Healing Rays of Righteousness

Christianity is separated from all other religions by belief that its leader, Jesus Christ, was bodily resurrected from the dead, and that his spirit is now a living presence among his followers. Thus, to counter and destroy Christianity, one must disprove Jesus’ resurrection and aliveness.

Satan knows this and since day one continues to deceive many church leaders and religious scholars into disregarding or distorting the historical facts with various conspiracy theories, such as the one recorded in Matthew 28:11-15. However, none have succeeded because they cannot find Jesus’ dead body as evidence to support their theories.

When I read the story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, I discover the following “proof-positive” snapshots from the story that provide convincing evidence of Jesus’ bodily resurrection and aliveness.

1. When the two women, both named ‘Mary” came to the tomb early Sunday morning to prepare Jesus’ dead body for decomposition, they came with a broken heart, crushed hope, and resigned to his death. The ugly terror of Friday was over, and the hopeless grief of Saturday was still with them. They came with zero faith that anything could or would change in their relationship with Jesus. He was now and forever dead and gone from their lives.

And so, you can imagine their surprise when they found the tomb entrance open and going inside to find no body. Imagine their stunned bewilderment and fright when asked by two men in dazzling robes, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:1-5).If you had been there with them, how would you have responded at that moment?

2. We can correctly assume that the Jewish leaders, being faced with evidence of a great spiritual awakening led by Jesus that threatened their proud Judaism, would have anxiously desired to find and expose the dead body of Jesus, and give the lie to this resurrection rumor. But they could not.

3. Under Roman law, the soldiers guarding the tomb would be held accountable for the disappearance of the dead body they were guarding. And the penalty for such negligence and disappearance was imprisonment or death. We can be assured that they would be extremely eager to produce the dead body. But they could not.

4. It is inconceivable to think that the disciples might have stolen the body, as the soldiers were commanded and paid to report. Why? Because at that moment, following the crucifixion, the disciples were a demoralized, defeated, confused, and powerless minority group, hiding in fear of the Roman and Jewish authorities coming to arrest them for being disciples of Jesus.

5. The gospel writer, Luke, who was a knowledgeable physician, wrote a detailed record of Jesus’ life and ministry, telling us in Acts 1:3 that during the forty days after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the risen Christ “presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. … and spoke about the kingdom of God.” 

6. The reliable physician, Luke, also tells us that when Jesus appeared to his disciples during those forty days before ascending into heaven, it was with the same body that hung from a cross and was put into the tomb. The marks of his physical torture and suffering were still visible on his body, and Jesus invited the disciples to touch his flesh and bones. (Luke 24:36-43).

7. And lastly, Just before his final departure and ascension into heaven, Jesus reminds the disciples that the Scriptures confirm that the crucified and resurrected Messiah was not an adjustment in God’s plan. This was God’s design all along, and everything written about the Messiah in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled. (Luke 24:44-53).

These several snapshots provide overwhelming evidence that something supernatural occurred in Jesus’ resurrection. And it is amazing to see how God took special care in establishing the truth that Jesus’ resurrected body was a real body and not some illusion, or phantom spirit. So be it, and so it is!

“Lift your glad voices in triumph on high, for Jesus has risen and we shall not die. Vain were the terrors that gathered around him, and short the dominion of death and the grave.” (Henry Ware Jr., 1817)

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“Healing Rays of Righteousness” – www.geigler13.wordpress.com – Ray M. Geigley – 4/03/24