We are all fascinated by stories of people who have died and been revived. I think it’s the whole idea of not knowing what happens next that makes us all wonder what to expect. There is a side of us that wants to be in control and have some sort of assurance when facing what everyone must face. Stories abound. As a matter of fact, some of them have topped best seller lists.

WhoWho do you trust, though? What if I told you I know someone who was dead for three whole days and came back from the grave only to live forever? I know such a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Listen to what Jesus says about Himself:

“I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever” (Revelation 1:18).

AAt this point you may be saying, “Oh, don’t get religious on me now.” Well, if we’re willing to listen to Sharon Stone talk about her few minutes on the other side, shouldn’t we at least listen to what Jesus has to say? I mean, Jesus really did die, and He really did come back from being dead for three whole days.

InIn case you didn’t know, there was a signiicant person by the name of Jesus Christ who walked the earth two thousand years ago who claimed to be God. He did a lot of good like loving people, healing them of diseases, confronting corruption, and helping the poor. When He was thirty-three years old, He was brutally tortured. He was beaten, whipped, cut and stabbed; He then had His handshands and feet nailed to a wooden cross to hang in the sun to die a slow death. Six hours later, He died on that cross.

Let’s talk about Jesus and His death for a moment. Do you know there is more evidence that Jesus Christ was a real person than Julius Caesar? Christian, Jewish and Roman historians all talk about Jesus’ cruciixion. While someone would argue that Christian historians would be prejudicial, you could hardly make that argument for the Jewish and Roman Historians. No, my friends, Jesus was seseverely beaten and then had His hands and feet nailed to a wooden cross.

In order to discredit the resurrection, there have been some who have said Jesus just passed out and was later revived in His tomb. People who fall for this nonsense obviously don't take into account how meticulous the Romans were. They had gone to great lengths to secure the body, so why would they not be sure He was dead? NNow here’s where the story gets interesting. History tells us they took Jesus’ body, placed it in a tomb, rolled a stone in front of it, sealed it with the seal of Rome, and placed guards in front of it. When Jesus rose from the dead, the stone was rolled away. This breaking of the Roman seal would be signiicant because the Romans wouldn't just let that slide. Violating the authority of that seal was taken as

page 13

violation against Caesar himself. The fact that the seal had been broken and the body was gone would mean death for the soldiers, who were killed for lesser offenses in Rome. Needless to say, the guards went AWOL. But ultimately, the fact remains that the body was gone. It was not there. The larger point here is it would be next to impossible to steal the body and from what history tells us, it would be a ridiculous pridiculous proposition.

Perhaps the greatest argument I've ever heard for the resurrection of Christ is the argument of the death of the witnesses of the resurrection. Of the eleven who claimed to see Christ after He came back from the dead, ten died brutal deaths because of their belief in it. Do you see what I’m saying? Nobody willingly dies for a lie. It’s hard to imagine Peter gathering the others together and saying, “Hey, this stinstinks. We put our faith in this guy, but He’s dead. I’ve got an idea. Let’s steal the body and tell everyone He rose from the dead. We’ll make a fortune by promoting a new religion.” That might be great for a little while, but it would be short lived until you were confronted with death for your beliefs. I mean if someone held a sword to your throat and said, “Deny or die” and you chose death, you’d be crazy. And wwhile one person may be crazy enough to do something stupid, ten being persecuted and killed for a belief in the resurrection makes it hard to deny.

So what does Jesus have to say to us about the afterlife? Hebrews 9:27 tells us: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” The Bible teaches that as human beings, we are made up of two parts - material and immaterial. When you die, your material part goes into the ground but your material part will go to one of two places: Heaven or Hell. The Bible never talks about Purgatory or anany other in-between place. Heaven is a place in the presence of God Himself and Hell is a place of separation from God and eternal torment. The Bible also promises a time when Jesus will return and at that time, those who are believers in Jesus will be reunited with those who have died believing in Him.

And the fact that Jesus came back from the grave gives us a hope for what happens when we die. Our conidence doesn't lie in details beyond the grave but in the Person who rose from it. Scripture tells us: “Because God’s children are human beings—made of lesh and blood—Jesus also became lesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could HeHe break the power of the Devil, who had the power of death.

TheologyBy Pastor Mike Servello