And We Are All Witnesses To It

Acts 2:22-24, 32-36

“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him… God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’ “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

We are all witnesses that God raised Jesus of Nazareth to life (v. 32). The Apostle Peter reminds Israel (and us) of this awesome historical and historic event in their lifetime and that the best explanation, in the context of the life He lived, the signs and wonders He performed and the God He proclaimed, is that this God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead. For us far removed by two millennia, we establish this event by the general reliability of the accounts in the Gospels, in the Bible. Left to its essence the core facts surrounding the event is a baseline testament to the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, multiply attested by these documents from antiquity collected in one volume the faithful call Scriptures, we proclaim namely as a review: (1) that he died by Roman crucifixion, (2) that he was buried and that the tomb was found empty after three days, (3) that he appeared to his disciples alive, and (4) that these followers utterly convinced, boldly shared this event as a sign and the central tenet of the budding Christian religion, nothing best explains these other than the thesis that God raised Jesus from the dead. St. Paul repeats St. Peter’s claim in Athens, saying God “has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31).” Indeed in one of his earliest letters, he tells the church (and us), “by this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all He appeared to me also… (I Cor 15:2–8).” May the resurrection empower us today to overcome, as Christ did with death! By His Name and Spirit. Amen.