Thursday, July 11, 2024
An Undeniable Faith
During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3 NLT)
Christianity is not some feel-good belief system that asks you to check your brains at the door. Rather, it is based on reliable and documented evidence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, thereby justifying His claims and promises.
Granted, there is an element of faith that we must apply to believe, but Christianity is based on clear facts. Acts 1:3 tells us, “During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God” (NLT).
In the original language, the word for “proved” in this verse includes the idea of convincing. That’s because going back to the earliest centuries, some have stated that Jesus never rose from the dead. Some have asserted that it was a hoax the disciples concocted. Others have suggested they never saw His risen body but were just hallucinating.
But Luke, who wrote the Book of Acts, was saying, “Listen to me. I have done primary research on this topic, and I have proof.”
Jesus had been crucified and put to death. They heard the blows of the hammers. They saw the spikes go into His hands and feet. And they saw the blood and water spill from His side. They watched as His traumatized, beaten body was taken down from the cross. And they knew that He never would live again, much less walk and talk with them.
But sure enough, there was Jesus, alive. And He appeared to them not just once or twice. No, He showed up everywhere. Mary saw Him at the empty tomb. Then He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Then He joined the disciples in the upper room. And because Thomas wasn’t there the first time, He returned to the upper room a second time.
And He wasn’t just a spirit. He ate with the disciples. He invited Thomas to put his hand in the wound in His side and examine His hands where the spikes had been. Jesus was in a real body. Yet He could appear in a room and disappear again. Five hundred people witnessed His appearance on a single occasion. That was no mass hallucination; that was evidence.
Luke was saying, “We saw Him. We couldn’t deny it was true.”
If it were a hoax the disciples had dreamed up, certainly one of them would have given in and admitted as much. Yet every apostle died the death of a martyr except John, who survived a pot of boiling oil and was then banished to the island of Patmos. Not one of them broke ranks, because they could not deny what they knew was true.
Jesus was alive. They had seen Him. It transformed their lives, and they had to go out and share this message with others. They were real people like us, yet God used them to change the world.
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