Resurrection of Jesus Christ
From Conservapedia
According to Bible, Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected - raised from the dead - three days later. Christians celebrate the resurrection on Easter.
It was soon after the darkest hour, not three days had passed. Women were weeping, men had turned their faces away. All his followers assumed they would never see Him again.
The time for burial was approaching, and two different groups of women came. But the angels appeared, saying, "He is not here; he has risen!" (Matt. 28:6)
"Jesus Christ was the first person to be resurrected on this earth. Others had been brought back from death, but were restored to mortality (Mark 5: 22-43; Luke 7: 11-17; John 11: 1-45). whereas a resurrection means to become immortal, without blood, yet with a body of flesh and bone." [1]
- "That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles." (Acts 26:23)
- "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1:18)
- "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." (Revelations 1:5)
Jesus Christ's tomb was empty.
- "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
- And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
- And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
- And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
- And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
- And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him." (Mark 16:1-6)
The Twelve Apostles taught that Jesus had risen from the dead.
- "After His suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3).
- "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 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 Peter and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time." (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)
Defense of the resurrection of Jesus
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is critical to the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, "if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain" (I Cor:15:14). Traditionally, Christianity has believed in a physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. [2]
In the field of the defense of Christianity, which is known as Christian apologetics, there have been many scholars who have provided numerous reasons for believing in the authenticity of the resurrection of Christ. In regards to early Christianity, many people who claimed to be eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus voluntarily preached the news of this despite extreme persecution, and died for their efforts. Unlike the early members of most religions, these people had the opportunity to be direct eyewitnesses to what verified the claims of Christianity.
