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     Many people willingly die for what they believe even if it is not proven to be truth.  For example:  Mohammed claimed that the Koran was revealed to him by God, even though there is no internal or external evidence or miracles recorded, nor eyewitnesses, substantiating the revelation of the Koran — absolutely nothing confirming what Mohammed said came from God!  (A somber and thought provoking contrast to Biblical claims!)
     Although the Koran is contradictory to the Bible and contains much internal evidence that the Koran did not come from God, Muslims believe its teachings and are willing to die for them in holy wars.  They willingly but unknowingly die for that which can not be proven to be truth.  However, no one in his right mind willingly and “knowingly” dies for that which is known to be unproven as truth.  According to church history, 11 of Jesus apostles died because they believed Jesus was God.  Did they willingly and knowingly die for something that was untrue?
     The greatest evidence of Jesus resurrection is the apostles themselves.  The apostles claimed to be eye witnesses of the resurrected Jesus (Acts 2:32).  The 12 apostles had nothing to gain and everything to lose in this world by teaching that Jesus rose from the dead.  They were willing to be ostracized, beaten, imprisoned, and put to death for their teaching that Jesus rose from the dead (Acts 5:40;7:59-8:1; 2 Corinthians 11:23-27).  Some 15-20 years after Paul briefly recounted the persecution of being a Christian evangelist, “Are they servants of Christ?  I am a better one – I am talking like a madman – with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.  Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I was stoned.  Three times I was shipwrecked;  a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;  in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” ( 2 Cor 11:23-27).
     If the claim of Jesus’ resurrection was a lie concocted by a conspiracy of 12 men, we are left with the question.  Why?  Were they mad men?  Did they willingly and knowingly die for a lie, a lie that they themselves had invented?
     Further, conspiracies, even among a small number of people are eventually discovered.  The truth is that the apostles’ eye witness testimony, that they so fervently believed and boldly proclaimed, even in the threat of death, is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead and that He is who He claims to be — the resurrected Son of God, our Lord and Savior.  The only reasonable conclusion regarding the apostles’ actions is that they saw the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth.  Their ultimate sacrifice (dying as martyrs for their faith) was because they knew what they taught was absolutely and unalterably true.  Jesus had risen from the grave!
     Lawyers have examined the testimony given by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John from the perspective – “Does the testimony satisfy the ‘Law of Evidence’?”  They concluded that the testimony is valid – that Jesus was a real person in history, that He died on a cross during the governorship of Pontius Pilate in Judea, while Tiberius was the Roman Caesar, and that Jesus rose from the dead.  Any person who honestly considers the evidence and is honest with Himself, must conclude that Jesus is who He claimed to be – the Son of God, the Savior of all who would follow Him according to the New Testament.

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