Proverbs 4:5-7
Proverbs 4:5-7
'A True Understanding'
First edition published 2013
2 min.read
Is there physical proof that Jesus was real ?
Aside from the four Gospels shown in the Bible there are accounts by many prophets, all guided by the influences of God, that wrote of the life & times of Jesus.
Not included in the Bible, at the time of its completion, there has also been found the Gospels of...
Mary, Peter, Judas, Thomas, Philip all affirming His words, deeds & life.
You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”
Then Jesus shouted,
“Lazarus, come out !”
And the dead man came out, his hands and feet boundin grave clothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth.
There is also...
& the Forgotten Books of Eden.
They all affirm His words, deeds & life.
Jesus, aside from being a well recorded historic person, changed the entire educated world in such a profound & important way authorities, in honor of Him, when compiling the Julian calendar, made year as ushering in a new era because of His teachings.
B.C. & A.D. were introduced in 525 by Dionysius Exiguous who produced todays calendar known as the Gregorian Calendar.
The Gospels state that Jesus was born under the reign of King Herod, who died in "4 B.C."
Josephus, a Roman historian, provides details about Herod's death, also placing it at 4 B.C.
The new calendar was the first to use B.C. Before Christ & A.D. Anno Domini "The Year of Our Lord”.
The trial of Jesus was brought about because of accusations made to Rome by, in the beginning the high priests, King Herod son, those that stood to lose money & positions should Jesus claim, as many believed, His birth right of being king of the Jews.
Additional accusations, among others, was that of Jesus claiming to be God.
It is written that Pontius Pilate, who was the official Prefect of the Roman provinces of Judaea, Samaria & Idumaea as appointed by The Roman Emperor Tiberius.
It is written that after the trial Pilate famously said...
"I washed my hands" of the charges made against Jesus.
The information received in Rome from the Official Prefect resulted in the senate ordering investigators gather information & file reports related to those following the Jesus movement, known as, among many other names used at that time ...
.... "The Nazarenes"
Later became Christianity.
One of Rome's appointed investigators regarding those accusations was the Jewish Roman citizen Saul whom after the death of Jesus, while on the road to Damascus was struck down blind with a strong light.
The blindness was said to have lasted for 4 days & after hearing Jesus' voice asking...
"Saul why are you persecuting me"
Saul then converted to Christianity & renamed himself Paul.
These reports led Tacitus, one of Rome's first historian, to write about Jesus as a real historical person of notoriety.
Paul Barnett, a noted historian, stated...
"As a former consul in Rome Tacitus, having had easy access to official archives, would have read of Pilates reports to Tiberius about the trial, deeds & crucifixion of Jesus especially about events his later life".
Barnett was the chairman of the New Documents illustrating early Christianity projects which are now in its 10th volume.
Among those Bibliographies were :-
The Truth about Jesus. First Edition 1994.
Second Edition: Aquila, 2004. ISBN 1-876960-91-4 The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians NIC. 1997. Jesus and the Logic of History. Leicester: IVP (UK). 1997. Paul, Missionary of Jesus. Eerdmans, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8028-4891-8 Finding the Historical Christ. Eerdmans, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8028-4890-1
One of the earliest genuine writings about Jesus was by Paul, who was Saul, about 20 to 30 years after the death of Jesus.
"Although he never met Jesus he makes it very clear that Jesus was a real Jewish person. Paul did meet James, Jesus' brother.
Frederick Bruce, noted Biblical scholar, states one of the earliest documents mentioning Jesus, aside from the Bible, was in 55 CE by Thallos.
The works are considered important by Christians as confirming the historicity of Jesus".
There were three accounts of Jesus resurrecting the dead. All witnessed by many people.
Luke 7...A centurion there had a valued slave who was ill and close to death.
The centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
Luke 11... Soon afterward he journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said ...
...“Young man, I tell you, arise !”
The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
The account of Jesus raising Lazarus back to life after his death was well documented as he was not only a very rich & a well respected person he was a friend of Jesus.
His two sisters officially worked for the Romans.
John 11 ...“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
Many of the people who were with Mary & Martha believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.
But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together.
"What are we going to do ?" they asked each other.
"This man certainly performs many miraculous signs".
"If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy our temples and our nation."
The Encyclopedia Britannica... Independent accounts prove that in ancient times even those that opposed Christianity never doubted the history of Jesus.
In the earliest writings of Jewish Rabbis, Jesus was denounced as the illegitimate child of Mary & a sorcerer.
Among pagans, the satirist Lucian & philosopher Celsus dismissed Jesus as a scoundrel BUT there was NEVER any debate or accusations that Jesus of Nazareth was a made up person.
It seems clear, even from only these few of many examples, that Jesus was a real person & taught us all about how & why we should live if we want to attain a higher level of existence.
But Martha, one of the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days.
The smell will be terrible.”
Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe" ?
So they rolled the stone aside.
Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.