INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Evidence for Jesus. Whether you are a Christian or a skeptic, we’re thrilled you are joining us for this journey into the historical evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of the most influential person who has ever lived: Jesus of Nazareth.

While this book is a father-son project, we thought it would be helpful to begin with my (Josh’s) story. Sean’s story will come at the end. As a teenager, I was haunted by three big questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? I desperately wanted answers to these questions, so as a young student, I started searching for meaning in popularity, business success, sports, school, and other avenues. But everything I tried left me empty and without answers.

Everything changed when some Christian friends challenged me, a prelaw student, to make a rigorous intellectual examination of the Christian faith. They challenged me to consider a few questions: Did God truly enter the human race in the person of Jesus, who died for the sins of humanity? Can we trust the Bible as true? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? And can Jesus really change a life today?

I accepted their challenge—just to prove them wrong. I decided to write a book that would show them that Christianity was a joke, intellectually and historically. Since this was long before the internet and at a time when there were hardly any apologetics books on the historical Jesus, I left college for a period of months so that I could travel throughout the United States and Europe to gather evidence in libraries and museums to prove that Christianity was a sham. But through my studies, I realized there was no escaping the facts: the Bible is reliable, there is historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ, and Jesus really did claim to be God. I then decided to put Christ’s claims to the supreme test. I became a Christian.

This decision changed my life. Through studying Scripture and the loving mentorship of a pastor, I developed the capacity to love people and sought to serve them instead of use them. I had a terrible temper, but that began to fade. I was able to forgive my father, a raging alcoholic who had torn my family apart. God even gave me the strength to offer forgiveness to the man who sexually abused me as a child. Here’s the bottom line: the kind of evidence for Jesus that we explore in this book got my attention. But it was coming to understand the love of God, and his kindness, that drew me to become a believer (See Romans 2:4).

Why do I tell you all this? Because what each of us concludes about the identity of Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make. Let me say this again to make sure it sinks in: What we conclude about the identity of Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make. This is why Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). Our answer to this question has implications for how we live our lives and for our eternal destinies. We hope this book will have the kind of impact on you that our examination of the evidence has had on us.

Here’s a quick overview of the evidence we will explore in this book. Section 1 explores the sources we use to examine the historical Jesus, considering both biblical and extrabiblical sources. Section 2 seeks to discover who exactly Jesus of Nazareth was, looking at the claims he made about himself, as well as the claims his closest followers made about him. Section 3 considers the uniqueness of Jesus in comparison with other religious figures.

Section 4 examines a popular objection from the online community of skeptics, that Jesus is just a copycat of other dying and rising gods from the ancient Near East. Section 5 addresses the evidence that Jesus fulfilled prophecy, responds to some common objections, and discusses why prophecy matters.

Sections 6 and 7 examine the most important event of human history: the resurrection of Jesus. We will look at key historical facts such as the death, burial, and appearance stories of Jesus and consider whether any naturalistic hypotheses can account for these facts as well as for the resurrection. In section 7, we explore why the resurrection matters for both Christian theology and the practice of the Christian life. This book can be used for individual study, group study, or in a classroom. It is not written primarily for scholars, but rather for both believers and skeptics who want to begin a journey into the historical evidence for Jesus. If you want further study, we recommend you check out our more in-depth book, Evidence That Demands a Verdict.

Finally, we hope you will read, study, and share what you discover in this book with family, friends, neighbors, and those online. Are you ready? Let’s begin!