R elevant to any time of the year is the subject of Christ’s res urrection. It shouldn’t be relegated to the Easter season only. How our hearts thrill in reading the account of that glorious morning in such words as those given by John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The first eight verses of the 20th chapter are rich with spiritual truth and the story is exciting to our hearts. As an historian, trained to read documents critically, in my own visits to the garden tomb in the city of Jerusalem, I’ve been impressed by the sharp accuracy of this narra tive. There is a matching of the physical layout of the tomb. Let there be no question in our minds: we have in this Bible an absolutely reliable document given by God Him self, as an infallible guide for man. Consider the importance the dis ciples gave to the fact of the resur rection in their teaching. The apos tles saw the resurrection of Christ as a pivotal fact of history. There was no need to dispute it. The res urrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith as well as a preview of the future. We have more historical evidence (not just theological) of the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, than of the existence of Homer the poet, or Alexander the Great. One day in a school seminar the professor, who knew of my Christian faith, stated to the class: “Let’s hear Mr. Car mona apply the historical method to the myth of Christ.” For a student that was a predicament. Stalling for time, I countered, “First of all, I don’t believe it is a myth.” But he insisted, “Well, friend, let’s have you prove it historically.” The Lord gave 32
me the words as I responded, “I'd apply the same method of proof to the resurrection of Christ as I do to the life of Napoleon, the great sol dier. I ’ve never seen Napoleon, so I must rely upon the testimony of wit nesses. There were people who knew Napoleon, who were with him during his lifetime, either as companions or enemies. They tell me about this man whom I’ve never seen.” The profes sor smiled and queried, “Well, as to the resurrection of Christ, do we have witnesses?” What an opportu nity and open door for me! These were reliable witnesses whose testi mony can be trusted. To my knowl edge, none of the witnesses who wrote about Napoleon ever gave their lives proving that he had lived. These witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, almost all signed their testimony in their own blood, dying as martyrs. How can we argue with that kind of evidence? Paul, in the 15th chapter of I Corinthians re minded the intellectual Greeks in the church who, on rationalistic grounds were disputing the fact of the resurrection, that more than half of the witnesses were still alive and yet the Corinthians disputed them. The encounter of Paul with the risen Christ on the Dama s cu s road changed him from Saul, the persecu tor into Paul, the Christian apostle. Paul tells us in Rom. 1 :4 that Christ was “designated as the Son of God with power, when he was raised from the dead, even Jesus Christ.” Again in I Corinthians 15:14 he declared, “If Christ has not risen, then our preaching amounts to nothing and our faith is vain, and you are still in your sins.” There could be no
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