1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (NLT)
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.
4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
If we are going to defend our faith, we must have proof that Jesus was raised from the dead because the foundation of Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The document that talks about the resurrection of Jesus is the New Testament, and the New Testament is found in a book called the Holy Bible. Therefore, if we are going to defend our faith, we must be able to establish that the Holy Bible is the Word of God, not just a book like any other book. This type of discussion is commonly called apologetics.
The easiest way to defend the Christian faith is with four letters – BC and AD. BC stands for before Christ as opposed to AD, which means “in the year of our Lord.” Every time we look at a calendar or write the date, we acknowledge the fact that Jesus is the most important person who ever lived. The way we count time itself is by the days, months, and years before and after Jesus’ birth.
Question: How do we know what we know about the resurrection of Jesus? Answer: The New Testament contains the detailed account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The New Testament is the primary source of historical information about Jesus and the resurrection. But first, we must know that the New Testament is a true, reliable, and accurate source of information. So what do we know about the Bible, and specifically, the New Testament? Consider these facts:
First, there is more manuscript support for the Holy Bible, and specifically the New Testament, than for any other body of ancient literature. 5,000+ Greek, 10,000+ Latin, and nearly 25,000 current existing manuscripts attest to the integrity of the Holy Bible. The text of the Bible is better preserved than the writings of Plato and Aristotle, and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirms the reliability of the Old Testament.
Second, the New Testament has been proven historically and prophetically. As a result, the following 12 evidences have been presented to support the resurrection of Jesus: the eyewitness evidence, the documentary evidence, the corroborating evidence, the rebuttal evidence (including the 7 theories that try to explain away the resurrection of Christ), the identity evidence, the psychological evidence, the profile evidence, the fingerprint evidence, the medical evidence, the evidence of the missing body, the evidence of the numerous post-resurrection appearances, and finally, the circumstantial evidence. There have been many attempts by skeptics to discredit the resurrection story, but none of these attempts is able to account for or explain away the overwhelming evidence.
Third, the magnificent detail of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus prove that the New Testament is accurate and reliable. The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled through His life, death, and resurrection. It is the magnificent detail of these prophecies that mark the Bible as the inspired Word of God. Only God could foreknow and accomplish all that was written about Jesus Christ. This historical accuracy and prophetic reliability set the Bible apart from any other book on record. The efficacy of the Bible as God’s Word is based on overwhelming historical and prophetic proof.
More people have come to worship the God of Israel through this Jew named Jesus than anyone else who ever lived. Today, more than 2 billion people around the world call themselves followers of Jesus.
I talk more about the efficacy of the Bible as God’s Word and the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus through apologetic teaching in my message, “You can believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” This CD will help you experience the power of God! When you order this CD I will also include a complimentary apologetic message confirming the birth of Jesus. Click here to order