But if the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ -
fact or fantasy?
Analysis of an historical force.

But now, since Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, He has become the first of multiplied millions who will come back to life again, just like He has!  1 Corinthians 15: 20
So, what is the right view of the resurrection?

Ladies and gentlemen, come travel back with me through the corridors of time, over nineteen centuries ago, to an obscure corner of the Roman Empire.

There lived one whom, to any casual observer, must have seemed to be a most remarkable man. Until about the age of 30, he lived in an obscure village in the midst of a humble family. Then, he started out on a most remarkable course of ethical and religious teachings and miracles.

His fame quickly spread like wild fire across the land as the increasing popularity of this new Rabbi drew throngs from every corner of Palestine.

And as the Jewish people accepted Jesus with increasing fervor, the religious authorities feared losing their influence and positions of power over the people.

Flavius Josephus, a noted first century Jewish historian, of great nobility and dignity among both the Jews and Romans, writes a lot about Jesus, The Christ in his writings `Antiquities’.

In time, Jesus was handed over to the Romans to be crucified on a cross as a common criminal among thieves.

His disciples were very discouraged, disappointed, dejected, disheartened and fearful at this surprising turn of events. They quickly went into hiding fearing the authorities would come looking for them.

"That’s the end of this Jesus, this popular Rabbi from Nazareth;" so the authorities thought.

But then an astonishing thing happened - This the authorities could never have anticipated.. These same despairing, hopelessly discouraged men who had fled into hiding, suddenly began in Jerusalem, a few weeks after, the most remarkable movement the world has ever seen. They began to proclaim with the greatest of passion and enthusiasm that "Jesus is ALIVE: Jesus, The Christ, is risen from the dead". Their teaching soon leapt over the national boundaries of Jewish culture and spread like a prairie wild fire to all the great cities of the Roman Empire.

What was the cause for this amazing change?

Historians of today are perfectly agreed that something very decisive and drastic must have happened after the death of Jesus to bring about this new movement.

Growing numbers of people went everywhere, all over Palestine and throughout the Roman Empire, proclaiming with the greatest intensity: " Jesus has risen from the dead!"

A case of dead man walking?

"Jesus is LORD: not Caesar!" And they would not be denied. These people spoke with such contagious JOY and unquenchable enthusiasm that not even the threat of death itself could stop them. Moreover, more than 500 persons claimed they saw Jesus and spoke with Him for extended periods of time.

The Jewish historian, Josephus, further reports that Jesus was an eminent Person, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him a man; a doer of miracles and teacher of the truth. Then, when by envy of principal men he was crucified, He appeared again the third day, as He had foretold. The miracle of the resurrection.

Soon hundreds swelled to thousands, and the more they were persecuted and killed for their belief, the more they multiplied like rabbits all over the Empire; until within three centuries, the boasted mighty Roman Empire was conquered by `the Jesus Phenomenon.’

Modern skepticism has proposed several theories to deal with the Jesus phenomenon; two of which time contraints will permit me to share.

One proposal was that the `resurrection’ belief was produced by hallucinations.

A hallucination, a phenomenon well known to students of pathology, is a condition where the optic nerve is affected and the patient therefore does actually, in one sense, `see’ someone or something. So the hypothesis claims that the resurrection faith of these people was really based upon the pathological experiences in which all these people thought they saw Jesus when there was nothing in the external world to verify their supposed perceptions. Over 500 persons had affected optical nerves? That is stretching credulity to the point of absurdity.

One of the more popular theories is that of the empty tomb.

The skeptics claim the disciples stole the body of Jesus while the soldiers slept.

You see, the Jewish authorities had advised the Romans that Jesus predicted that after He was killed, He would rise again in three days. So in order to avoid someone stealing the body and pulling off a resurrection hoax the Romans wisely took precautions. They rolled a stone in front of the tomb’s entrance; sealed it; and stationed those fearsome Roman guards on duty.

But in spite of all these precautions, on the third day, the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty; and the skeptics were puzzled.

They said that the disciples stole away Jesus’ body. How ridiculous! Would people suffer and die for something they knew in their hearts wasn’t true? Would you die for a lie you knew was a lie? I won’t.

All the power of Rome and the religious establishment was ready to stop the `Jesus phenomenon’. All they had to do was to present the corpse and it would have been all over, but they didn’t – or was it because they couldn’t?

C.S. Lewis, a noted intellectual, once a Cambridge professor and a dedicated agnostic in his own right, declares: A man who was merely a man and made the claims of Jesus would not be a great moral teacher. He’d be a lunatic – or God himself. Jesus claimed divinity. He was God incarnate, in a way which no man has ever been. And the resurrection is the indisputable proof that His claims were proven true.

Second century historians such as Tacitus, (55 – 118AD), Pliny the younger, and Seutonius, all provide external evidences to the accuracy of `the Jesus phenomenon.’

Yes, He whose birth changed the reckoning of time from BC to AD; the resurrection of Jesus Christ, still confounds the critics today.

Indeed, the world has had its great men, its so-called messiah and religious figures; but both friends and foes admit that this JESUS stands singularly unique in the annals of human history. ~ The Jesus Phenomenon. ~

Indeed, to this day, there are multiplied millions around the globe who still claim with the greatest of fervor and passion that Jesus Christ is ALIVE". And they testify of their enduring love for God, and the amazing CHANGE He has made in their lives, since Jesus came into their lives. These people testify to the miracles of lives changed for the best; the reality of having a close and wonderful relationship with a personal God; the JOY of sins forgiven; the reality of answered prayer and the HOPE of eternal life with their personal Lord and Master Jesus Christ. These are all certainties, which enable us to lives such abundant, rich and fulfilling lives today. –All because of Jesus Christ and God’s wondrous `Amazing GRACE.’

Friend, what do you intend to do about ` Jesus Christ ’? - God is not willing that anyone should perish, but that you may come to repentance. God LOVES you.