Hard to Believe?

By Courtney Rogers 

Starting at a young age I began hearing the same story. God loved us so much, that he sent His only Son to die for us that we might live with Him forever if we only trust him. After dying for us, He rose from the dead three days later. I have believed in this true story since I was a little girl. Sadly, many people have problems understanding or believing that Jesus could rise from the dead. His resurrection was very unique. It was a bodily resurrection (Luke 24:34-39). His body came back to life. He also was resurrected by His own power (John 10:17-18).

Many people have a difficult time believing the resurrection because there are so many false teachings about it. One of the crazy stories would be the theft lie. Skeptics try to rationalize Jesus’ resurrection by saying that the guards at Jesus’ tomb told others that the disciples stole Christ’s body, while the guards slept, to make it look like a resurrection. Here is a question. How could a guard, if he was sleeping, tell others that the disciples stole the body? It makes no sense. The guards would never know that if they were sleeping. This fact alone destroys the theory.

The next theory is the swoon story. Skeptics share that Jesus never really died. Jesus only fainted, but the cool air in the tomb woke Him. The Scripture tends to say otherwise. The soldiers, Nicodemus, and Joseph all testified that Jesus was dead. When still on the cross, Jesus was stabbed through His side as blood and water poured out of Him. While being stabbed, the soldiers would rip the sword throughout Jesus’ internal organs. A man could never survive from that kind of trauma. Jesus died.

It’s easy to fall for stories that seem to make sense on the surface. But don’t be fooled. Really think about what someone is telling you before you assume it’s fact. The truth is simple. I know it may seem hard to believe, but it’s the real story. Jesus did die and he did indeed come back to life three days later.

I got these facts from Bible Doctrines for Today. This book is from A Beka Book, Pensacola Christian College. It was most recently published in 2007.