Journal Entry ~ 09/23/19

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. - Romans 8:11

I've been pondering the proof that Jesus was raised from the dead since my devotion yesterday. It brings confidence to let those thoughts settle in, and use them to fight the flesh that wants to tell me it was a lie.   So, I thought I would continue to dwell here for a few days. 

We know from several historical documents outside of the Bible that Jesus did, in fact, live. Historians and scholars alike do not deny these facts. The non-secular transcripts of historical record they use from that time speak of the man, Jesus. So, in order to be confident of the existence of Jesus, one does not need to believe that the Bible is the written word of God, or that it's even trustworthy. There is historical evidence that He existed in multiple documents from that day. 

What's remarkable is that these documents mention a few things that support the resurrection - they confirm the empty tomb, the appearances of Jesus, and the growing church after Jesus' death. While these documents don't necessarily confirm that the resurrection happened, scholars and historians of the time do agree each of these things happened. 

In other words, everyone agrees the tomb was empty. But how does that prove he was resurrected? If the tomb was empty, what was the cause?  Who took His body?  It could have only been the Romans or the Jews. The Romans wouldn't have taken the body because they wanted to disprove that He was the Messiah. A missing body meant that He was the Messiah, so they were all about keeping the body in the tomb. In fact, the Roman soldiers who were guarding His body were under order of death - if anyone went in or out of the tomb, they would have been killed. This is part of the historical record as well - if they could have stopped anyone from entering the tomb and stealing the body, they would have. 

Another theory was that his disciples stole His body to prove He was the Messiah. This doesn't make sense either. At the time, Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah were beaten, killed, and persecuted. Why would someone choose to risk being beaten, killed, or persecuted just to prove that Jesus was the Messiah if He wasn't? Who would volunteer for torture just to be able to prove to others that Jesus was King.  That theory just doesn't make any sense. 

Scholars and historians of this time all agree that both the Jewish or the Romans did not take His body - that is not in question. His body was not in the tomb according to historians, and they know the Romans or the Jews did not take His body. The only explanation that the historians of the time have settled on is that it is a mystery. For me, the mystery is the resurrection of my King. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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