There’s no denying that a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived, breathed and walked on this earth roughly 2,000 years ago. There’s even attestation to this fact apart from the biblical witness alone. But if you want to know who Jesus is, the best place to look is the four Gospels in the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Think of each gospel as the sworn deposition of an eyewitness (John 20:30-31; 21:24-25). The Gospels provide firsthand eyewitness testimony of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. While there are differences and subtle nuances in each book, one main point and dominant theme is this: Jesus of Nazareth is God. He said and did things only God can say and do, and most importantly, predicted that He would die and rise from the dead never to die again—and then He actually pulled it off.

Hard to believe? You bet it is. Dead men don’t ordinarily rise. That’s why there have been attempts to disprove the resurrection of Jesus since day one. Some speculated that the disciples of Jesus stole the body and hid it. Some spoke of a spiritual — not a bodily — resurrection. Some so-called scholars have even claimed things like “wild dogs came and ate the body of Jesus.” The problem with these explanations is that the eyewitness testimony doesn’t match up. Those who witnessed the events let us know that the resurrection of Jesus didn’t “happen in a corner (Acts 26:26).” It happened in plain sight. The apostle Paul basically says, “If you don’t believe me, then go ask the over 500 eyewitnesses who also saw Him risen from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:6).”

Yes, I know, people believe and claim crazy things like they’ve seen space aliens or Bigfoot. The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, however, is different. In the years following the resurrection, the followers of Jesus were beaten, imprisoned, and put to death because they confessed that Jesus rose from the dead. Rather than deny this fact they willingly suffered death. Their faith rested upon the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus; that “if Christ had not been raised then our…faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Not to mention, the religious and political leaders who held all the cards (the Roman authorities and Pharisees) would’ve loved to disprove the resurrection. Had they found the body of Jesus they surely would’ve paraded it through the streets to silence His followers and put the resurrection hoax to rest. But they didn’t because they couldn’t. Christ, in fact has risen from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20). That’s a fact that deserves our attention.

So what’s the best way to give it our attention? For starters, go to church this Sunday to hear not just a fact — that Jesus rose from the dead — but to hear about how this historical fact was actually accomplished for you and for your eternal salvation.

Paul Doellinger is the pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Cassopolis. He can be reached at paul.doellinger@gmail.com.