Many Infallible Proofs Introduction: Do Christians have good reasons for believing that Jesus actually rose from the dead? Listen to the following: THE RESURRECTION IS A FACT Professor Thomas Arnold, for 14 years a headmaster of Rugby, author of the famous, History of Rome, and appointed to the chair of modern history at Oxford, was well acquainted with the value of evidence in determining historical facts. This great scholar said: “I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, then the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.” Brooke Foss Westcott, an English scholar, said: "taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ. Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it." The angels spoke the truth in Luke 24:4-6. The Bible affirms that Jesus’ resurrection was confirmed by many infallible proofs. Acts 1:1-3 So what are some of these convincing proofs? Body: I. Post-Resurrection Appearances By combining information from several New Testament books, we find that Jesus appeared to His disciples on at least ten separate occasions: These were all eyewitnesses to Jesus’ resurrection, many of whom were still alive. II. Conversion of Paul III. The Change in the Disciples · Less than two months after Peter had denied Christ three times, he stood up before thousands of Jews and boldly declared they had by lawless hands crucified the Messiah. Acts 2:23, 36 What caused this change? Acts 3:14-15 · These men didn’t just believe Jesus had been resurrected; they knew it! As a reward for their efforts, however, those early Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to the lions, tortured and crucified. Every conceivable method was used to stop them from talking. Yet, they laid down their lives as the ultimate proof of their complete confidence in the truth of their message.
IV. The Empty Tomb · Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. · If Christ’s body was still in the tomb on the Day of Pentecost, when Peter claimed the tomb was empty, the Jewish leaders would have stopped the speech and taken him to the tomb. Conclusion: In the Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, he states, “The Christian church rests on the resurrection of its Founder. Without this fact the church could never have been born; or if born, it would soon have died a natural death.” In the book, The Resurrection of the Son of God, Wright said, “Christianity is inexplicable apart from the assumption that almost all early Christians . . . did indeed believe that Jesus of Nazareth bad been raised bodily from the dead.” Sufficient evidence exists for anyone with a good heart to believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead. Bobby Stafford March 31, 2013 |
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