The Resurrected and Eternal King
Psalm 16:8–11 | Acts 2:25–32 | Acts 13:35–37
Every one of us will be affected by death, and there’s nothing we can do about it. It doesn’t matter how successful someone is, how young they are, how good of shape they’re in, or how hard they try to avoid it. Death puts everyone on the same level. We all will die. What a great and joyful start to an Easter sermon, huh?!
Think about it though. Cemeteries don’t have special accommodations for the wealthy over the poor in their layout. There’s no rich section and poor section. They’re all buried six feet under. They all have a tombstone with a birthdate and a death date and a dash in the middle. And that dash in the middle is where you’re at right now. And that matters for your eternity.
Death is the one certainty that none of us can escape. From the very beginning of Scripture, death isn’t presented as normal. It’s presented as a consequence to sin. In Genesis 2:17, God warns Adam that his disobedience to God would bring death. Then Genesis 3 shows us that when sin entered the world, death follows. Paul later explains it in Romans 5:12 when he says that death spread to all men because all sinned. Death is both a physical reality and a theological one. It’s evidence that sin is real and that God is a just God. And y’all, we want God to be a just God.
And death doesn’t discriminate. It comes for both the weak and the powerful. It will take nobodies and the rich and famous. All the greatest kings in history couldn’t escape death. King Tuts tomb had who still in it? King Tut. The oldest monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II just passed away a few years ago and passed on her crown after dying at the age of 96. And you know who is another one of those kings? King David. We’ve been studying his life over the last several weeks. God said He would establish David’s kingdom through him and that his throne would endure, you know for how long? As they say in the movie “The Sandlot,” For-ev-er. Eternally.[1] And yet, 1 Kings 2:10 simply says this: “Then David slept with his fathers and was buried.” Y’all, king David died.
That sounds like a contradiction with David’s own words. Because David wasn’t just a king. He was also a prophet. This is our text for this Easter Sunday. In Psalm 16:8-11, hear what David says:
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
That doesn’t fit with David. It can’t. Because David did die, and his body did decay. In Acts 13:36, Paul says plainly that David “served the purpose of God in his own generation… and saw corruption.” So if Psalm 16 is about David, it doesn’t make sense. Which means it has to be about someone else. And you know what? That’s exactly what the apostles say.
Peter, in the first ever sermon given after the resurrection of Jesus, used this Psalm as his text and explains that David “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,” and that what David wrote finds its fulfillment in Jesus. And that’s what we’re going to look at this morning. Here’s the first truth we see:
The resurrection was prophetically promised by God.
When you read Psalm 16, you need to hear it the way the apostles heard it. David’s not just writing a reflection about his own life. He’s speaking as a prophet. Acts 2:30 explicitly says that. Peter says David was “a prophet” and knew that God had sworn an oath that one of his descendants would sit on his throne.
David says in Psalm 16:8–11, “I have set the Lord always before me…My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One see corruption.” David is speaking about a body that enters death but doesn’t stay there long enough to decay. Peter points out in Acts 2 that David’s tomb was still there as physical proof. So David can’t be the talking about himself. So, that means what? That means David is pointing forward.
Because David died and decayed, he was prophesying that the king who would come from him wouldn’t stay in the grave. Y’all, this isn’t symbolism like you see in Revelation. This is a very specific prophecy. Bodies break down and decay just like food do, if you’ve ever left a half-eaten apple on the counter, you watch it slowly tend towards corruption, to decay. This is a claim about a real body not decaying in a real grave. The word “corruption” refers to physical decaying. David is saying there will be a Holy One, uniquely righteous, who will enter death but not stay there. Think about that.
The fact that the resurrection was prophesied beforehand means the resurrection wasn’t an afterthought for God. It’s something God determined ahead of time as part of His plan to save YOU. And part of that plan—we need to see this—is in something we can never attain ourselves. The one who was prophesied to come from David is the “Holy One” (vs. 10). David not only prophesies the resurrection of Christ, but the sinlessness of Christ.
Death exists because of sin. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. But Jesus had no sin. He lived in perfect, active obedience.[2]Hebrews 4:15 says He was without sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says He knew no sin. Which means, you know what? Death had no rightful claim over Jesus. Praise the Lord! That’s why Peter in Acts 2:24 says it was impossible for death to hold Him. Death didn’t take Jesus. Jesus walked into death and walked out of it. He’s the only one who ever has because He’s the only one who ever could. The resurrection wasn’t just prophetically predicted. It was completely necessary. Because the only person who could truly fulfill Psalm 16 is the one who never deserved to die in the first place. The sinless, Holy One, in our sinful place.
The resurrection was historically accomplished in Jesus Christ.
So if this was promised, we then need to ask, did it actually happen? Because we aren’t dealing with an abstract belief system. Christianity isn’t just another something to believe. We are dealing with a real historical claim in real space and time. This is real history.
Acts 2:32 says, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” That is eyewitness testimony from the mouth of the Apostle Peter. The apostles aren’t saying this Jesus mattered so much to us. He was our best friend and our most trusted leader. They aren’t saying this Jesus said things that had us thinking in ways we never did before, and now we are in such an enlightened state. No. They are saying this Jesus died. And He came back to life. And we saw it all. We saw Him. He was alive.
And they said it in the worst possible place if it wasn’t really true—in Jerusalem, the same city where Jesus was crucified and buried. If it wasn’t true, anybody could have just gone and checked if the tomb was actually empty or not. If Jesus’ body was still there, Christianity would have ended just like that—immediately. But it didn’t. You know why? Because the tomb was empty.
The disciples were fully convinced because they had really witnessed the risen Christ. And the evidence doesn’t stop there. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that over five hundred people saw Jesus alive after His resurrection. If Christ didn’t rise from the dead, then everything we are doing is meaningless. The historicity of the resurrection is of utmost importance. But if He has been raised, then it means everything He said is true. You really can be saved and forgiven and given life abundantly and eternally.
The resurrection fulfills exactly what God said would happen, and it’s not only attested all throughout the New Testament, but also outside of the Bible through many historical facts, where if you don’t already presuppose away the supernatural, the only explanation is that Jesus really rose from the dead.[3] That is the real, historical reality.
The resurrection proves Jesus is the true and eternal King.
One of the important things happening in Psalm 16, and one of the easiest things to miss is that David isn’t just talking about life after death. He’s talking about kingship. He’s talking about a throne that lasts forever. Everything in David’s life pointed toward a promise that hadn’t been fulfilled in Jesus yet.
God had told David in 2 Samuel 7 that his throne would be established for how long? Forever. That is God’s covenant with him. That’s the Davidic covenant. That is a binding promise from God Himself that one of David’s descendants would reign forever and ever. But, if you follow the story of Israel, every king in David’s line does what? Dies. Every reign eventually comes to an end. Every king ruled… reigned… and died. Every throne was eventually left empty. And over time, that creates a tension in the Old Testament that just keeps building. Because you’re left asking, where is the King who doesn’t die? And that then leaves you asking, is God true to His Word? Can you really trust God? You might be asking that same question here today.
I think David himself feels that, even if he doesn’t fully resolve it in his own lifetime. That’s why he writes the way he does in Psalm 16. He’s looking forward to something that he knows must be true if God’s promise is going to hold. There has to be a King who enters death and comes out the other side uncorrupted. There has to be a King who doesn’t stay dead. And when you get to the New Testament, the apostles explicitly say that King is Jesus. God can be trusted, in everything!
Acts 2:31 says it plainly. Peter says that David, knowing the promise God had made to him, “foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ.” He’s saying that David understood that the only way for God’s promise of an eternal throne to be fulfilled was for the Messiah to defeat death itself. And He did!
That’s why the resurrection is so central to the identity of Jesus. If Jesus had died and stayed in the grave, then He would have been like every other king. In Revelation 1:18 you know what Jesus said? “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.” He’s alive, and He will never die again, which means His reign will never end. And you know what? That’s exactly what the angel announced at His birth in Luke 1. “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises. God is true to His Word. God will not fail you.
And what that means for us is that Christianity isn’t just about believing that Jesus is alive. It’s about recognizing that Jesus is King. That He rules and reigns right now. They put “King of the Jews” over his cross. He was crowned with a crown of thorns on the cross as He was dying. They were mocking him. But in heaven the elders fall down and lay their crowns at the feet of the resurrected and reigning King Jesus.
Y’all, that has implications for every part of our life. Because if Jesus is the ruling and reigning King, then He is the ultimate authority over your life. The resurrection doesn’t just invite us to feel good about Jesus on Easter Sunday. It demands allegiance to Him. It demands we bow our knee and surrender our lives to the King of Kings! You don’t get to just admire this King. You either bow down to Him or you reject Him. But there’s still a question we haven’t answered. Why Him?
The resurrection proves Jesus is the perfect righteous one.
Psalm 16:8 says, “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” While David was a man after God’s own heart, he wasn’t a perfect man. His life was marked by faith, but it was also marked by failure. There were moments where he trusted God wholeheartedly, and there were moments where fear and sin took over him.
This, then, is also pointing to Jesus. Because Jesus is the only one who could say those words completely. He set the Father always before Him, not occasionally, not inconsistently, but perfectly. In John 8:29 He says, “I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” That’s a statement no one else in human history can make. Jesus lived the perfect life that you and I can’t live. He lived the life you and I have already failed to live. Hebrews says He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.[4] Peter says He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.[5] Paul says He knew no sin.[6] Which means when Jesus went to the cross, He didn’t go there because of His own guilt. He went there because He was bearing yours and mine. We are the guilty ones. He stood in your place and took the judgment you deserved.
The resurrection guarantees abundant joy and eternal life for all who believe.
Psalm 16 doesn’t end with tension, though. It ends with joy. Praise the Lord, right?! David says, in verse 11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” The word “life” there is actually plural.[7] Plumer says, “This may denote the excellence and richness of the life of the risen Saviour.”[8] That’s something Jesus secures both here and now for us and for all eternity. Because if Jesus has risen, then death is no longer our present story and it’s no longer the end of the story. That means the worst thing you face in this life is never the ultimate thing nor the final thing. Jesus calls Himself in John 11:25, “the resurrection and the life.” That’s not just a statement about what He does. It’s a statement about who He is. He is the source of life. And because He has conquered death, the life He gives isn’t temporary. It is forever.
And that leads to something ever present, no matter what you’re going through. Joy. Which isn’t surface-level, circumstantial happiness, but fullness of joy in the presence of God. That’s what Psalm 16 is pointing toward. And that is only possible because Jesus is alive. Because He is presently ruling and reigning. And because of that, you’re offered life eternal and fullness of joy.
The resurrection demands a personal response.
At the end of Acts 2, after Peter has shown how Psalm 16 points to Jesus and declared that God has raised Him from the dead, he doesn’t just leave them with that historical information. He calls them to respond. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ.”
When he calls Jesus “Lord,” because He has all authority. He’s our Savior, but He’s also our King. And that means the resurrection isn’t something you can observe from a distance and feel good about on Easter Sunday and then just go hunt eggs. It demands something from you. The people in Acts 2 feel that. They are “cut to the heart,” it says, and they ask, “What shall we do?” And Peter answers, “Repent and be baptized… for the forgiveness of your sins.” And you know what? That’s still the response.Repent and believe. Be baptized. Follow Him. Completely. Wholeheartedly.Turn from your sin and trust in Jesus who died and rose from the dead.
The resurrection is a call to come to Him. To be saved. To give your life completely to Him.The tomb is empty. The risen and eternal King is alive. And right now you are either living under His authority, or you are resisting Him. So the question isn’t whether the resurrection happened. That is a fact.[9] The question is, will you bow down, with your heart and your life, before the risen King?
[2] https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/active.html
[3] https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=sod_fac_pubs
[7] https://biblehub.com/interlinear/psalms/16-11.htm; חַ֫יִּ֥ים (ḥay·yîm)
[8] William S. Plumer, Psalms, Geneva Series of Commentaries (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1990), 215.
[9][9] 1 Corinthians 15:20 – But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…
