EXPOSITION:
There is surely no single doctrine in all the Bible that is so hated by Satan and much denied by the world as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Attempts and much efforts have always been made (always unsuccessful and untruthful) to ridicule it, downplay it, abase it, or simply to explain it. To them, it is a hard truth which is difficult to understand, or even too good to be true. This has led to the propounding of theories to debunk this mysterious truth. The fraud theory says that either Jesus or his disciples or both simply invented the entire doctrine of Jesus’ resurrection. They are of the view that Jesus was simply a clever crook who read the prophecies regarding the Messiah in the Old Testament and set about arranging for them to be fulfilled by himself. However, it would have been somewhat difficult for an imposter to arrange the place where he was to be born (Bethlehem – Micah 5:2) or for some Roman soldiers to cooperate with him by not breaking his bones on the cross (Psalm 34:20).
The swoon theory argues that Christ merely fainted on the cross and was later revived by the cool, fresh air of the tomb. If the case is so, how did He roll away the stone from the tomb, and how could He have withstood or escaped the soldiers guarding the tomb? Moreover, the vision theory advocates that the early disciples were guilty of using some kind of primitive LSD. This theory is very porous as there is no biblical or secular evidence to such. Another, called the spirit theory, holds that only Jesus’ spirit resurrected. But Jesus is said to have eaten while in his resurrected body, he showed Thomas the nail prints. Like the swoon theory, this theory cannot for one second stand the logic of reasoning.
The last theory which is called the heart theory mentions that Jesus only resurrected in the heart of his friends. The trouble here, however, is that none of his friends actually believed he would literally rise from the dead until they saw him with their own eyes and heard him speak to their ears. Though, the bodily resurrection of Jesus was even prophesied before his birth by David (Psalm 16:10), Isaiah (Isaiah 53: 9 – 12) and by Jesus himself six (6) times in the Gospel, its occurrence is held in argument till today. But the truth is that, Jesus indeed resurrected, and He is alive till now. He offers salvation. If you believe, the resurrection power will be yours forever, and you will also be resurrected at the trumpet-call (1 Thess. 4:13-14).