Resurrection Proof

Acts 1:3

Watch on YouTube

Prove to me that Jesus rose from the dead. Can you? As we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus during this Easter season, you’ve maybe wrestled with that kind of question. How do we know that Jesus rose from the dead? How do we prove to someone else that he rose? That’s a difficult question, but it’s a natural question for us to have. We want to know evidence for the things that we put our faith in. We want to see all the facts. We want to be absolutely sure that the things we believe are true.

And while I can’t prove to you that Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus can. In Acts chapter one, Luke tells us that after he had suffered, he referring to Jesus,

After he had suffered, he presented himself alive to the apostles with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and told them things about the kingdom of God.

(Acts 1:3)

Jesus wanted to make sure that his followers really knew that he was alive. He didn’t want to leave any doubts in their minds about his resurrection, so he took every measure to prove it to them. For example, Jesus didn’t want people thinking that he was just some ghost, so he took food and ate it to prove that he was alive in the flesh. One of his followers, Thomas, was a bit of a skeptic, like many of us can be, and he had a harder time believing. So Jesus took Thomas’ finger and shoved it into the nail holes on his hands, and then took Thomas’s hand and thrust it into the spear wound on his side, so that Thomas would know that he really was the man who died on a cross. But it wasn’t just his closest followers that Jesus revealed himself to. Paul tells us that on one occasion, Jesus even appeared to over 500 people who saw him alive.

But maybe that’s not enough for you. Maybe you’re thinking, well, some food, a few wounds. That’s not a whole lot to put my faith in. But remember that Jesus was with his followers for 40 days after his resurrection, and during that time he would have done many other things to convince and prove to them that he really was the one who came back from the dead. And although we don’t know all the things that these eyewitnesses saw, we do know what the eyewitnesses believed. They saw a man who was dead one day and alive three days later, and they were radically changed. They went from being these frightened cowards after Jesus crucifixion to bold preachers who were willing to die for what they believed after Jesus resurrection.

These men knew the truth, and they recorded it in a book so that you and I could believe. Look, I can’t prove to you all the things that Jesus did. But Jesus has given you his word so that you can know that he loves you and forgives you. And his resurrection is proof that he died for your sins and that he really is your Savior. Jesus is risen. Amen.