Jul 28thDevotion Acts 13:30-31 The Very Provable Resurrection

Acts 13:30-31 – But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.  They are now his witnesses to our people.

“But God raised him from the dead.”  Matthew 28:1-20 and other verses attest to the resurrection of Christ.  Outside of the Bible there are other historians such as Flavius Josephus, Cornelius Tacitus, Lucian of Samosata, Maimonides and the Jewish Sanhedrin themselves that corroborate the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  Sir Lionel Luckhoo of Guinness Book of World Records fame was a highly successful lawyer who defended two hundred forty-five consecutive cases that ended in acquittals.  Certainly knew what was good evidence and what was not.  He wrote “I have spent more than forty-two years as a defense trial lawyer in many parts of the world and am still in active practice.  I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trial and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”   Wow.

Josh McDowell was a self-described agnostic who set out to disprove Christianity.  He delved into the extant historical records, biblical and non-biblical and his disbelief and hatred of Christianity was eroded by the facts he found and he wrote the world renown book “Evidence That Demands A Verdict.”

Lee Strobel (Former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune) and J. Warner Wallace (Torrance, CA police detective in the Cold-Case Unit) are two others who were not believers but who became believers after setting out to prove that Christianity was not true.  They both had an extremen anti-Christianity bias.  However the evidence led them to dropping on their knees before Jesus.  Lee Strobel utilized his legal expertise to write “The Case For Christ” and J. Warner Wallace wrote “Cold Case Christianity in which he applied his considerable forensic expertise.  The books of McDowell, Strobel and Wallace present overwhelming evidence of the resurrection of Jesus.

The Resurrection of Jesus is important for many reasons but let us understand that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then we have no hope (1 Corinthians 15:14).  If He did not rise from the dead then He was a liar (John 2:19, John 10:17-18).  He said he would rise from the dead and so for Him to be the Lamb without sin who died for the world (John 1:29), the pure and spotless One from God, He had to rise from the dead.  If He did not, then He would have been just another deluded man like the magician Harry Houdini, or worse, a liar.  Praise God that Jesus did rise from the dead, that He was and is exactly who He said He was, and that He is the one who leads the way to be born from the dead so that we can live forever with God (1 Corinthians 15:20).  Praise the Lord!  Praise God!

“and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem.  They are now his witnesses to our people.”  The Apostles and Disciples of Jesus preached and taught in a time when people who had seen, heard and heard of Jesus were still alive.  If what the Apostles and Disciples taught was wrong they could have come forward and declared, as eye-witnesses, a lie.  They could have stood in numbers of hundreds and even thousands against what was being taught.  But they could not.  The Truth was still too well know.  The number of witnesses for the validity of the Gospel was overwhelming.

Family we stand on the Truth whose Author and Defender of it is God Himself.  We need to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s Word to us.  We must know The Truth.  If we know the Truth then when a lie comes we will recognize it because it is not The Truth.  Let us every day know God and His Word evermore so that the lies of the enemy will not hurt us.  God has given us a defense for our faith, and the defense is also meant for offense (Ephesians 6:10-17) against the gates of hell that cannot withstand Spirit filled, Bible believing and knowing Christians (Matthew 16:18).  Jesus rose from the dead.  We know it because the Bible tells us so and what we know that it is also supported by many non-biblical facts.  Yes facts.  We securely stand on the firm foundation that is Jesus, the Son of God, God in the Flesh who is our loving and faithful Savior.  Praise God the Father!  Thank you Jesus!  Thank you Holy Spirit!  Praise God!

Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord!

Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. 

Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.