PART II PROOF: THERE IS GOD

(This is inductive reasoning using the interpretation of data to reach the hypothesis.)

"How can I know that there is God?" Joe asks. "The arguments are two thousand, and more years old The opponents speak them well.. It is the Creator God which they dispute. What can be said beyond reason? Even if I thought reason indisputable, what more could I appeal to? The stakes are higher. The evidence is amazing. I’ll appeal to history, the life of Jesus of Nazareth."

He was long expected to appear. In the ancient Hebrew Scriptures references to his appearing flowed from the lips of God’s prophets. A nation selected by God to be his special people longed for the Messiah, the One sent from God. They were a wayward people much like people of today. However, in many unique and miraculous ways God kept his hand upon them, rescuing them, admonishing them, blessing them and disciplining them. This is the God who either is or is not. The nation Israel’s history is meticulously reported with its glamour and rebellion.

Interwoven into that history is the mysterious hand of God intervening in the affairs of individuals and the whole nation and promising the coming of Messiah. His name is known in the historical records, not just the Gospels, but in correspondence of the time. His miraculous birth is told in the three of the four Gospels in the New Testament, and more so in the rejected gospels.

His claim that he was one with the Father in heaven, his Son, makes him to be either a lunatic or truly the Son of God. The miracles recorded in the Gospels suggest supernatural power as Nicodemus said, ‘No man could do the things you do except God be with him.’ However, the ultimate test is, not his death, but the empty tomb wherein they laid his body, and the claim that he was seen by many after his death until he ascended into the clouds. That part of the story sounds like somebody’s dream. Was it a dream or reality? Was it part of the plan of God? His death is contested by some who say that he was only faint or in a coma. Although his last words on the cross were, "Father, why have you forsaken me?" and, "Into your hands I commend my spirit," some maintain that he did not die. The Roman soldiers at the cross were experienced executioners. They would know death. Just to be sure, they pierced his side with a sword. Not only was his body ravaged from scourging, bruised from mockery and bleeding before being nailed to the cross, he hung in such a way that when he became tired and weak he would die from suffocation. Nobody contested his death when the took him from the cross, wrapped his body with bands of cloth for burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea. But, this was only the beginning. The Jews feared that his disciples might steal the body and claim his resurrection.

While the disciples hid in fear that they may be the next to die on a cross, the Jews persuaded the Roman authorities to place a guard at the tomb and the Roman seal on the rock closing the entrance. Failure of the guard in performance of their duty could also mean their death. His enemies took every precaution possible to keep the body in the tomb. When they failed, the Jews bribed the soldiers to say that the disciples stole the body. There was no resurrection for the body had been moved to a new tomb. However, the disciples were still huddling in fear when three of the women returned from the tomb reporting that the body was missing. The stone was rolled away. They saw an angel sitting in the tomb who said, "He is risen!" Mary Magdalene said that she had spoken with someone whom she thought was the gardener. When he said, "Mary," she recognized him as Jesus. But, he said, "Do not touch me for I must go to the Father." Two of the disciples, Peter and John, ran to the tomb to see for themselves. Stunned, they returned to other disciples. In the weeks that followed Jesus appeared to his followers time and time again. Of course, the critics would call this a fairy tale ending concocted by his followers. It would take the persecution of His followers to prove his tomb was empty and his body was not hidden elsewhere. Even if the disciples had somehow in their frightened estate managed to overcome the guards, roll the stone away, and steal the body, it would have been very difficult to move the body to another location without being seen. The streets were full of Jewish pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. Maybe, they did manage to elude the people and move the body unnoticed to a new location. When the followers of the Way, as they were known, were being imprisoned and murdered, why didn’t the disciples reveal the hidden body and prevent further persecution? After all, Jesus taught them to love one another. To practice lies and deceit was contrary to His teachings. Just produce the body and this nightmare would go away. But, there was no body of Jesus anywhere in or near Jerusalem, neither anywhere on earth.

Truly, Jesus was the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the ultimate proof of the God who intervened in the history of Israel. Philosophers reason that He is or is not. It depends upon their prejudice. But, the historical Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God proves by his life, his teachings, his resurrection that the God of ancient Israel is for real.