When St Paul was on trial
before King Agrippa and Governor Festus in Caesarea the King said to Paul that
he could speak for himself.
The Bible says that Paul
motioned with his hand and began his defence and he began to explain the
gospel, how he had experienced the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus and
what he had been doing as a result of the encounter.
Paul says: “First to
those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the
Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate
their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple
courts and tried to kill me. But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand
here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the
prophets and Moses said would happen — that the Messiah would suffer and, as
the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own
people and to the Gentiles.”
At this point Festus
interrupted Paul’s defence. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your
great learning is driving you insane.”
When Paul got to the bit
about Jesus rising from the dead, the intelligent, well educated and well
informed governor interrupts and says that Paul is mad. To him the idea of a
man physically rising from death was unbelievable.
Some people will try to tell
you that the important thing is that He rose again spiritually – No – the
important thing is that He rose physically.
Some people will try to tell
you that He rose figuratively and that He lives within our hearts.
Well yes He does live within
us BUT the important point is that He is alive physically.
Some people will try to tell
you that He didn’t rise at all.
They say something like - I
have no experience of dead men rising from the dead so therefore Jesus couldn’t
have risen and they have lots of well worn arguments to try to explain what
really happened on that first Easter Sunday.
Their minds are closed.
Some people will try to tell
you that the first disciples borrowed the idea of the resurrection from other
religions but that too has been discredited.
For instance the American author Rob Bell mistakenly writes “to claim that your god had risen from
the dead and ascended into heaven; well, it just wasn't that unique. The claims
of these first Christians weren't really anything new. Everybody’s god had
risen from the dead.”
This is just bunkum. To me
Festus’ “You must me mad” reaction to Paul’s mention of resurrection, amongst
many other things, is more proof that Jesus is unique.
All of these other
explanations about the resurrection are wrong put about by people who have a
veil over their eyes.
But as Paul says – the veil
is taken away through Christ.
Whenever anyone turns to the
Lord, the veil is taken away
And in 1 Corinthians 15 he
writes:
…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.
Jesus is the unique Son of
God who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a perfect
sinless life, was killed on a cross, rose again, and ascended to Heaven to sit
at the right hand of the Father, until He comes again to judge the living and
the dead!
And by Him and what he as
done those who believe can have new life with Him throughout all eternity!
Paul wasn’t mad after all.
And Jesus is unique!
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