The Best News Ever in a World Filled with Bad News

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.

In the past, people either accepted or rejected Christ's resurrection as a fact of history. But in today's postmodern culture, people are apt to say, "Jesus rose from the dead? So what?"

That attitude perpetuates apathy about the most important event in human history, which in turn causes people to miss out on the greatest news they could ever personally experience. Christ's resurrection is the best news ever, and the evidence for it is overwhelming:

1. It was recorded by four independent accounts, which accurately reported many small details, such as the number of angels at the tomb, the number of women who went to the tomb, the time of their arrival, and the overall sequence of events. All the accounts are easily harmonized.

2. The removal of the tombstone and the presence of the grave cloth proved that Jesus' body was no longer in the tomb. In the culture of that day, and with such a dense population, it would have been impossible to hide a body if it were stolen. The authorities could have easily produced it.

3. After Jesus' resurrection, He appeared to not just a few women in the garden, but to a wide variety of people, including a group of 500. Surely 500 people could not have suffered a hallucination at the same time.

4. The resurrection changed things in dramatic ways, such as the change in the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. But the greatest evidence of all might be how it changed the disciples and instilled in them a willingness to die a martyr's death. Surely they would not have been willing to die a decade or two later for a lie or hallucination.

Sir Edward Clark, an English jurist, once wrote: "As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences of the first Easter day. To me the evidence is conclusive and over and over again in the high court, I secured the verdict on evidence not nearly as compelling..."

That's why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest news of all - it is indeed great news, not just a great story. It is the ultimate Truth, not just an opportunity to eat chocolate bunnies.

And because it is true , every human on the face of the earth must respond to it one way or another. Our individual eternal future, and the future of civilization, depends on it.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the resurrection of Jesus - the greatest news of all. Help me to never overlook the significance of the resurrection, but to know its daily power in my life and its saving power for those who do not yet know You. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay'" (Matthew 28:5-6).