JESUS ALIVE! Multiple Eyewitnesses, Multiple Occasions, Over Forty Day Period Eyewitness testimony has established that Jesus Christ has been raised to life three days after his execution by crucifixion. The teacher, who had performed acts of healing and taught multitudes of people was highly popular with the crowds. He was, however, resented by the establishment and the educated elite. Inside observers noted that he had been handed over to the occupying government for execution and that tremendous political pressure was brought to bear on Pilate to order him put to death. Initially, his followers fled the scene and deserted their leader. However, in multiple appearances after his death, multiple eyewitnesses in various combinations of people, in nu-
merous settings—even numbering as high as 500 people at one time—have reported seeing him and actually having conversations with him. These post-resurrection encounters took place over a 40-day period involving multiple people who had previously known Jesus. Though they had known him, they were not predisposed to believe that the formerly dead man would now be alive. In fact, they were reported to have hidden themselves behind locked doors, seeking to avoid authorities. Following these events, the leaders of the movement found a new boldness and were seen in Jerusalem publically bearing witness to the resurrection.
Actual tomb from the first century period in the region of Galilee in northern Israel. Reports are that Jesus was buried in a similar tomb with a similar stone entrance. — File photo.
Can The Witnesses Be Trusted?
Historic Teaching of The Entire Church
Determining whether a recorded event actually occurred is not determined in a forensic laboratory. It is established by the credibility of the witnesses. The resurrection has quite a number of witnesses with a different nature about them. For example, the witnesses describe conversations that occurred in multiple settings and over multiple occasions — nothing like, for example, a brief bigfoot sighting. No one would die for a lie, yet every Apostle (all but one martyred), died sticking to their stories. Many who have examined the evidence have found it persuasive. Simon Greenleaf, Harvard law professor in the 1800’s, applied the laws of evidence to the resurrection and the author of the 3-volume textbook on the laws of evidence, was perfectly comfortable writing a book on the subject: “The Testimony of the Evangelists.” Albert Henry Ross was a freelance writer in England who wrote under the pen name, Frank Morrison. He had studied the life of Christ and wanted to write a book about his final days without the trappings of the su-
In recent years, some have criticized the Christian faith on the basis that there are “So many different denominations.” However, when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there has historically been a unified expression of the belief in this event. Here are some examples:
Jerusalem. City where these events took place — File photo.
pernatural. However, his research led him to conclude that the resurrection had actually occurred. His title changed from “Jesus, the Last Phase”
to “Who Moved the Stone?” The opening chapter is entitled, “The Book that Refused to be Written.”
ANALYSIS: What Do These Events Mean? If Jesus really rose from the dead, it is the biggest event in the history of the world! It would clarify the identity of the person of Jesus Christ. If alive, then his claims about his divine Personhood are true. Romans 1:4 explains, Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power… by the resurrection from the dead.” An actual resurrection would mean that Jesus is exalted to the highest place of authority in the entire universe—that he possesses “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew
28:18) —and we had better respect it! The resurrection means Christ’s death has meaning, that the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross has been accepted and our debt is paid. The physical resurrection of Jesus has a spiritual impact within believers. “He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3, HCSB). The resurrection would mean that death is not the end and that those who know Christ possess eternal life. This is the biggest event in history!
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. — The Apostles Creed He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. — Baptist Faith & Message Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man's nature… — Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church On the third day he arose from the dead with the same body in which he suffered...— Westminster Confession, Presbyterians and Reformed
Is This Real News? This is a paid ad and not the reporting of the Tallassee Tribune. However, this is not only real news, it is also good news! The New Testament teaches the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, not as a figure of speech, but as a literal event. Here is First Corinthians 15:3-7: For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: 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, then to the Twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time...
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