Evidence of the Resurrection
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what separates Christianity from all other religions and philosophies. Obviously His resurrection is well documented in the pages of Scripture, but that is not the only place it is documented.
The first century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, recorded in his Testimonium Flavianum, “He appeared to them spending a third day restored to life, for the prophets of God had foretold these things…”
Over the years, critical theologians claimed that Christians changed the historical record and added that phrase.
But the problem is, no copy has ever been found that did not contain that phrase.
All in all, ten copies of Josephus’ Testimonium Flavianum have been discovered, and all ten contain exactly the same phrase.
Jesus was raised on the third day and appeared to His disciples.
But the greatest evidence comes clearly in 1 Corinthians.
There Paul records something inarguable.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep;”
(1 Corinthians 15:3-6, NAS95).
Here is the recorded testimony of the Apostle Paul that there were over 500 eye-witnesses that saw Jesus after He was raised from the dead.
Then he goes on to say most of those folks are still alive today for you to talk to and verify their claims. As he says, they “remain until now.”
There have been attempts over the years to dismantle the “myth” of the resurrection of Jesus.
One of the most notable was in 1747 when two English lawyers set about the task to prove it was all made up.
They were convinced that they could upend Christianity all together by disproving the resurrection.
After a year of thorough investigation, both men independently concluded that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ was overwhelming.
In fact, they wrote a book about it in 1747 entitled “Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Another significant test came in 1846 when one of the founders of Harvard Law School, Simon Greenleaf, took up the task of tearing down the claims of the resurrection.
He concluded that under any unbiased court of law, the consistency of the witnesses and their willingness to die for their claims would result in a verdict that the resurrection did in fact take place.
The resurrection is a reality, and it forces every man born to do something with it.
Even though many turn a blind eye to truth in the modern day, you cannot deny physical realities.
Just because someone does not believe the sun exists does not change the fact that it rises in the east each morning and sets in the west each evening.
And just because someone does not believe that Jesus rose from the dead does not change the biblical historical record that Jesus, the Eternal Son of God became flesh, died on a cross for our sins, and was raised from the dead.
That same Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father, has been crowned King and Lord over all and will one day come and judge all mankind.
Thankfully though, through faith alone in who He is and what He has done results in eternal joy.
As Paul says, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”
(1 Corinthians 15:3-4, NAS95). That is God’s good news for us.
