“…the gospels are not reliable accounts of what happened in the history of the real world. All were written long after the death of Jesus…”

Richard Dawkins

One of the critiques against the accounts of Jesus in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) is that they are legends written at a time far removed from the events themselves. They are not history but embellished legends like King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. But how true is this? I have made the case that the gospels give us strong evidence for the the resurrection.  But how reliable are the accounts in which this evidence is based upon?  In this article, we want to give three levels of evidence which show that the gospels were certainly written by people who had to have a direct and intimate knowledge of the people, backgrounds and events surrounding Jesus. The evidence strongly points to them coming from eye-witness accounts.  

Evidence # 1: Superior Testimony for Life of Jesus

The record of Jesus, found in the Gospels, contains a remarkable amount of information that is superior to any person in ancient times as measured by the:

• amount of recorded content
• proximity to the events recorded
• the earliest surviving documents

If Jesus were a person of miraculous and eternal importance sent to earth, this should not be surprising. We would think that this kind and quality of testimony would be expected. If he were not, then this amount and quality of information is inconceivable. Here is why. Jesus was from a remote backwater town (Nazareth in Galilee) in a troublesome and insignificant country of Palestine (Israel was called Palestine by Rome). Palestine, about the size of New Jersey, was about 2,300 square miles with a population of around 500,000. He was born and raised in a peasant class of carpenters and carried out only three years (AD 30-33) of public ministry in this small country. Compare this to the most powerful and well-known man of Jesus’ time: Tiberius Caesar (ruler of the Roman Empire), who reigned 23 years (AD 14–37) over three continents which covered approximately 1,100,000 square miles of land and included around 60 million people. Even with these vast imbalances, there is a superior documentation for Jesus than there is Tiberius. Jesus was only known in an area that had much less than 1% of the territory, with only 8% of the population, and 1/10 of public activity as Tiberius . With this is mind, let’s compare the main sources regarding the two lives.

Sources On the Life of Tiberius

Author and Work	Words	Earliest Copy	Date Written
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History	6,489	16th century	AD 30
Tacitus, Annals	48,200 (most of this was not about Tiberius)	9th century	after AD 110
Suetonius, Tiberius	9,310	9th century	after AD 120
Cassius Dio, Roman History	14,293	9th century	after AD 200

Sources to the Life of Jesus.

Gospel	Words	Earliest Copy	Date Written
Matthew	18,347	2nd/3rd century	80–85
Mark	11,103	3rd century	65–70
Luke	19,463	3rd century	60–85
John	15,445	2nd century	80-95

In summary, we see that the gospels have a higher amount of recorded content, despite Tactus’ 48,200 words. They are written closer to the events recorded, even in the time period of reliable memory. They also have the earliest surviving documents.

What about Paerculus being a contemporary writer?

With all of this, there are two areas the records about Tiberius might seem superior. The first is that Velleius Paterculus wrote as a contemporary (AD 30) of Tiberius. However, he wrote under political pressure to provide propaganda for the reign of Tiberius, not as an objective historian. Tiberius financially supported him to write for this purpose. In fact, Tacitus and Suetonius (two of the authors mentioned above) tell us that Tiberius executed many people suspected of writing against him. Paterculus, of course, tells us nothing about this. For this reason, his writing is considered to have the least value of the four sources.

What about all of the content that Tacitus provide?

The second apparent advantage for the records about Tiberius is the length of Tacitus’s Annals, 48,200 words. Understand that though he deals with Tiberius’s reign, they focus on many events and intrigues that happened while he was emperor which are not directly linked to Tiberius, himself. By contrast, all four Gospels are exclusively focused on Jesus.

Evidence # 2: Geographical Details

The four gospels demonstrate a direct familiarity with the geography of the places they write about. In total, they mention twenty-six towns. Among the towns listed are not only famous places, like Jerusalem, but also small towns, which would not have been known to outsiders. Beyond this, they described geographical locations in a way that would have only been customary or traditional to the locals of that area. Let’s look at one impressive example.

Sea of Galilee

According to the gospels, Jesus spent much of his time by the Sea of Galilee. Now, “sea” is a rather exaggerated word for a body of water just thirteen miles in length and eight miles wide. Those who did not grow up by the Sea of Galilee would not have referred to is as a sea. It would be seen as a lake. Those from the area who had not traveled far or wanted to give this beloved body of water a more elevated name called it a “sea”. Matthew, who was from Galilee, uses the word “sea” sixteen times. Mark, who recorded the words of Peter, who fished there for years, uses “sea” nineteen times. John, a Galilean fisherman, uses the word “sea” nine times. In distinction from them, Luke (a gentile outsider), who was from Antioch (over 200 miles north of Palestine), alone of the four writers just calls it “the lake.” (Luke 5:1, 8:22-23) This is what you would expect from writers, who were actually there, and had an intimate knowledge of the customs and language of the time.

Chorazin Is Only In the Bible

The gospels are valuable geographical sources giving the first or only recorded cases of certain towns. Jesus reproaches three Jewish towns: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.

 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! … And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? 

Matthew 11:21, 23

The little-known village Chorazin is in fact on the road to Bethsaida and just a couple of miles north of Capernaum. There was not a single literary source that is known that could have provided this information to a gospel author. In fact, if it were not for the Bible there would be no record of it. Yet, archaeology shows it to be an abandoned town. (Jesus did curse it.) Chorazin is mentioned because they were eye-witnesses of the times and geography surrounding Jesus.

Decapolis Receives Its First Mention

Another example is that no historian doubts the existence of the Decapolis, a group of cities characterized particularly by a gentile population. These are mentioned in the works of Josephus, Pliny the Elder, and Ptolemy. But according to widely accepted dates, Mark is the first to mention the Decapolis. (Mark 5:20, 7:31; Matthew 4:25) This, again adds another layer of evidence that the writers were native to the environment in which Jesus did his ministry.

Evidence # 3: Detailed Account of Names 

Another strong level of evidence was the gospel writers detailed use of names. Names are often difficult to remember. Most names of people are assigned rather arbitrarily with no memorable reason why an individual should be called one name or another. We regularly forget names even as we remember many other things about people. This has strong implications for the quality of information we have within the gospels because their knowledge of local names reinforces the authenticity of having been there either directly or indirectly. It stretches the imagination to think that later writers would have been able to research local naming patterns and write a plausible story. It is even more far-fetched to think that four authors might have been able to do this, as each contains names not in the other three.

Palestinian Naming Patterns

Jews were located in many places in the Roman Empire and the different locations (e.g. Egypt, Lybia, Syria) had rather distinct naming patterns. The popularity of various names among Jews outside Palestine bore little relationship to those inside Palestine. Richard Bauckham (New Testament scholar at Cambridge), has studied the relative frequency of different Jewish personal names in Palestine surrounding the time of Jesus. His research shows that the Gospels are nearly perfect in how they captured the frequency of names among Palestinian Jews of the time. By contrast, if you examine the most popular Jewish names in a different region (such as Egypt), the list is dramatically different.

Popularity of Names Cited in Palestinian Literature of the Time	Popularity of Names Cited by the New Testament Authors
15.6% of the men had the name Simon or Joseph	18.2% of the men had the name Simon or Joseph
41.5% of the men had one of the nine most popular names	40.3% of the men had one of the nine most popular names
28.6% of the women had the name Mary or Salome	38.9% of the women had the name Mary or Salome
49.7% of the women had one of the nine most popular names	61.1% of the women had one of the nine most popular names

Bauckham highlights a further feature, which is the unclarity that arises when so many individuals share the same name, for example, Simon. There were no last names to distinguish people, so they had to clarify by other ways. Common ways to do this included adding an element such as a father’s name, a profession, or a place of origin. This is what we find in the gospels: clarifiers are used with the most common names and not with the less common ones. The most common name for Palestinian Jewish males was Simon, so the Simons we have in the gospels are introduced with clarifiers, such as:

• Simon Peter (Mark 3:16)
• Simon the Zealot (Mark 3:18)
• Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3)
• Simon the Cyrenian (Mark 15:21)

Likewise Mary was the most common female name, and Mary’s clarifiers, are as, “Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph” (Matthew 27:56). Someone living outside the land or at a later time would not be able to give people the right names. However, the gospels have four different authors, who have managed to present us with a credible array of Palestinian Jewish names. What is more, they have clarified the most common names for that land even though in another land those same names were not so common as to require clarification. (e.g. In Lybia, Simon would be an uncommon name.)

Names of the Twelve Apostles

The remarkable extent of this may be seen by considering the list of apostles as given in Matthew’s Gospel. Peter Williams (New Testament professor at Cambridge) provides a list of the 12 apostles with brackets beside their names ranking the popularity of each of their names in Palestine at the time. What is striking is that the more popular the name, the more it needs a clarifier.

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon [1] (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew [99]; James [11] son of Zebedee, and his brother John [5]; Philip [61] and Bartholomew [50]; Thomas [99] and Matthew [9] the tax collector; James [11] son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus [39]; Simon[1] the Zealot and Judas[4] Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Matthew 10:2-4

We see immediately that the more popular names, like Simon [1], Judas [4], John [5] Matthew [9], and James [11] have clarifiers. On the other hand, the less popular names like Thaddaeus, Bartholomew, Philip, and Thomas do not have clarifiers. So not only are the names authentically Palestinian, but the clarifying patterns are such as would be necessary in Palestine, but not elsewhere.

By far the simplest explanation is that the Gospel authors were able to give an authentic pattern of names in their narrative because they were reliably reporting what people were actually called. Given that names are also hard to remember, the authentic pattern of names in the Gospels suggests that their testimony is of high quality. After all, if they have correctly remembered the less memorable details—the names of individuals—then they should have had no difficulty in remembering the more memorable outline of events.

Peter Willaims, Can We Trust the Gospels?

Conclusion

There are so many more levels of evidence which can be provided, as well as so many more details to the evidences given here. Suffice it to say, the evidence bears out the conclusion made toward the end of John’s gospel:

This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

John 21:24

I had been a Christian for six years by the time I was twenty-one. I began to deeply doubt my faith. “How do I really know this is really true,” I asked myself.  As I grew in my intellectual journey, I came to a place where I needed solid evidence or proof for my faith in Christ. My doubts were plaguing me. On the first Easter morning, all of Jesus’ followers were in the same place but with a multiplied intensity. They had given all of their lives to Jesus; they left everything. From the perspective of the earliest hours of Easter morning, it all proved to be untrue.  After the terrifying events of the crucifixion, they fully expected Jesus to do what we all expect deceased people to do: stay that way.  There was no one at the tomb counting 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, in anticipation of Jesus rising from the dead.  But something happened to them which happened to me: the unexplainable encountered the undeniable and their lives were forever reframed.  In my deep doubts, I encountered the evidence for the resurrection, and my faith became strengthened.

You may ask, “How do I know this is true?”  “How do I know there is real hope beyond death?”  “How do I know that good will conquer evil?”  “How do I know that what we are ultimately investing our lives in really matters?” The answer to these questions are found in the events which occurred on the original Easter Sunday.  

Why Believe in the Resurrection?

There are four solid reasons:

• Evidence # 1: The empty tomb.
• Evidence # 2: The credibility of the eye-witness accounts.
• Evidence # 3: The resurrection appearances.
• Evidence # 4: The start of the church.

To examine this evidence, let’s look at the record from the Gospel of John 20:1-21.

Evidence # 1: The Empty Tomb

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

John 20:1

The events of Good Friday took Jesus’ followers by storm. Since the crucifixion, they spend the next couple of days in heads spinning grief and confusion.  It is now past the Sabbath (Saturday), and not one of them assumed a resurrection.  The story continues…

So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

John 20:2

Historians agree that Jesus was a messianic or a significant religious figure; he developed a committed following, and he was crucified. They also agree that the tomb was empty.  Where there is a departure in thought is how it became empty.  There are those who do not accept that it became empty due to a resurrection. They assumed what Jesus’ early followers assumed: there must be a natural explanation because dead people stay that way; they don’t rise. Thus Mary exclaimed, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Let’s assume, then, there are natural explanations. Here are three theories which are offered:

Natural Explanation # 1: The disciples stole the body.

This would make Christianity the greatest hoax of all time. The overwhelming obstacle with this theory is that perpetrators of a religious hoax seek to gain something for themselves, like money or power. What did claiming the resurrection get the disciples? Instead of wealth, many times they accepted poverty for the sake of proclaiming the message of Christ. Instead of power, every single one was tortured and killed for their proclaiming Jesus. This was not a hoax.

Natural Explanation # 2: The Jewish leaders stole the body.

The significant obstacle with this theory points to motive. Why would they have done this? The established Jewish community were fierce opponents of Jesus and the church. They would have gladly produced the body to shut the growing movement of Christianity down.

Natural Explanation # 3: The Romans stole the body

The problem remains the same. They would have gladly produced the body, as well. This would show that Jesus was not greater than Caesar.

Evidence # 2: Authenticity of Eye-Witness Accounts

So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

John 20:3-4

The disciples apparently do not go as a group least they be arrested. The two disciples were racing to the tomb, and Peter is the slow poke. The humor in this detail is quite striking. This is a life changing message, and the writer points out that the “other disciple” reached the tomb first. Why? Is it the last one to the tomb is a rotten egg?  No. John is bringing his readers into the very unfolding of the events as he remembers everything so vividly. This reads like someone who had really been there because he was there.

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen.  Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”  “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? ”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,  “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”)….Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!”

John 20:5-16,18

Mary Magdalene was the first to witness and tell others about the resurrection of Jesus. In the world of first century Palestine, a woman’s testimony was not recognized as legally binding. Frankly, it would have been an embarrassment for the first century church according to the existing social standards to have the resurrection first declared on the testimony of a woman. The story would not have been told this way unless it was in fact the truth. If embarrassing details are added to a story, it is done so because they are true.

Evidence # 3: The Resurrection Appearances

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

John 20:19-20

Again, some people resort to natural explanations as an alternative to the resurrection. Here are a few:

Natural Explanation # 1: Jesus did not actually die.  (Swoon Theory)

Here is the correspondence of a woman wrote J. Vernon McGee: “Our preacher said that on Easter Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed him back to health. What do you think?” McGee replied, “Dear Sister, beat your preacher severely. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours. Run a spear through his heart. Embalm him. Put him in an airless tomb for three days. Then see what happens.”

The Romans were masters at crucifixion and verified his death as the blood and water ran from his side when they speared him. (John 19:34)

Natural Explanation # 2: Maybe the disciples hallucinated.    

Here is the problem: hallucinations are like dreams. They’re individual events that can’t be shared between people. During the next 40 days Jesus appeared at least a dozen times to a total of 515 different individuals. He talked with people. He ate with people. He even invited one skeptic to put his fingers in his hands where the nail holes were, and to put his hand in his side where the spear had been thrust into him. One person said, “If you had 515 people all having the same hallucination at the same time, that would be a bigger miracle than the resurrection itself.”

Evidence # 3: The Early Church

^{Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”}

John 20:21

No one was going to launch a movement in Jesus’ name if Jesus did not rise from the dead.  Nobody was going to repeat His teachings, his stories, his parables, if he had only died.  That is because Jesus claimed too much about himself.  (Matthew 17:22-23, Mark 8:31-33) And if it was possible for him to be arrested and crucified, then he was not who he claimed he was. But the resurrection changed all of that. His claims about himself were vindicated.  

Reframing Your Life

You have an undeniable hope for the future. 

I have performed hundreds of funerals. Some people may not think a lot about God or what happens after we die. As soon as someone dies, it becomes a much more significant issue. We sometimes feel that we’re indestructible. Eventually we recognize that we’re not. In those times we often go to what could be called a feel good theology. “He’s gone onto a better place.  Now, he’s an angel in heaven.”  “Now, grandma is in a better place looking down on us.” I don’t know about you, but just to be honest, there’s certain times of the day I don’t’ want grandma looking down on me from anywhere, just saying. Quite frankly, we guess and make things up to comfort our fears about death. But, it is too important a question to leave to guess work.  This is the vital truth of the resurrection. Jesus did not have a near death experience.  He had an actual death experience and came back to tell us what is on the other side.  Because of these credentials, I will trust what he has to say. “I will go and prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)

The undeniable hope in the present. 

Many people cry out, “I can’t believe in a world where a God allows bad things to happen to good people.” But the early church never voiced that complaint. They saw the worst thing happen to the best person of all. Yet, out of that came the reversal of destructive evil and pain. The resurrection brought an entire reframing of life.  The first followers of Jesus saw that there is purpose in the pain; there is renewal in the loss.  As Jesus was resurrected by the strong arms of the Father, so those arms will bring resurrection power today.

• Whatever bad news you face; his arms will pick you up. 
• To the devastated husband whose wife has left you; you feel betrayed and alone, his arms will pick you up.
• To the frightened parents of a depressed child; his arms will pick you up.
• To the anxious worker who has lost their job; his arms will pick you up.
• To the guilt-ridden addict hiding in the shadows; his arms will pick you up.
• To the lonely young person longing to be loved; his arms will pick you up.

The Father’s arms are plenty strong. They have not lost any of their power, and they will pick you up. Resurrection is coming.

Postscript: What If You Don’t Believe the Bible?

Some may respond to the evidence by saying, “I don’t believe the Bible as a divinely inspired book, so I can’t accept the above as evidence.” You don’t have to believe in the Bible as a divine book or the Word of God to consider the evidence above. Just take John’s account as a historical record. Compared to all ancient literature, the Gospel of John has the strongest proof of being authentic. Most ancient writings (e.g., Herodotus, Plato, Homer, etc.) have their closest copy from 600 to a 1000 years after the original. Many of these consist of a dozen copies or less.  The Gospel of John has parts or fragments as early as 30 years away from the original. Beyond that there are thousands of copies. We can be certain that the story gives an accurate account of the events which originally happened. More on the authenticity of the accounts in the next blog.

The bodily and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important thing anyone can ever know about. It’s the single greatest, most consequential, most miraculous event in human history. It’s the culmination of God’s plan to restore the brokenness of creation that he began all the way back in the book of Genesis. As followers of Christ, it is foundational to what we believe and the reason we have a hope greater than this world can offer.

This is why having a clear, coherent theology on the bodily and glorious resurrection is so crucial. We must understand why we believe what we believe and the nature of what we believe, as well as equip ourselves to tell others the reason for the hope we have. That is the reason for beginning our exploration on this beautiful, life-giving doctrine.

What Do We Mean by Bodily and Glorious?

It is important to start with the basics. When we refer to Christ’s resurrection as both bodily and glorious, we are referring to two distinct yet interweaving concepts. To say that Christ was raised from the dead bodily is to say that God literally and physically raised him from the dead. Jesus, in our material time and space, went from the state of death to the state of life.

One moment, his heart was not pumping; his lungs were not taking air, and his body was cold. The next, blood began circulating through his system. He drew in a breath. He arose and stood on his two feet. In other words, his resurrection was not symbolic, metaphorical, or figurative, as some may claim today. It did not simply happen “in our hearts” as we spread the message of Christ, keeping him alive through our testifying of his love to others. It actually happened. He actually returned from death to life through a divine act of God.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 

Luke 24:1-7

For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Romans 14:9

Meanwhile, to say that Christ’s resurrection is glorious is to emphasize the magnificent, supernatural aspect of his return from death. Yes, Jesus arose with a body that retained a physical component…but it also appears to be more than that.

 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

John 20:19

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

Luke 24:31

In his new body, Jesus is able to walk through walls. He can make himself appear and disappear at will. His new body is the same one that ascended into heaven and the same one that will return to this world one day riding on a cloud. Through all of this, though, he will always have the holes in his hand, and we will one day have the opportunity to brush our hand over the frame of his face. His body is both spiritual and physical. God did not abandon the material aspect of Christ’s form when he brought him back to life. He kept it—and then added to it. In this way, Christ’s resurrection was both bodily and glorious.

It doesn’t end there. This has implications for us, and they are profound beyond imagination.

What It Means for Us

1. It Means Jesus Is Who He Said He Is: When he walked the earth, Jesus made a number of extremely bold claims. So bold were these claims, in fact, that he was either a liar, a lunatic, or he was who he said he was. These assertions centered around his identity as the Messiah—the divine savior of humanity sent by God himself. God in the flesh.

The woman said, I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.“

John 4:25-26

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“

John 14:6

“Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

John 8:58

Jesus dying and rising again confirmed without a doubt that all these statements are true: he truly was and is God’s chosen savior of the world who came down to take the punishment for our sins, bringing us restoration, hope, and peace. Take a look at just two of the prophecies he, in doing so, fulfilled from hundreds of years earlier. Remember, these were made far before Christ came to earth.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Isaiah 53:3-5

Above, we see it prophesied that the Messiah will endure immense suffering and torment from the very people he is set out to save, something that Jesus certainly did when he was crucified at Golgotha.

 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,  and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:10

This passage describes that though the Messiah will be crushed for mankind, his days will continue. Furthermore, the Lord’s will is going to prosper in his hand! We see this happen when Jesus raises from the dead. Death does not keep him from seeing more days. Jesus Christ lives, and the will of the Lord prospers in his hand as he builds his Church. This should be enough to convince even the most adamant skeptic that Jesus Christ is the undisputed savior and king of the world, and by his wounds he offers salvation to all who place their faith in him.

2. It Means Creation Will Be Redeemed: Jesus’ bodily and glorious resurrection shows us that creation will one day be free from the curse of sin. It is a precursor to what is coming in the new heaven and the new earth.

Again, draw your attention to the fact that God, upon raising him from the grave, did not replace his physical body with a purely spiritual or ethereal one. No, Jesus retained the physical aspect of his Being and received more on top of it. This shows us that one day, all of creation will be made gloriously anew, and this does not refer exclusively to humanity; it’s all of creation. When the new heaven and the new earth arrive, creation as we know it will not wither away completely. It will be reborn, keeping what was lovely, losing the curse of sin, and adding more glorious things to its repertoire!

Consider this excerpt from Paul:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time

Romans 8:18-22

This is indescribably good news. Sin ravaged the world to its core. One day, God is going to undo all of that…and it will be more wonderful than anyone could imagine. New Testament professor Vern Poythress puts it well in her article “The Reversal of the Curse,” in which she says the idea that “God will simply throw the present creation into the scrap heap, so to speak, and start from scratch” is far from the truth.

3. It Means Humanity Will Be Restored and Made New: Take a look at this passage from Romans.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8:28-30

This passage means a lot of different things, especially when pondering on Paul’s term for Jesus: the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Jesus is the firstborn among us in more than one sense, and Poythress again provides valuable insight on the matter—in her understanding, he is, of course, firstborn among us because he is greater than us in authority and he has existed far longer than us (he has always existed). He is firstborn because he transcends us in power and ability, as well as because he was resurrected before any other members of God’s family will be.

However, the professor points out an entire new way of looking at this term by pointing out that Jesus is the representative of humanity. Because of this, his resurrection into his bodily and glorious form foreshadows our coming bodily and glorious resurrections: the new forms we will take as we enjoy intimate community with God in the new heaven and the new earth. His resurrection was the first among many, making him the firstborn among all that follow after him.

His resurrection is the pattern, or model, that we imitate and to which we conform.

Vern Poythress, 2004

So take heart because you are redeemed. You are restored. One day, you will inhabit a world without suffering. Without tears. Without sin. You will walk with Jesus in your new and glorious body, enjoying the fullness of creation without evil. There is no hope greater than this.