Proving His Resurrection
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The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
Introduction.
Introduction.
We live in a time when everyone wants scientific proof that what we believe is true. Take a picture or it didn’t happen.
Before His death burial and resurrection, there was no universal proof that Jesus was who He said He was.
The disciples could look at the Scriptures and see what was promised. Isaiah 7:14, “a virgin shall conceive”
The only one who knew for sure that this had happened was Mary, everyone else had to believe the story.
Isaiah 11:1, “A root out of Jesse”
They could trace His family lineage back to David, but persistent rumors of a Roman soldier made it difficult to prove.
As He began to fulfill the Word spoken about Him, they began to see who He was, yet it was still difficult to believe. He was well hidden, He looked like an ordinary man.
He began His ministry by opening the Scriptures and declaring them fulfilled.
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
They run Him out of town.
Even John, who baptized Him and declared “Behold the Lamb” had doubted.
Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Even the disciples weren’t sure.
He spoke to them about His death, but they could not accept it.
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
And he spake that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
They just couldn’t conceive what He would do.
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
He tried to tell them.
Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
But he spake of the temple of his body.
All the way down to the end they couldn’t really see it. Even the disciples were still fussing with one another about who would be greatest in the Kingdom when He went to the Garden.
They watched through sleep filled eyes as he prayed in the Garden. Peter even picked up his sword and tried to fight but it was too late.
Most of them fled from the authorities, Peter followed at a distance.
He denied Him three times, even cursed to prove he wasn’t a follower of Jesus.
They watched the roman soldiers beat Him, they watched Him fall on the road to Calvary. They watched His public execution, they saw Him give up the Ghost.
When He said “It is Finished” they thought their lives were over.
The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
They had heard it, they were taught it from their youth, but they didn’t know it.
Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
She had heard that voice before.
This is the first time Jesus appears alive after His resurrection. An infallible proof to Mary that He was alive.
Why Mary Magdalene?
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Why not one of the disciples? Why not His earthly mother?
She would be the least credible witness of them all, but she would also be the one who would believe.
Mary Magdalene, she had knew His power. She knew there was something about Him was different from anyone else. She had seven devils cast out of her.
Everybody that’s ever been free from the devil, by the power of Jesus Christ, knows where they’re standing.
No one can ever come, and in His great Divine Presence, and ever be the same person anymore. You’re changed. There is something happens to you.
Oh, you can stand off, and psychology, and imagine this, and accept this, a certain thing, and some theories, or something like that. But we don’t believe in theology. We believe in the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And when you come into His Presence, there is something that happens in your life, that changes you. And you’re never the same anymore, a man that’s ever been in the Presence of Christ.
So she had seven devils cast out of her. Pride and envy, and she thought she was so pretty and there was no one like her. But when Jesus spoke and said, “Be thou clean,” all that left her.
She become a new person. She wasn’t so pretty anymore, in her own sight. But she wrapped herself in the robe of meekness and gentleness, and followed the Master. She loved Him. 53-0405S - Go, Tell My Disciples
When He was proving himself alive in this hour he came to a widow named Hattie Wright Mosier
When Bro. Branham preaches “My New Ministry” Sister Hattie and her two boys are sitting there. Proving His resurrection.
She had lost her husband in a tragic farm accident and Bro. Branham tells the story.
He said the greatest anointing He ever felt was at her house that day.
Here, stand up, Sister Hattie. There’s the little widow woman that the miracle happened on, the first.
Bypassing all the peoples of the world, for that thing to happen first to that poor, little, humble widow woman up on a hillside, up there trying to raise a crop of corn out of a crawfish ground out there, to take care of her children.
That’s the one that God honored, the first time since the days of Jesus Christ, and said, “Ask what you will.”
You know why the plutocrats didn’t get it, or the big folks like that? Is because God knowed they’d ask things that was no good for them. He gives It to people who He knows will ask the right thing. 59-1115 - My New Ministry
After he appeared to Mary Magdalene he appeared to the other women.
He then appeared to Peter privately. Peter needed that.
Two of them, probably not preachers, were on the way to Emmaus that day, and they were talking about the days events.
And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
They made Him welcome.
And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
It was after Cleopas had got Jesus in the room, him and his friend at Emmaus, and Jesus broke the bread, that their eyes come open. It was after that was done.
They could run all night long back up there and tell them disciples, “Truly, He’s raised from the dead. We seen Him right down there, and He done the same thing He did, like He did before He was crucified”: after they had seen Him.
Oh brother, today, there’s no need of this Gentile world turning away your last sign. Jesus Christ has raised from the dead. He’s here tonight in the form of the Holy Ghost.
He’s here to perform and to do just like He did before His crucifixion. He’s raised from the dead: He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.
You could doubt that, but if He comes on the scene in a few minutes and performs the same thing He did before His crucifixion, then you’re a sinner, right, if you deny it. 58-0325 - Faith By Experience
And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
He was seen by ten of them that evening as they ate together, and the next week He returned so even doubting Thomas could see.
He was seen by seven disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.
Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.
Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.
And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
He came and performed a miracle that He had done before his death, when He first called Peter and the disciples.
Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.
And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.
As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.
Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.
Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.
He asked Peter “Lovest thou me more than these?”.
He was seen by James, seen by the Eleven again on the mountain in Galilee, and finally they saw Him ascend.
Before He ascended He told them this:
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
They knew He was alive, but He did not appear in that form again after his ascension. How would they prove to future generations that He was alive?
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
They became the proof of His resurrection.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Years later Paul is writing to the Corinthians:
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
If Paul could see Him, I can see Him.
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
He was seen by some at the Ohio river. Not the man, but Christ making the announcement.
He was seen by people we have met in the prayer lines, performing the very same resurrection sign He did when He was on the Earth.
His picture was taken with His prophet.
He showed Himself in the cloud.
We see Him in the opening of the Word, like they did on the Road to Emmaus.
But last of all, He was seen of you and me.
“Because I live, ye live also,” speaking to His Wife. “Because I live, ye live also.”
What a resurrection that that was! And what a resurrection this is, to be quickened from the dead, “to be made alive in Christ Jesus,” by God’s quickening Power! 65-0418M - It Is The Rising Of The Sun
Conclusion.
Conclusion.
Our Birth of the Word of this Day is an infallible proof of His resurrection.
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart