Eye Witnessed News
Have you ever encountered something that was hard to believe. Maybe you ended the story with, “you just had to see it to believe it”. Having someone to corroborate your story is powerful, especially if you’re accused of a crime.
Multiple eyewitness accounts is how we know what has happened for most of the things we know about history. Think about it, who was the first president of the United States? How do you know that? You know that the same way we know everything else we know about history. Someone who was there wrote it down to tell others about it.
Think about all we know about Alexander the Great, where he was born when and where he died, his father and horses name… We know all of this information primarily from two biographies, written 400 years after his death. This information is accepted as fact by historians and seen as reliable.
“Nice history lesson David but what does this have to do with the Bible?” Thanks for asking! In First Corinthians Paul writes to the early church to tell them what he has already told them (15:1). He reminded them of Jesus death, burial and resurrection that he was seen by the disciples and even over 500 people.
This letter was written around 20 years after Jesus ascension and it is communicating what the New Testament reiterates continually, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Remember Alexander the Great and how what we know of him was based on two authors accounts 400 years after his death. The story of Jesus was compiled and confirmed in less than 100 years. The eye witnesses of the resurrection shared their story and it was quickly written and broadly shared. The Story of Jesus as recorded in history is a verifiable fact as confirmed by the attention to details and the life lived by those who encountered it.
The details of Jesus’ story are important. Think about Luke chapter 3. There Luke, a medical doctor hired by a wealthy benefactor to investigate the story of Jesus, gives specific places, dates and people to give insight into Jesus’ story. This isn’t, “once upon a time, in a galaxy far-far away.” As a matter of fact, there are 30 historical figures mentioned in the New Testament that are confirmed by Extra-Biblical sources.
The New Testament is intentionally not vague. Even the personal details in stories like John being faster than Peter in John 20:4 are proof of this. These are real stories about real people who really encountered a resurrected Christ.
You also see quickly the corroboration. Paul tells the Church, Jesus was seen by 500 people. Some had died by that point but most of them were still living to tell their stories.
Yes those who followed Jesus closely were so passionate about their conviction that Jesus did rise again that they would lay down their lives for it but Paul is saying, “don’t just trust his friends, there’s plenty of people who can confirm this.”
The evidence to confirm the resurrection of Jesus is overwhelming! Theologian Anthony Flew said it this way, “The evidence for the resurrection is better than for claimed miracles in any other religion. It’s outstandingly different in quality and quantity.” The New Testament account of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection isn’t myth or mysticism but it is verified, certified, corroborated, undeniable truth.
