The power of the gospel is grounded and built on four essential facts. If just one of these is wrong, there’s no point in being a Christian. No point in worshipping as a family, no need to change the way we live, and no eternal life. These four essential facts are simple–I’m sure you’ve heard them before–but they are life changing.
Fact number one…He Lived.
This simple truth determines the outcome of the gospel truth. We need to establish that Jesus lived, before we can determine if there was a resurrection. If there is no life, there can be no death, no death means no resurrection. Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth.
Scripture says this in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The apostles here claimed to have seen God in the flesh. He dwelt among them, flesh and blood. ALIVE. The Logos, the word took on flesh. He was fully human!
He was flesh and blood just as we are.
For example, Jesus ate (Luke 7:34), He slept (Matt. 8:24), He walked (Luke 24), sometimes on land, sometimes on water…but nevertheless God took on flesh. He wore sandals, His feet got covered with dust from this very world. He felt emotions. He expressed joy (Luke 10:21), He wept (John 11:35), He loved (1 Jn. 4:19). A straight forward reading of scripture teaches us that Jesus truly lived.
But let’s take it a step further and look at some historical proof. The fact that Jesus lived is pretty much universally accepted.
Even people who were enemies of Christ admitted that He lived. Flavius Josephus, a non Christian historian spoke of Jesus in his history of Judaism titled “Jewish Antiquities.” In AD 97. He said this about Jesus, “There was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works—a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day.”
Just so this article doesn’t turn into history class, we will keep the old quotes to a minimum. But if you want to look it up on your own time, there are many more historians who wrote of Christs existence. Pliny the Younger and Tacitus both reference a man named Jesus who died on a cross.
Point is, history gives us undeniable truth that Jesus lived. Do you believe in George Washington? How about Abraham Lincoln? How come? You’ve never seen him! Historians and eye witnesses give us proof. We have the exact same evidence for Christ.
The power of the Gospel is found in the truth that Jesus the Son of God came down to this earth, took on flesh, and walked among us! He taught, He healed, He was a servant. And to this day He continues to impact millions with the life He lived.
Tune in next week for fact number 2.
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