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he is risen

The Seattle Post carried this letter to Dr Billy Graham: “My uncle . . . said Jesus was just in a coma and didn’t really rise from the dead. Could he be right? RC.” Replied Graham: “No, he isn’t right—not at all. A large number of people witnessed Jesus’ death, and the Roman soldiers who took His body down from the cross . . . were familiar with death. They made certain Jesus was dead before they released His body.

“When Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb (like a small cave), guards were placed around it to be sure the body wasn’t stolen. A huge stone weighing hundreds of pounds covered the mouth of the tomb. It would have been impossible for someone who had had nails driven through his hands and feet to regain consciousness and move such a stone.”1

Jesus' resurrection is one of the best documented events in history. So what does the Bible say about Jesus and His resurrection?

1. What prediction did Jesus make concerning His death?

Matthew 16:21 “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and . . . be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

2. How severe was a Roman execution?

Mark 15:15-20 “He [Pilate] had Jesus flogged. . . . They . . . twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. . . . Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spat on him. . . . And when they had mocked him . . . . they led him out to crucify him.”

A Roman whip consisted of several lashes barbed with pieces of lead and bone. Often victims did not survive the flogging. “A death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the horrible and ghastly—dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus . . . all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).

If the life of the victim lingered too long, death was hastened by breaking his legs.

3. What testimony did the Roman centurion in charge give?

Matthew 27:54 “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely he was the Son of God!’”

4. How did the Roman soldier make sure Jesus was dead?

John 19:31-34 “But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” (vv 33, 34).

5. How was Jesus buried?

Matthew 27:59, 60 “Joseph [of Arimathea] took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.”

Embalming involved wrapping the body with linen strips and as much as 34 kg of spices (see John 19:39).

6. How was the tomb made secure?

Matthew 27:65, 66 “‘Take a guard [at least four soldiers],’ Pilate answered. . . . So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”

7. What did the angel say to the women who came to the tomb on the sunday following jesus’ burial?

Matthew 28:5, 6 “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”

8. What did Paul say was of first importance?

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you [which is] of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

9. Who does Paul say witnessed Jesus after His resurrection?

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 “He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time. . . . Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

10. What would happen to our faith if Jesus were not raised from the dead?

1 Corinthians 15:17, 20 “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. . . . But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.”

The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity. Lutheran pastor and academic Dietrich Bonhoeffer, hanged by the Nazis in 1945 for his resistance activities, said: “The fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, shall be raised on the Last Day.”

A sign in a churchyard reads: “Jesus died on the cross—that’s history. Jesus died for me—that’s salvation.” The question is, have you accepted it?

1. www.seattlepi.com, November 26, 2004.

Extract from Signs of the Times, March 2005.

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