Chapter 17 · Deep dive
The Messiah's Resurrection, Exaltation, and Return
The promises that reach past the cross.
The promises do not end at the cross. The Old Testament holds out hope that God's holy one would not see decay, that the Davidic king would be exalted to God's right hand, that death itself would be swallowed up, and that the Lord would come to judge and renew all things. The New Testament claims the first of these have already happened in Jesus — and the last await His return.
This chapter traces the resurrection and exaltation promises and the hope of final consummation, distinguishing what is fulfilled in Christ's first coming from what awaits His second — without imposing a speculative end-times chronology.
Psalm 16: not abandoned to decay
Hebrew: shachat
שַׁחַת shachat — the pit
Psalm 16:10's Hebrew reads 'you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see shachat — the pit,' the realm of death. The Septuagint renders shachat as diaphthora, 'corruption, decay.' The Greek makes bodily decay explicit; the Hebrew speaks of the pit. The difference is a translation choice, not a changed text — but it is the Greek wording Peter and Paul quote.
Peter's Pentecost argument is careful exegesis, not proof-texting: David 'both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day' — so David's confidence in not being abandoned could not have been finally about himself. David, 'being a prophet,' foresaw the resurrection and spoke of the Christ. Paul makes the same argument in Antioch: David 'saw corruption,' but the one God raised did not. The psalm's original language expresses David's real confidence in God's preservation; the apostles argue that its fullest form — no decay at all — was only ever true of one man.
Sources and further reading
Exalted to the right hand
We looked closely at Psalm 110 in Chapter 8. Here we note its role in the resurrection argument: the apostles read 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool' as the script of the ascension. Jesus is 'exalted at the right hand of God' (Acts 2:33); He 'sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high' after making purification for sins (Hebrews 1:3). The session at God's right hand is not inactivity — it is reign in progress, with a promised endpoint: 'until.' The enemies are being made a footstool; the process ends in open victory.
Death swallowed up: Isaiah 25 and 26
Isaiah's 'little apocalypse' looks past every national deliverance to the final one: 'He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.' And: 'Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy!' These are the Old Testament's clearest statements that death itself is destined for destruction — not merely escape for a few, but abolition.
Paul reaches for exactly these words at the climax of 1 Corinthians 15: 'When the perishable puts on the imperishable... then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"' — joining Isaiah 25:8 to Hosea 13:14. The resurrection of Jesus is the firstfruits; the harvest is the resurrection of all who are His. The promise is fulfilled in Him, and awaits fulfillment in us.
The day of the LORD and the returning King
The Old Testament's final horizon gathers several strands. Daniel 12: resurrection — 'many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.' Zechariah 14: the LORD comes, His feet on the Mount of Olives, and 'the LORD will be king over all the earth.' Malachi 4: the day comes burning like an oven for the arrogant, but 'for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings' — preceded by Elijah's return, which Jesus identifies with John the Baptist's ministry (Matthew 11:14; 17:10–13).
The New Testament gathers these strands around Christ's return. The Son of Man comes with clouds (Matthew 24:30); the rider on the white horse judges in righteousness (Revelation 19); the dead are raised and judged (Revelation 20); God dwells with humanity in a renewed creation where death is no more (Revelation 21–22). Christians have long debated the sequence and symbolism of these events, and the central hope does not depend on settling millennial schemes or rapture timetables. What is not negotiable is the historic Christian expectation itself: Christ will return bodily, the dead will be raised, evil will be judged, and God's kingdom will be openly and finally established. Christ already reigns at the Father's right hand; His return will make that reign visible and complete.
Already and not yet
The pattern of this chapter is the pattern of the New Testament's whole reading of prophecy: already, and not yet. The resurrection has happened — in Christ, the firstfruits. The exaltation has happened — He is at the right hand now. The kingdom has begun — and is not yet consummated: Hebrews admits that we do not yet see everything subject to Him — yet we do see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2:8–9). The promises are not partially true; they are partially arrived. The guarantee of the rest is the part already kept: the tomb is empty.
Key takeaways
- Psalm 16's 'holy one' could not finally be David — his tomb argued the point; the resurrection fulfilled it.
- The Septuagint's 'corruption' for Hebrew 'pit' is a translation choice the apostles quote — not a changed text.
- Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 supply Paul's climax in 1 Corinthians 15: death swallowed up in victory.
- Christ already reigns; His return will complete what His first coming began — already, and not yet.