Is Your Jesus Big Enough To Explain Easter?

Everyone has an opinion about Jesus. But one of the questions everyone has to answer-especially historians-is how one explains Jesus being worshipped as God within 20 years of his public and disgraceful crucifixion as the King of the Jews? You need a big enough cause to generate that effect! I think the resurrection would do it. Here is a link to the audio of a message I gave last Easter on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

“Students of Jesus today are faced with a multitude of options, ranging from the traditional Jesus who was Savior, Lord, and founder of the church, to a Jesus who was considerably different—a Jesus who was a sage, a religious genius or social revolutionary. These latter three portraits though clearly drawing their energies from live wires in the Gospels, leave us with a Jesus who is not big enough to explain his crucifixion, his following, or development of the Church. If we today are going to be honest about Jesus, we have to choose a Jesus who satisfies all the evidence historians have observed and who will also explain why it is that so many people have found him to be so wonderful that they attend churches every week to worship him.”—Scot McKnight

The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach by Michael Licona

Here is a thoroughly researched and extensively documented new book on the Resurrection by Michael Licona that needs to find a home in your library if you are a pastor, apologist, or teacher.

Book Description:

The question of the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection has been repeatedly probed, investigated and debated. And the results have varied widely. Perhaps some now regard this issue as the burned-over district of New Testament scholarship. Could there be any new and promising approach to this problem? Yes, answers Michael Licona. And he convincingly points us to a significant deficiency in approaching this question: our historiographical orientation and practice. So he opens this study with an extensive consideration of historiography and the particular problem of investigating claims of miracles. This alone is a valuable contribution. But then Licona carefully applies his principles and methods to the question of Jesus’ resurrection. In addition to determining and working from the most reliable sources and bedrock historical evidence, Licona critically weighs other prominent hypotheses. His own argument is a challenging and closely argued case for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. Any future approaches to dealing with this “prize puzzle” of New Testament study will need to be routed through The Resurrection of Jesus.


The Central Claim of Christianity is Historical

“Christianity is not a code for living or a philosophy of religion; rather it is rooted in real events of History. To some people this is scandalous because it means that the truth of Christianity is inexplicably bound up with the truth of certain historical facts, such that if those facts should be disproved, so would Christianity. But at the same time, this makes Christianity unique because, unlike most other world religions, we now have a means of verifying its truth by historical evidence.”—William Lane Craig

“…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins…If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”—1 Cor. 15:17-18

Is There Any Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?

Yesterday, I had the great privilege and joy of preaching our Easter service at Fellowship Bible Church. My topic: The Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?

What is the difference between believing in Jesus and the Easter Bunny? That may seem like a silly question…but what would you say?