HOW MANY WITNESSES?

We are told in the Word of God to only accept something as truth if there are at least two witnesses to verify it (Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1). If there is only one witness, or the two or more witnesses do not agree, then the charge against the accused is not substantiated, and the case is supposed to be dismissed. It is strange that the religious leaders who insisted that everyone obey every law, scriptural and man made, held a trial at night and convicted Jesus without proper witnesses (Mark 14:55-59). One charge against Him was His claim to rebuild the temple in three days, and the irony is, Jesus did say that in John 2:19, but they couldn't even get their story straight.

Today, we have four Gospels which testify to the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And while it is true that they present Jesus using differing emphasis and different words, the consistency of the four should be enough to convince the world that Jesus does still live. We sing a hymn in church that says "He lives within my heart." That is true of every born again Christian, but it does not testify to the resurrection of Christ in bodily form. For forty days, people touched Him, ate with Him, and listened to Him, because He was alive! Those witnesses had no problem accepting Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concern the Messiah. They knew Him. As my pastor pointed out today in his sermon, the variety of scenes, activities, and people present to observe varied for forty days. Then they agree that He was no longer living on earth but was ascended to His Father. He suggested that if it were merely a mass hallucination, or some sort of spiritualizing of His presence, it would not have abruptly stopped. More importantly, had Jesus remained dead, His body would have been produced by His enemies to silence the talk of His resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 presents the Gospel message that all that occurred was "according to the Scriptures." Verses 5-8 list some of the occasions where witnesses stated they had seen the risen Lord. Notice it wasn't just by a few of His closest disciples who experience what were brainwashed to believe. He was seen by Thomas who refused to believe until he could touch the wounds (John 20:28). He was seen by disciples who had doubted the women's report that the tomb was empty (Luke 24:11). He was seen by two travelers who had given up on the One they had hoped was the Messiah (Luke 24:13-35). He was seen by the Apostles in the upper room (Acts 1:3-4). And He was seen by a crowd of over five hundred at one time, although the Bible doesn't tell us when and where (1 Corinthians 15:6).

Yes, there is enough evidence provided by a large number of witnesses to believe that Jesus was raised to life on that Sunday so many years ago. Now let me ask you a question. Are you a believer? Have you confessed Jesus as Lord and believed that God raised Him from the dead? Well, I am from Missouri. Prove it. Are there at least two people that will testify that they are certain that Jesus is your Lord? Someone has asked, "If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" That is an excellent question. I hope and pray that the answer is yes.