Resurrection talk.

If you tell a group of people that you believe that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, rose from the dead in a glorified human body, you will probably encounter disbelief and/or ridicule! Many people won't even consider the possibility that Jesus rose from the dead, claiming that it is a 'scientific' absurdity. 

This, however, should not discourage those of us who do believe. Indeed, the resurrection of Jesus is one of history's best-attested events. In addition, billions of people have experisnced His life-transforming power by placing their trust, unreservedly, in Him.

Michael Green tells of a visit he made to a cancer specialist who was dying of leukemia while still in his forties. When his condition was diagnosed, the man would have claimed to have been an agnostic. However, he read a couple of books that were used to bring him to a clear and joyful faith in the risen Christ. He was also angry! "Why", he asked, "have I never had the evidence put to me, clearly, before?"

Frank Morison (literary pseudonym for Albert Henry Ross - no relation!) was a printer, advertiser, and journalist, whose attention was captured by the "strangeness" of the Resurrection story. Influenced by skeptical thinkers in the early part of the last century, he set out to prove that the whole story was nothing more than a myth. His research, however, led him to discover the validity of the Biblical record in a moving, and personal, way. His intellectually honest research - not starting from the assumption that the Gospel records are inerrant, Divine revelation, but treating them, rather, as human documents subject to histrorical analysis and verification - forced him to the conclusion that the literal resurrection of Jesus from the dead, is a fact that the Gospel writers correctly report, and interpret. "Who moved the stone?" is still well-worth reading!

Paul, writing to the believers in Corinth, has this to say: "Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." (I Cor:15:12-20).

"The Lord is risen!" "He is risen indeed." is not just a traditional greeting for Resurrection Day. It is a glorious truth, that others need to hear! The spiritually dead need to hear about the living Saviour.

The Resurrection of Jesus

It is just as well that I am a man of words!!  A great deal of my time this evening has been taken up with a Facebook discussion with some of my former pupils on the Person of the Lord Jesus; the reliability of the Bible; and the creation/evolution debate!  Well, it's good to know that some of them think of more than the latest electronic gadget, pop song, or whatever else occupies the minds of the majority of young people today.
I then logged on to the online version of The Independent newspaper - and got myself involved in another discussion on the historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth, and the fact of His resurrection (which event was celebrated, yesterday, by millions of people around the world).

So is there any real evidence for that event?  It's an important question!  Josh McDowell makes the point that it "... is one of the 'most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, or it is the most fantastic fact of history."  I'm not actually happy with the use of the word "fantastic" which, itself, is related to "fantasy".  The resurrection of Jesus is an undeniable, fully accredited, fact of history.  And this is not surprising.  It is unimaginable that Father God would allow such a momentous event to be left in some sort of historical limbo - to be believed, or not believed, according to the whim of the individual!  And, of course, it is the keystone of the Christian Faith.  The Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, and Christianity itself, stand or fall together!

So what is the evidence?  First of all, there is far too much to cover it in one post!  Indeed, books have been written on that evidence.  So, this evening is just an introduction and, God willing, I will add a post each night this week until I have covered all of the main aspects of the evidence.

My plan is to briefly deal with the importance of the Resurrection in this post.  Then, in subsequent evenings, I hope to deal with the claims of the Lord Jesus that He would rise from the dead - a claim to which more credence was given by the Chief Priests, than by the disciples!  This, I hope, will be followed by a post on the situation at the tomb before the Resurrection; one on the post-resurrection scene; one on the positive evidence for the Resurrection; and one - or possibly two! - on some of the offered "alternative explanations" for the empty tomb.  That should take me nicely up to the end of the week and, possibly, to Sunday as well!
So, why is the Resurrection of such great importance?  Well, I've already mentioned that it is the central plank, the corner-stone, of the Christian Faith.  Paul writes to the Corinthian believers: "... if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. ... And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost!  And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world." (I Cor. 15:14-19)

It also makes Christianity unique among the belief-systems of mankind.  Of the major world-systems that are based on personalities - only Christianity claims an empty tomb for its Founder.  Abraham, the recognised father of Judaism, died about 1900 B.C. - but no-one has ever made any serious claim that he was resurrected from the dead.  When the Buddha died, possibly in the mid-6th century B.C., it was recorded of him that it was "with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind." (the Mahaparinibbana Sutta), and there is no trace in the Buddhist holy writings of him having existed after his death, or having appeared to his, presumably distraught, disciples.  Muhammad died in 632 A.D., and his tomb in Medina is visited, annually, by tens of thousands of Muslims.  Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, died in 1539 A.D.  His body, it is claimed, disappeared while those of his followers who had come from a Hindu background, and those from a Muslim background, argued over the manner of its disposal.  But there is no claim that he was ever seen alive again.  Only Jesus left an empty tomb!

Finally (although there is so much more that could be mentioned), there are the recorded words of the Lord Jesus Himself.  "The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded." (John 10:17-18; my emphasis); and "'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'  ... when Jesus said 'this temple,' He meant His own body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered He had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said." (John 2:19-22).

Michael Green, in his book Man Alive, states that, "Christianity does not hold the Resurrection to be one among many tenets of belief.  Without faith in the Resurrection there would be no Christianity at all.  The Christian church would never have begun; the Jesus-movement would have fizzled out, like a damp squib, with his execution.  Christianity stands or falls with the truth of the Resurrection.  Once disprove it, and you have disposed of Christianity.  Christianity is an historical religion.  It claims that God has taken the risk of involving Himself in human history, and the facts are there for you to examine with the utmost rigour.  They will stand any amount of critical investigation."

I trust that this, and the the ensuing posts, will be of help to anyone who wishes to thus investigate.