

Faith Files Series: Reasons Enough for
Belief
____________________________________________ #007 The Uniqueness
of Jesus
The story of Jesus' resurrection of the dead is found in the four gospels
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It's referenced many other places in the New
Testament as well, but at length in Paul's letter to the Christians at Corinth,
the book we call 1 Corinthians. But can we trust these documents? Paul writes the Corinthians, “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 Cephas, and then to
the Twelve. After that, he
appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters 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...” (1 Corinthians 15:3-7) He's
listing the people who saw Jesus alive again after He had been executed on a
cross and buried. There's references include Jesus appearing to individual
people, such as the apostle Peter (Cephas) and James, two the twelve apostles
at the same time and even to a gathering of some 500 people at the same time.
Many, Paul writes, are still alive as of his writing this letter, and could
validate the truth of the claim that Jesus was alive again because they had
seen Him. Scholars are agreed that Paul
wrote this letter around 55 AD. That's no more, probably less, than twenty-five
years after the event, not much time at all. As of the writing of this Easter
message I can think back twenty-five years to 1989 and easily recall the Berlin
Wall coming down and the environmental disaster of the Exxon Valdez Tanker
spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil in the Alaskan waters. It's not that
far in the past. This was the case with Paul's words. In fact, the first three Gospels
(Matthew, Mark, and Luke) were written in the 60s or 70s AD, at the latest.
This was within forty years of the actual event. Again, many of us have vivid
memories of events forty years ago. The last book of the New Testament to be
written was the Gospel of John, probably in the 90s, when the writer, John the
disciple of Jesus was an old man. All of the New Testament was
written within the first century, within sixty years of the events it
references of Jesus, including the resurrection of Jesus. The gospel writer
Luke indicates his intention of writing an historically accurate account for a Greek
man. “Many have
undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among
us, just as they
were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and
servants of the word. With this in
mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning,
I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the
things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4) The apostle John wrote near the end
of his gospel, “Jesus performed many other 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 Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have
life in his name. (John 20:30-31) The apostle Peter wrote, “For we did not
follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (1 Peter 1:16) There's no reason to question the
historical accuracy and truthfulness of the New Testament documents. So, what
do they report concerning the resurrection of Jesus that can give us the
confidence it really happened and is not simply a fictitious account?
Evidence of
Jesus' Resurrection One amazing fact is that the
first eyewitnesses of Jesus being alive again were the women who came to the
tomb, saw it was empty, then encountered the resurrected Jesus. In Jewish
culture of the first century women were not allowed to testify in a court of
law. There testimony was worthless. I this story were a fabrication no one
would have had women be the first women. The fact that they are the first
witnesses, even before the apostles, virtually shouts of its validity. Then there's the fact that the
apostles themselves were hesitant to believe Jesus was alive again. It doesn't
show them in a very good light, and the story would have never been written
that way, unless that's the way it happened. Particularly, there's the story of
the apostle Thomas who wasn't present the first Sunday evening when Jesus
appeared to the apostles and, therefore, would not believe them when they
latter told him they had seen Jesus alive again. A week later he was present
when Jesus, again, appeared in their presence. The historical account states, “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.” (John 20:26-29) Then there's the amazing fact
that the early Christians, who were almost all Jewish, did the astonishing and
unimaginable switching of their day of worship from Saturday, the Sabbath, to
Sunday, the day Jesus was raised from the dead. The evidence argues for the
truthfulness of the account of Jesus being raised from the dead.
The Uniqueness
of Jesus Who is this Jesus who was raised
from the dead? Many people say He was a good teacher, like other great
teachers, and leave it at that. No other religious teacher has ever come back
to life. What did Jesus teach, particularly about Himself? Jesus did not teach that he was
just another prophet, but that He was the fulfillment of the prophets'
messages. “Everything
must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets
and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44) He taught that He existed before
He was born, before the ancient patriarch Abraham was born! “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was
even born, I am!” (John 8:59) He taught that He was one with
God. “I and the
Father are one.” (John 10:30) He taught that He had all
authority, over everything! “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18) He taught that He was the only
way to get to God. “I am the way
and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(John 14:6) The great Christian thinker C. S.
Lewis put it well in this classic statement of his. “I am trying here to
prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him:
I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his
claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a
man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a
poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something
worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a
demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not
come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He
has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (Mere Christianity) Yes,
Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or He was, and is Lord!
The
Ramifications of Easter The compelling truth of Easter is
that Jesus rose from the dead. It authenticated who He said He was, the Son of
God, come to earth as one of us, to die for us on a cross, to be Lord over all. Because He lives He confirmed who
He is, God Himself who has come to save us from our sin. He said “the Son of Man [His favorite name for
Himself] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45) We are to accept Him as our savior, realizing we
can't be right with God based on our own effort and good works. We need Him to
save us. Because He lives He is Lord not
only over death but over life and has the right to be Lord of our life, for us
to live for Him. “For whoever
wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will
find it.” (Matthew 16:25) Live for Him, not for self! Because He lives and we are His
we can always have His help in being His person and doing His will. “If you remain in me and I in you, you will
bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Because He lives He is always
with us. “And surely I
am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Because He lives He promises to
come to take us to be with Him when we die. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You
believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that
were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for
you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to
be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3) Because He lives He will come
again to set up His permanent kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Forty
days after Jesus' resurrection He ascended to heaven, witnessed by His
disciples. An angel said to the, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven.
Will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
The compelling truth of Easter
confronts us with a profoundly important issue; what will you and I do with
Jesus? There is no more important decision in all of life. It is the decision
that is to have life-altering impact like no other decision. It is the decision
that has ramifications for all of eternity. Turn to Him, live for Him, be His
person. Respond to the compelling truth of Easter! _____________________________________ by David J. Claassen daveclaassen.com Copyright 2014 by David J. Claassen
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