From the Pastor’s Study

Why should anyone care about Jesus of Nazareth?

He was born centuries ago, more than 2000 years. He died a criminal’s death at the hands of a Roman execution squad. Jesus was one among countless crucifixion victims in the ancient world.

What makes Jesus so special?

He rose from the dead.

On this He rested His own assertion of authority. Once, when He was questioned about this very point, He said: “Destroy this temple [here, Jesus was referring to His body] and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). At another time He said, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). No question, Jesus staked His claim to be Who He said He was (namely, the Lord – see Mark 11:3; John 13:13; also Mark 14:61-62) on the prediction that He would rise from the dead.

On the third day after His crucifixion, He rose.

This is one of the best-attested facts in all of ancient history. The New Testament includes the accounts of eyewitnesses (Matthew, John, Peter, Paul) who saw Jesus alive after He had died. Other biblical authors like Mark and Luke interviewed people who were there and had seen the risen Christ with their own eyes. The books of the New Testament were written relatively shortly after the resurrection of Jesus, and they have been preserved in an amazing number of copies down through the years. Anyone who doubts Christ’s resurrection, if consistent, would have to doubt pretty much all other knowledge about the ancient world, most of which is known on the basis of much less evidence than is available for the resurrection of Jesus.

Watergate conspirator Charles Colson became a Christian while serving his prison sentence during the 1970s. He said his own life experience taught him about conspiracies and how easily they break down. If Jesus’ disciples had mounted a conspiracy to hoax the world with a false claim that Jesus had risen, it would have fallen apart as soon as their lives were threatened for proclaiming a risen Christ. Yet the uniform testimony of the early church, even in the face of death, was that Jesus had risen from the dead.

It happened. Jesus rose. The facts of history can show you this much.

Only the Holy Spirit can give you faith that Jesus died in your place and rose to forgive you and bring you back to God your Creator. This is the Gospel message: not simply that a corpse became alive after death, but that the Man Who rose is none other than the One Who answered for all your sins. He lives to tell the tale, the Good News of salvation for those He bought with His own blood. He tells it to this day through His Church.