Jesus Is the Present Fact – 2 Timothy 2:16-17

Across the world, people celebrate Easter and many celebrate without necessarily believing history. To them, the death and resurrection of Jesus might be a story or legend of the Christian faith. However, Jesus did exist in history, and this truth is acknowledged by Christians and secular scholars. Not only did the Lord Jesus exist, but His life was abundant, full of miracles and signs (John 11:39, 43-44). The life of Jesus is historical fact, which also means that He is currently living, He is Lord and He is with you (Mt 28:18-20)

Jesus Really Died and Rose Again
We know that Jesus really died based on the support of various arguments. First, the Bible says so, and the Bible is God’s inspired and inerrant word. There is no higher authority of truth then the Holy Scriptures. When it comes to archaeological and historical events, the Bible has been repeatedly been found accurate after many accusations. Also, the Bible is not embarrassed of the truth, meaning it does edit or massage the truth. For example, it was the woman Mary who found the risen Jesus first and received credit, and not one of the male disciples.

Also, from the description of the events surrounding Jesus death, we can be assured that Jesus died fully but also quickly. He was flogged, beaten, crucified and then stabbed with a spear. The physical punishment was brutal at the hands of professional soldiers. To claim that Jesus did not die would go against the evidence.

False Theories
Still, there were many false theories slandering the Biblical account of Jesus death and resurrection (Mt  28:11-15) and are still some today.

• Jesus was just unconscious – no man could survive the suffering of Christ and many people affirmed Jesus’ death
• The disciples hallucinated – there were over 500 witnesses over the period of a month. They could not all have the same hallucination
• They went to the wrong tomb  – Mary saw where they laid His body, and if it was the wrong tomb, the priests would have just pointed out the correct tomb with the dead body.

Evidence of Jesus’ Resurrection
In contrast to the false theories, there is staunch evidence that shows that Jesus actually resurrected 2000 years ago. The first is that the disciples were loyal and faithful to the end. All the apostles and many other disciples were persecuted and martyred for the sake of Christ. There is no way they could have remained consistent and true unless they had witnessed the risen Jesus. Even a group of the most powerful and intellectual men could not keep corroborate a secret in the Watergate scandal for a week. A group of fisherman, who had run away in fear before Jesus died, remained faithful in all circumstances. They couldn’t deny what they had saw first hand and experienced every day in the love of Christ.

Secondly, the early Christians, who were religious Jews, changed their day of worship from Sabbath to Sunday. The reason for this change is because Mary found Jesus on Sunday. In Acts, we see Peter continually resist eating the unclean meat because of his Jewish custom. Only the powerful truth of the resurrection could have changed their day of worship.

There were also many trustworthy eyewitnesses to the risen Jesus. These men, like James (Jesus brother) or Thomas or Paul (who was formerly Saul), who either doubted or disliked Jesus, testified to His resurrection and His Lordship (1 Cor 15:7, James 1:1). These life-changing testimonies along  with 500 witnesses confirm the fact of Jesus and His resurrection

Application
It is undeniable fact that Jesus lived, died, rose again and is living today. Have you met the risen Jesus? In other words, are you truly Christian and follow Him? Or Do you still stand condemned and judged? (2 Peter 2:1-4). The resurrection matters and is life changing. We cannot remain unchanged and living as we used to, in our sin, if Jesus is alive.

Many false teacher will try to either deny or minimize the resurrection. They say it’s either made up or its in the past, like Hymaneus did. The resurrection is the essential part of the gospel and it is of first importance (1 Cor 15:3-4). We cannot afford to only focus on the cross, His death and sacrifice and neglect His Lordship and victory. Jesus is the risen Lord, and in the resurrection we receive joy and strength. Our hope lies in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a hope that overcomes death itself.