Once a man told his family he was dead! They called his doctor. The man heard his heart, felt his pulse…nothing worked. Exasperated, the doctor asked what would it take? The man said dead men don’t bleed. The doctor quickly stuck a pin in the man’s finger. Looking at his finger, the man exclaimed, “what do you know, dead men do bleed!”
When an individual has settled on an answer, based on an assumption, they will be committed to that assumption. So it is with the resurrection. Most do not believe it could happen, because they assume it could not happen!
Our world, at this moment, is filled with thoughts of sickness and death, understandably. What makes it so terrible is that so many believe that death is final, no hope beyond that point.
If the resurrection is true, life does exist after this mortal body dies. Consider the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You will say, but that will require “faith.” True, so will every other explanation of what happens after death, no matter if your religious or an atheist.
Mohammed died and thousands of people visit his tomb every year to mourn his death. Those that know Christ go to a tomb that is empty and celebrate His resurrection every day.
The first evidence for the resurrection is the testimony of Scripture!
1 Cor. 15:3-4 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,
Ah! But prove the resurrection scientifically, you say! That can’t be done, neither can dinosaurs, WW2 or Abraham Lincoln be proved scientifically! Scientific proof is based on repeatable data. I can scientifically prove that a bar of soap floats if I drop it in a bucket 100 times and it floats each time, I have just proved it.
You cannot repeat Dinosaurs, (Jurassic Park NOT!) WW2, or Lincoln. These things are proved through historical records. Fossils, pictures, and testimony.
Compared to other documents in the world, Scripture's historicity is unchallenged. Consider a small sample:
Work of Antiquity Surviving Manuscripts
o Pliny the Younger (History) 7
o Plato (Tetralogies) 7
o Caesar (Gallic Wars) 10
o Aristotle 49
o Homer (Iliad) 643
o New Testament 24,633
Also Proximity to when the original was written and the closet Manuscript.
Pliny - 750 yrs, Caesar – 1000 yrs, Plato -1,200 yrs and Homer 500 yrs.
The New Testament – Matthew – Co-existent, John – 40 yrs, N.T. 150 yrs, Bible 275 yrs.
Lastly, would be the authority of fulfilled prophecy. There are 60 Prophecies made about Christ 1000-500 years before he was born. Skeptics use to claim these were written after Christ lived and died, but the Dead Sea scrolls disprove that. They were written 300-100 yrs before Christ was born and contain these prophecies.
Consider what happened in Luke 24:13-27…especially what Jesus stated in vs. 27
The evidence of authority and reliability of the Scriptures is unmatched compared to other historical documents taught in most universities and treated as truth.
The So What: What is your evidence of what happens to us after death? If you believe other history based on documental strength, how should the overwhelming evidence of the Scriptures affect you? If Jesus did rise, and promises to raise you if you believe in Him, no matter what happens on this side of the grave compares to the eternity that awaits you!
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