PSALM 16: (7) I will bless the LORD who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. (8) I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. (9) Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. (10) For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay. (11) Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; In Thy presence is fulness of joy; In Thy right hand there are pleasures forever. (NASB)
The verses above are a part of Psalm 16 written by King David about 1,000 years before Jesus. They are in fact a poetic prophecy that the body of God’s Holy One, namely Jesus, will not ever see decay. This prophecy affirms that after Jesus gives His life on the cross, God will raise Him from the dead.
Jesus won the victory over death, sin, and the devil by His death on the cross, and God raising Him from the dead, in accordance with Psalm 16, stands as the conclusive, once for all victory by Jesus over death and hell. And by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we have our hope of eternal life. Jesus said in John 11.25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, (26) and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (NASB). By the resurrection of Jesus, not having experienced any decay, our hope is secure.
In Peter’s first sermon in Jerusalem recorded in Acts chapter 2, Peter quotes verses 8-11 from Psalm 16. Peter, speaking with Apostolic authority, explained that David was writing specifically about Jesus and His resurrection, and that Jesus now sits at the right hand of God.