You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#68 King Jesus of Nazareth
King Jesus God, Myth, or Mere Man? (11)
Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? (4)
The Apostles Conviction: The Greatest Evidence of
Jesus Resurrection
by Jim Mettenbrink
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Many people willingly die for what
they believe even if it is not proven to be truth. For
example: Mohammed claimed that the Koran was revealed to
him by God, even though there is no internal or external evidence
or miracles recorded, nor eyewitnesses, substantiating the revelation
of the Koran absolutely nothing confirming what Mohammed
said came from God! (A somber and thought provoking contrast
to Biblical claims!)
Although the Koran is contradictory
to the Bible and contains much internal evidence that the Koran
did not come from God, Muslims believe its teachings and are
willing to die for them in holy wars. They willingly but
unknowingly die for that which can not be proven to be truth.
However, no one in his right mind willingly and knowingly
dies for that which is known to be unproven as truth. According
to church history, 11 of Jesus apostles died because they believed
Jesus was God. Did they willingly and knowingly die for
something that was untrue?
The greatest evidence of Jesus
resurrection is the apostles themselves. The apostles claimed
to be eye witnesses of the resurrected Jesus (Acts 2:32). The
12 apostles had nothing to gain and everything to lose in this
world by teaching that Jesus rose from the dead. They were
willing to be ostracized, beaten, imprisoned, and put to death
for their teaching that Jesus rose from the dead (Acts 5:40;7:59-8:1;
2 Corinthians 11:23-27). Some 15-20 years after Paul briefly
recounted the persecution of being a Christian evangelist, Are they servants of
Christ? I am a better one I am talking like a madman
with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with
countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I
received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned.
Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day
I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from
rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger
from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness,
danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and
hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst,
often without food, in cold and exposure.
( 2 Cor 11:23-27).
If the claim of Jesus resurrection
was a lie concocted by a conspiracy of 12 men, we are left with
the question. Why? Were they mad men? Did they
willingly and knowingly die for a lie, a lie that they themselves
had invented?
Further, conspiracies, even among
a small number of people are eventually discovered. The
truth is that the apostles eye witness testimony, that
they so fervently believed and boldly proclaimed, even in the
threat of death, is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and
that He is who He claims to be the resurrected Son of
God, our Lord and Savior. The only reasonable conclusion
regarding the apostles actions is that they saw the resurrected
Jesus of Nazareth. Their ultimate sacrifice (dying as martyrs
for their faith) was because they knew what they taught was absolutely
and unalterably true. Jesus had risen from the grave!
Lawyers have examined the testimony
given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John from the perspective
Does the testimony satisfy the Law of Evidence?
They concluded that the testimony is valid that
Jesus was a real person in history, that He died on a cross during
the governorship of Pontius Pilate in Judea, while Tiberius was
the Roman Caesar, and that Jesus rose from the dead. Any
person who honestly considers the evidence and is honest with
Himself, must conclude that Jesus is who He claimed to be
the Son of God, the Savior of all who would follow Him according
to the New Testament.
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