Do Christians have good reasons
for believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead? Listen to the
following:
THE RESURRECTION IS A
FACT
Professor Thomas Arnold, for 14 years a headmaster of Rugby, author
of the famous, History of Rome, and appointed to the chair of
modern history at Oxford, was well acquainted with the value of
evidence in determining historical facts. This great scholar said:
“I have been used for many years to study the histories of other
times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have
written about them, and I
know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by
better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a
fair inquirer, then the great sign which God hath given us that
Christ died and rose again from the dead.” Brooke Foss Westcott, an
English scholar, said: "taking all the evidence together, it is not
too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more
variously supported than the resurrection of Christ. Nothing but the
antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the
idea of deficiency in the proof of it."
The angels spoke the truth in
Luke 24:4-6.
The Bible affirms that Jesus’ resurrection was confirmed by many
infallible proofs. Acts 1:1-3
So what are some of these convincing proofs?
Body:
I.
Post-Resurrection Appearances
By combining information from several New Testament books, we find
that Jesus appeared to His disciples on atleast ten
separate occasions:
Saul sees the risen Savior and later, in Damascus, converts to
the Christian faith. He endures tremendous trials for his
religion. II Corinthians 11:23-27
He was thoroughly
convinced that he had seen Jesus.
III.
The Change in the Disciples
·Less than two
months after Peter had denied Christ three times, he stood up before
thousands of Jews and boldly declared they had by lawless hands
crucified the Messiah. Acts 2:23, 36
What caused this change? Acts 3:14-15
·These men didn’t
just believe Jesus had been resurrected; they knew it!
As a reward for their efforts, however, those early
Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to the
lions, tortured and crucified. Every conceivable method
was used to stop them from talking. Yet,
they laid down their lives as the ultimate proof of
their complete confidence in the truth of their message.
IV.
The Empty Tomb
·Jesus was buried in
the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
·If Christ’s body
was still in the tomb on the Day of Pentecost, when Peter claimed
the tomb was empty, the Jewish leaders would have stopped the speech
and taken him to the tomb.
·Even Jesus’ enemies
acknowledged the tomb was empty. Matthew 28:11-15
Conclusion:
In the Schaff’s History of
the Christian Church, he states, “The Christian church rests on
the resurrection of its Founder. Without this fact the church could
never have been born; or if born, it would soon have died a natural
death.” In the book, The Resurrection of the Son of God,
Wright said, “Christianity is inexplicable apart from the assumption
that almost all early Christians . . . did indeed believe that Jesus
of Nazareth bad been raised bodily from the dead.” Sufficient
evidence exists for anyone with a good heart to believe that Jesus
Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead.
The
Sermons, Bulletin Articles and Bible Studies published in this
website are from sound members of the church of Christ
and are free to everyone. We feel the price was paid when
Jesus died on the cross. Please feel free to use any
of the content found within this website for the spreading of the
Gospel to all.
Matt 11:28-29 "Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek
and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your
souls."
The church of Christ in Granby Missouri 516 East Pine St. P.O. Box 664
Granby, Mo. 64844
(417) 472-7109