“Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19b).
A preacher in
Chilhowie, Virginia, was visiting a man who continually refused to go to
church. “All right,” the man finally said. “I’ll come to church Easter Sunday
if I’m alive.” But he didn’t show up. After the service, the preacher took a
lily from the Easter decorations, went to the man’s home, and knocked on the
door. When the man came to the door, the preacher held out the lily and said,
“Where’s the body?”
Where’s the body, is an
important question you and I have to determine the answer for ourselves. I’m not talking about your mother-in-law
(LOL), but about Jesus.
That question of
where’s the body is an easy one to answer if you are talking about Jesus’ body,
because it is not in the tomb. In Luke chapter 24, we find this Man named Jesus
who was dead, but He didn’t stay that way. This portion of the Easter narrative
really starts with His crucifixion, death, and burial with a large stone
covering His tomb, and soldiers guarding His body so that it would remain
there, in the grave.
Bright and early on
that first Easter morning, ladies went to the tomb to finish the embalming
process which was started on Friday afternoon. They came not looking for a
risen Savior; rather they came looking for a dead body. But when they got
there, they found something beyond all their expectations. They found that the stone had been rolled
away and the body was no longer there. Then two angels asked the ladies, “Why
do you look for the Living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen."
Verse 11 tells us these
ladies ran to tell the eleven disciples, but they refused to believe because
their words seemed like nonsense. This was the same picture for two men who
were walking to a village called Emmaus talking back and forth about what
happened. They were likewise perplexed over the way things had transpired over
the past few days. They had expected a Savior who was much different than what
Jesus ended up being. They were expecting a political Savior, someone to
deliver them from their earthly enemies. Thus, they wanted a military and
political type figure, not someone who came to save them from their sins.
Therefore, when Jesus died, they lost all hope. They didn't understand that
Jesus' death offered the greatest hope possible. However, their minds were made
up and spiritually their eyes were closed to the truth.
Throughout our society,
people are taught that the Bible is a bunch of fairy tales. That it is impossible for miracles to occur and
therefore, Jesus could not possibly have been raised from the dead. Only a child
would be that gullible to believe things like that.
Much of our society is
just like the two individuals on the road to Emmaus for verse 16 (NASB) says
that their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. These guys were so
preoccupied with their own thoughts that they couldn’t even tell who was
walking and talking with them.
They had seen His great
miracles and heard His teaching. Yet they still refused to open their eyes.
Their hearts were hardened to the truth. So then Jesus basically said, “Hey guys;
wake up. Look at what you’re saying has happened. Look at what the Old
Testament stated would happen to the Savior. And then finally after a long
period of time, their eyes were finally opened to who Jesus was.
This reminds me of
Genesis 2:21 which says that God put man into a deep sleep then He created
woman. The only problem is that Scripture never says that God woke the man back
up. :)
A person who has honest
doubts will do their homework to find out the truth. They will research the
topic from both sides before making a decision.
And quite frankly, I encourage you to do the same. Are you sure you know
who Jesus really is? I encourage you to openly and honestly examine what is
told about this and seek to determine what is true and accurate. This is the
most important decision which you will ever make. So do your homework.
Now when we examine the
evidence about Jesus what do we find? What evidence do we have about who Jesus
is in the passage we just examined?
Exhibit A we find is
the empty tomb. All four of the Gospels record this. The tomb is vacant.
Furthermore, if you look at what is recorded in Matthew 28:11-15, you will find
something very interesting. There we
learn the soldiers who were guarding the tomb reported to the chief priests
that it was indeed empty. And then when the chief priests found out, how did
they respond? They bribed the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples stole His
body while they were asleep. Question, if they were asleep, how did they know
who it was that took the body?
Furthermore, let’s
consider who these chief priests were that the guards were reporting to. These
guys were some of the most powerful people in the entire world at that time.
They had all the money, all the man power and all the abilities necessary to
conduct the world’s largest manhunt in human history. Think about this, all the
chief priests would have had to have done, is found Jesus’ body, displayed it
publically, and guess what, no more Christianity. It would be over.
Christianity would not exist today. Yet they never even attempted to find His
body. Why? Because they knew for a fact that Jesus did rise from the dead,
period. He is risen; He is risen indeed! That is exhibit A which a
person needs to consider when questioning who Jesus is. The tomb is empty
and there was no manhunt to find His body.
Exhibit B
is found back in Luke chapter 24, verses 25-27. There we learn about all the prophecies
pointing to who Jesus is. One resource which I found listed a meager 313
Old Testament prophecies concerning who this Messiah figure would be, and
all of them were perfectly fulfilled in One man named Jesus.
Exhibit C is eye
witness accounts. 1 Corinthians 15:6 tells us that Jesus appeared to more
than 500 people at one time. Now it is possible to fool 1 or 2 people, but not
500 all at the same time. Plus, He also appeared to various individuals over a
40 day period of time. It wasn’t just a onetime occurrence. Thus, exhibit C,
more eye witnesses than you can shake a stick at.
Exhibit D, transformed
lives. Some of the individuals whom Jesus appeared to were
adamantly opposed to Christianity. In fact Jesus’ own brother, James, didn’t
believe in Him at all prior to seeing his Brother resurrected. Yet, after
Jesus appeared to him, he became the leader of the Christian Church in
Jerusalem, plus he wrote the book in our Bibles named after himself.
Then we can also look
at the life of Saul from Tarsus. Saul persecuted Christians; in fact he was
responsible for the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Saul sought
out Christians to put them in prison and to kill them. Yet when Jesus
appears to him on the road to Damascus, his life was completely and totally
changed. And his name was changed from Saul to Paul. Maybe you’ve heard of
this guy named Apostle Paul before, the man who became the foremost evangelist
and missionary that we read about in much of the New Testament. So Exhibit D is
transformed lives.
Exhibit E is Biblical support.
Some say you can’t trust the Bible because it’s loaded with errors. Yet
the truth of the matter is that there are over 5,400 collaborating New
Testament manuscripts proving its authenticity. And there are 39 non-Christian
ancient sources documenting the life of Jesus, listing more than 100 reported
facts concerning Jesus’ life, teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection. Think about that, even non-believing historians support what the New
Testament says. Thus, God’s Word is reliable, period.
Therefore,
I encourage you to examine the evidence with an open mind, allowing the
evidence to direct what you believe. And for me,
the evidence speaks for itself, Jesus Christ did in fact rise from the dead and
He is alive this morning. He is risen; He is risen indeed! He is
uncontainable! He is unstoppable! He is the undefeated Savior of the world.
So what
difference does it make that Jesus is exactly who He says He is? It means
everything! He is the Savior of our past. Sin is a disease beyond human cure.
It is incurable like AIDS
today but much worse. It’s a cancer which we cannot cure by ourselves. And it’s
something which all of us have. Scripture says that all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. This disease known as sin will eventually bring
death. But, because of what happened some 2,000 years ago, as Jesus took the
punishment which you and I both deserve on the cross and rose from the dead, we
can have assurance of our salvation. We can be guaranteed that our sins are
washed away. As far as the east is from the west, so far can He remove all our
sin and shame.
He can save you from your present, giving you purpose and direction in life. And He can save you for eternity giving you a hope that stretches beyond the grave. Just like Jesus Himself said, “Because I live, you also will live.” Therefore, I encourage you to experience Jesus, the uncontainable, unstoppable and undefeated Savior of the world.
In
His service,
Matt
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