The Resurrection

As Paul stood before King Agrippa and shared his faith in Christ, he said in Acts 26:26, “This thing was not done in a corner.” Those few words ring true for all defenders of their faith. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection weren’t meant to be “hidden under a bush — OH NO! In fact, every part of Jesus’ earthly ministry was available for inspection by anyone, anytime, anywhere.

In fact, centuries before Jesus set foot on the earth in human form, the prophets had already spoken of many things involving His life. Over 300 prophecies throughout the Old Testament point to Jesus as the Messiah. God did not try to “sneak” the Messiah into human affairs under the cover of darkness and without warning. Instead, God made it pretty clear for those who had “eyes to see, and ears to hear” who the Savior was and what He’d do.

But there are still many who doubt – much like Thomas (John 20:25). Although there may be many things that people would say they can’t believe in concerning Christ – His life, His death, His miracles – it’s His resurrection that becomes the ultimate proof of His Deity. (Read 1 Corinthians 15).

Throughout history, there have been many authors, ministers, even atheists that have acknowledged Jesus’ existence and even what the Bible “claims happened.” For example, in Matthew 28:12-13, the chief priests met with the elders and devised a plan. They gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’” Their story helps to confirm that they recognized something had happened; even though their story was a lie, it testified that His body was missing.

Plenty of other people helped confirm these facts throughout early history. Consider the written works of Justin Martyr, 165 A.D. in his book A Dialogue with Trypho, or Josephus’ history, and the many writings of several other non-Christian’s and followers, who acknowledged either Jesus or the uniqueness of his followers, from Eusebius (260 A.D.) to Pliny the Younger (112 A.D.) to name a few commonly referenced works.

The Apostles believed the claims about His resurrection enough to preach that they saw Him after He rose from the dead, and they were even willing to die for that claim! The fact that the Apostles never buckled under ridicule, torture, accusations, and execution should tell us something about their conviction. Just as Paul said to King Agrippa in Acts 26:8, “Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”