Jesus’ Resurrection
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Is Jesus’ resurrection an historical fact or is it merely pious fiction? Was that resurrection a physical event, or was it merely spiritual? Those are questions Christians have had to answer since the first century. Thirty years after Jesus’ bodily resurrection people within the Christian congregation in Corinth were denying the possibility of any bodily resurrection from the dead, including the resurrection of Jesus. Today it is not uncommon for Christians, including trained pastors and seminary professors, to deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus. How sad that two-thousand years after the fact, we still find it necessary to defend the historical truth of Jesus' resurrection!
There really should be no doubts in anyone’s mind that Jesus’ resurrection is an historical fact! As Paul points out there were many eyewitnesses to this fact. He mentions six: Jesus appeared personally after His resurrection to Cephas (Peter); to the twelve disciples; to over five hundred brethren in Galilee, the greater part of them still living when Paul wrote these words; to James; to all the apostles; and, finally, to Paul himself (1 Corinthians 15:5-8).
If Jesus were only seen by one person following His resurrection, we might have reason to doubt that person’s account. One person can be mistaken about what he believes he has seen or heard, but multiple eyewitness accounts verify something as being factual! That is why both Paul and the four evangelists of our new testament were all moved by the Spirit to record multiple eyewitness accounts. Our Savior God wants us to be certain that Jesus’ resurrection is an historical fact! He does not want us to doubt that Jesus now lives, that Jesus now rules, and that Jesus now saves! Without doubt Jesus arose from the dead! Hallelujah and Amen!
Jesus lives! To Him my heart draws with ever new delight.
Earthly vanities, depart, hinder not my heavenward flight.
Let this spirit ever rise to its Magnet in the skies. Amen.
The Lutheran Hymnal 188:5