One of the many distinguishing, non-replicable, infallible truths about the gospel is its fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. According to the Scriptures, Christ died for our sins and was raised the third day (1st Corinthians 15:3-4). The gospel of God was promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:1-2). At the very heart of Peter’s sermon on the first Pentecost after Jesus’ death was the fulfillment of Psalm 16:8-11’s prediction of Jesus’ resurrection. “Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:30-31).
The gospel is not a collection of cunningly devised myths (2 Peter 1:16). It is the confirmation and fulfillment of God’s prophetic word “according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith” (Romans 16:25-26). Its hope is not wishful thinking about some “pie in the sky” in the sweet by and by; rather, it is a lifeline—sure and steadfast—which anchors the soul through the storms of life and provides strong consolation (Hebrews 6:18-19).
Like David and the Messiah of which He prophesied, I too can rest in hope when my earthly tabernacle is taken down and placed in its final resting place (Psalm 16:9), “for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2nd Timothy 1:12). How imperative it is to continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel (Colossians 1:23).
