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I tried to be as
broad minded as possible. I tried to find as many ways to
God as I could. I tried, and failed miserably! All of my
attempts at being broad-minded led straight to the grave!
Psalm 49 makes that point in terrifying detail.
As I write
this, I am seeing people I know drop dead right and left -
my wife's grandmother, my family's close friend, a relative
who is dying, a Sunday school teacher who is seriously
ill-and the list just keeps coming. Before I met Jesus, I
had my own translation of John 14:6. Death said to me, "I
am the way, the truth, and the end of life! No one comes to
the Father unless they come through me!" Death has persuaded
me that there is only one way, the grave!
So is that the
end of the story? If it were, it would be a very bad novel
with the main character committing suicide at the end. If
there are many ways to God, they all lead to the casket!
Thus, I have become narrow-minded. All of life points
downward. Now what? Is that where life stops? I would have
thought so until I met Jesus. So, why do I think that he
really is the one and only way?
Simply because
no one else has ever done what he did.
I know of no
one else who fulfilled prophecy in such meticulous detail.
Just study Psalm 22 written a thousand years ahead and see a
detailed medical description of crucifixion. Study Isaiah
53 and see the biography of Jesus written 7 centuries
beforehand. Can anybody guess what will happen 700 years
from now? I doubt it! I know of no one who resurrected from
death.
I tried really
hard to interpret the resurrection of Jesus in purely
natural terms. I couldn't.
Did 11 of his
disciples cook up this whole resurrection story just to
trick us into behaving morally? Hardly! Did they invent this
resurrection story to gain great power and prestige?
Nonsense! They gained nothing except beatings,
imprisonments, tortures, and even death. Surely one of them
would have cracked and said, "Hold on a minute! We'll tell
you how it was done! Just don't dip me in that hot pitch
again!"
We have to
admit that at the very least, hundreds of his followers
honestly believed that his dead corpse came to life.
So, what's
left?
Well, Jesus
could have come out of the tomb and fooled his people into
believing that he had risen. This meant he would have had
to survive crucifixion Roman style! Absurd! Crucifixion
leads to massive loss of blood and fluids. Hours of pain
would send the nervous system into overdrive which would
induce shock. The last thing a shock patient needs is a cool
tomb!
Let me see if I
get this right. Jesus loses most of his bodily fluids, yet
he is strong enough to move a stone that weighs a couple of
tons, beat up a Roman guard, and walk several miles, and
look like a risen Messiah instead of a hospital patient on
death's door!
Wouldn't that
qualify as a miracle? So we have a pile of the impossible.
The disciples inventing a story even under torture.
Impossible! Jesus surviving Roman crucifixion. Impossible! A
dead corpse rising from death! Impossible! So, as long as
you must believe the impossible, why not pick the one most
likely to be a miracle from God? If I were God, I would
fulfill prophecies centuries old, and I would resurrect a
dead body under impossible circumstances.
So, the longer
I live, the more narrow-minded I become. I am narrow-minded
enough to believe that nobody gets out of this life alive.
I am narrow-minded enough to believe that Jesus did the
impossible, and that witnesses died under torture telling
their impossible story.
I believe Peter
who couldn't even face down a little servant girl one day,
and who yelled from the temple steps that his master Jesus
had really risen! I believe the other witnesses who took 6
days to die under torture during Nero's "festivities." I
believe Cleopas who Eusebius tells us was Jesus' step uncle,
(Joseph's brother) who was slowly pealed alive as he swore
that Jesus had risen.
Today, as I
watch people close to me die, I am walking through the
valley of the shadow of death, and I must admit that I am
afraid. Even so, I am not without hope. Though I have
trouble focusing today, I have no trouble focusing on
yesterday, and those brave witnesses who died yesterday. I
have no trouble focusing on tomorrow, and the glorious
resurrection that Jesus promises tomorrow. I am afraid
because I have only seen people go into the grave and never
come out again.
I am filled
with hope because brave witnesses assure me that they once
did see someone like Jesus go into the tomb and yet come out
again! For me, the tomb appears to be a one way trip. For
them, it was assuredly a two way trip! For me, today, the
dead do not return. For them, the dead can return-one named
Jesus did!
Chris Hansen
Author:
"Revelation
Revisited."
Watch the cosmic
drama unfold through John's visions of heaven, hell,
antichrist, the destruction of the universe, and the
stunning new creation!
"Secret of the
Psalms."
Watch the life of Jesus unfold in amazing detail a thousand
years in advance through the Psalms.
"Grandfather's
Journal."
Watch a young
boy who is terrified of death encounter something he never
would have expected-real hope through a real resurrection.
Check your local
bookstore,
or visit
www.xlibris.com
or call
1-888-795-4274
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