1. There are two kinds of people in the world today – those who do believe that the Bible is true; and those who do not believe that the Bible is true.
There are perfectly good reasons for both kinds of people to believe that Jesus really did rise from the dead.
For those of us who are sure that the Bible is true, believing that Jesus rose from the dead is really easy!
2. Since we are sure that the Bible is true, and since the writers of the Old Testament said that Jesus would rise again from the dead, it makes perfect sense to us that Jesus would rise again from the dead.
Job 19:25-27 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”
Psalm 16:10 “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”
Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”
Jesus declared that the entire Book of Jonah was a prophecy of HIS resurrection from the dead.
Matthew 12:38-40 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
3. Since we are sure that the Bible is true, and since the Bible says that Jesus is GOD in human flesh; it makes perfect sense that Jesus would keep HIS promise to rise again from the dead.
Before HIS death on the cross, Jesus said that HE would rise from the dead. (Future Tense)
Cf. Matthew 16:21 “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
John 2:18-22 “So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”
After HIS death on the cross, Jesus said that HE had risen from the dead. (Past Tense)
Cf. Revelation 1:18 (NKJV) “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
Note: This verse was written 60 years after the death of Jesus on the cross.
4. Since we are sure that the Bible is true, and since the Bible says that the Apostles were honest and godly men; it makes perfect sense to believe what they said about Jesus being raised from the dead.
Cf. John 20:19-20 “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.”
5. Since we are sure that the Bible is true and the Bible says that one must believe that God raised Jesus from the dead to be saved… and since the Bible says that being saved will change our life… and, since believing that God raised Jesus from the dead really did change our life; what the Bible says about Jesus being raised from the dead must be true.
Romans 10:9-10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
2nd Corinthians 5:17 ” Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
6. Finally, for those people in the world today who are not sure that the Bible is true there are still lots of logical reasons to believe that Jesus actually rose from the Dead!
– The fact that the Apostles (who really knew if Jesus really rose from the dead or not) were willing to die horrific deaths rather than deny that they saw Jesus alive is strong evidence that they really did see Jesus alive after his death.
(People will die for a lie if they believe it is true; but people will not die for a lie if they know it is a lie.)
– The dramatic change in the lives of the Apostles from Christ-denying skeptics to self-sacrificing evangelists is strong evidence that they really did see Jesus alive after HIS death on the cross.
– The fact that when Paul was writing 1st Corinthians (30 years after the death of Jesus) he could call on over 500 eyewitnesses who had seen Jesus alive after HE died on the cross is strong evidence that Jesus really rose from the dead.
– Three of most highly regarded non-Christian Roman historians mention that Jesus was a person who lived when the Bible says HE lived; and that HE was executed under Pontius Pilate; and that people worshipped HIM as God.
Guardian Magazine (4/14/2017) gives this historical information:
“As far as we know, the first author outside the church to mention Jesus is the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote a history of Judaism around AD93.”
“He has two references to Jesus. One of these is controversial… but the other is not suspicious – a reference to James, the brother of “Jesus, the so-called Christ”.
“About 20 years after Josephus, we have the Roman politicians Pliny and Tacitus, who held some of the highest offices of state at the beginning of the second century AD.”
“From Tacitus we learn that Jesus was executed while Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect in charge of Judaea (AD26-36) and Tiberius was emperor (AD14-37) – reports that fit with the timeframe of the gospels.”
“(Roman Historian) Pliny contributes the information that, where he was governor in northern Turkey, Christians worshipped Christ as a god. Neither of them liked Christians – Pliny writes of their “pig-headed obstinacy” and Tacitus calls their religion a destructive superstition.”
– In spite of the fact that some people who “claim” to believe in Jesus give no evidence of being changed at all; the millions of people whose lives have been dramatically changed testify that they have come to believe that Jesus really did die for their sins, and that HE really did rise from the dead is strong evidence that Jesus really is the son of God, that He really did die on the cross to pay for the sins of sinners, and – HE is still forgiving sinners and changing lives today.
2nd Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Beloved Ones, the invitation is always the same… since Jesus was willing to die for you, are you now willing to die for him?
Amen!
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