The empty tomb and the risen Jesus
The tomb is found empty; the risen Jesus appears, and the apostolic proclamation reads his resurrection through Scripture.
Historical context
The resurrection accounts differ in selection and arrangement of appearances. This event represents their shared proclamation rather than a detailed harmonization.
Tradition note
Begin with each Old Testament passage in context, then examine the New Testament's wording and argument. Explicit fulfillment citations, apostolic applications, and typological comparisons carry different kinds of evidence; Protestant approaches to particular passages vary.
Avoid overclaiming
Read each connected passage's original context and boundary. An ordered study of narrative phases, not a calendar to scale or a complete Gospel harmonization. Infancy follows Matthew's sequence, preparation and the final Jerusalem visit chiefly follow the synoptics, and repeated ministry activities are thematic clusters. Some links come from later apostolic teaching or an earlier saying about a later event; each explanation identifies that use. Exact birth and passion dates, Gospel ordering differences, and Daniel timetable calculations are not resolved here. The kingdom-teaching moment is a thematic cluster. Verse and chapter numbering can differ when comparing Hebrew, Septuagint, WEB, and NABRE editions; the tracker keeps WEB reference numbering and notes specific variants. Individual citations carry their own connection kinds even when a passage is used in different ways.
Key points
- The resurrection accounts differ in selection and arrangement of appearances. This event represents their shared proclamation rather than a detailed harmonization.
- Abraham's blessing (New Testament application): Acts 3:25–26 — Peter connects the blessing promised to Abraham's offspring with God's sending his servant to turn people from wickedness in the post-resurrection proclamation.
- The beloved Son (New Testament application): Acts 13:32–33 — Paul's proclamation applies Psalm 2:7 while announcing God's fulfillment of the ancestral promise in Jesus; read the surrounding resurrection argument.
- Stone & welcome (New Testament application): Acts 4:10–11 — Peter names the risen Jesus as the stone rejected by the builders that has become the cornerstone.
- Lament & garments (New Testament application): Hebrews 2:11–12 — Hebrews places Psalm 22:22 on Jesus' lips in its argument about suffering, glory, and shared kinship. It is grouped with vindication without being treated as a narrated resurrection appearance.
- The sign of Jonah (Typology & echoes): Matthew 12:40–41 — The Jonah sign is read in relation to Jesus' emergence from death and his call to repentance, while Matthew's comparison includes Nineveh's response.
- Not abandoned to death (New Testament application): Acts 2:25–32 — Peter quotes the psalm and argues that David spoke concerning the Messiah's resurrection.
- Not abandoned to death (New Testament application): Acts 13:35–37 — Paul contrasts David's bodily decay with the one God raised who did not undergo decay.
- Prophet like Moses (New Testament application): Acts 3:20–26 — In a later Jerusalem sermon, Peter quotes Moses' promise and urges his hearers to listen to Jesus. The link records apostolic interpretation of the risen and exalted Jesus, rather than an additional resurrection appearance.
- Praise and human glory (New Testament application): 1 Corinthians 15:25–28 — In Paul's argument about resurrection, the psalm's language of all things underfoot explains Christ's reign and the eventual defeat of death. This concerns the consequences of the risen Christ's victory and its future completion.
- David's enduring mercies (New Testament application): Acts 13:32–37 — In a later sermon, Paul quotes the Davidic mercies from Isaiah and then appeals to Psalm 16 while distinguishing Jesus' resurrection from David's death and decay. This is apostolic interpretation of the resurrection, not dialogue from an appearance on Easter day.
- Death, where is your sting? (New Testament application): 1 Corinthians 15:54–57 — Paul joins death-victory language from Isaiah and Hosea while explaining the future transformation of the dead, and attributes victory to God through Jesus Christ. This link belongs to the risen Jesus' consequences and future consummation, not a narrated event at the empty tomb.
- Death swallowed up (New Testament application): 1 Corinthians 15:53–57 — Paul says that the promise of death being swallowed up will come to pass when mortality is clothed with immortality. His argument rests on Jesus' resurrection and gives thanks for victory through him while looking toward the future completion of that victory.
- The last Adam (Typology & echoes): 1 Corinthians 15:45–49 — Paul quotes the creation of the first Adam as a living being, then describes the last Adam as life-giving. The contrast explains the risen Christ's role in the future resurrection and transformation of his people, rather than adding a new Gospel appearance.
- Zion's foundation (New Testament application): 1 Peter 2:4–8 — The living, rejected, yet chosen Christ is the cornerstone of a spiritual house. The quotation of Isaiah 28:16 is followed by separate citations of Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14.
- Zion's foundation (New Testament application): Romans 9:30–33 — Paul concludes his argument about faith and stumbling with a composite Isaiah citation. It is grouped with the vindicated Christ rather than treated as a narrated resurrection scene.
Scripture
- Luke 24:1–49 — The tomb is found empty; the risen Jesus appears, and the apostolic proclamation reads his resurrection through Scripture.
- Genesis 22:15–18 — The New Testament identifies Jesus within Abraham's line and reads the promise of blessing for nations through Christ.
- Psalm 2:6–9 — The baptismal declaration echoes royal sonship, and apostolic writers explicitly apply the psalm to Jesus.
- Psalm 118:22–26 — Jerusalem's welcome and Jesus' teaching reuse a thanksgiving psalm's welcome and rejected-stone image.
- Psalm 22:1–31 — The passion cites the sufferer's lament and divided garments; Hebrews also applies the psalm's later praise to Christ and his brothers and sisters.
- Jonah 1:17 — Jesus compares Jonah's time in the fish with the Son of Man's time in the heart of the earth.
- Psalm 16:8–11 — Peter and Paul read the psalm as bearing witness to Jesus' resurrection.
- Deuteronomy 18:15–19 — The crowd identifies Jesus with the expected prophet, and Peter applies Moses' promise of a prophet to the risen Jesus.
- Psalm 8:1–9 — Jesus appeals to the psalm's praise from children; Hebrews and Paul apply its account of human rule to Jesus' suffering, glory, and victory.
- Isaiah 55:1–5 — Paul cites Isaiah's enduring Davidic promises in his proclamation that God raised Jesus without abandonment to decay.
- Hosea 13:12–14 — Paul reuses Hosea's death-and-Sheol language in his proclamation of the future resurrection victory grounded in Jesus Christ.
- Isaiah 25:6–9 — Paul quotes Isaiah's promise that God will swallow up death when explaining the future victory of resurrection through Jesus.
- Genesis 2:7 — Paul explicitly contrasts the first man's received life with the last Adam's life-giving role in his argument for resurrection.
- Isaiah 28:14–18 — Apostolic writers apply Isaiah's sure foundation to Jesus and the community built around him.
Sources and further reading
- 1 Corinthians 15 and notes · USCCB
- 1 Corinthians 15 · World English Bible
- 1 Corinthians 15:25–28 · World English Bible
- 1 Corinthians 15:45–49 · World English Bible
- 1 Corinthians 15:53–57 · World English Bible
- 1 Corinthians 15:54–57 · World English Bible
- 1 Peter 2 · USCCB
- 1 Peter 2:4–8 · World English Bible
- Acts 13 and notes · USCCB
- Acts 13 · World English Bible
- Acts 13:32–33 · World English Bible
- Acts 13:32–37 · World English Bible
- Acts 13:35–37 · World English Bible
- Acts 2:25–32 · World English Bible
- Acts 3 · World English Bible
- Acts 3:20–26 · World English Bible
- Acts 3:25–26 · World English Bible
- Acts 4:10–11 · World English Bible
- Deuteronomy 18 · World English Bible
- Deuteronomy 18:15–19 · World English Bible
- Galatians 3:13–18 · World English Bible
- Genesis 12:1–3 · World English Bible
- Genesis 12:7 · World English Bible
- Genesis 2 · World English Bible
- Genesis 22:15–18 · World English Bible
- Genesis 2:7 · World English Bible
- Hebrews 1:5 · World English Bible
- Hebrews 2 · World English Bible
- Hebrews 2:11–12 · World English Bible
- Hebrews 2:5–9 · World English Bible
- Hosea 13 and notes · USCCB (reviewed indexed page)
- Hosea 13:12–14 · World English Bible
- Isaiah 25 · World English Bible
- Isaiah 25:6–9 · World English Bible
- Isaiah 28 · WEB
- Isaiah 28:14–18 · World English Bible
- Isaiah 55 and notes · USCCB
- Isaiah 55:1–5 · World English Bible
- Isaiah 8 · WEB
- Isaiah 8:14–15 · World English Bible
- John 19:23–24 · World English Bible
- John 6 and notes · USCCB
- John 6:14 · World English Bible
- Jonah 1:17 · World English Bible
- Jonah 3:1–10 · World English Bible
- Luke 24:1–49 · World English Bible
- Mark 1:9–11 · World English Bible
- Matthew 12:38–40 · World English Bible
- Matthew 12:40–41 · World English Bible
- Matthew 1:1 · World English Bible
- Matthew 21 and notes · USCCB
- Matthew 21:15–16 · World English Bible
- Matthew 21:42–44 · World English Bible
- Matthew 21:9 · World English Bible
- Matthew 27:46 · World English Bible
- Psalm 118:22–26 · World English Bible
- Psalm 16:8–11 · World English Bible
- Psalm 22:1–18 · World English Bible
- Psalm 22:1–31 · World English Bible
- Psalm 2:6–9 · World English Bible
- Psalm 8 · World English Bible
- Psalm 8:1–9 · World English Bible
- Reviewed biblical text and context · 1
- Reviewed biblical text and context · 19
- Reviewed biblical text and context · 1CO15.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · 1PE02.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ACT02.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ACT03.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ACT04.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ACT13.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · GAL03.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · GAL03.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · GEN12.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · GEN22.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · HEB01.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · HEB02.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · HEB02.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · HOS13.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ISA08.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ISA25.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ISA28.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ISA42.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · JHN19.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · JON01.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · JON03.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · MAT01.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · MAT12.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · MAT21.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · MAT21.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · MAT27.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · MRK01.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · PSA002.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · PSA016.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · PSA022.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · PSA118.htm
- Reviewed biblical text and context · ROM09.htm
- Romans 9 · WEB
- Romans 9:30–33 · World English Bible
Related records
- Jesus Prophecy Tracker — how to read the map
- Blessing for the nations through Abraham
- The royal son
- The rejected stone becomes the cornerstone
- The sufferer's lament and divided garments
- Jonah as a sign of burial and rising
- God does not abandon his holy one
- The prophet like Moses
- Child praise and humanity crowned with glory
- The enduring Davidic promises and resurrection
- Death's defeated sting
- Death swallowed up in victory
- The first Adam and the life-giving last Adam
- The precious foundation stone in Zion
- Jesus is laid in the tomb
- Jesus ascends and is proclaimed exalted