John 11:23-27
Jesus is the Resurrection
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
The resurrection is the most important historical fact in the history of man...Without the resurrection we are earth only a short while and then we die, and then there is nothing else...Life on earth is everything and then everything is over...There really would be no reason for a good society, good morals, if we die and things are over...Why not evil, if everything is over after we die?...There would be no consequence without the resurrection...There would be no heaven without the resurrection... Everything on earth, without the resurrection of Jesus, is random, and has happened by chance if there is no resurrection of the dead...Material things would gain even greater importance without the resurrection...There would be no purpose in life...
In believing in the resurrection, you either believe that it is a truth or it is a huge lie...Some may say that Jesus is not a historical figure, but there are other written documents outside the Bible by different authors mostly shortly after His death that include Josephus, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, Suetonius, and Lucian...Also the very early writing of the Talmud includes Jesus being crucified on the cross...There is no room for one-half of the resurrection of Jesus...He has either risen from the dead two thousand years ago and is alive, or He has died and is still dead...And if He was alive after His death two thousand years ago, He is still alive today...If He died, and you do not believe, then He is still dead...
So when Jesus asks Martha if she believes that He is the resurrection and the life, we must ask ourselves this question too...If one does not believe that Jesus was resurrected, then one must believe that Jesus' apostles, and Paul were the biggest liars in the history of the world...They were the original ones who wound up spreading the word around the Roman Empire...They got the Good Word to the world...What a lie this is, if Jesus did not resurrect from the dead...But the apostles fled from Him after His arrest...They were behind locked doors until they saw Him after His resurrection...They were scared...Paul, also known as Saul, did not, at first, believe He was the Messiah...Paul was involved in killing Stephen, the first Christian martyr...It took several weeks after Jesus' death for Paul to be converted...The apostles saw Jesus and Paul saw Him after He had died...For His disciples, who knew Him and were taught by Him for three years, the resurrection, proved He is our Messiah...They learned from Him, the most about God, the most about love, forgiving, and all His other teachings...All these things taught by Him, now made perfect sense...They saw all His healing miracles...They saw Him raise people from the dead...They saw Him walk on water...They saw Him turn water into wine...They knew know He came from heaven...He is the Son of the Blessed One...Why would a group of somewhat cowards the night of His arrest, turn again into the strongest of His followers and would convert the whole Roman Empire to Christianity?...They knew they would be persecuted, tortured, jailed, and would suffer for teaching what He taught...They saw Him after His death, and realized He is a purpose of life -this is the reason for their change and courage after His death...They had a purpose to live and teach others the Great Commission...
Resurrection has met death, and Jesus has conquered it...He is the resurrection...Those who believes in Him will always live, even though He dies, and when you live and believe in Him, you will never die...