The Resurrection of Jesus

[e-Sword86]

The Resurrection of Jesus


The Resurrection of the Messiah is the grand event of the ages, toward which all previous history moved, and in which all subsequent history finds its meaning.

Chapter 15 of the First Letter to the Corinthians is a mountain top of the Bible, because it establishes the fact of the Resurrection of Christ, and our own Resurrection into immortality, with the same body, soul, and spirit we had on earth, but gloriously transformed… like the one of the risen Lord!.

In 1 Cor.15:1-19, Paul establishes the certainty of our Savior's Resurrection. If you take away the Resurrection of Jesus, you make nothing of Christianity, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain, and you are still in your sins" (v.17) … but in fact Christ was raised from the dead into life!, he shouts in verse 20… the best proof of the Resurrection of Christ is that the story of it has plowed through the last two milleniums and changed the face of the earth.


I am Immortal…You are Immortal


From verse 20, Paul establishes the truth of the resurrection of the dead, the dead in Christ. Jesus is the first-fruits of those who sleep in Him. Christ resurrection is a pledge and earnest of ours. Christ rose as the first-fruits, therefore those that are Christ's shall rise too (v.23).

Death is a fact of life, a sure thing for the wise and the ignorant, riches and honor and human power can do nothing about it, all the advances of modern medicine end inexorably in death… and it is going to be "soon", like a twinkling of an eye!… but a Christian can defeat death, and thousands do it every day, rising to the same glorious immortality of Jesus the Messiah… and you and I can and should rise to glory, being immortals, the most glorious fact of every day Christianity… and, of course, this is the greatest legacy of the Testament of Jesus in His Resurrection, and the greatest legacy of the whole Bible.

If you are not going to resurrect after death, then this life on earth is meaningless, like a nightmare, without any sense… Hamlet would have been right, "life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"… but earthly life is filled with meaning, because there is an afterlife, and a whole eternity depends on our attitude on earthly life:

Eternally in Heaven or eternally in Hell… the purpose of earthly life is to adore God, to trust in Him, full of joy on earth, and, on top of it, go to Heaven… if only people planned for eternity as much as they plan for retirement!…

Prayer to Receive Jesus
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Dear God in Heaven,

I know and acknowledge that I am a sinner. I repent, right now, of all my sins, and I am asking you to forgive me. You said in your Word, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). And so, I am calling on the name of your Son, Jesus, to come into my heart and be my Savior.

You also said, ". . . if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). I believe with my heart that Jesus died for my sins and was raised from the dead so that I may have eternal life. I confess Him, right now, as my Lord.

In the name of Jesus I pray,
Amen.

 

[cephas316]

(Taken from a PowerPoint for an apologetics class of my favourite church in the US - if you belong to that church, I hope you don't mind )

1st Corinthians 15:3-8 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

James: Jesus’ brother who did not initially believe in Him as Messiah (John 7:5). Josephus records that James, the brother of Jesus, was put to death by Annas and the Sanhedrin during the reign of Nero (62 AD). What accounts for the change?
(Antiquities, book 20, chapter 9)

Philippians 3:4b-7 If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

What accounts for the change?

Secular Sources:

Tacitus senator and historian of Rome (56-117 AD)
- Annals
- Histories
“Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome…” (Tacitus, Annals, 15.44).

1. Christ existed
2. Christ was crucified
3. Christians followed Him
4. During reign of Tiberius
5. Pontius Pilate Existed
6. Resurrection mentioned

Josephus Attests to Jesus’ Resurrection:
Titus Flavius Josephus (Joseph son of Matthias)

About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats and was a teacher of such people as accept the truth gladly. He won over many Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, upon hearing him accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who had in the first place come to love him did not give up their affection for him. On the third day he appeared to them restored to life, for the prophets of God had prophesied these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the tribe of Christians, so called after him, has still to this day not disappeared (Josephus, The Antiquities, 18.63-64).

Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Younger: Governor of Bithynia 111 AD

I have asked them if they are Christians, and if they admit it, I repeat the question a second and a third time, with a warning of the punishment awaiting them…They also declared that the sum total of their guilt or error amounted to no more than this: they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honor of Christ as if to a god, and also to bind themselves by oath, not for any criminal purpose, but to abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery…(Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.96).

1. Christians existed
2. They believed Jesus was God
3. Their beliefs made them abstain from immorality

Phlegon

Luke 23:44-45a It was now about the sixth hour and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured…

Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour, darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour…
Matthew 27:54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they
saw the earthquake…

Phlegon wrote Olympiads which chronicles the Greek games from 776 B.C. to 137 A.D. in 16 books.

This phenomenon, evidently, was visible in Rome, Athens, and other Mediterranean cities. According to Tertullian…it was a “cosmic” or “world event.” Phlegon, a Greek author from Caria writing a chronology soon after 137 A.D. reported that in the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad (i.e., 33 A.D.) there was “the greatest eclipse of the sun” and that “it became night in the sixth hour of the day (noon) so that stars even appeared in the heavens. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea” (Paul Maier, Pontius Pilate, 101).


Summary Slide of Secular Corroboration
What can we say about Jesus from Josephus, Phlegon, Pliny the Younger, and Tacitus?


Secular Bible
Jesus existed New Testament
Jesus was crucified Matthew 27:35-56
Jesus crucified during reign of Tiberius Luke 3:1
Jesus crucified under Pontius Pilate Matthew 27:2
Three hours of darkness during crucifixion Matthew 27:45
Earthquake during crucifixion Matthew 27:54
Jesus crucified in 33 A.D. Daniel 9:24-26
Belief in Jesus’ resurrection 1st Corinthians 15
Christians believed Jesus was God Titus 2:13
Christians abstained from immoral acts Ephesians 5:3


Empty Tomb:

Justin Martyr 165 AD cites a letter circulated by Jews in Jerusalem that were antagonistic to Jesus.

A godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where he was laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that he has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven.
(Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho, Chapter 108 –Apologetic Press)

Matthew 28:13 (Chief priests to the soldiers) “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’”

Jewish unbelievers unwittingly admit Jesus was not in the tomb!


Toledoth Yeshua

Toledoth Yeshua written 600 A.D.?
Diligent search was made and he (Jesus) was not found in the grave where he had been buried. A gardener had taken him from the grave and had brought him into his garden and buried him in the sand over which the waters flowed into the garden. (Apologetic Press.org)
Antagonists again admit Jesus was not in the tomb!

Possibilities For Empty Tomb

Disciples stole body? -> Why no arrests?
Dog stole the body? -> Not in the graves they used!
Women went to wrong tomb? -> Jews didn’t produce the body!
Gardner stole body? -> Jews initially claim that it was the disciples!
Jesus didn’t really die? -> What about that spear?

The Testimony of The Empty Tomb!

Acts 2:23-31 (Peter preaching Christ) …this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again…For David says…You will not abandon my soul to hades, nor allow your holy one to undergo decay…Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a prophet…he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of Christ…

Why didn’t the Jewish leaders produce the body?

Why didn’t they arrest the disciples for grave robbing?

Conclusion: Because Jesus was raised from the dead!

 

[e-Sword86]

AMEN and AMEN! Acts 1:1-3 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

 

[angelsweet]

Praise the Lord!!! Aside from that, millions (nay, billions since his resurrection) of proof abound: the changed lives that no other god-pretender can effect. He lives in the hearts of His people.