The New Testament also reveals that Christ’s resurrection is a proof of our justification by God. Romans 4:25 says, “Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification.” The death of Christ fully satisfied God’s righteous requirements; hence, we are justified by God through His death (3:24). His resurrection is a strong proof that God is satisfied with His death for us. His death satisfied God’s requirements and fulfilled whatever God wanted Him to do for us. Therefore, the resurrection of Christ is the proof of our justification by God. In Christ, the resurrected One, we are justified by God. Furthermore, as the resurrected One, He is in us to live for us a life that can be justified and accepted by God.
Psalm 22:22 prophesied that Christ in His reproducing resurrection would declare the name of the Father to His brothers and would sing praise to Him in the midst of the church: “I will declare Your name to my brothers; / In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” Hebrews 2:12 quotes this verse and indicates that this is a prophecy concerning Christ in resurrection.
Prior to His resurrection, the most intimate term the Lord used to call His disciples was friends (John 15:14-15). However, after His resurrection, He began to call them “brothers” (20:17). This is because in resurrection Christ, the only begotten Son of God, was born to be the firstborn Son of God; moreover, God’s chosen people were born with Christ to be the many sons of God, the many brothers of Christ, as the components of the church to be the corporate expression of the Father (Heb. 2:10-12). Hebrews 2:11 says, “Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of One, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers.” He who sanctifies is Christ as the firstborn Son of God, and those who are being sanctified are the believers of Christ as the many sons of God. Both the firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God are born of the same Father in resurrection and have the same divine life and nature (Acts 13:33; 1 Pet 1:3). Hence, He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
According to Hebrews 2:12, Christ in resurrection declares the name of the Father to His brothers. Because the Father is the source of the divine life and nature, for Christ to declare the name of the Father is to show His many brothers that the Father is the source of the divine life and nature. The Jewish people in ancient times knew God, but they did not know the Father. They knew God as the Creator but not as the Father who regenerates people. Before Christ’s resurrection, not even His disciples knew the Father’s life and regenerating ability. However, on the day of resurrection the Lord came into their midst to declare the Father in order to enable them to know the Father as the source of life. According to John 20 the Lord Jesus visited His disciples in the evening on the day of His resurrection. According to the prophecy in Psalm 22, this was Christ coming to His disciples to make the Father known to them, that is, to declare the Father’s name to His brothers. This declaration was not simply a matter of mentioning the Father’s name; rather, it was an impartation of all that the Father is—His life, nature, and being—into the disciples. From such a declaration Peter came to realize that he was a partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). To us, the sons of God, God is no longer merely the creating God; He is also the regenerating Father (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:3).
Psalm 22:22 not only prophesied that the resurrected Christ would declare the name of the Father but also says that Christ would praise the Father in the midst of the church: “In the midst of the assembly I will praise You.” The fulfilment of this prophecy is referred to in Hebrews 2:12: “In the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise to You.” Sing hymns of praise refers to the firstborn Son, Christ, praising the Father from within the Father’s many sons in the church meetings. When we, the many sons of God, the church, meet together to praise the Father, the firstborn Son praises the Father in our praising. It is not that He praises the Father apart from us; rather, He praises within us and with us through our praising. The church is one corporate Body with the firstborn Son of God. In the meetings of the church the firstborn Son, who dwells in His many brothers who constitute the church, sings hymns of praise to the Father from within them.
The prophets in the Old Testament also prophesied concerning Christ’s resurrection. Hosea 6:2 prophesied that Christ would be raised from the dead on the third day. When Christ was carrying out His ministry on the earth, He repeatedly revealed this to His disciples. His disciples also testified concerning the fulfillment of this prophecy. Christ being raised from the dead was not an accident; rather, it was planned by God in His economy for the accomplishing of His eternal purpose. Psalm 16:9-11 is a prophecy concerning the resurrected Christ as the Holy One of Jehovah whose soul Jehovah would not leave in Hades and whom He would not permit to see corruption. Therefore, His heart was made glad, His soul exulted, and His flesh rested in hope while He was in Hades. God Himself also made known to Him the ways of life and raised Him up, having loosed the pangs of death, since it was not possible for Him to be held by it.
Psalm 2:7 prophesied that in resurrection Christ, the only begotten Son of God, would be born as God’s firstborn Son. By Christ’s birth in resurrection, His human nature was uplifted into the divine sonship, and He was designated the Son of God to become God’s firstborn Son. His believers were also born with Him to be the many sons of God. Isaiah 55:3 prophesied concerning the resurrected Christ being the sure mercies shown to David, the holy and faithful things; He is the sure mercies and blessings to us. Isaiah 53:10 and 11 prophesied that Christ’s resurrection would be a reproductive resurrection. In His resurrection Christ produced the church as His extension. The pleasure of Jehovah, which is God’s eternal economy, will prosper in the hand of the resurrected Christ. Verse 11 prophesied concerning Christ being the resurrected, righteous Servant of Jehovah through whom many are justified. Today Christ in resurrection is our righteousness and is also the proof of our justification by God. Psalm 22:22 prophesied that Christ in His reproducing resurrection would declare the Father’s name to His brothers and sing hymns of praise to the Father in the midst of the church. After His resurrection Christ began to call His disciples brothers, because like Him, they had the Father’s divine life and nature. Christ in resurrection declared the Father’s name to His brothers to make the Father known to them. In the meetings of the church, Christ, the firstborn Son, sings hymns of praise to the Father from within the Father’s many sons.