Witnesses of the Resurrection 2021 04 04
1 Corinthians 15:1 – 4
Today we celebrate the greatest day in the history of the world, the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, conquering sin, the devil, and even death on our behalf. We will let the scriptures speak for themselves, as we revisit some of the witnesses of that stunning event – the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was crucified for our sins, just as the prophets of old proclaimed, was buried, and rose again on the third day, again, just as the prophets of old proclaimed He would.
Jesus, Himself had said, only a few days before His death, that He would be killed at Jerusalem and raised again on the third day (Matthew 16:21).
Truly, the resurrection is the most amazing and important event in history for all mankind. It is also the most well-documented event in history. Many of the accepted “facts of history” are supported only by the slimmest of evidence, or the writings of a single man. Yet people, today, who would accept those accounts from the depths of time, still deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For them to prevail, they must be able to impeach a very great cloud of witnesses! Let’s take a look:
Matthew 28:1 – 7, – the witness of the angel of the Lord
Matthew 28:11 – 15, – the witness of the Roman watch
Mark 16:3, 4 – the stone was very great, too massive for the two Mary’s and Salome to move.
Mark 16:5 – 7, – the witness of the angel
Mark 16:9, 10 – the witness of Mary Magdalene
Luke 24:4 – 7, – the witness of the two angels
Luke 24:28 – 31, – the witness of Cleopas and his friend, who walked with Jesus without recognizing Him until He broke bread with them
Luke 24:36 – 44, – the witness of the risen Jesus Christ
John 20:24 – 28, – the witness of Thomas
1 Corinthians 15:1 – 8, the witness of multitudes
More than 500 witnesses saw Jesus Christ alive after He was crucified, dead, and buried. Many, if not all of them, were witnesses of the crucifixion. As Paul said just a few verses later in verse 12, an almost incredulous question, “Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead?”
Indeed, how could anyone make such a claim? How could anyone say there is no resurrection from the dead if Christ rose from the dead? And how could anyone claim that Christ, Himself, did not rise from the dead, with such a great cloud of witnesses to the fact that He did? Even Paul, a very great scholar in his day told his contemporaries they didn’t just have to take his word for it, because of the 500 brethren who saw Jesus alive just in the one instance in Galilee, most were still alive at the time of the writing of the letter, and anyone could go and ask them.
There is still hope in 2021, in spite of all the bad and gloomy news, because Jesus Christ, our Saviour is alive! Many may deny it, but they are denying it to their peril. The great weight of evidence, the hundreds of eye-witnesses that stand on the greatest truth of all time, far outweigh the impotent arguments made against the resurrection. Today, just as was true in the first century on that first Resurrection Morning, Jesus is alive!