Without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity is dead! Really. It all hinges on this event. He either rose or he didn’t. If he didn’t, it is all a hoax.
It is that important.
Many can’t imagine a human being dead for three days and coming back to life. That seems like a modern day horror-zombie-sci-fi movie. Science can’t prove that Jesus rose from the dead or disprove it, but if Jesus was God in the flesh, than achieving resurrection was not a big deal. Certainly the same God who created the world, could bring the second person of the Trinity back to life again.
Wouldn’t you think?
The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a leap of faith. It has historical accuracy. Keep reading. After rising from the dead and before ascending back into heaven, Jesus was seen by hundreds of eyewitnesses, many of whom died a martyr’s death for believing Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15; the end of all the Gospels). Christ’s earliest followers were willing to suffer and die believing Jesus rose from the dead.
This by itself shows that they really had strong faith and no one was deceiving them or tricking them into believing the resurrection if they were willing to die for it. In fact, all but one of the New Testament’s writers were executed for proclaiming and defending Christ’s resurrection (John was dipped in boiling oil, lived and exiled by the Roman Emperor Titus Flavius Domitianius).
This is truly compelling evidence of the resurrection.
Now I admit that martyrdom was not unique. Many throughout history have given up their lives and died for their beliefs even if they were wrong. The disciples’ martyrdom is extraordinary because these men were in a position to actually know whether or not what they were professing was true. No one will knowingly suffer horribly and ultimately die a horrific death in order to defend something they know is a lie. That would be crazy.
But, the New Testament’s martyrs either saw what they claimed to see (resurrected body of Christ talking, eating and walking with them) or they didn’t. There is no middle ground; Jesus is still dead or he is fully alive! Either they interacted with the resurrected Jesus or they didn’t. Why would so many men knowingly die for a lie? They had nothing to gain for lying and obviously everything to lose by suffering by arrows, stoning, crucifixion or flogging.
In addition some of the disciples claiming to have seen the resurrection were skeptical at first, but later would believe Jesus had appeared to them alive after the crucifixion. Most biblical scholars (believes and unbelievers alike) today agree that Paul was a skeptic and even a persecutor of the early Christian church prior to experiencing a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus. Most scholars also agree that James was a skeptic prior to experiencing what he called a post-resurrection appearance.
Paul’s experience with the resurrected Jesus caused him to immediately change from an evil persecutor of Christianity to one of its most aggressive advocates and writer of most of the New Testament. He claimed that this change came only after personally interacting with the resurrected Christ, and he willingly suffered (escaping riots, stoning, etc.) and died for his testimony in Rome.
And prior to Jesus’ resurrection, his very own half-brother, James, was a skeptic. His experience of a post resurrection appearance of Jesus is reported within five years of Jesus’ crucifixion. After personally interacting with the risen Christ, James became a leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem. James willingly died for his belief that Jesus was the Messiah who had died and rose again, but doubted at first.
You would think that someone would have given into a plot of some sort or caved when they were about to die for something that just wasn’t true, but all of the closest followers of Jesus died for the fact that they saw the risen Savior Jesus Christ (accept John who was willing to die)! This is extraordinary!
Do you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Why or why not?
If it is true that Jesus rose from the dead, than everything he did and said is more important than anything. He told us to love Him with everything we have. This is also called, “Worship”! Would you be willing to worship Jesus by believing in Him today?
