CHRIST IS RISEN: REALITY AND HOPE

He’s alive forever and ever. He’s the Key of David – that opens a door no one can shut and shuts a door no one can open. He holds the key of death and Hades. He sits on the throne forever. He made and upholds all the nations of the earth. He’s the Resurrection and life and lives forever.  I have heard and read stories of people who were pronounced “clinically dead” and were later resuscitated to life but no person had returned from the grave except the Lord Jesus Christ. During His earthly ministry,

He promised to rise again in three days. It couldn’t have been considered a child play or empty boast. After all, the bible recorded that He raised three people: Lazarus, a son in the city of Nain and Jurius’ daughter. Now that He’s risen, Jesus has the power of resurrection and can raise every dead: life, relationship and marriage, eye, ear, body and any situation in life. Jesus is Lord. Thanks be to God who has given us VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ. Every dead thing in us is commanded to rise again in Jesus name.

The reason I bring you Good News of great joy. This Good News is for you, for me, and for all people regardless of their color, race and circumstances; no matter how screwy our story has been; no matter what has been happening in our lives. In spite of the empty space that incurable disease has created, and that broken relationship, the Good News brings reconciliation. Here’s the good news: Jesus died to conquer death and set man free. He’s risen,… Hallelujah ……It was necessary for Christ to suffer and died and to rise from dead on the third day that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations….and you’re witnesses of these things; behold I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarry ….until you are endured with power from on high [Luke 24:46-49].

Some Evidences in support of Jesus’ Resurrection: 

1. Jesus birth was natural but His conception was supernatural; so also was His death natural but His resurrection supernatural. These miraculous conception and resurrection were congruous with his deity.
2. By the resurrection God has reversed man’ sentence and vindicated His son. Jesus Resurrection is considered “the best attested fact in history.” Women who went to the tomb were dumbfounded to discover that the body was not there.
3. The tomb was empty; the body gone: The women couldn’t have gone to another tomb? These women were no fools. They knew where the body was laid. They went to anoint the body of Christ with spices. Again, if the women mistaken the tomb, would Peter and John [Jesus closed Apostles] who ran to verify the women story made the same mistake? Some opined that Jesus simply fainted or hallucinated and was not buried but laid in the tomb. He did not die on the cross. He simply got revived in the tomb and left it. Who then open the tomb and broke the Roman seal that was placed to avoid vandalization? After the rigors, pains of trail, mockery, flogging and crucifixion he could survive 36 hours in a stone sepulchure with neither warmth or food or medical care?
4. When one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with spear and at once there came out blood and water [the body system collapsed]; He medically had died.
5. Where was the swoop team of the Romans Guards [soldiers]? When did Jesus become a superman and broke the Roman seal and pulled back the tomb while the soldiers watch helplessly?
6. Thieves stole the body! There is no substantiated evidence on this claim. Where were the soldiers that held vigilante over the tomb? Where they persecuted for sleeping on duty on a very crucial state assignment? How could the thieves steal the body yet left the grave cloth? What could have been their motives?
7. The disciples removed the body! Matthew Gospel said that Pilate received deputation of Chief Priest and the Pharisees who reminded him that Jesus boasted He will rise on the third day. Pilate ordered the security at the tomb be re-enforced and the tomb barricaded and secured as much as they can. Could the disciples have removed the body yet surprised at the story that the tomb was empty and hurried to see it. Yet they continue to preach that He resurrected? This would amount to spreading planned falsehood? Who would perpetuate and preach as well as die for lie? They were tortured, persecuted and eleven out of the twelve Apostles die martyrs for what they knew and believed; were eyewitnesses. Few weeks after Jesus death, the Christians were boldly proclaiming His resurrection while those who killed Him were still alive.
8. The Jewish authority took the body into their custody! If they had it, what has happened to the body 2000 years after? If they had it, they would have produced the remains of the body and publish a statement of what happened or were the guards all sleep  on duty  while the events of resurrection took place? If the resurrection is disproved, the Church is collapsed, Christianity is fraud, believers are most miserable of all mankind. 
   These are all the man-made theories invented to try to discredit and explain away the emptiness of the tomb and the disappeared body. None of these is neither satisfactory nor has historical evidence. For want of adequate alternative explanation, perhaps narrative of the gospels that described the events of the First Easter Day: Jesus is risen; He’s no longer in the grave. He was raised by God, the Father.
9. The grave clothes were undisturbed [John 20:5-9].The body of Jesus had gone but the grave clothes had not. John accompanied Peter on the dramatic early morning race to the tomb. No wonder his remarks bear unmistakable remarks of first time experience. What did John saw and believe? [John 20:5-7].

• strips of linen lying there [vs. 5]
• The burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head [vs. 7]
• The head napkin [cloth] was not only lying but “wrapped together”- folded up by itself.
•  The head napkin was lying separate from the limens cloth by noticeable space.[compare with Lazarus experience in John 11:44]

Jesus body passed through the grave clothes just as He passed through closed doors, leaving them untouched and almost undisturbed. The body clothes under the weight of about 100 lbs of spices [John19:38-42]. Once the support of the body had been removed would have subsided or collapsed and would now lying flat. A glance at this grave cloth and the gap between the two proved the reality and the nature of the resurrection. The position of the grave cloth and the absent of the body are solid evidence of resurrection.

10. Post Resurrection Appearances to chosen witnesses: [1 Corinthians 15:1f].

• To Mary Magdalene
• to The woman returning from the tomb
•  to Peter
• To two disciples on the road to Emmaus
•  To Ten gathered in the Upper Room
•  To the Eleven including Thomas [a week after]
•  To more than 500 brethren at one time.
•  To James [Jesus brother]
• To some disciples including Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James and John by Galilee Lake side
• To many on the Mount of Olives near Bethany on Ascension
•  To Paul on his way to Damascus.

11. The Life Transformation of the Disciples. This item is very important evidence and that has continued to occur even in our day and time. The resurrection affected not only the early disciples but also as many as have accepted Jesus as Christ and Lord of Life; put their faith in Him. Peter, who had denied Jesus three times before His crucifixion, preached the most important message of the New Testament as recorded in the book of Acts of Apostles. James [Jesus Brother] later became a leader in the Jerusalem Church and called himself a bond slave to God and Jesus Christ. Thomas, the doubter who denied Jesus resurrection until he saw evidence to make him believe, made the great confession by calling Jesus, “My Lord and God.” The power of the risen Savior is still the same today; saving and changing lives, healing the sick and causing break through and open doors.