Greg Laurie Harvest Daily Devotional

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Harvest Daily 10/19/04


Harvest Daily Devotional
by Pastor Greg Laurie



October 19
A Case for the Resurrection (Part 3)

Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.  He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.  He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles.  After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time. . . .  -1 Corinthians 15:3-6

Another of Satan's lies about the Resurrection is the mass hallucination theory.  This theory proposes that everyone who claimed to see the risen Lord was actually hallucinating out of an earnest desire to see Him alive again.

The fact of the matter is that hallucinations typically occur with people who, in one way or another, are expecting them.  But biblical evidence reveals that when Jesus was crucified, His disciples were devastated and destroyed.  Their faith was to a large degree shattered.  They had absolutely no hopes of ever seeing Jesus alive again (see Mark 16:10-11).  Once more, hallucinations, once started, are continual; but the disciples only saw Jesus for a very limited time.  Then they ceased to see Him again.

Scripture also records that Jesus not only appeared to the disciples on a number of occasions, but that He appeared to more than five hundred people at one time (see 1 Corinthians 15:6).  That's pretty unbelievable for five hundred people to hallucinate the same thing at the same time.  If this evidence against the Resurrection were ever brought forth in a court of law, it certainly would not hold water.

Satan's lies about the Resurrection never hold up because Jesus is alive.  He fulfilled the Scriptures by rising again, conquering sin and death.  He appeared over and over again to a multitude of eyewitnesses.  And each appearance of Christ is a tender demonstration of Him meeting the needs and hurts of His children. 

Copyright (c) 2004 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright (c) 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.


 



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