The Life of Jesus Christ - Chapter 12 - Jesus lives again and returns to God - Part 3
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An online Bible Study course by Barrie Wetherill about the life of Jesus. This book is in EasyEnglish Level B. Use the links below for other online Bible Study books and commentaries that will help you. Or go to the Word List, which explains words with a *star.
Easy English Bible homepage | Matthew (commentary) | Mark (commentary) | Luke (commentary) | John (commentary)
Luke records that Jesus appeared to the *disciples during a
period of 40 days. Jesus spoke to them about the *kingdom
of God (Acts 1:3). In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Paul tells us about some other
appearances. One, in Galilee, was to 500 witnesses at once. He does not mention
appearances to women. In Jewish courts, women were not witnesses. It is
interesting that Jesus appeared first to the women.
Paul wrote his list about 25 years later. At that time, many of the witnesses
would still be alive. People could have asked them questions, to check Paul’s
list.
The guards had run away from the grave. These guards were Roman
soldiers. The Roman army rewarded courage, but hated cowards. These soldiers had
left the place that they were guarding. Usually their officers would have killed
them for this. Instead, men paid them to say that Jesus’ *disciples had stolen
the body. Of course, this is not true. It is also not at all likely. When Jesus
appeared to the *disciples later, they were very surprised. It was hard for them
to believe that this was Jesus. Afterwards, they spoke out boldly. The fact that
Jesus had come alive again was a very important part of their message. Because
of this, men attacked them, and even killed many of them. But they continued to
speak about Jesus, although some had a very painful death. (Read about Stephen,
Acts 7).
The behaviour of the first Christians showed their character to
everybody (Acts 2:47). People respected James in particular. He was a half
brother of Jesus. He lived only to please God. The Jewish writer Josephus
mentioned him. The Christians became people with a purpose. In the next 25
years, they spread the good news about Jesus through all the Roman *empire.
Jesus had risen from the grave!
Several facts are clear:
·
There was no body. If the enemies of Jesus could have shown a
body, that would have ended the new belief at once.
·
The courage of the Christian witnesses, and their behaviour,
impressed people very much. The *disciples soon went everywhere and spoke about
Jesus. They said that the *prophets had spoken about all these things. Probably
the *disciples repeated what Jesus had taught them. And now, they themselves
were witnesses of these events.
·
The *prophets had written hundreds of years before this. Now, the
events that they described, had happened.
In just a few days, the disciples had changed. They were no
longer afraid. They did not continue to hide themselves away. They
were bold men who changed the world.
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2002-2005, Wycliffe Associates (UK)