The Resurrection of the Son of God

I'm Easter exhausted this morning!

It was an exciting day of worship and truth yesterday as we considered the strange and striking evidence of the historicity and truthfulness for the resurrection of Jesus. If you were out of town, we missed you and hope you take the time the listen. Several have asked about some of the quotes, the N.T. Wright book referenced and the availability of the audio.

The audio is now posted on the website and is now available via the podcast in iTunes.

Here are the quotes. . .

Napolean's assessment of Jesus:

"You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests and of the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to his memory? My armies have forgotten me even while living, as the Carthaginian army forgot Hannibal. Such is our power.”

“I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for him.”

“I search in vain history to find similar to Jesus Christ, or anything which can approach the gospel. Neither history nor humanity, nor ages, nor nature, offer me anything with which I am able to compare it or to explain it. Here everything is extraordinary.”

Anon quote on the unrivaled impact of Jesus:

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the governments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned have not changed the course of history as much as this one solitary life.

William Pannenberg on the early resurrection testimony in Jerusalem. . .

Without having a reliable testimony for the emptiness of Jesus' tomb, the early Christian community could not have survived in Jerusalem proclaiming the resurrection of Christ.

Jewish Christian scholar Pinchas Lapide on the transformation of the disciples:

When this scared, frightened band of apostles which was just about to throw away everything in order to flee in despair to Galilee; when these peasants, shepherds and fishermen, who betrayed and denied their master and then failed him miserably, suddenly could be changed overnight into a confident mission society, convinced of salvation and able to work with much more success after Easter than before Easter, then no vision or hallucination is sufficient to explain such a revolutionary transformation.

The book I mentioned is N.T. Wright's 800 page defense of the resurrection entitled, "The Resurrection of the Son of God."

I also found this Wright lecture (CLICK HERE), recently delivered at Roanoke College, to be very helpful in my preparation.

I don't agree with everything the Wright says or writes, but I do think his defense of the resurrection is compelling and thorough.

Hope these resources are helpful to some and cause further contemplation beyond Sunday.

He's still risen!