Foreshadowing Author Resurrection Sunday March 30-31, 2024 Foreshadowing demonstrates that the author is in full control of the story and has a plan and a purpose behind every element. Nothing is random. My favorite foreshadowing author: God “When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.” Exodus 12:13 (NLT) “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.” 1 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT) 4On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.” 6So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together. 9When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!” 12“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.” 13Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). Genesis 22:3-14 (NLT) “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19 (NLT) Foreshadowing demonstrates that the author is in full control of the story and has a plan and a purpose behind every element. Nothing is random. Why does God foreshadow Jesus’ death and resurrection over and over again? “I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.” John 14:29 (NLT) Lee Strobel: The truth or falsity of all world religions — and the ultimate meaning of life itself — comes down to just one key issue: did Jesus, or did he not, return from the dead? The answer to that fundamental question would settle everything. Lee Strobel: In short, if the resurrection is false, then Christianity is refuted. “And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17 (NLT) Lee Strobel: In short, if the resurrection is false, then Christianity is refuted. But if it’s true, then regardless of what any world religion teaches, Jesus is the one-and-only Son of God. And that changes everything. “After He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered He had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.” John 2:22 (NLT) Strobel: In light of the avalanche of evidence that points so powerfully toward the truth of Christianity, it would have required more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a Christian. At that moment, I reached my verdict: based on the historical data, I was convinced that Jesus not only claimed to be the Son of God, but He also validated that claim by returning from the dead. “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12 (ESV) Believe + Receive = Become What say you? I’m not interested. I’m interested. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 (NLT) What Jesus did on the cross is greater than anything you did in the dark. “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:6 (NLT) I believe!