Risen: Myth or Miracle?
A Seattle airport baggage handler one day was unloading cargo pets from an airplane when he noticed that one of the dogs was dead. And so this really sent him into a panic. So, he and his co-workers devised a plan. They told the owner that his dog had been rerouted to Phoenix, and if he came back tomorrow, he could retrieve his pet. Well, in the meantime, he and his co-workers went to the dog pound, found a dog that looked just like this man's dead dog, and brought him back. The next day, the man came to pick up his pet. The baggage handler presented the dog to the owner. The owner looked at him and said, “That's not my dog.” And the baggage handler said, “Well, of course it is.” The owner said, “No, that's not my dog. It doesn't even look like him.” And the baggage handler says,” Well, yeah, of course, it's your dog. He just looks a little different because of the jet lag. Well, this went back and forth a few times. And finally, the baggage handler asked him, “What makes you think for certain this is not your dog?” And the man replied, “Well, because my dog was dead, and I was shipping him back to be buried.”
Wouldn't it be great for those of us who have owned pets if some of our pets actually came back to life? Like, would you like to have one of those dogs or cats back? Well, we know for certain that animals and human beings for that matter, don't do that. They just don't come back to life.
A couple of thousand years ago, something happened that had never happened before. On a Sunday morning, a few brokenhearted people went to the tomb of a man they loved, a man who had recently died, a man they had watched the Roman soldiers crucify and beat and pierce.
But they found the tomb was empty and an angel telling them in Luke chapter 24, “He is not here, but he has risen.” All of a sudden, Jesus was there in the garden, talking with Mary, reassuring her, communicating with her, “You don't have to go through life afraid anymore. All of a sudden, Jesus was with Peter, reaffirming him, “You don't have to go through life feeling guilty about your failures anymore.” All of a sudden, Jesus was with Thomas, reassuring him, “You don't have to go through life doubting anymore. Wouldn't that be great?
Maybe some of you have doubts. As a Christian, sometimes I even have doubts. I wish I could have been Thomas. I wish I could have been there in his shoes. Maybe some of you can identify with that. I identify with Thomas, who needed to see the wounds in Jesus’ hands and feet, who needed to touch the wound in his side and see for himself that Jesus was actually alive so that I could believe that Jesus really died and rose from the dead. Maybe some of you can relate. Maybe some of you would love to believe without a doubt that Jesus is who he says he is, and he did what it says he did without a doubt.
The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and so is your faith.” If Christ did not rise from the dead, then what are we doing here? It's futile. But Jesus rising from the dead is the most important event in all the history of the world. It's so important that history has been divided into BC before the events of Jesus Christ and then AD after the events of Jesus Christ.
So, the apostles saw Jesus alive after he died and was crucified, and they got it. The women saw the empty tomb. Mary got to talk with Jesus in the garden face to face, and they got it. Thomas finally got to see Jesus’ hands and feet, and he got it. Hundreds of people saw Jesus walking around Jerusalem for 40 days, and they got it. Do you know who else got it? The very people who put Jesus to death. They got it. And folks, it makes me wonder, do we get it? Do I get it really? Do I really comprehend and get the significance of what happened that day there in the garden, without a doubt? Wouldn't you like to know without a doubt that Jesus is alive?
The Guinness Book of World Records lists a man who is defined as the most successful lawyer in history. Sir Lionel Luckhoo. Get this. He won 245 successive murder acquittals. That's how good he was. He was knighted twice by Queen Elizabeth, who appointed him to her council to conduct court work on behalf of the Crown. Well, one day, someone challenged Lionel to apply his legal skills to the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And for several years, he studied the historical record and concluded by saying, “The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so powerful that it compels acceptance by proof, which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.” And because of his findings, at the age of 64, Sir Lionel Luckhoo became a Christian. He knew without a doubt. Wouldn't you like to know without a doubt Jesus is alive?
The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ leaves absolutely no room for doubt. Here are four:
The empty tomb.
Fulfilled prophecies.
Eyewitness accounts.
Changed lives.