Special Edition Monthly, News for Greenfield and Hancock County Indiana
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| Written by Tracy Gray | |||||
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The Apostle Paul emphasized the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in this way: Strong words. All the stronger when you realize the Apostle Paul’s story...who was he? How did he come to be one of the greatest if not the greatest witness for Christ who ever lived? His story has a direct relationship to the historical validity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as I hope you’ll see. But first... If you were God, how would you go about convincing a skeptical world that Jesus had risen from the dead and that the message of Christianity was true? Would you write something in the sky? Would you appear to everyone individually? Would you speak in a thunderous voice so that all could hear? What would you do? God’s ways are not our ways...thankfully. God chose a different method to reveal His message to the world and to convince that world that His message is true. As you can see from the words of the Apostle Paul above, the resurrection of Jesus is the very heart of Christianity. The truth of Christianity hangs upon the resurrection. Paul acknowledged the fact...so do we. This is one of the reasons (I believe) for the incessant drive by fringe historians in our day to try to shed doubt on the fact of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection (think: DaVinci Code again). Seemingly, the world’s hatred for Christianity has reached a level where anything (no matter how far reaching) will be pulled out to try and disprove the Bible’s account of Jesus’ life. What better way to get rid of these pesky Christians than to disprove the resurrection story and watch the whole of Christianity come crashing down. Trouble is... It’s not that easy. The resurrection of Jesus (and thus Christianity) doesn’t go away that easy. It will take more than the tactless, tasteless (and may I say baseless) ranting of a Bill Maher on late night TV to dispel the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Mr. Maher relies solely on his popularity among his liberal followers for the weight of his words. The Bible rests upon historical fact. You decide which is more credible. No. Though not meant to be merely an intellectual book, The Anvil of God’s Word is too intellectually challenging to be dismissed in such a haphazard and frivolous arena as late-night-talk-TV. Sure, for the intellectually lazy, the idea of a man claiming to be God in human flesh, being crucified, then rising from the dead does, to the natural mind, seem a bit incredible. But, as I’ve said, dig through the facts and you’ll find that the resurrection of Jesus Christ – the hinge-pin of Christianity – isn’t that easy to dismiss as fairy tale. Take one good, honest, and heart-felt read of the book of John in the New Testament and I think you’ll agree that you are nowhere near Alice’s Wonderland. As we discussed last month, we have an empty tomb outside of Jerusalem. An honest look at the evidence points to the fact that Jesus did, in fact, die on that bitter cross on Golgotha outside the city. The Bible’s authors, eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus, claimed that Jesus was raised from the dead following His crucifixion. And, as we looked at last time, these eyewitnesses all went to their deaths proclaiming that Jesus had risen. The Apostle Paul is an anomaly among the other Apostles. Following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the original Apostles now turned fearless by a risen Savior, hit the streets proclaiming that they had seen Jesus alive. They had seen Him, eaten with Him, and listened to Him again teach them. Before the resurrection they cowered behind closed doors fearing that the Jews would come for them next. But, now, something had changed. They hit the streets with a boldness no one had ever seen and they had never experienced – proclaiming that Jesus was alive. As these early witnesses of Christ took their message to Jerusalem, they encountered a staunch enemy. At the time, Paul’s name was Saul and he was the most popular Jewish Pharisee of his day. His most distinguishing characteristic was his hatred for Christians (the world today should pay special to him). He seems to have made it his life’s goal to stamp out this new “Jesus” movement by hunting down, arresting, and persecuting Christians. He felt he was doing God’s work by doing so. He (as all Jews believed at the time) believed that to worship Jesus as the divine son of Yahweh was blasphemy. But one day, something happened.... On the road to Damascus in Syria, on his way to hunt down Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment, Saul was suddenly met by the risen Lord Jesus. Jesus appeared to him in brilliant light – so bright that he was struck blind for three days. Jesus told a man in the city, Ananias, to go pray for Saul in order to heal his blindness. Ananias was skeptical. He had heard of this Saul: “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” Acts 9:13-14 Jesus answered him: “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Acts 9:15-16 Just like that, Jesus took a man with vehement hatred for Christians (a sort of Bill Maher of that day) and made him His tireless evangelist. As I said, God’s ways are not our ways. God’s way of testifying to the truth of the resurrection of Jesus and the truth of the message of Christianity was not just to go to painstaking detail in orchestrating the events of the crucifixion and burial; not just to see that guards were placed outside of a sealed tomb; not just to let the world see Jesus’ friends go to their torturous deaths proclaiming that He’d risen; but to take Jesus’ greatest enemy and transform him, convince him, appoint him, and then send him to testify to the world of what he had seen. Later, Paul came to understand the deeper significance behind his dramatic conversion to Christianity – the movement he tried to destroy: “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” 1 Tim. 1:12-14 Note what he says next – this from the man who tried to stamp out every mention of the name of Jesus: “Herein is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” 1 Tim 1:15-16 Translation? If God can save Paul, the worst enemy Christianity has ever known, who can He not save? Believe it or not, this article is about the resurrection of Jesus. What else accounts for the dramatic change from a Saul – hater of Christians; to a Paul – the greatest witness for Jesus. I have mentioned men such as Josh McDowell and William Albright (there are many) who set out to disprove Christianity and ended up – because of the empirical evidence – becoming believers. Now consider this: 2/3 of your New Testament was written by the greatest enemy Christianity has ever known. How? The resurrection of Jesus Christ... Dissing Christianity on late-night TV? Bill...buddy... You’re way out of your league. | |||||
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