Jesus is Risen!

Jesus was murdered! His disciples and other followers were in a deep state of grief and fear. No one knew what to do next except the three women who went to the tomb so that they might finish anointing the lifeless body of Jesus. None of them took into account the Jesus promised to rise from the dead. They were trying to adjust their thinking for what direction to go next in their lives.

They were so overtaken by their situation that there was no room to consider what Jesus promised. They are a good example of people say that they are okay ”under the circumstances.” From their viewpoint, they truly were under the circumstances without hope, without direction, without a plan.

Then with the light of dawn came forth Jesus from the tomb. Angels rolled away the stone from the entrance of the tomb. Opening the tomb was not for Jesus to escape. It needed to be open so the disciples could come in that they might discover Jesus gone. Besides the opening of the tomb, there were three other miracles that took place that day. The first of course was the resurrection of Jesus giving us the victory over death. The second was the healing of Jesus body because it had been so terribly mutilated. The third for Jesus was to have new clothing since his crucifixion clothing was stolen by the soldiers as he gambled over it.

Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene offering comfort and direction to tell the disciples he would be in gallery. Then Jesus appeared to disciples who were on the road to Emmaus. They did not recognize him until he broke bread for them to eat. Later, because Thomas was not present with the disciples, Jesus appeared to the whole group. The response from Thomas was, “My Lord and my God!” Afterwards, Jesus appeared to 500 of his followers and then on the shore of the sea where the disciples had been fishing, he cooked them lunch. This was the true, real, living Jesus as he ministered to those that have been loyal to him.

Without the resurrection of Christ, we would all be most miserable without any hope. Any leader could die even for the cause. However, there has never been and never will be a leader who was resurrected from the dead.

Immediately the religious leaders try to debunk Christ’s resurrection. They bribed the soldiers who were guarding the tomb to say they fell asleep in the disciples stole his body. Normally such behavior of soldiers would be worthy of death, but the Jews fix the problem with money. Other efforts to defeat the reality of Christ’s resurrection have been offered to the ages.

Some have said that it was not Jesus was crucified but a substitute. This is virtually impossible that anyone would be willing to allow his body to be so mutilated as what happened to Jesus. Others of said that Jesus was in a swoon and was never dead. Not only was he mutilated for the sake of the cross, a soldier stabbed him in the side all the way to his heart. In the tomb, the air was laden with the smell of the anointing on his dead body. Besides that, there was no way Jesus with all of the mutilation that took place on him that he would have the strength himself along to roll back stone by himself.

If the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a lie, how could all of the apostles—with the exception of one man—go to an early grave saying so? According to church history and tradition, all of them died the death of a martyr.

• Peter: In Rome, Peter was severely scourged and then crucified. He asked to be crucified upside down, not upright like Jesus.
• Andrew (Brother of Peter): Andrew was martyred in Patrae, Achaia. It was there that he was bound to an x-shaped cross and crucified. He preached to his persecutors until he died.
• James (Son of Zebedee): James was the first of the apostles to be martyred. His death is the only martyrdom of the apostles mentioned in the New Testament (see Acts 12:2). Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, was responsible for beheading James.
• John (Brother of James): Tradition tells us John was put in a cauldron of boiling oil, but the oil mysteriously did no harm to John. Afterward, he was banished to Patmos. Though John was sentenced to death because of his faith, he was the only apostle who did not die for his belief in the risen Christ.
• Philip: This apostle was martyred in Heliopolis. He was scourged and later crucified.
• Bartholomew (Nathanael): According to the “Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew,” he was put in a sack and thrown into the sea. Another tradition states he was crucified upside down after being flayed alive.
• Thomas: This apostle of Christ was run through the body with a lance in India.
• Matthew (Levi): Matthew was slain in distant Ethiopia.
• James (Son of Alphaeus): The apostle James was stoned and was then beaten to death with a club.
• Judas, Son of James (Thaddaeus): Church tradition is not clear on the martyrdom of this apostle. One tradition states he was crucified, while another tradition claims he was shot to death with arrows.
• Simon (the Zealot): Tradition states Simon was crucified in Britain after preaching the gospel there.

If his life would have been spared, don’t you think at least one of them would have suddenly exposed such a lie under threat of death? Of course he would have! But they did not expose it because it was not a lie—it was truth.

My friend-Jesus is Alive!!!!!