Friday, May 06, 2011

Jesus' resurrection: an historical fact

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Now Thomas (called The Twin), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name
(John 20:19-31).

Eyewitness testimony—you need it if you want to establish the facts, and the more eyewitnesses you can find, the better.

But when people don't want to believe something, they are willing to disregard any number of eyewitness reports. In spite of all the people who saw it happen, there are some today who refuse to believe that the Nazis killed six million Jews. Despite national television coverage and every major country around the world tracking the progress of Apollo 11 with their instruments, there are people who still believe that man’s landing on the moon was faked by the government in a secret television studio.

In the centuries before Christ was born, teachers and philosophers committed their thoughts to paper. No one doubts that these men lived or that they were responsible for the words attributed to them—men like Plato, Socrates, Euclid and Archimedes. The buildings of ancient Egypt are filled with ancient writings, and no one suggests that they are forgeries. But when you start speaking about the Bible, suddenly people are skeptical—they question who wrote it and whether or not it speaks the truth. Even though four different men described how Jesus Christ suffered, died and returned to life, their testimony is ignored. Even though the Gospels are clearly written as fact, many people treat them as fiction.

Why? Because sometimes people can’t accept the truth. Some truths are frightening—eternity in hell is an awful prospect, so there are people who deny that hell exists or that God would actually send anyone to such a terrible place. Some truths are annoying because they get in the way of our fun—as a result, those who want sex without marriage claim that the Ten Commandments are relics of the past and no longer apply. Some truths offend our sensibilities—many claim that all religions lead to God, even though Scripture says that God can only be approached through His Son Jesus. Some truths conflict with our personal convictions—and so there are Christians who believe that the universe evolved over billions of years instead of being created by God in six days.

And some truths just seem too fantastic to be real. And so people choose to believe that they must earn heaven by their good behavior; they can’t accept the truth that we are saved by faith alone. Some choose to believe that Jesus was just a man like any other, whose teachings on life and morality do not carry any more weight than those of Muhammad, Confucius, or the Buddha. They can’t accept the truth that Jesus spoke for God, and that His teachings carry the weight of divine law. Some choose to believe that the miracles of Jesus—including His resurrection—never happened, but were made up to make the Christian church look good to potential converts. They can’t accept the truth that God really exists, that Jesus is His Son, and that every human being will one day face judgment.

Among the disciples, Thomas serves as an example of someone who won’t believe because the truth just seems too fantastic. Jesus risen from the dead? Impossible—the other disciples must have been hallucinating! They wanted to see Jesus alive so badly that they lost touch with reality. And yet Thomas should have known better. He had seen Jesus walk on water. He had seen Jesus force a horde of demons out of a man and into a herd of pigs. He had seen Jesus feed over five thousand people from the modest lunch of one boy. Thomas had even seen Jesus raise at least three people from the dead. Furthermore, Jesus had told Thomas and the other disciples repeatedly that He was going to suffer and be put to death, then rise again on the third day. Jesus had reminded them of this fact just a few nights earlier in the upper room as they celebrated the Passover together. So when Thomas was told by the others that they had seen Jesus alive and well, Thomas had no reason to doubt their report—no reason but that he couldn’t bring himself to accept the report as true. He had made peace with the fact that his Master was dead and gone; he had no desire to stir up feelings of hope, only to have them crushed by further disappointment.

Thomas and the others had a meal together the next Sunday evening. There was tension in the room; Thomas thought his fellows were kidding themselves with a fantasy, while the other disciples couldn’t understand why Thomas resisted believing such a wonderful truth. Then, Jesus was there—no blinding flash of light, no bone-rattling clap of thunder—He was just suddenly there in the locked room with them. He held His hands out to Thomas and confronted the man’s lack of faith: stop doubting and believe. And when Thomas was finally convinced, Jesus chastised him further by saying, Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

Why is faith so important? John tells us a few verses later: these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. It is through believing that we have Christ, and it is through Christ that we have life.

Life without faith is no life at all. Without faith in Christ, life here on earth is meaningless. Our days are filled with misery as sin runs rampant, unrecognized and unstoppable. Without Christ, there is no understanding of why people behave the way they do. Why do people love their possessions more than their families? Why do people hate and kill instead of love and nurture? Why do people ignore the good in their lives and focus on the bad? If you don’t know Jesus, you don’t understand what sin is, how it ruins lives, or how to combat it effectively.

Even worse, life without faith results in suffering death for eternity. That’s what hell is—living death. It is experiencing all the pain and terror that leads to death, without ever achieving death’s release. If you aren’t Jesus’ friend when you leave this life, the horror of your death will be a horror that never ends.

But the gift of Easter is the gift of life—Jesus said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10). Jesus is our source of vibrant, wonderful, joyous life. This is why He rose alive from the grave—to be filled with life and to share it with us. It starts with His teachings about God’s righteousness and our sin; Jesus makes us understand how selfishness leads to loneliness and bitterness. Then Jesus gives us release—He forgives us for our sins, and urges us to forgive everyone who has hurt us with their sins. Released from guilt and anger, we are ready for life lived to the full—life that is happy because it is built on sharing Christ-like love with everyone around us.

Even better, life with faith results in living joyfully forever. Jesus’ empty tomb shows us what our graves will someday look like—empty, because we have risen to join Him in paradise. Death is still ugly, but that ugliness will be forgotten as soon as we open our eyes and see Jesus face to face for the first time. Death remains a time of sadness as loved ones are forcibly separated, but the tears will not last long because in Christ all believers will be reunited. And when we rise from our graves, the life before us will be wonderful because there will be no sin to cause pain and no worry that death will ever again take away our loved ones.

A life without faith is depressing and scary. Everything you try to do comes up short; everything you accomplish eventually comes unraveled. Then death comes, and your hopes and dreams are finished. Taken as a whole, such a life is futile. But a life with faith is filled with hope, and a joy that tears cannot wash away. Every act of love you perform is an investment in the future; Jesus shows His love and care for others through you. When death comes, you are brought to heaven to enjoy rest and see the wonderful things Christ accomplished through your life, things you were probably never even aware of. When you have faith in Jesus, life is filled with joy and happiness that never comes to an end.

Eternal life in paradise is only accessible through Christ—Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6). Peter said, No one else can save us, because in all the world there is only one name given to us by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). But Christ does not come and show us His wounds as He did for Thomas; what He said back then applies to us now, today: blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Where does this faith come from? In Romans chapter ten Paul tells us, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. This is why John and the other Gospel writers set down their accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection—that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. The Bible was written so that we might believe in Jesus, and through Him receive the gift of life in all its fullness.

The Bible is fact—it is filled with references to historical events and geographical locations to assure you that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are not made up or the result of wishful thinking. Peter writes, We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty (2 Peter 1:16). I know that sometimes it is hard to believe in things that cannot be seen or heard or touched; of all the people quoted in the Bible, perhaps we can most closely identify with the man who told Jesus I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! (Mark 9:24) But the events of Easter are real. Jesus was dead and now He lives once more. He lives to forgive you for your sins. He lives to help you fill each day with love. He lives to free you from the grave and replace death with never ending life in paradise. He lives so that you might have life, and have it to the full.

Believe it, and be glad!

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