UNDER PRESSURE â—½ YOU
What An Event
by Debbie Haynes
Easter is this month, at the very end! And we often say, “Happy Easter,” but I love to say, “Happy Resurrection Day!” I’ll tell you why…
When Jesus was arrested, he was given a mock trail. The ruling system sorely failed by calling evil good and good evil. They even condemned the wrong man, an innocent and holy man, and let the criminal go free! The judges were corrupt and motivated by evil. When we hear or read about Jesus’ brutal treatment and death, we often recoil at the injustice of his crucifixion.
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But…the celebration part of Easter isn’t just about death. Jesus said that the Son of Man had to die but would rise again in three days…so we can celebrate the resurrection! A once self-proclaimed atheist Josh McDowell authored 150 books on the facts of the resurrection and states there is not a better documented event than the resurrection of Jesus.
This event might be the singularly most important fact upon which all else we believe is built:
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The seal was broken, as stated in Matthew 27. A stone had been set in place, a guard was stationed to watch, and there were likely ropes that would have to be breached!
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The tomb was empty (read Luke 24). All that was found inside were Jesus’ burial cloths. A dead body was never found.
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The stone was removed (Matthew 28). It weighed more than two tons, and the movement caused an earthquake!
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Some of the guards abandoned their posts. This was an act punishable by death, but the guards maybe slept or fled to tell the news or just left!
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The grave clothes were folded, with the head cloth laying aside the rest of the cloths. In Jewish custom, the master finished a meal and if he FOLDED the napkin, it meant he was coming back to his place…so this was a message to the two guys Peter and John that stepped inside the tomb!
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Jesus appeared after the resurrection (I Corinthians 15) – seen by over 500 at a time and in many different places.
Another unbeliever, Charles Colson (named as one of the Watergate 7 that was imprisoned) came to faith precisely because of these above facts! He wrote 30 books about his faith and established the greatest prison ministry ever known.
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He wrote,
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“I know that the resurrection is a fact. And, Watergate proved it to me. How, you ask? Because, 12 men testified they’d seen Jesus raised from the dead and for 40 years never once changed or denied their story.
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Though they were beaten, tortured, stoned, imprisoned and eventually killed, not one ever recanted. They wouldn’t have, they couldn’t have, endured all of that if it were not true.
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But in Watergate, 12 of the most powerful men in the world couldn’t keep their stories straight for THREE WEEKS during the trial!
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You cannot tell me that the 12 apostles kept their stories straight for 40 years and then died for it, and it not be true! It’s just not possible.”
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The resurrection of Christ is truly astounding and miraculous, and without it, we would have no hope. Jesus was the first to be given new life, and we can take that miracle to the bank and experience it, too.
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Happy Resurrection Day!