Naomi and I saw it! I had come home about 10.30pm and Alison and Naomi were on the lookout for it. It was in the north-east and fairly low down. It was just a bit of fuzz which seemed to disappear when you tried to look straight at it. But it was definitely there - did you see it? I did!
About the same time there was a programme on ABC TV about the Galileo spacecraft and the probe it sent into Jupiter. It just happened to arrive at exactly the right time to provide views of the pieces of a comet dropping into Jupiter. The scientists watched with excitement. They weren't there, but the pictures were being beamed to them direct. Did you see it? I didn't - but other family members reported it to me with graphic word-pictures so I could share their excitement.
One family member was camping over the Easter week-end and didn't want to miss the final episode of "Pride and Prejudice" on ABC TV. So what did we do? Recorded it on video. So simple we almost take it for granted.
Evidence and information comes to us in many ways these days. The legal system has to take account of that. But if the judge asks you, "Did you see this crime happen?", he will be distinctly displeased if all you can say is, "Yes, your Honour, I watched it on the evening News"!
It is of critical importance what happened after Jesus died. The main participants of the time all agreed on this. Because of the implications one way or the other, it is difficult to get what all would agree is an " unbiased" account.
Probably it cannot be disputed that there was a violent earthquake in the early morning and the stone covering the entrance to the tomb (weighing a bit over half a ton) rolled back.
Matthew tells us "an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and sat on it" (28.2). That could be taken as a biased account, but the fact of the earthquake would be known throughout Jerusalem.
The guards spread the story that "his disciples came during the night and stole his body while we were asleep" (28.13). Bribe or no bribe, that's an unlikely story to be spreading around about yourself. If they really were asleep, they would have no real way of knowing how the body came to disappear. Further, it would seem unlikely that they would sleep through the removal of such a massive stone. There's no way they would have slept through the earthquake! But now, seven weeks later, on the Day of Pentecost, these same disciples who had all run away when Jesus was arrested are risking their own lives by saying that the Jewish authorities had Jesus crucified, but God had raised him to life!
No, the story that the disciples stole the body is both unlikely and unsatisfactory. The body disappeared and the disciples' initial assumption was foul play from Jesus' opponents.
But then they saw the risen Lord Jesus themselves. "For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive" (Acts 1.3).
As they prepared themselves for the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, they set about to fill the vacancy left by Judas the betrayer. There were twelve tribes, so there ought be twelve witnesses, they seemed to think. As Peter put it, "Someone must join us as a witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He must be one of the men who were in our group during the whole time that the Lord Jesus travelled about with us, beginning from the time John preached his message of baptism until the day Jesus was taken up from us into heaven" (vv.21,22).
Jesus said to Thomas, "Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!" (Jn.20.29)
After the forty days of appearances, Jesus was taken up out of their sight into heaven. The appearances stopped. We who believe in Jesus in 1996 depend on the evidence of reliable witnesses that he truly is alive.
In the early part of this century, a group of lawyers met in England to discuss the biblical accounts of Jesus' resurrection. They wanted to see if sufficient information was available to make a case that would hold up in an English court of law. When their study was completed, they published the results of their investigation. They concluded that Christ's resurrection was one of the most well- established facts of history!
In his little book, Countdown, G. B. Hardy has given us some thought-provoking questions about the resurrection. "There are but two essential requirements: 1. Has anyone cheated death and proved it? 2. Is it available to me? Here is the complete record: Confucius' tomb - occupied. Buddha's tomb - occupied. Mohammed's tomb - occupied. Jesus' tomb - empty! Argue as you will, there is no point in following a loser."
In the old hymn we sing:
Here we have much more than the Eastern religions who claim an experience of the divine. More than the Mormons claim about feeling right about the Book of Mormon. We have solid historical evidence of reliable witnesses. Their evidence is confirmed in experience when we trust Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. It is confirmed by the work of the Holy Spirit within us. But it is an historical event. It is therefore open to the usual historical tests and stands on very strong historical foundations.
John, writing about the risen Lord Jesus, says that "In the disciples' presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life" (Jn.20.30-31).
Peter wrote, "We have not depended on made-up stories in making known to you the mighty coming of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (2 Pet.1.16).
But the important thing is not just knowing the truth, but building our life on it. Jesus is alive! That's a fact! But it is important that we trust him, that we welcome him, that we receive him as our Saviour and Lord, that through our faith in him we have life!
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