Jesus Christ.

“ ³¹ And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again (Mark 8:31)

Again, this time at the Transfiguration—which is the glimpse of the King Jesus truly as He is:

 ² “Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, ³ and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus . . .  ⁷ And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” ⁸ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only. ⁹ And as they were coming down the mountain, He charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.” (Mark 9:2-9)

In this extraordinary scene the reality and importance of who Jesus Christ is becomes clear.   He is eternal.  He is the King.   He is God the Son.  And, as awkward as it is, He is the suffering savior of Isaiah 53 walking steadfastly toward crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

The Gospel Of Luke: “ ²¹ And He strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, ²² saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” ²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. ²⁵ For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? ²⁶ For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷ But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:21-27)

Here, again, Jesus ties His crucifixion to His disciples ‘taking up our cross’ and following Christ.   We confess Him as our King.  And we surrender the kingship of our lives to Him.

The Gospel Of John: “¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸ So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. ²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:17-22)

Twice Jesus made such a bold and in-your-face statement using the beautiful Temple (2^nd Temple, Herod’s Temple) which itself illustrated ‘God with us’.   He said ‘Tear down those stones! In 3 days I will raise the Temple back up!’   The Jewish leaders seemed to have long forgotten what the Temple—and its predecessor, the Tabernacle—was all about. The Temple and Tabernacle were both declaring that God is with His people.   In John 1 we are told:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it . . . ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled, God with us] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

 Conclusion – As we enter this Holy Week plan to join us for solemn meditation and Scripture readings on Friday and celebrate our Risen King right here next Sunday!   Baptisms included!