The Resurrection.
The Resurrection.
"The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the one most important item in the whole fund of human knowledge: the grand event of the ages, toward which all previous history moved, and in which all subsequent history finds its meaning. The story of it has plowed through the centuries, and changed the face of the earth.
"Is it a fact? Did he really rise from the dead? If he did not, what became of his body? If enemies stole it, they surely would have produced it, for they stopped short of nothing to discredit the story, even to the murdering of those who told it. If friends stole it, they would have known they were believing a lie; but men do not become martyrs to what they know to be false."
"One thing is certain: those who first published the story that Jesus had risen from the dead believed it to be a fact. They rested their faith, not only on the empty tomb, but on the fact that they themselves had seen Jesus alive after his burial; not once, nor twice, but at least ten recorded times; and not singly, nor alone, but in groups of two, seven, ten, eleven, five hundred."
"An hallucination? Could it not have been an ecstasy? A dream? A fantasy of an excited imagination? An apparition? Different groups of people do not keep on seeing the same hallucination. 500 people in a crowd would not all dream the same dream at the same time. Moreover, they were not expecting it. Considered it an "idle tale" at first (Luke 24:11). Did not believe it till they had to."
"Only in a swoon? Could it not be that Jesus was not really dead when they buried him, and that he came to again? In that case, weak and exhausted, he could scarcely have removed the heavy stone door and gotten out of the tomb. Besides he had new powers that he had never manifested before-to appear and disappear through locked doors. The eleven (or 120?), in a group, personally saw him slowly rise from the earth, and disappear behind the clouds."
"The records tampered with? Could it not be that the resurrection was a later addition to the story of Christ, invented years later to glorify a dead hero? It is known, from historical records outside the scripture, that the sect known as Christians came into existence in the reign of Tiberius, and that the thing that brought them into existence was their belief that Jesus had risen from the dead. The resurrection was not a later addition to the Christian faith, but the very cause and start of it. They rested their faith, not on records, but on what they had seen with their own eyes. The records were the result of their faith, not the cause of it. Had there been no resurrection, there would have been no New Testament, and no Church."
"What a halo of glory this simple belief sheds on human life. Our hope of resurrection and life everlasting is based, not on a philosophic guess about immortality, but an historic fact."
("Halley's Bible Handbook" by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; pg. 556-557)
"The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the one most important item in the whole fund of human knowledge: the grand event of the ages, toward which all previous history moved, and in which all subsequent history finds its meaning. The story of it has plowed through the centuries, and changed the face of the earth.
"Is it a fact? Did he really rise from the dead? If he did not, what became of his body? If enemies stole it, they surely would have produced it, for they stopped short of nothing to discredit the story, even to the murdering of those who told it. If friends stole it, they would have known they were believing a lie; but men do not become martyrs to what they know to be false."
"One thing is certain: those who first published the story that Jesus had risen from the dead believed it to be a fact. They rested their faith, not only on the empty tomb, but on the fact that they themselves had seen Jesus alive after his burial; not once, nor twice, but at least ten recorded times; and not singly, nor alone, but in groups of two, seven, ten, eleven, five hundred."
"An hallucination? Could it not have been an ecstasy? A dream? A fantasy of an excited imagination? An apparition? Different groups of people do not keep on seeing the same hallucination. 500 people in a crowd would not all dream the same dream at the same time. Moreover, they were not expecting it. Considered it an "idle tale" at first (Luke 24:11). Did not believe it till they had to."
"Only in a swoon? Could it not be that Jesus was not really dead when they buried him, and that he came to again? In that case, weak and exhausted, he could scarcely have removed the heavy stone door and gotten out of the tomb. Besides he had new powers that he had never manifested before-to appear and disappear through locked doors. The eleven (or 120?), in a group, personally saw him slowly rise from the earth, and disappear behind the clouds."
"The records tampered with? Could it not be that the resurrection was a later addition to the story of Christ, invented years later to glorify a dead hero? It is known, from historical records outside the scripture, that the sect known as Christians came into existence in the reign of Tiberius, and that the thing that brought them into existence was their belief that Jesus had risen from the dead. The resurrection was not a later addition to the Christian faith, but the very cause and start of it. They rested their faith, not on records, but on what they had seen with their own eyes. The records were the result of their faith, not the cause of it. Had there been no resurrection, there would have been no New Testament, and no Church."
"What a halo of glory this simple belief sheds on human life. Our hope of resurrection and life everlasting is based, not on a philosophic guess about immortality, but an historic fact."
("Halley's Bible Handbook" by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; pg. 556-557)