"Evidences for the Resurrection"
The first prophecy about the Messiah is near the beginning of the Old Testament. It is part of God’s judgment on the serpent: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen 3:15). A man produces seed, which he sows within his wife. It fertilizes her egg, and the woman nurtures that living embryo within her womb until it can safely live outside her. The woman’s seed is every child she births. God placed enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, between the offspring of the devil and the offspring of Eve.
Who are the seed of the devil? Eve bore Cain and Abel, but Cain was greedy. His name means to get gain (Gen 4:1). Cain’s greed caused him to sacrifice less than what God required, but his brother Abel offered the required amount. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s. God asked Cain, “Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door” (Gen 4:6-7). The Septuagint rendered the last verse, “Have you not sinned if you offer rightly but do not divide rightly?” Cain sinned by offering less than what God required. When Jehovah confronted him, He gave Cain a chance to repent and offer the proper amount, but if he refused, sin was waiting to enslave Him. Instead of repenting, Cain chose to enlist Satan’s help in covering his brother’s murder. Cain chose Satan and became his offspring, a child of the devil. From that time, the offspring of Satan have hated the offspring of the woman who refused enslavement to Satan.
Paul revealed how Eve’s seed would save her: “She shall be saved in childbearing” (1 Tim 2:15). Mary was one of Eve’s many offspring. While Eve, who was espoused to Adam, was overcome by Satan, Mary was overcome by the Holy Ghost when she was espoused to Joseph. Eve gave birth to Cain, the first offspring of Satan. Mary bore Jesus, the promised seed of the woman who would bruise Satan’s head. Because the power of God conceived Jesus, He was fully God, but because He was born of a woman, He was fully man.
God is not bound by human reasoning. He outsmarts both mankind and devils. The devil, who could not create, thought that he could steal creation, including mankind, and rule over them as a god. The Holy Spirit described him, “Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (Is 14:13-14). He thought that by ensnaring mankind in sin, he would capture each person when they died, if not before, allowing him to eternally rule them. He never thought that God in the person of Jesus would become man, and after He died, enter his diabolical kingdom by the mechanism that that apostate serpent had created, but that is exactly what Jesus did.
Jesus came to set Satan’s captives free. He told the worshippers at Nazareth, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me . . . to preach deliverance to the captives” (Lu 4:18). He came to His kingdom, which He established at Mount Sinai, when Rome ruled it as part of its empire. The Jews hoped for a deliverer, but the Jewish leadership opposed Jesus. They wanted to rule God’s kingdom and feared His popularity among the common people. The miracles Jesus performed, especially the raising of Lazarus from the dead, attested His Messiahship and threatened their leadership. They reasoned, “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (John 11:48). Self-important, they concluded, “It is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not” (John 11:50). They unjustly found Him guilty of a capital offense, and lacking authority to execute Him, demanded that the Romans crucify their Messiah. Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, tried to adjudicate the matter fairly but finally consented. When the Romans nailed Jesus’ feet to the cross, driving a spike through each anklebone, one on one side of the vertical beam and the other on the other side, Satan bruised His heel. Jesus died at about the same time the priests were sacrificing the Passover Lambs and atoned for the sins of the world, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy: “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Is 53:7).
When Jesus died, He entered hell. Jesus had said, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). Peter revealed that while there, He preached to those who died in the flood: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust . . . by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing” (1P 3:18-20). God did not leave Jesus in hell afterward. David revealed, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell” (Ps 16:10). He led those captive there into heavenly places. David foretold it: “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive” (Ps 68:18).
Jesus died on Friday and was buried in the newly-hewn tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Pharisee. Isaiah had prophesied: “He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death” (Is 53:8-9), but God did not allow His body to rot. David had revealed, “Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Ps 16:10). On the third day, on the Feast of First Fruits, early Sunday morning, before the sun rose, Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, rose from the grave, leaving behind His burial cloth and the napkin covering His face. He appeared first to the women, then to Peter, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, one of whom was Cleopas, whom Hippolytus, an early Christian father, reports was one of the Seventy, and that evening ten of the Apostles. Later, Jesus appeared in His resurrected state to “above five hundred brethren at once . . . After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also” (1 Cor 15:6-8). All the apostles died for their testimony, except John, who was thrown into a vat of boiling oil, and after he survived, was exiled on the isle of Patmos. The apostles’ unwavering willingness to die horrible deaths for their testimony confirms that they unequivocally believed that they had seen the risen Messiah.
Caretakers of the Shroud of Turin claim it is the burial cloth that Jesus left behind after His resurrection. It is the most examined ancient artifact. Scientific analysis shows that the linen cloth dates from the period when Jesus lived and that the pollen found on its threads came from the area of Jerusalem during the time of Christ. Furthermore, the red residue on the cloth is human blood. The image embedded in the cloth was not painted, but etched on the fibers next to the enshrouded body by the same process by which light makes an image on a camera’s film. The image is a negative and the light that etched it came from inside the body. It appears to be created by an oscillating strobe of high-intensity light that happened within 1/40th of a second, like a laser beam moving at 25 billion watts. The energy required to etch the image equals all the electrical energy generated on Earth.
The image is an x-ray of a crucified man with holes in His hands and feet at the ankles. It shows at least 120 wounds on the shoulders, back, and legs that were likely caused by scourging, a bruise on the chest, and a dislocated shoulder, both of which could have been caused by falling underneath the cross. The image also shows a wound right below the heart and the pooling of blood underneath. It contains evidence of multiple wounds over the head that could have been made by a helmet of thorns, especially if it had been pressed into place by vengeful mockers. The enshrouded body carried all the wounds that Jesus endured during His crucifixion.
The most stunning result of the research is that the image of the area of the chest and the arms that lay on top is fuzzier than the rest of the image. The only logical explanation is that the body was beginning to move when the light burst within and made the image. It was starting to breathe. The breath of God entered Jesus, and He rose from His tomb.
Three separate kinds of evidence validate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. First, from its beginning, the Old Testament repeatedly prophesies the coming of the Messiah to save the human race, all of whom are laden with sin and enslaved by Satan. Those prophecies detail His birth, ministry, death, and resurrection. All are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Second, all the apostles claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus. More importantly, they proved unwavering in their testimony, even in the face of a horrific death. Their steadfast and combined witness lends abundant and undeniable credibility to their testimony. It cannot be dismissed as the lies or delusions of conspirators or opportunists.
Third, the Shroud of Turin, which an army of scientists has painstakingly analyzed, shows that it is the burial shroud of a crucified man near Jerusalem during Jesus’ time. The man not only endured the same injuries that Jesus did but also breathed again after death when a massive burst of energy ignited within Him. This evidence makes the Shroud of Turin likely Jesus’ burial cloth and a tangible witness to His resurrection.
The best witness of Jesus’ resurrection, however, is the new life the Holy Ghost creates within each person who believes and obeys the gospel. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives within each person who is born of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost transforms them into new creatures. He has transformed me. It is my testimony of the Resurrection. Apostle Paul testified, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal 2:20). May all of us be assured this Easter season that Jesus lives. He can live in you. For many of you, He does. And if He lives in you, you will forever live with Him.