The Witnesses
See on YouTube
https://youtube.com/live/adqYZlCzRlg
The Witnesses
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-4, 15-17
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Mark 16:1-8
He is Risen! This is the traditional saying every year on Easter Sunday in the Church. We say He is Risen! We say it and claim it and have done so for two thousand years. By this two-thousand-year tradition alone it should be enough to prove that Jesus rose from the dead is in fact a historical fact. The details of most lies don’t even last 1 month let alone a millennium as the details continually change to cover the lie. However, the details of Jesus’ death and resurrection have been preserved and unchanging for thousands of years. How is it though that we know about his resurrection in the first place? It is because of the witnesses who saw him alive again in the flesh. There are some non-believers in this world that claim that Jesus never really existed and that this is just a myth. However, there are several reasons for why this is just not so.
The first fact is that Jesus did live. This is not just recorded in biblical scripture but it is recorded by secular recordings and historians. There is no one who can legitimately argue the Jesus never lived. The facts and evidence prove that he lived. The second fact is that Jesus died. Again, this is not just recorded in scripture but in Roman historical records and in Jewish historical records. This means that there were witnesses to his death. No one can legitimately argue that Jesus did not die because of those who witnessed his death and recorded it accurately. Even the biblical account matches up accurately with the secular accounts of the event. While many non-believers refuse to view the Bible as a history book, the fact of the matter is that the Bible is the most accurately documented book of history in the entire world and no other historical document comes even close and most likely never will. Again, because the witnesses documented what they saw and there are roughly 26,000 original manuscripts found today documenting and collaborating the historical events.
The next fact which leads to proof of Jesus’ resurrection is the fact that there was an empty tomb. It is historically recorded that Jesus’ body was laid in a tomb and then it was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers. It is then recorded that the tomb was in fact found empty on the third day therefore fulfilling prophesy. Scripture is not the only evidence and recording of the empty tomb for the Pharisees were recorded trying to explain a reasoning for the empty tomb by claiming that his disciples came and stole his body in the middle of the night which was very unlikely due to the soldiers guarding the tomb. Never the less this is proof of witnesses seeing an empty tomb.
Now we are going to shift to the other witnesses. These are the witnesses who saw Jesus alive after seeing him die. We read an account from Peter this morning that he shared with Cornelius after his household accepted Christ and were filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter says “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” Note he did not appear to all people but to a select chosen. Some who struggle with believing in a bodily resurrection say that he just arose in spirit. However, we can clearly see hear that Peter is testifying that he arose in bodily form and he was able to eat and drink with his disciples proving that it was him alive again. Spirits do not eat and drink.
The first witnesses of course were women when they had gone to the tomb. They had gone to anoint Jesus’ body with spices to help with the decaying process. Back then bodies were laid in tombs for the flesh to decay and then the bones would be removed and buried. Mark records that they were discussing with each other how they would roll the stone away when the see that it has already been done for them but his body is not there. They are told to tell the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee where he will appear before them. We have 4 Gospel accounts of the Resurrection and all 4 claim that the first witnesses of the empty tomb were women. They were chosen to be witnesses to the truth and good news.
Paul, formerly known as Saul, was also a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. Of course, he was not so at first as he felt that it was his duty to squash any “heretical” belief that Jesus was the Son of God or that he rose from the dead. He felt that he was doing the Lord’s work by persecuting these early Christ believers until one day that all changed. Paul tells the Corinthians to hold firmly to the Gospel message that he has shared for this message is of first importance. The message is that, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas (Peter), and then to the twelve, after that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time (including women and children, who were not counted then), most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” Paul is explaining here that we know that all of the events of the Gospel message really happened because there were witnesses. In the time of which Paul wrote this letter many of them were still living and there was no one who spoke contrary to this message other than the ones trying to squash it because they did not want the truth to be revealed. Paul then says that he was “one abnormally born.” He says this because he was not a normal kind of witness to the resurrection. He was dead set on destroying the Christian movement. However, once Jesus appeared to him, he was changed and he was reborn. He was blinded on the road and then his eyes were opened to the truth. After that he used that same zealousness to destroy the Christian movement to then spread it all over the world.
The fact is that all of these witnesses preached the same message, that Christ rose from the dead. To someone with eyes to only see the natural world that seems impossible. However, the same message was preached and they were willing to be tortured and killed over this message. People could be persuaded to die for a lie if they do not know that it is a lie. However, people do not die over a hoax knowing that it is all just a hoax. This means that they were willing to die because they knew it was the truth and they knew that they would have a resurrected body someday just like Jesus. They were witnesses to the Resurrection and this message has been unchanging for thousands of years. No matter how much one wants to deny the resurrection, the multitude of witnesses does not allow them to do so. This is the importance of the witnesses. We may not all be witnesses to the resurrected Jesus here today. However, we are witnesses to the power of the message and we are witnesses to the recorded scripture itself. If all of the Bibles of the world were burned today and they were no more, we would be witnesses to the truth of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, and his message would still go on. He is Risen! And we are his witnesses.