He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed!
Those words have been spoken for centuries.
I could easily get distracted by Joe Biden's shameful anti-Easter edicts (no Christian symbols on decorated Easter eggs) impacting the annual White House Easter Egg hunt or his shocking decision to release a proclamation naming Easter Sunday, yes March 31st, 2024, Transgender Day of Visibility. But I will not be deterred from what I want to share. I wish I were making all of that up, but I am not.
Seriously, what do we expect?
Over the years we have, in essence, put Jesus back in the tomb. Buried there by the cutest of all of God's creatures, a bunny. I am all for the Easter Bunny. Who can be opposed to a fluffy little guy hopping around and giving away chocolate?
Still, for more and more Americans Easter Sunday has become more of a search for colored eggs than a look inside an empty tomb and a reminder of the work of Jesus defeating death and hell. As someone who loves chocolate, I can assure you the prospect of eternity in heaven, knowing that my death is not a period, but a comma, is better than any confection. Having a little fun on Easter Sunday is fine, just so long as the message of Christ is not lost or left out of the basket the rabbit is carrying.
Jesus' teaching was a constant reflection of the law and the prophets. We call it the Old Testament. Importantly, Jesus reminded contemporaries at the time, and us now, the importance of loving God with all of our heart, soul and might (Dt. 6:5), but he went one step further when the Pharisees tried to trap him. Jesus added that we should love God with "our mind." Now that is an interesting proposition.
Have you ever accepted the challenge?
In 1st Peter 3:15 Peter charges readers to always be prepared to give a defense for our hope in Christ, for our beliefs. When I was in my mid-twenties I took the challenge to "love God" with my mind and to always have an apologetic prepared for why I believe in Christ, in His claims of being the Son of God, and what the bible records about His life, His death, and His resurrection.
Yes, I start with the bible. Why? Because the bible is the best-selling book of all time.
How's this for some context?
The Quran has sold around 800 million copies. The sayings of Mao roughly 900 million (how many of those forcibly?).
And the bible has had 5-7 billion copies sold. Sometimes the bible is carried at the risk of death for the person carrying it. Give that a moment to sink in.
It's not even close. The sheer sales alone should bring about curiosity.
It's worth noting that the bible is unlike any other book ever written in another respect because it is actually a library of books all harmoniously delivering the narrative of God's attempt to reach man. This is what separates Christianity from religions of the world (even some "Christian" denominations). Religion is about man's attempt to reach God. And the bible is unique in that it is the expressed Word of God. You can read it, fast forward twenty years and read it again and new things will jump out of the same passages without ever contradicting what you took away the first time around. No other book is like it because no other book is the inspired Word of God and no other book records the words of Jesus and the accounts of those who were there with Him.
Or is there other written record?
Wouldn't that be something if there were other accounts of what is recorded in the bible? Of Jesus' words?
I could take a long time and write about things I learned in my years of study and research, to assure my mind of what my heart has embraced. I could write about the sheer odds of Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. How most all of those fulfillments were totally and completely out of the control of Jesus. We could look into the science of the creation of the earth, the solar system and the odds of it being a big cosmic accident versus the result of a creator ... God.
I recommend Josh McDowell's "Evidence That Demands A Verdict" where McDowell asks on the front end that Jesus is "either a lunatic, a liar, or Lord" and then sets about proving the latter. It is a happy labor to go through the book which is written like a college paper.
However, for Easter, let's circle back to the question of other sources. You know, the bible records his disciples challenging their listeners with words to the effect, "You know good and well what Jesus did and said because it wasn't done in corners or back alleys. It was done in public and in full view of witnesses ... sometimes thousands of them."
But there are other accounts, and this is important, because as the bible was compiled there's refuation to be found. Chinese writings of history record the supernatural phenomenon of the sun going dark when Christ was crucified. More importantly, due to his direct involvement and proximity, we have the words of Pontious Pilate.
The video I have embedded below is, perhaps, one of the best half-hours you will spend listening (it's someone reading what is written). I know this account, but I did not know the depth and expanse of it. It is the words of Pilate, the secular "judge" of Jesus of Nazareth to Caesar, the leader of Rome. It was shared with me by a listener. I am sharing it with you. Perhaps you can share this post with others.
Jesus is Lord. I am more certain of it than I am of gravity and like gravity, it does not require your belief for it to be truth. It just is.
Happy Easter.
He is Risen, He is Risen, Indeed!