RETURN TO

HOME PAGE

•The Message of the Cross

•Asleep at The Wheel

•Simply The Best

•The Ultimate Challenge

•If Someone Came Back From The Dead

•You Must Be Mad ... I'll Be Dead

•Take Another Look

•You say "I'm innocent!"

If someone...came back from the dead

If I stood up and claimed that I'd come down from heaven to give the world a special message, you'd probably suggest that I should be put away somewhere! But Jesus said that he came from heaven. He claimed that he existed before Abraham, who lived nearly 2000 years earlier. Jesus was no madman; he spoke like no one before him or after him; he spoke with authority.

If I said I could heal any disease or broken bone, you'd rush me to the nearest hospital and tell me to make everyone well. I would be exposed as a cruel fraud. But people from whole regions of Israel brought their sick to Jesus; every one of them was healed. He was genuine, compassionate and all-powerful.

If I offered to forgive you your sins, you'd say, "Now hold on a minute! Only God can forgive people their sin." You'd be quite right. Jesus offered forgiveness. The religious leaders rebuked him. They knew that was something only God could do. Jesus knew it too. His insistent claim to be the unique Son of God ultimately took him to the cross. His love for sinners drove him there.

The cross is the central testing point. It's where the truth would be revealed. Jesus made some incredible claims. These claims would be put to the test at the cross. He said that he was determined to go through with his death, claiming to be the Lamb who was to be sacrificed for the sin of the whole world.

Who can you trust? Someone who merely claims to be a somebody? Surely not! But what about the great men, religions and philosophies of history. Are they as valid and trustworthy as Jesus? And what about your own ideas about Life and the future, heaven and hell? Perfectly reasonable ideas, no doubt, but can you trust yourself to have found the truth?

Now here is the crunch: Jesus predicted that he would rise from being dead. Some claim. Failure would mean he would have been a fraud, a deceiver, a charlatan and a fool. But to actually rise from the dead, physically, but miraculously, then here would be the person he claimed to be: God in human form; someone to be completely trusted for forgiveness, life, death and heaven.

But how can we be sure that Jesus did come back to life again? There are two types of evidence. Firstly, there are the accounts of the numerous eyewitnesses who met with, ate with and touched the risen Jesus. Secondly, there is the circumstantial evidence of the change in behaviour of two different groups of people: the disciples following his appearance on the one hand and the religious leaders on the other. The disciples were transformed into people who turned the world upside down, often suffering dreadful persecution. Would they have done so if the resurrection had been a hoax? The religious leaders could have snuffed out this new "cult" had they produced a corpse. They were unable to do so. Instead, they hounded believers ruthlessly from country to country.

The only reasonable conclusion is that Jesus really did rise from the dead, ascending to heaven forty days later. The evidence has been sufficient to convince a number of sceptical lawyers who have tried and failed to disprove the resurrection, the very foundation of Christianity.

I'm convinced you can completely trust Jesus for everything that really matters. He grants forgiveness to all who turn to him, new life to all who trust in him. He brings a peace beyond our understanding and a place with him in heaven when we die. His resurrection makes all the difference. As the Bible puts it, "Death has lost its sting."

© 1998 AJ Thorne