Consider This!

There are a lot of teachers, philosophers, and religions in the world....How do you know what to believe?

Consider this: There were a lot of men in the 1st century who were absolutely convinced that Jesus was God in the flesh who came to save sinful men by taking the punishment on Himself that sinful men deserve (they were convinced to the point of being willing to suffer and die for it). "But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6). So they believed that Jesus was God and that whatever He said was truth.... Why? What convinced them?

While Jesus was on earth...He claimed about Himself "they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again." So He claimed that He was going to be the One who would die but then rise from the dead and live forever...As was prophesied many years before! So, did it happen? Is that what convinced these men of the 1st century that Jesus' teachings were truth? Consider these verses very carefully:

"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me." ---Mt 28:1-10


"Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand [here], and put [it] into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed [are] those who have not seen and [yet] have believed." And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. ---John 20:24-31

These are eyewitness accounts of Jesus rising from the dead! So then, why were these men so convinced that Jesus was who He said He was? Consider these verses very carefully (think!):

"Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection." --Acts 1:21-22

"This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses." --Acts 2:32

"But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses." --Acts 3:14-15

"they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead."
--Acts 4:2

"If we this day are judged for a good deed [done] to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole."
--Acts 4:9-10

"And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all." --Acts 4:33

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand [to be] Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and [so] also [is] the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him." --Acts 5:30-32

"And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, [even] to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God [to be] Judge of the living and the dead." --Acts 10:39-41

"And though they found no cause for death [in Him], they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took [Him] down from the tree and laid [Him] in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people.
--Acts 13:29-31

"Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas." --Acts 17:2-3

Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, "What does this babbler want to say?" Others said, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods," because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection."
--Acts 17:18

"he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead." --Acts 17:30-31

"The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. --Acts 22:14-15

"When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive." --Acts 25:18-19

"declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead" --Romans 1:4

"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, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time."
--1Cor 15:3-8

Consider the eyewitness accounts of Jesus' resurrection...there are many teachers, philosophers, and religions in the world... I believe the one who rose from the dead and left eyewitnesses of the event!

"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"