Happy Easter

"There was no one thing the Apostles were more concerned to produce substantial proof then the resurrection of their master: 1)Because it was that which He Himself appealed to as the last and most cogent proof of His being the Messiah: 2)Because it was upon this that the performance of His undertaking of our redemption and salvation did depend."-Matthew Henry

Today the life of Jesus Christ is probably the most debated and under the most scrutiny then ever before. No event in Jesus Christ is more debated then the fact that He raised from the dead. Christianity, and our salvation as we know it hangs upon whether Jesus rose from the dead. The freedom from sin is not merely the act of death, but ultimately of the conquering of death. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead is what separates us from all other religions. We have a God, the God who is alive. This essay that I am writing is to prove to you that the resurrection really happened and that Jesus is truly the Messiah. "and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" (1Corinthians 15:17)

First, I would like to start off with the empty tomb. throughout the ages people have been trying to prove that there is no empty tomb even to go as far back as to say that the disciples went to the wrong tomb and that there is another one somewhere that holds the body of Jesus. Which makes you think that if the pharisees were so hard at trying to prove that Jesus never rose that they would point out to everyone to the actual tomb of Jesus Christ. Now, another theory was that the disciples stole the body. This actually began right after the resurrection the soldiers were bribed to say that so that people would not believe the true story. It says in the Bible that the tomb was sealed by a large stone, these stones were often rolled down and inclined track the stones were large, and difficult to move, in order to protect the tomb. Seeing that these stones probably weighed around 2000 pounds, I would like to see the disciples move that stone and not wake the soldiers were even sleeping in the first place. These soldiers were highly trained and conditioned, falling to sleep was punishable by death that's enough to keep anyone awake. This brings me to another point that if we were to say that the disciples were to have taken the body of Jesus we are accusing them of being complete lunatics. Wouldn't the idea of the disciples possessing the non-resurrected body of Jesus put a damper on everyone of them preaching a lie that would eventually cost them their lives and the lives of many friends and family? Somebody would have eventually cracked and admitted that it was all and elaborate hoax. Considering that all the disciples except John were killed for preaching the resurrected Jesus, and Johns adventure on Patmos Island was no vacation either. Along with this the tomb was secured with a Roman seal. Anyone who moved the stone would break the seal which was punishable by death, do you think that any of these men were ready to go through what there master had just gone through? So the tomb must have been empty seeing how we have never been able to find the body let alone any DNA. So if the Empty tomb is not proof enough then we will look t the eye witness accounts. The Bible speaks of Jesus appearing before Mary, as well as the disciples on many occasions, but none are remarkable as the fact that he appeared before five hundred people at one time as is spoken of in 1Corinthians 15:6. Today if there was an event that big we would make sure that it was recorded, and the likeliness of five hundred people seeing the same illusionist the same time is outrageous. There is another encounter of Jesus after His resurrection and its found in Luke 24:32-35 it is the story of the two men on Emmause Road. Jesus traveled for miles with these men speaking of scriptural and spiritual things and then when they found out who He was. He disappeared before their eyes. So as you see there actual recorded events of Jesus appearing after His resurrection. They were not just to the disciples but also to crowds and to weary travelers.
Now that we have talked a little about the resurrection of Jesus and some factors that prove the resurrection we are going to look at the statistical side of it. In the 1950's a statistician named Peter Stoner wrote a book called "Science speaks". In this book he exclaimed the odds of one man fulfilling just 8 of the Messianic prophecies and yet not being the Messiah. Prophecies such as: Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem: Messiah is to proceeded by a messenger: Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey: Messiah is to be silent before his accusers: and four other documented events prophesied in the Old Testament and completely fulfilled by Jesus Christ. He puts it like this the probability of one man fulfilling 8 of the prophecies and yet not being the Messiah is 1 in 10 to the 17th power.

In conclusion, the world can have their theories as to why Christ did not raise from the dead and we can have our evidences as to why we know that Jesus rose from he dead. When it comes down to it the real proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is in followers. The fact that 2,000 years after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that same power that delivered men from demons, opened blind eyes and rose our saviour from the dead is still working to this day. It is bringing sinners to life;healing sickness; setting captives free; and inspiring us to preach the message of the Messiah. The power that motivated Peter to say Christ and Him Crucified forty days after denying him. The power that caused Paul to turn from killing to saving. As well as millions of Christians world wide proclaiming His resurrection for the last 2,000 years even if it meant death. God has given us the power to preform miracles and to see the dead raised. Celebrate the day that Christ conquered death. Celebrate the act every day. Be ready to give and answer to everyman that Jesus is risen!

Yours truly
Aimee R.M. Condon