Maybe you remember Lee Strobel was an award-winning legal editor at The Chicago Tribune, as well as a hard-driving atheist until his wife, Leslie, met a neighbor who introduced her to Jesus.
He then did the only thing he knew how to do. Strobel investigated her faith with the goal of leading her back to atheism and back to their once-happy marriage. He spent the next two years investigating the historical evidence for Christianity, and in 1981, moved by Leslie’s changed life and convinced by the evidence, he became a follower of Jesus like his wife.
The first part of his conversion story was the change in his wife as she became became more loving, more peaceful, and more grounded. In the second part of his story, he summarizes “the four E’s” of the resurrection.
• Execution: The Journal of the American Medical Association says Jesus was dead even before they stabbed him in the side with a spear. Multiple sources confirm his death, and even skeptical scholars call the execution and death Jesus “indisputable.”
• Early accounts: Stories of the resurrection appear immediately after his death. Legends or myths take time to develop. And the resurrection creed in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7 is dated by scholars within months of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
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Not a single ancient source denies the empty tomb. They try to explain it, but they can’t and do not deny it.
And finally,
• Eyewitnesses: 1 Corinthians lists more than 500 people who saw Jesus after the crucifixion. Lee Strobel discovered nine ancient sources inside and outside the New Testament who affirm those post-resurrection appearances.
Finally, he concluded if the resurrection is true; our faith is true, but if the resurrection is false, our faith is false, and we’re left with nothing.
It all started with Jesus’ baptism. Suddenly, heaven breaks open.
Mark uses a strong word meaning “torn open!” It’s as if God can’t wait any longer to introduce his Son to the world.
You’ll notice in Mark 1: 9-11 that before Jesus called the disciples or before he preached or before he healed anyone, the Father appears saying, “You are loved! You belong to me! I delight in you!”
And God is saying that to you — if you’ll listen!
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
