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Some people intentionally and diligently search out the truth, and are rewarded by finding it. Some people happily stumble upon it, and are likewise rewarded. Still others are confronted by it and though they would have preferred to be left alone, cannot refute it, and somewhat grudgingly align themselves with it. And there are some who, to their own demise, willfully turn a blind eye to it.

So it is with the truth of the greatest event in human history: the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead. It is an immovable reality; a certainty. The only question that remains is: what will you and I do about it?

I. Yeshua’s resurrection from the dead is an historical fact; entirely independent of subjective opinion or of wishful thinking; and it is a truth we must reckon with.

You’ve all heard of the famous movie Ben Hur, right? It was released in 1959 and starred the late great actor Charlton Heston. The screenplay was based on a book; but do you know the full title? I confess, I didn’t. It was Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The book was written back in 1880, and it would go on to be the best-selling novel in America for the next 56 years!

Almost as remarkable as the story itself is the background of the author. His name was Lewis Wallace. Wallace himself led a very storied life. An attorney by profession, yet because of his leadership qualities, during the Civil War he was appointed a General in the Union Army. He later went on to be the Governor of New Mexico.

But the finished novel was not at all what Wallace had first set out to do. Initially, he had intended to write a book that would disprove, once and for all, the teaching that Jesus rose from the dead. Of course, as an attorney, Wallace was perfectly suited to evaluate the evidence for or against such a claim. And as the evidence mounted, contrary to his bias, he was forced to conclude that the resurrection of Messiah Yeshua was an historical fact.

He was not the only noted attorney to have his skepticism challenged by the evidence. The very same thing happened to Simon Greenleaf, the preeminent Harvard Law professor, regarded as one of the greatest legal minds of his day.

Some of the lines of inferential evidence for Yeshua’s resurrection:

• An empty tomb despite being under heavy guard to prevent theft/deceit

• Those with the most incentive to produce His body on the 4th day and thus disprove His claim (quash the movement) couldn’t, despite every effort.

• Numerous eyewitnesses testified to seeing Him alive after His death. Apart from His appearance to Rabbi Paul, Yeshua made at least 11 recorded appearances to individuals and groups of people. He was seen, heard, and touched. He even shared a meal with some of the disciples.

• Much of this took place in and around Jerusalem (including the apostles’ preaching), and in a very short span of time; the four Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, and began to circulate early enough that many were still alive who could have refuted them, had there been evidence to the contrary.

• Messiah’s resurrection best explains how a group of previously fearful, despondent disciples suddenly and dramatically became courageous, zealous proclaimers of His resurrection.

• Even hostile early Jewish sources admit to an empty tomb (but claimed that the reason was that the body had been stolen by His disciples).

• Most of the Apostles, and many early Messianic Jews went to their death for maintaining their belief. People don’t willingly die for something they know is false. At the very least we can say they genuinely believed He had risen.
• Indifferent and even unsympathetic secular Roman historians had no other explanation for the explosive growth of the movement; chalking it up to Yeshua’s followers sincerely and zealously believing He was alive again.

II. Yeshua’s resurrection from the dead should not have come as a surprise to anyone: the Scriptures foretold it.
Yeshua told His talmidim (disciples) on numerous occasions that He would rise from the dead on the 3^rd day, right in time for First Fruits. In Luke 24 He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things written about Me in the Torah of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

The disciples, of course, didn’t want to hear anything about their beloved Master dying, so they essentially blocked it out. As a result, they were bewildered when Yeshua died. But it’s true: the Torah, the Prophets and the Psalms all foretold His death and resurrection.

Likewise, Rabbi Paul wrote to the Corinthians these words: For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received: that Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

What were some of those Scriptures that taught, either explicitly or implicitly, the resurrection of the Messiah?

Genesis 22

In the Akedah, the account of the binding of Isaac, there are several ways in which Isaac is a type of Messiah. For example he carried the wood on which he was to be sacrificed. When he was put on the altar, he made no protest, but entrusted himself to his father. The author of The Letter to the Messianic Jews (Hebrews 11:19), looking back, wrote, He (Abraham) considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

Psalm 16:8-10

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

Psalm 22

This psalm was more than a lament; it was a prophecy. It describes the humiliation, suffering and death of the Messiah, but also His victory. While verses 14-15 speak of His being laid in the dust of death; in verses 25-27 He will once again join in the praise of the great congregation and all the ends of the earth will turn to the Lord.

Psalm 118:22-23 and Isaiah 49:7

The ‘Stone’ which the ‘builders’ (Israel’s leaders) rejected, and which the nation abhorred and despised, would be vindicated by God, and exalted over all the earth.

Isaiah 53:8-10

…He was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of My people He was punished… He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

Daniel 9:24-27 (and, by extension, 12:2)

Messiah will be cut off prior to the destruction of the 2^nd Temple; but the promise is given that the dead will be raised (and, as we will see, Messiah is the first One).

Hosea 6:1-2

Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.

Zechariah 12:10

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me, whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son…

III. Yeshua’s resurrection from the dead is the guarantee of our own resurrection from the dead.

Messiah is the beginning of God’s harvest of humanity, the first to be raised from the dead. As the first fruits, He is the beginning and the best, the prototype and model for all those joined to Him. Because God found Him acceptable, raising Him from the dead as the first fruits, it is a guarantee that those who believe in Him, the rest of the harvest of humanity, will likewise be raised and be given eternal life.

Again, Rabbi Paul writes, But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep (have died). For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Messiah the first fruits, after that those who are Messiah’s at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

In the same chapter, he went on to say, Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

I’ll conclude this message the same way I began it.

Some people intentionally and diligently search out the truth, and are rewarded by finding it. Some people happily stumble upon it, and are likewise rewarded. Still others are confronted by it and though they would have preferred to be left alone, cannot refute it, and somewhat grudgingly align themselves with it. And there are some who, to their own demise, willfully turn a blind eye to it.

The resurrection of Messiah Yeshua from the dead is the greatest event in human history, and it is the ultimate Good News for those who embrace it. Yeshua’s resurrection is also immovable reality; a certainty; a matter to be reckoned with. The eternal disposition of your soul is at stake:

For IF you confess with your mouth Yeshua as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

There’s a lot riding on that “IF”. Be sure you don’t get it wrong.