In the first two parts of this series, we talked about Jesus’ death and resurrection from a historical perspective. Let’s switch gears a little bit and talk about some logical reasoning as to why Jesus is who He says He is. A good question to start this thought process is, “Why would Jesus do the particular things He did if it was all a hoax in the making?” Other religions depend on one or two men receiving a message from their god and their story cannot be verified. You just have to trust them. As we get into this, you will see that this isn’t the case with Jesus. Although His plan may seem strange at first glance, it can be verified. Here we go!
- Why a physical death? – Why would Jesus or his followers choose a physical death as part of His story? Why pick something that could be so easily disproven? If someone was really making up the story of Jesus, it would have been much easier to have Jesus simply ascend into heaven so nobody could easily disprove it. The whole resurrection would have relied on faith alone. He is God, after all. There would have been no public crucifixion or a bodily resurrection, both of which would have been hard to fake without anyone finding out.
- Why Roman crucifixion? – The Romans used death by crucifixion because of how effective and public it was. From the Romans’ perspective, it worked very well. They were brutal, lengthy, and always worked. It was an effective way to deter people from breaking the law. No one ever survived, ever. I would argue this is the reason Jesus chose to die on the cross. It was both very public and very final. It would be hard to question if He actually died or not. If Jesus had died another way (i.e. poison, stoning, sword), it would have been much easier to question if He actually died. He could have simply recovered from his wounds in private. The crucifixion made this death indisputable, especially for the people present during that time in history.
- Why appear to women first? – At this particular time in history, women didn’t have the same rights as men. Women couldn’t even be used as a witness in a court case because they were not seen as credible. Thus, to appear first to women just wouldn’t be a convincing way to start the word that Jesus had indeed risen. They wouldn’t have been easily believed. If His followers were building a narrative of their own making, wouldn’t they have promoted and written it to be socially acceptable?
- How did He become so popular if He never existed? – When looking back on history, the amount of literature, documentation, and records is massive regarding the subject of Jesus. Other historical figures do not even come close to having as much written about them. Still today, Jesus is one of the most debated and talked about figures in history. If Jesus never lived nor rose from the dead, would we really have this much historical documentation and discussion about him? Likely not. The subject of Jesus would have died on the vine a long time ago. It would truly be an amazing feat to be the most popular subject in history, but never exist, let alone rise from the dead.
In the last three posts, we have looked at the historical evidence outside and inside the Bible, historical events, and logic concerning the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. When we put it all together, Jesus is both logically and historically coherent. To steal a phrase from the judicial system, Jesus’ existence and actions are true “beyond a reasonable doubt”, The only explanation that is reasonable and coherent is Jesus is who He says He is. HE HAS RISEN! Follow Him!
Leave No Doubt – Think. Love. Share.
