He Is Risen!

This Sunday, April 4, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This made our faith unique. Our gospel message rests on this truth. However, there are those who seek to deny the resurrection. One Muslim scholar said, “On the subject of crucifixion, the Muslim is told in no uncertain terms, in the Holy Qur’an… that they didn’t kill Him, nor did they crucify Him. But it was made to appear to them so.” (Source: http://answering-islam.org/) Most Muslims believe that somebody else other than Jesus was crucified. Thus, when the disciples saw Him, they thought that He had risen from the dead. But the Muslim writers are divided as to who got crucified in His place. Some said it’s one of the disciples. In a debate with a Muslim scholar, Josh McDowell, a leading Christian apologist (defender of the faith), questioned that point of view, “Then, others feeling that it might be a little unfair to put an innocent man there, say, well, it must be Judas Iscariot who was placed on the cross… But I always wondered, why did God have to have a substitute? Why couldn’t He have simply taken Jesus then?” (Ibid)

There are those also who conceded that it was Jesus who was crucified on the cross. But they claim He did not die but just passed out in the cross. So, they claim, it was really resuscitation and not resurrection. But, John 19:34 tell us that “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.” (ESV) McDowell points it out as proof that Christ did not merely swoon on the cross. “A wound of the type inflicted on Jesus, if the person were still alive, would not bleed out the wound opening, but bleed into the chest cavity, causing an internal hemorrhage. At the aperture of the wound, the blood would be barely oozing from the opening. For a spear to form a perfect channel that would allow the blood and serum to flow out the spear wound is next to impossible. The massive internal damage done to a person under crucifixion, and then being speared in the heart area, would cause death almost immediately” (Ibid).

Thus, our Lord Jesus Himself died on the cross. That’s why the resurrection is a miracle. To claim that God substituted somebody to be on the cross other than Christ and that He made it to appear so is making Him a liar. That would be accusing the Source of all truth of deception. Our faith in the resurrection is based on the foundation of truth.

Brethren, He is risen!

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