Copyright by Freedom in Christ, used with permission.
Perhaps one of the most astonishing claims of the Bible is that Jesus rose from the dead. He was brutally tortured and killed by professional executioners, but three days later His tomb was empty, and He then appeared to His disciples on a dozen occasions over a period of about six weeks. Whether or not this is true is the make-or-break of our faith. But believing it to be true is not a blind leap of faith – it’s a step based on sound evidence.
Some people will say He didn’t really die, that He had a rest in the tomb, recovered, and made His way out. Consider that He has been through a Roman flogging – which by itself was enough to kill many – and had then been nailed to the cross for six hours. Is it really credible that He was able not only to survive but quickly recover to such an extent that he was able to roll away a 1.5 ton stone? Added to that is the fact that the Roman soldiers wouldn’t have taken His body down from the cross unless they were absolutely sure He was dead – they would have been liable for the death penalty themselves if they got it wrong.
Others say that those who saw Him resurrected were “hallucinating” (though bear in mind that on one occasion 500 people saw him at one time – see 1 Corinthians 15:6). If that was the case, why didn’t the authorities simply produce the body when these Christians started shouting about how He had come back to life?
The authorities themselves said that the disciples must have stolen the body. But – and this is perhaps the most convincing proof – the disciples went on to suffer A LOT for what they believed and preached about how Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. They were flogged, tortured, imprisoned, and killed – why would they be prepared to endure this for something they knew to be a lie?
The other possibility is that God did what He said He was going to do and that Jesus is alive!
What is your conclusion?
