Hi Friends,

Its Easter again..........or just gone this weekend. I got the kids some Easter chocolate and we had an Easter egg hunt all around the house.....they absolutely loved it. I must admit I quite enjoyed it myself. Although chocolate has nothing to do with Jesus..........we wouldn't miss it for the world.

I wanted to write and list 5 things which prove that the resurrection of Jesus was an actual event, something that really did happen. There are many people who don't believe this, sadly some of these are even Christians........but the resurrection is a foundation of our fiath and is very important. Here are my 5 proofs.

1. There were witnesses to the fact...........real live living people such as you or me. Mary Magdalene, Peter, James John and about 500 other people were all witnesses to the fact that Jesus was very much alive again. (by the way, Jesus was never one to prove himself to anyone, so he never appeared to any of the sceptics, only to the believers. This was the way Jesus acted all through his ministry.)

2. The Bible tells us that He rose............and the Bible is the word of God. We should base our life upon the things written in the Bible.

3. Recorded History tells us. One example was by the historian Flavius Josephus (not a believer) who recorded the following: "He was [the] Christ.  And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day." For a good webpage on this subject check out "http://www.myfortress.org/historians.html"

Finally however we get to the last 2 proofs, and these are by far the most interesting and compelling.

4. All of the 4 commands of Jesus to preach the gospel (found in Matthew 28:18, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:49 & Acts 1:4,5&8) all came after the resurrection. In other words, if Jesus had never raised from the dead, He would never have given these commands, and the disciples would never have preached. In short, without this, there would be no believers today. (not even you)

5. Finally, 11 out of the 12 apostles were martyred for their faith. In fact hundreds of other believers who were with Jesus also died for their faith. If Christ has not really been ressurected, and appeared to these people..........what were they dying for? If they had not witnessed Christs resurrection why were they giving up their own life...........but the fact that they witnessed the power of Christs resurrection empowered the early believers to live for Him in this way. In fact, there is a bible verse which confirms what I mean.........check it out, Acts 5:33-38

The Lord be with you this Easter
Cheers
David