He IS risen!

You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! (Mark 16:6)

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! The Christ of God who died has risen to live forever. Of course, a lot of people don’t believe the Good News of Easter. They don’t believe that Jesus rose from the dead. But consider the following evidence:

If Easter did not happen, how do you account for the disciples’ changed behavior? The night that Jesus was arrested, they all abandoned Him. Peter was the unofficial leader of the group, and three times he denied even knowing Jesus. None of the disciples had the courage to ask for Jesus’ body so He could be laid to rest; two other men arranged the burial. On the day of the resurrection, the disciples were in hiding behind locked doors, still fearing arrest. But then Jesus came to them; they touched Him and He ate some of their meal to prove He was no ghost. After that day, the disciples were changed men; now they preached about Christ without fear, singing hymns when they were beaten and thrown into prison. If Jesus had not come back to them alive, how do you account for these cowards turning into men of courage?

If Easter did not happen, why put Jesus in the center of our calendars? The years BC were before Christ; once He entered our world, the years were renumbered starting with 1. Something incredibly important must have happened in His lifetime, something that caused our ancestors to renumber their calendars around.

Or consider this. Ancient writings are few and far between; it is rare to have more than one or two sources of information on any event that took place so many years ago. Yet Jesus’ death and resurrection are documented by no less than four different sources—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Not only that, but several other men who lived at the time speak of these events as well: Peter, James, and Paul. No single event from 2,000 years ago has such thorough documentation. If Easter did not happen, why do we have so many witnesses speaking about it?

Jesus died and rose from the dead. You can be sure of it. And because He rose, you can be sure of something else: if you trust Him, He will raise you from the dead, too. He’s proven that He can do it.