Did Jesus Die and Rise Again. Part 2
If you read the last blog post, the answer to question #1 is: YES, Jesus ACTUALLY died. If you still have doubts about that, the next question is irrelevant to you. You are absolutely, no-kidding, no wiggle room gonna hafta establish in your mind THAT truth before you can grab the reality in the answer to the second question: Did Jesus ACTUALLY rise from the dead?
Of course, theories abound that attempt to discredit the scriptural and historical accounts of the Resurrection. Those several interested parties having a vested interest in proving beyond doubt that the person of Jesus actually died on the cross now had an even greater interest in proving that the person of Jesus did not rise from that grave. Hostile witnesses could not use the same logic to support anti-Resurrection theories that were earlier employed to negate the ‘He-didn’t-die’ theories. Any substitution, mistaken identity or imposter theory goes right out the window when you consider that this person would have had to perfectly impersonate Jesus for 40 days in the company of His disciples, some of which were His brothers, cousins, and His own mother who had followed Him and lived closely with Him for nearly three years!
The ‘it’s just a myth’ theory can be discounted briefly – the elapsed time between the event and its report by eyewitness hostile and neutral sources was not sufficient for ‘legend’ to develop.
The ‘disciples stole the body’ theory can be deemed unrealistic for several reasons: they were scattered, in hiding, fearing for their own arrest; the tomb itself was guarded by Roman soldiers; the logistics of such an undertaking to move the stone and retrieve the body while in plain sight of the soldiers was way beyond their collective experience; they certainly didn’t have the moral capacity to perpetrate a fraud of such magnitude. The disciples really were ordinary people – fishermen, carpenters, a tax collector – none of them military or political leaders. What made them extraordinary was that they had been with Jesus…
The ‘it was the wrong tomb’ theory is just ridiculous. The Sanhedrin surely knew exactly in which tomb Jesus’ body was laid – there were soldiers assigned to watch it particularly. If that were the case, they could have squashed the Christian ‘movement’ right then and there.
The ‘it was a hallucination’ theory; the ‘it was a spirit’ theory and the idea that Jesus had risen ‘in the hearts of His disciples’ theory are all discredited by the credible eyewitness accounts of the day. Hallucinations are not experienced by individuals and groups for many hours over a specific time in a variety of settings and then suddenly end. The tomb being empty says there was no body left behind by the ‘spirit.’ Jesus went to great lengths to prove He was not a human emotional experience. He ate and drank with many. He allowed them to touch Him - Thomas put his fingers in His wounds – and He touched them. Reading through the entire book of Acts makes the proclamation - Jesus was once dead but is now alive. See Acts 2:24 3:15 4:10 5:30 13:30-31,34 17:31-32.
So, let’s revisit the great trilemma: were the disciples conmen? If so, we need motive. Were they crazy? If so, we must believe the process of uniform lunacy and its uniform transmission from lunatic to lunatic. Were the disciples credible witnesses? Eyewitness accounts are about truth, not bias and consider the credibility of the witness, the internal logic and consistency of their testimony, and the external evidence supporting the theory. They were credible. Their testimonies were consistent. The internal logic and the external evidence support what they said. But the most compelling evidence is this: the psychology of the disciples immediately following the crucifixion does not match those who would be capable of concocting such a massive fraud, neither does their psychology in the years after the event match those who were knowingly perpetrating fraud. They spent the rest of their lives proclaiming the core of our faith – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – facing arrest, imprisonment, beatings and the death afforded to criminals and none of them ever denied that Jesus Christ died and rose again.
If this were a court of law, by all modern standards of legal evidence, the testimony found in the Gospel is of a quality to bring in a positive verdict on the Resurrection of Christ. If you have more than 500 individuals witnessing the Easter event, you can’t invent a fiction. The answer is “Yes. Jesus did ACTUALLY rise from the dead.” and Paul’s statement in Romans 1:4 “And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised Him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit.” defines the Christian faith.
Sadly, the carnal mind cannot discern the things of the Spirit and physical, logical, legal, and natural proof is all we believe, we have no faith. Believing takes a decision both natural and spiritual and is an act of our will as we are called by God. If you haven’t made that decision yet, keep seeking. I promise you that if you ask, God will answer.
In closing, I will reinforce what this blog is saying. The Resurrection proves Jesus once and for all to be the Son of God and the unique redeemer of the world. It is the test question upon which depends the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion and as a believer with Christian faith in God, if youharbor any doubt that this singular event actually happened, I urge you with great love in my heart for you, to prayerfully examine just why it is you consider yourself a disciple of Christ. In His Service – praying for you to have revelation and
