Jesus Christ: He's Not Dead, and I Can't Get Over It!

If you read anything on this website, you know that I go out on street corners with some witnessing crosses, and a "Free Bibles" sign, as a way to minister here in my small community of Marshalltown, Iowa. Over the last couple of years, I'll occasionally get someone driving by and yelling out of their car window, "He's dead - get over it!!!" I call them "drive-byes" because they never stop to have a conversation, but oh well. They do make an interesting point, though, one that the Apostle Paul discusses in his first letter to the church at Corinth: that is, the Christian faith that we believe and preach rests upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

If there was no resurrection, Christianity is false, and we have no hope.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20  

"Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept."

The historical evidence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has been challenged for around 2000 years, and is still compelling. This resurrection is a declaration of who Jesus really is, and is also God's guarantee that some day in the future, all men will be judged in absolute righteousness, by this same Jesus Christ. Read on....

In the introduction to Paul's letter to the church in Rome, the Apostle says that Jesus' resurrection from the dead is a powerful declaration of who he truly is: the Son of God.

 Romans 1:1-4 

"Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:"

Finally, in the Acts of the Apostles, when Paul is preaching to the men of Athens, he again brings up the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In presenting the true God, he calls attention to the fact that God commands all men everywhere to repent: to change their minds and turn from worshiping false gods to the one true God. Why?Because there is a day coming, yet future, in which God will judge all men in absolute righteousness, by Jesus Christ. The assurance of this future fact is that God raised Jesus from the dead - the resurrection.

Acts 17:22-31 

"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 

For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 

God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 

Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 

Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead."

As in Paul's time, so it is today. It's not that we can't find God; it's that we don't want to find God. George Wald, (Nov. 18, 1906, - April 12, 1997), American biochemist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1967, was an honest atheist. He stated:

George Wald-Nobel Prize winning biochemist

"There are only two possible explanations as to how life arose. Spontaneous generation arising to evolution, or a supernatural God.... There is no other possibility.  Spontaneous generation was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others, but that just leaves us with only one other possibility...that life came as a supernatural act of creation by God, but I can't accept that philosophy because I do not want to believe in God. Therefore I choose to believe that which I know is scientifically impossible...." (Wald, G. 1954. The Origin of Life. Scientific American August: 44-53.)

People who hold exclusively to a belief in naturalism exclude anything supernatural, and thus scoff at the idea of a man being raised from the dead, and sometimes (not always) mock those who believe so. This may come out as: "He's dead. Get over it!" 

Here's how Paul's hearers responded to the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Acts 17:32-34

"And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them."

2000 years later, God's word the Bible is still truth. In the little 1 chapter book of Jude, followers of Christ are told this:

Jude 1:17-18 

"But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts" 

The historical fact is that Jesus, the Son of God, stepped out of eternity and took on the form of a man some  2000 years ago. He fulfilled over 300 prophecies regarding the promised Messiah - the Savior - that God promised to send into the world, including his death on the cross to pay the debt you and I owe God because of our sin against Him. Jesus died, was buried, and 3 days later that tomb was empty (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Jesus arose, ascended to Heaven, and will return some future day, not as a humble servant, but as a conquering, victorious King. His promise to those who trusted him then, and those who trust him now, is forgiveness of sins and eternal life (John 14:19).

As the Apostle Peter said in the tenth chapter of the book of Acts:

Acts 10:43 

"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."

How about you?  The resurrection is also a reminder that God's promise is still out there, and available to all who will turn to God just the way they are, as sinful men and women, and trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of their sins. Whoever wants it can have it. Your options are:

• You can scoff at that promise and walk away, or...
• You can say yes to that promise, and trust in the risen, living, Lord Jesus Christ, as I did, nearly 24 years ago.

We pray you have trusted Jesus. If you have, please tell someone else. If not yet, we pray you will trust in him, and you may contact us with questions or concerns. If you do trust in Jesus Christ, like me, you'll never get over it!

By the way, here's a "3D" gospel tract we are giving out this year: as you move the card the scene changes from pre-dawn darkness, showing Jesus' tomb still covered by the stone, to the sun rising and the stone rolling away.

Back of this gospel tract reads:

 HE'S ALIVE!

When Jesus rose from the dead, He proved that He is the...

SON OF GOD: "Declared to be the Son of God...by the resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:4)

SAVIOR: "Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

JUDGE: "The Father...hath committed all judgment unto the Son....He that heareth my work, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:22,24)

Here's an article I found out on the web on historical evidence that would support the truth of the resurrection, "The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Fact or Fiction? Just click here: LINK

Maranatha!

Paul