The Evidence of Eyewitnesses

He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

–1 Corinthians 15:5–7

How do we know the resurrection wasn’t just a nice story made up by Jesus’s followers? In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul built a case for the resurrection, and his second piece of evidence was that of eyewitnesses. According to 1 Corinthians 15:5, the first person Jesus appeared to after His resurrection was the apostle Peter, who had denied Him just a few days earlier. Peter’s encounter with the resurrected Christ transformed him forever. It gave him the courage to be a bold defender of the Christian faith. How do you explain the metamorphosis that occurred in Peter? The only way to account for Peter’s transformation is that he had seen the resurrected Christ.

Jesus appeared not only to Peter and the other apostles but also to “more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain”–that is, they were alive at the time Paul was writing–“but some have fallen asleep”–that is, they had died (v. 6). Jesus appeared to five hundred people at one time. We don’t know the circumstances of that event, but Paul said some of the people He appeared to were still alive, so the Corinthians could talk to them if they wanted firsthand testimony.

When you’re standing in line at the supermarket, do you ever look at those tabloid magazines? I’ll confess, some of them grab my attention every now and then. You’ll read fantastic headlines like “Elvis Spotted at McDonald’s.” Does anybody really believe Elvis Presley is alive? And would anybody be willing to give their life for that belief? On the other hand, imagine five hundred people said, “We all saw Elvis right here.” Not only that, but those five hundred people were also willing to die for what they believed they had seen. That would cause you to think again about whether Elvis was alive, wouldn’t it? Paul said that five hundred people saw the risen Christ and believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ was alive.

The resurrected Jesus also appeared to James, His half brother. James didn’t believe his half brother was the Lord until Jesus appeared to him in His resurrected body. Then James became one of the leaders of the early church and wrote the epistle we have in our New Testament.

All these eyewitnesses not only saw Jesus’s resurrected body but also were willing to give their lives for their belief in the resurrection.

Today’s devotion is adapted from “Simple Answers to Sincere Questions” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011, and “If Christ Has Not Been Raised” by Dr. Jeffress, 2012.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.