Is the Resurrection Reasonable?

Although historical occurrences in the first century cannot be proven beyond any doubt, there is a great body of evidence to validate the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection was not an afterthought of God the Father or Jesus the Son. It is not only true that such great patriarchs and prophets as Job and David firmly believed in and clearly enunciated the truth of a bodily resurrection, but Peter in his sermon on Pentecost solemnly affirms that the God-head in pre-determinate counsel intricately planned the scenario. (Acts 2:23-27)

Jesus on a number of occasions clearly and graphically foretold His own resurrection. When the extent of the precautions taken by both the friends and enemies of Jesus to ensure His body could not be stolen from the tomb are considered, the resurrection is the most logical explanation for the empty tomb. To advocate such a deceitful plot could have been successfully planned and executed is unrealistic. The manipulation, timing and intricate detail involved would have entailed a logistical nightmare. The successful direction and control of the dozens of people necessarily involved in such a continuing cover-up defies common sense.

The appearances of Jesus in a resurrected body is an irrefutable evidence of the resurrection. His appearances to his disciples over the following forty days follow this approximate chronological order: Certain women returning from the tomb, Mary Magdalene at the tomb, Peter before the evening meal, all eleven apostles a week later, a number of disciples while fishing on Galilee, the apostles and over five hundred others upon a mountain, James, and last of all the apostles before His ascension. If the resurrection did not occur, is it reasonable the Four Gospels, the Book of Acts, and the First Corinthian letter, all giving these appearances as historical and indisputable fact, would be written and published within the lifetime of many of the witnesses mentioned, without a record of even one dissenting voice being raised?

The dramatic life-change of the disciples is convincing evidence of the authenticity of the resurrection story. They had seen Jesus cruelly crucified and had fled and gone into hiding in fear for their lives. Then Peter who had cursed and denied Christ three times, after the resurrection stood up and fearlessly preached Christ crucified to many of the same mob that had made him cringe in terror. The same disciples that had gone into hiding in an upper room for fear of the Jews, went out in the power of the Holy Spirit to turn the world upside down, after meeting and talking with the resurrected Christ. Many courageously and joyously died the most horrendous deaths for the sake of the gospel.

These transformations took place even though the disciples were evidently not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. How   could self-deluded or deceitful men maintain such dedication to a false cause in the face of such fierce persecution? Who can possibly suggest a rational reason for their fabrication of such a story, and then their subsequent absolute dedication to Christ? Only unreasoning and unreasonable men would reject the evidence God has given confirming the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Old Testament Origins Of The Resurrection

It is sometimes thought that the Christian doctrine of the resurrection finds its genesis in the historical New Testament fact of the resurrection of Jesus. Although this teaching, the central truth of the gospel and Christianity, finds its concrete fulfilment in the cry of the angel, ''He is risen," on that resurrection morning. its origins are deeply rooted in the oldest book in the Bible.
It was Job, in the oldest book in the Bible, who first placed into Biblical print that question of all questions about man's mortality or immortality when he rhetorically cried, "If a man die, shall he live again?" (Job 14:14) Then. after speculating on the fact that even a tree has a hope of a new life when a sprout springs from its stump, he goes on to resoundingly answer his own question when he affirms, "I know my redeemer liveth. and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth .. and though my body be destroyed .. yet in my flesh shall I see God.". (Job 19:25-26)
Man's quest for such immortality permeates all history and transcends all cultures. The pharaoh's were buried in preparation for the possibility of an after-life. So were the nobility and religious elite of many other cultures on every continent. The search for immortality prompted the Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, to explore what is now the state of Florida, searching for a reputed fountain of youth. Of course, he did not find it, but came to the end of his mortal life at the point of an Indian's arrow
Charlatans and con-artists throughout the centuries have taken advantage of man's ceaseless search for an answer to the riddle of immortality.  The ancient alchemists, with their fraudulent formulas and elixirs of life, give testimony to the absurdity of some aspects of that endless quest.

Even today we see .continuing manifestations of such sad seeking. The New Age movement, which is nothing more than a revival of certain aspects of Hinduism and ancient Eastern mystic religions, plays upon man's innate spiritual hunger and thirst for spiritual immortality. Re-incarnation, spiritism, channelling and the like, are all based upon a certain presumption of the possibility of individual renewal or resurrection of life.
But for Christians the matter is settled once and for all in the gospel record of Christ's victory over death, hell and the grave that wonderful resurrection morning. It is surely as the apostle Paul once said, "If Christ is not risen, we are of all men most miserable" The risen Christ is the Christian's blessed hope. When man faces death, the common denominator of all mankind, what other hope would suffice? The Christian's quest joyously ends at that empty tomb where an angel once cried, "He is not here, He is risen!" Pastor John White
The Blessed Hope

There rests within the breast, Of those who wait for Him,
A fervent, burning, hope for rest, From sin in every limb,
Longing ever to be free, From the prison of this flesh,
By faith the empty tomb we see, And our hearts are filled with bliss.
And echoing as we pause and listen, The angel's cry, "He is risen!"

The Cross Of Christ

On the south coast of China, high on a hill that overlooks the harbor of Macao, the Portuguese settlers of that colony erected a massive cathedral. But one of the powerful typhoons that regularly wreck havoc with the works of mans hands, virtually destroyed this impressive edifice. For many years the building lay in ruins. Only the front wall stubbornly remained. As the years passed, high atop that jutting wall a large bronze cross pierced the sky, as if defying the elements.

Sir John Bowring, a onetime governor of Hong Kong, was a gifted naturalist, statesman, political economist and linguist who could speak and write in thirteen different languages and dialects. One day, while looking over this area, he spotted this cross standing high above the ruins of the wall, like a lonely sentinel, with its silhouette thrusting high into the sky. The sight so moved him that he penned the powerful words of the beautiful grand old hymn:

“In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time, All the light of sacred story, Gathers ’round its head sublime. When the woes of life o’er-take me, Hopes deceive, and fears annoy, Never shall the cross forsake me; Lo! it glows with peace and joy. When the sun of bliss is beaming, Light and love upon my way, From the cross the radiance streaming, Adds more lustre to the day. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure, By the cross are sanctified, Peace is there that knows no measure, Joys that through all time abide.”

The thought and truth of this old hymn is just as apt today. For thrusting out of the midst of the turmoil and violence of today’s suffering world, stands the Cross of Christ. There is no greater symbol. It symbolizes His ultimate triumph. The triumph of love over hate. The victory of forgiveness over judgment. The triumph of hope over despair and life over death! But more than anything else, it stands for the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all our sins. All around the world Christians gather in awe and reverence to consider the real meaning of the of their Savior upon that Cross and the eternal significance of the blood He shed there. Choirs and congregations lift their voices in many different languages and dialects and sing,

“When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride.”