For believers in Christ, Easter is a time of reflection upon the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ roughly 2000 years ago.
The New Testament gospel accounts of eye-witness testimonies say that Christ was crucified and resurrected during the Jewish Passover. They also claim that Jesus was in fact the true Messiah promised in the Old Testament who would deliver them from death and, who with such marvelous mystery, fulfilled every prophecy given about his coming.
With Easter just a few days away, I have been reflecting on how the life, death and ultimate resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of faith—his resurrection being key. If the resurrection never happened, if Jesus was not who he said he was or did the things that he did, then Christianity is empty and pointless. Sure, the lessons of Christ are relevant, and he could arguably be considered one of the most insightfully wise humans ever to live, but if Jesus was not God come to Earth to be the redeemer of sin, one has to ask, “What’s the point?”
Being a follower of Christ is not easy. I can honestly say that if I wanted a life of relative ease, pleasure and so-called success, I certainly would not have chosen to believe. After all, if there is no God and we are all going to die anyway, why not live it up? Why not be self-centered, indulgent and do whatever I want? Sadly, so many people live that way, rejecting a message that they may not even truly know. I am amazed by the number of athiests and agnostics who easily brush off the Bible as a book of nice stories who have not even read a single page, much less considered it as a valuable record of history.
Scribes held one of the most notable and revered positions in Jewish culture. They were responsible for accurately preserving the scriptures in unimaginable ways. In fact, they were so faithful in making copies, that each new scroll had to be copied from a certified original—not one character could be written from memory. The distance between each character was measured by a single thread. It was thoroughly compared against the original. If any rule was broken (of which there were many others), the entire scroll was destroyed and they would have to begin again.
Scriptures were written by 40 different authors, spanning approximately 1500 years. Not only did the authors live in different time periods, but they also had different cultures, were spread over 3 different continents and were written by people in a variety of different occupations. It is amazing then that all the books of Scripture are in agreement as to the events and in their account of the nature of God, his promises, and his plans to restore a broken relationship between man and himself. It’s mind-boggling that the facts presented are found to be in such precise unity as they are—finding even a handful of people in one time period and in one culture to agree about one account of anything is nearly impossible.
Even more amazing is the fact that the books of the New Testament were written over a very short period of time—roughly 60 years. There are over 24,000 copies today, with some of them dating to only 25 years after the originals. In contrast, other ancient writings come nowhere close to those of the New Testament. The works of Plato for example, were written around 900 B.C. with a time span between the original writing and the oldest copy being over 1200 years. There are 7 copies in existence today.
Some people have said that characters in the Bible were simply that; characters—fictional people with fictional stories living in fictional places. Many had said that the ancient places mentioned in the Bible didn’t exist, yet these places have been and are continuing to be historically proven. For example, many critics used to deny that the Hittites of the Bible were more than a fictional people because there were no found records of their existence. However, today in Turkey there is a museum devoted entirely to the Hittite culture.
With more and more historical discoveries being made about the Bible, its accounts and its promises, I find it even more difficult to not believe. From a verse with familiar numbers to perhaps the most famous of all (John 3:16), comes one from my biblical namesake:
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16
As we continue toward Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I will continue to look at the man Jesus Christ. I will contemplate his amazing words, works, and evidence which strengthen my faith and deepen my desire to walk in his awesome grace.
More to come…
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