If you had checked the real estate section of the Jerusalem Reporter that week, you might have seen the following ad:
Hand-chiseled tomb for sale. Beautiful garden setting. Condition: excellent.
Used: only three days.
Jesus’ battered body had been prepared for burial. Then He was laid in a borrowed tomb. But He wasn’t there long. Just three days. Then miraculously He was raised from the dead. Mary didn’t recognize Him at first; Thomas demanded proof of His identity. Then He appeared to His disciples and more than five hundred believers at once.
Josh McDowell, a Christian apologist and author, said, “After more than 700 hours of studying this subject and thoroughly investigating its foundation, I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, OR it is the most fantastic fact of history.”
The resurrection is not merely important to the Christian faith; it is essential. Without the resurrection, there is no basis for Christianity. It is the one fact that distinguishes Christianity from all religions of the world. All other religious leaders who have died are still in their graves.
Jesus is alive! He has risen! A simple fact that changed the world for all eternity! Happy Easter!!
“For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as though to one born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.” (Corinthians 15:3-8 NET Bible).
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