Hope lives

There’s a verse in the Bible that says if Christ has not been raised, then our faith is a complete and utter waste of time.

I love this statement as it sums up what I think far better than I ever could.

Some sceptics have suggested someone stole the body of Jesus, others say people hallucinated. But we’re told that Jesus appeared to 550 people, once to 500 in one go. From what I know, hallucinations don’t work like that.

And as for the stolen body, who would do such a thing? Certainly not the Jews or Romans. Within a matter of weeks all of Jerusalem was awash with rumours that Jesus had come back to life, yet no-one admitted to it or produced the body to end the rumours once and for all.

The disciples certainly wouldn’t have moved the body; they were terrified and hiding outside the city. How did they get past the well-trained Roman guards – men who would have been put to death for losing a living prisoner, let alone a dead one?

And why would the disciples lie? They proclaimed the resurrection truth for a further 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. Many went on to die horrible deaths for their belief that Jesus had come back to life. Why do this if it was all a lie?

Transformed his life

Many years ago, the American journalist, Frank Morrison, started to write a book to prove that the resurrection never happened. After considerable research he realised that in actual fact, it did happen. As a result, he became a Christian. It was a realisation that transformed his life.

And it’s still transforming many lives today.

In the last 100 years, the number of Christians in the world has quadrupled – from about 600 million in 1910, to well past two billion presently.

Today, Christianity remains the world's largest faith group and it all hangs on this fact: that Jesus was raised from the dead that first Easter Sunday in April AD30.

It's the day when love wins and death dies, pain ends and hope arises.

It’s either the biggest load of rubbish you’ve ever heard or a life-changing truth. The choice is yours.