Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:14, 1 Corinthians 15

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--did-jesus-really-rise-from-the-dead
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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well first of all there are many reasons but i'll address christians and then i'll address skeptics if you're a christian and you believe the bible is the word of god then it's clear it teaches in no uncertain terms that jesus arose bodily from the dead in a glorified body now if you are not so sure about the bible and you want supporting evidence well let's talk about do you believe in god if you believe in god well in principle god can do miracles so there's nothing impossible with the idea of resurrection and if you believe in an afterlife at all then there's going to be some sort of future resurrection and if it if in the future why not in the past so in principle if you believe in god or if you believe in an afterlife at all there's nothing that would prevent the bible's account from being true and in our information aids it's it's interesting we understand that information is non-material and it can be transformed transferred from one medium to another so like think of computer technology and and think of digital various digital forms from cds to disks to hard drives and so we are now understanding that that information can be in all kinds of forms well think about human beings what makes us human is that intangible information so in principle that could be transferred from one physical body that decays or to another physical body because what's essential about us is not our physical atoms but the configuration of information so from a scientific or technological point of view or information technology point of view in principle there's nothing shocking about the possibility of a resurrection to a transformed body or a new body the same person in a different and new medium so to speak but looking more practically so let's say okay we have this bible account and it's a historical account is it believable and i would say absolutely even on historical terms if you posit that there is a god he could do a miracle then does the bible sound credible at all and and yes for multiple reasons first we have multiple eyewitness accounts so you have mary magdalene who was the very first and it's interesting but in the first century women could not testify in court so if someone were making up an account it's highly unlikely that they would feature a woman first because that would that would be the least credible in their culture so it's a little counterintuitive but it's interesting that the fact that they did use a woman indicates well that must be what really happened but of course we're not just depending on mary magdalene the other women then the apostles and then paul says in first corinthians over 500 people saw the resurrected christ at one time and he makes the point that some have died but most are still alive now the apostle paul wrote first corinthians it's one of the first new testament books say around a.d 50 or so so if if that account was not true you would think there'd be many people alive saying wait a minute that's not accurate on the other hand if someone wanted to investigate as paul said there were many people alive that they could go to them and ask them what did you see did it really happen so in a way that we can't do the readers of the new testament could go to eyewitnesses and ask them now some have made a big deal because the different accounts are slightly different actually i think that enhances the credibility if each account was exactly the same that would indicate collusion in in a court of law when you have witnesses that different witnesses that saw the same event usually their testimony will vary and i'm not talking about errors or false testimony but people are telling the truth but every person sees an event from his or her own perspective certain things they highlight certain things they ignore certain things are important to them certain things or not so if you have a car accident for example and five people saw it five people give testimony their testimony is going to be a little different now on essentials it's going to be the same but they're going to it's going to be told from a different point of view well that's exactly what you see in the four gospels you see multiple eyewitness accounts but with a little variations of details some things featured some things omitted that actually makes it more realistic and more credible if someone was was trying to manufacture it they wouldn't have those little details that differ but the fact that these are different eyewitnesses it's exactly what you would predict now not only that but now let's think about the apostles so when jesus was crucified they were so afraid that they they ran the spokesman the boldest one the apostle peter he denied the lord three times and cursed well what changed them so that a few weeks later the apostle peter stood in front of the crowd on the day of pentecost and said you crucified the lord you murdered him well why would he be so bold the same crowd that a few weeks earlier said crucify and crucify him what was to prevent them from turning on peter and doing the same to peter so the frightened disciples were transformed into bold witnesses of truth and they said it's because jesus rose arose from the dead and not only did they preach boldly they were persecuted and according to early church history all but the apostle john died a martyr's death now if the resurrection of jesus didn't really happen you you would have had to have over 500 witnesses lying or being deceived you would have the 12 apostles with eyes replacing judas who knew the lord personally intimately they traveled with him they ate with him they they knew him as a human being for all of them to say yes we saw jesus arise from the dead jesus had four half-brothers who didn't believe on him until after the resurrection so what would transform these brothers if if the eloquence and and love and power and miracles of jesus couldn't convince them what more could well if you watched your big brother be crucified and then a few days later he came back and appeared to you that could convince you and so nothing could explain the radical transformation of the apostles the early believers the brothers of jesus um and not so if if this was all fake you'd have all these people colluding knowingly lying now you might suppose that for some reason for fame fortune you know maybe a group of people would conspire to collude but to the point of execution so they might perpetuate their hoax as long as they're making lots of money but when it comes down to it we're putting you in prison hey we're gonna execute you i mean that would be the perfect time to say you know what i made this up would you let me out and of course the authorities would be more than happy to get their them to recap their tales so what possibly could have made all these people turn from fearful doubtful sad believers who felt like they lost their mission in life to become bold proclaimers of truth even to the point of torture and execution by their own testimony they had an encounter with the resurrected christ now many skeptics or historians while they won't accept supernatural events they they recognize the force of that argument so they come up with arguments like this orthodox jewish rabbi pinterest lapid who's a very respected scholar he said well i think jesus really did rise to the dead like some of the examples in the old testament so he wasn't god manifest in the flesh but somehow there was a miracle like an old testament miracle because nothing else would explain it other skeptics they would say well it was hallucinations but then they have to say it was mass hysteria over 500 people had to have a mass hallucination at the same time so they try so they can't deny that something incredible radical happen that all these people thought they saw the resurrected christ so they're trying to come with psychological and sociological explanations of how that could could have happened but those explanations seem even less probable than than the miracle itself and so you have these multiple lines of evidence the eyewitness accounts the radical transformation the apostles of course you have prophecies of the old testament that are fulfilled in the new testament as jesus showed his disciples and so it all fits together and then finally i would say we have the witness in our lives today countless people millions of people have prayed to jesus christ and have had a personal encounter with him if jesus didn't really rise to the dead they wouldn't have had those encounters if they're praying sincerely to god god could answer prayer but when they pray in the name of jesus would god answer a false premise like that but we have testimonies of people saved healed delivered transformed their lives are changed delivered from addiction by praying to jesus christ and saying they have a personal encounter with jesus christ so i think it's very credible if you're going to believe in god at all if you're going to believe in the afterlife of all then the testimony of the new testament is very clear that jesus did rise from the dead and of course that is the turning point of all human history and that's the foundation of our faith today think about it this way there are many religions in the world but christianity is the only religion that depends on the death and resurrection of its founder so buddhism exists buddha's dead islam exists you know muhammad is dead but christianity claims that its founder rose from the dead so if he didn't rise the dead christianity is false but when we see the rapid expansion of christianity especially apostolic christianity a people baptized in the name of jesus christ filled with the holy spirit speaking in tongues by their own testimony their lives dramatically changed because of their faith in jesus christ then that shows in reality what the bible says is true that christianity is based on