He was a real person. 

There are numerous records of Jesus existing. There is the historical and archaeologically verified firsthand accounts of his life by his followers Matthew and John. There are investigative narratives taken directly from those who lived with and knew Jesus. There are also accounts written by those hostile or indifferent to Jesus.  These include Jewish leaders and Roman historians. To say Jesus did not exist, that would be pretty much saying the same thing as claiming George Washington did not exist.

He was killed by crucifixion.

The record shows Jesus was tortured to death by crucifixion reluctantly by the Roman ruler of the province of Judea at the time who was Pontius Pilot. This was at the request of the Jewish leadership of the day who were afraid of Jesus upsetting their privileged positions. These religious leaders, when pressed by the Roman leadership, proclaimed they had no king but the pantheistic self-deified Roman ruler Caesar. Jesus gave himself over to the authorities for crucifixion by returning to Jerusalem, at the time of the Passover celebration, after three years of teaching and working of miracles throughout the area. The record shows he was whipped, crucified, died, and placed in a sealed tomb.

He rose from the dead.

It is what today’s followers of Jesus celebrate at Easter. He did this just as he told others he would, and as the historical official canonized Jewish writings known as the Old Testament predicted he would. In addition to the written record, we know he rose from the dead by the radical & unprecedented events occurring around him. His mostly fisherman followers initially went into hiding, denial, and fear after their leader was captured and killed. However because they saw him resurrected, they instantly and radically changed spending the rest of their lives until they were killed, or in one case banished after torture, proclaiming he was indeed alive. There is no record of any wavering even in the slightest from their accounts.

There was other evidence: The moving of a heavy stone sealing the body in the tomb, the overcoming of Roman guards, and records of earthquakes occurring at the same time period that match the record of events. The record was written in a way a fictional narrative would not have been written at the time. The first identification of the risen Jesus was by women, who in the first century were not believed as reliable witnesses. The disciples themselves didn’t claim to believe these first witnesses in their own writings. There was the change in the life of Jesus brother James who had previously questioned Jesus as legitimate. Add to that the change in the Jewish leader Saul, who before seeing a risen Jesus, was in the popular business of arresting and putting to death those who claimed that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus also appeared to 500 family leaders whose claims were never countered. Jesus literally overcame and destroyed death. For all of us who are going to die and see no way of avoiding death, the reality of this event should be of great interest. 

Jesus now sits at right hand of the Father and prepares a place for you.

Jesus came to destroy the prince of this world’s (the devil’s) work in inciting rebellion against God. He came that we could have eternal life with him. Jesus voluntary death on the cross was the propitiation (a piece of flesh given in exchange) for our sins making it possible that we could dwell in Heaven with God our Father. When God sees followers of Jesus, he now sees the holiness and works of Jesus and not our rebellion against God. We have all failed in living like God designed us to live. The result of this failure or sin is death and separation from him.  But because Jesus took our place and suffered for our sin, if we genuinely believe, if we call out on the name of the real Jesus, we have eternal life with Him because of the cross and resurrection.  

He is God.

Jesus was both completely human and completely divine. The amazing thing about this is that Jesus as God could relate to our pain by having become human and experienced temptations and sufferings at an even greater level than we experience. A study of the Bible shows that God exists in three persons. The Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. People don’t make this stuff up. The world of what is real will always be more difficult to understand and complex than what is fiction.  The Father showed us how much he loved us by willingly allowing Jesus to come to be with us. The third part of the Trinity is the person of the Holy Spirit, which now dwells with believers of God, and minsters to them day in and day out and points them to Jesus.

Jesus is not neutral to evil and is in the process of destroying it but hasn’t yet for our sake.

Jesus is patient. He is much more patient than we are. He is so because he is love itself. He wants more of us to come to him and love him. He now allows the devil a short reign in comparison to the rest of eternity as more people come to believe on him, and have eternal life in him, before he will destroy all evil. We are living in the days (sometimes called the last days) when he calls out on all the nations to believe on him and the works he has done for us. These are the days we can repent and be made brand new (regenerated or born again) by him.

There really is no alternative solution that has any basis of evidence for its truth for eternal life. Secular evolutionary philosophy has no more substance than the egg laying bunny. Their theories are littered with holes including irreducible complexity, millions of missing fossils, and no way to show something came from nothing. Evolutionary philosophy exists only because its proponents can’t think of anything better. The world has shown no way to overcome death and get to a heaven, and there is also no other way to overcome death and dwell eternally with God in Heaven but through Jesus. That is why they call him a Savior. 

Please let us know if you have questions about Jesus. We would be happy to answer them at prayer@aquietwater. Or sign up for new email updates that we send out about once a month.