Jesus Christ was born into the world over two thousand years ago. The historicity of Jesus Christ is undisputed even among the most hardened of atheist, antichrists and other antagonists of the Body of Christ and the Christian faith.
The plethora of authenticated historical documentation from the first century and upwards by secular governments, religious (non-Christian) and the Church itself lends credence to the life and times of Jesus Christ, leading to His crucifixion. Consequently, much of the attempts to deny that historicity have remained nothing more than mere flashes in a pan.
However, much of the criticism and denials are focused on His Resurrection. Here are some reasons why this is so:
First, the Resurrection lends credence to Jesus’ claim to deity, that He is the Son of God. It means if Jesus rose from the dead, it would have confirmed that He is God.
Regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord -Romans 1:3-4, NIV.
In the natural, Jesus was born of Jewish lineage, of the seed of David. The religion and culture of the Jews were clear: There is only one God, and His name is Yahweh!
Jesus comes to the scene, and His claims run counter-culture, even claiming to have existed before Abraham, their progenitor. He uses language and describes Himself in terms that can and should only be used by God and about God.
Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM -John 8:58, NKJV.
Jesus Himself repeatedly declared that He would be killed, and He would rise again from the dead on the third day. Had this claim been falsified, it would have given the weight that all other claims He made about Himself were false.
From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day -Matthew 16:21, NKJV.
For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day” -Mark 9:31-32, NKJV.
Even His enemies acknowledged that He made such claims:
Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again -Matthew 27:62-63.
Jesus never said He would rise from the dead ‘spiritually.’ Had He said that He would have exposed Himself as a charlatan, because on the third day, after His death, no one would have been able to verify if a ‘spiritual resurrection’ had taken place or not.
Jesus Christ rose bodily. There was an empty tomb. After His resurrection, He appeared to several witnesses. The lives of His disciples were transformed and the Church was established.
Let us not forget that after the death and burial of the Lord the disciples were fearful and were ready to return to the lives they had before their encounter with Jesus.
But they saw Him, who was crucified now alive, and they were willing to lay down their lives for the risen Lord, and many of them did. Would they have laid down their lives if they had concocted the resurrection story themselves, claiming to be witnesses to it? Would they have died for what they knew was a lie? Peter declares:
Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead -Acts 10:40-42, NKJV.
(See Matthew 28:2-5; Acts 1:22; 2:24, 32; 10:40-41, 13:30-32; Ephesians 1:20)
Secondly, it is upon the reality of the resurrection that the Christian faith stands or falls. Christianity would be nothing more than an empty and worthless faith without the resurrection.
Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up — if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable -1 Corinthians 15:12-19, NKJV.
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul explains the Resurrection. In it, he gives a list of actual witnesses who had seen the resurrected Christ at the time of his writing:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born -1 Corinthians 15:3-8, NIV.
Thirdly, the Resurrection sets Christianity apart from all religions of the world. There is no other religion in the world that lays claim to a ‘founder’ that died, was buried, rose again on the third day, and based on that makes salvation available to those who believe in Him as a free gift.
Christ claimed that He was the way, the truth and the life and that no one can access God except through Him. And that access was made possible by His death and resurrection (John 14:6).
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit -1 Peter 3:1, NKJV.
Also, it is only in Christianity that every aspect of the life of its founder was prophesied hundreds of years before He came on the scene.
There are over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled, to the detail, in the life, and passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see for example Isaiah 53; Psalm 16:10; 22:14-18; Numbers 9:12; John 19:36).
Fourthly, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ makes man accountable to the claims of Christ concerning what He accomplished through His life, passion and resurrection.
The resurrection settles the question of life-after-life. Supporting the truth that, It is appointed of men once to die and after that, judgement.
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation -Hebrews 9:27-28, NKJV.
Men deny Christ’s resurrection because they know that by agreeing to it they would become accountable to believe in it and live by its demands. So the idea is to not even agree it took place in the first place. This ostrich-head-in-the-sand kind of reasoning stands logic on its head.
It is this same manner of idea that atheism stands: since there is no God we have no moral responsibility to a moral God. The atheist thinks.
For to this end, Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living –Romans 14:9, NKJV.
Finally, what is the implication of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
- Through the resurrection, Jesus Christ was proven to be the Son of God. He is alive; hence we must believe and receive Him.
- Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the redemption of man has been accomplished. The penalty of sin has been paid for.
- Through the resurrection, Jesus was declared to be just and the justifier of all who believe in Him (Romans 3:26).
- Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, death has been destroyed, its sting is gone. Jesus paid for and reversed the effects of sin, death and destruction. (See Hebrews 2:14-18). We now have access to eternal life.
The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.
- The resurrected Christ would indeed judge the world as He declared He would. The resurrection shows that judgement has been revealed:
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead -Acts 17:30-31, NKJV.
Friend, what is your stand concerning Jesus Christ? Have you truly believed in Him; have you received Him as your Lord and Saviour? Today is the day of salvation.
He’s alive, Amen.
Jesus is alive forever.
He’s alive, Amen.
Thank you. Do not forget to keep living, loving and learning.
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