Evidence Of The Resurrection: The Testimony Of The Witnesses - (Part 2) Series

EVIDENCE OF THE RESURRECTION: TESTIMONIES OF THE WITNESSES

(PART 2)

I Corinthians 15:5-7

During a criminal investigation, detectives seek to gather as much evidence as possible to prove their case. While they will take as much circumstantial evidence as is available, they would much rather have physical evidence. Even better are those occasions when an eyewitness is found who can give a first-hand testimony of the events that transpired. The best-case scenario is when there are multiple eye witnesses whose testimonies agree, and they are all willing to share exactly what they saw.

As Paul seeks to defend the authenticity of Christ’s Resurrection in an effort to prove the biblical doctrine concerning the future, bodily resurrection of the Saints, he submits several key pieces of evidence to support his case. He first appeals to the work that Christ had performed in the lives of the Corinthian Christians as evidence of the Resurrection. Then he presents God’s Prophets and the Old Testament scriptures as proof. Here in our selected text, Paul begins to metaphorically call to the witness stand several key people who had a personal encounter with Jesus after His Resurrection.

When we last assembled, we examined the testimony of Cephas, better known to most as The Apostle Peter. I mentioned when we began to consider his post-Resurrection encounters with the Lord Jesus that in appealing to Peter, Paul certainly did not save the best witness until last. Of all the followers who communed with Jesus after His Resurrection, more is recorded about Peter than any other. We not only have a record of Peter’s encounters with Jesus between the Resurrection and Ascension, we have a wealth of information about how Jesus worked in and through him in the first 12 chapters of the Book of Acts.

I said all of that to say this, Paul has already presented more than ample proof that Jesus is alive. However, he does not stop with his first eyewitness, he goes on to appeal to several more people who had a first-hand encounter with the Risen Savior.

- I would like to continue to examine the “Evidence Of The Resurrection” and consider:

THE TESTIMONIES OF THE WITNESSES (Part 2)

v5 Jesus appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

- In these verses we see that Paul has come prepared with many witnesses who saw the Risen Lord with their own eyes. First on that list is Cephas and the next is:

WITNESS #2: THE TWELVE

v5 Jesus appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

I say, “witness #2” but Paul actually appeals to multiple “witnesses”. You probably have noticed that he refers to them as “the twelve”. We know that by this point Judas has betrayed Christ and committed suicide. We also know that Matthias was not chosen to replace him until after Christ ascended. But this is not a contradiction, there are a few references in scriptures where the remaining eleven Disciples are referred to as “the twelve”. Sort of like we still refer to the PAC 12 as the PAC 12 even though there are only 2 teams left in the Pacific 12 conference. (Playful sarcasm intended).

Jesus first appeared to His Disciples on the evening of the Resurrection. These men were curious and perplexed, and also filled with doubt and fear. In Luke 23, after Jesus’ encounter with Cleopas and that other disciple on the Road to Emmaus, they quickly ran back to Jerusalem to inform “the eleven” of what they had just experienced. The good news made it back to Jerusalem before they did; when they entered into the room where the followers of the Lord were gathered, they were told that “The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon!” After hearing this, they then described their own personal encounter with Jesus.

Though there was much excitement among the Disciples of the Lord, there was still a great deal of confusion and even doubt. However, those doubts were soon to be put to rest. As they are all discussing these separate encounters with Jesus, the Lord Himself comes on the scene and reveals Himself to all who were gathered. Notice:

Luke 24:36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

When it comes to the mindset of Christ’s Apostles after the Resurrection, the Apostle Thomas receives a great deal of unfair criticism. For almost 2,000 years people have been referring to this faithful Disciple of the Lord as “doubting Thomas”. This is an unfair designation because the scriptures prove that all of the Disciples doubted the reality that Jesus was alive until they saw Him with their own eyes. In fact, the following conversation took place when Thomas was not even in the room. Notice: