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. 1 Corinthians 15:6
On October 12, 1492, three sailing ships sighted, and visited, some islands off the coast of North America. This landfall marks the great discovery of the New World by the great explorer Christopher Columbus. Few will dispute the date of that discovery or the right of Columbus to be the discoverer. But on those three sailing vessels, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, were only 87 men in total, including Columbus, as eye witnesses to the discovery. So we have the word of 87 men that Christoper Columbus discovered the Americas. And we do not dispute that. In contrast, we have the record of more than 500 people to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And yet there are many who claim it did not happen. What more proof do they need?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is critical to our faith; we have no salvation without it. In verse 17 of the same chapter as our text today, Paul declares: ‘And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins’. A dead Saviour would leave us with no proof of Christ’s victory over death. And we who are all dying because of our sin would have no hope. But Paul points out in our text that there is very real and powerful eyewitness evidence of the resurrection. The Gospels record those who met with the Lord Jesus after His resurrection: the disciples, Mary Magdalene, Cleophas and his wife on the Emmaus road, and others. And now Paul speaks of the great crowd of 500 who saw Him at one time. He declares that most of those were still alive at the time of the writing of this epistle, and can verify his account. We have no record that any of the 500 denied it.
Attitudes in the world about the resurrection of Christ are sceptical at best. The religious world will accord the resurrection at least some credence, although growing numbers of people in mainstream Christendom are either ignoring the resurrection or are outright denying it. Outside religious circles, most dismiss the resurrection as a legend or a myth. And people in other religions reject the resurrection in favour of their own legends and myths that have no collaboration or credibility. For instance, compare the 500 plus witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the rantings of one man who claimed to have received the doctrines of the Muslim religion while alone in a cave. Who would any rational person believe? And yet, Mohammedanism is now the second largest religion in the world, more than a billion people believing the word of one man over the eyewitness testimony of more than 500 credible people. How rational is that?
Christ arose. There is far more evidence to that fact than to the fact that Columbus discovered America. We have a hope that is backed up by 500 credible witnesses. – Jim MacIntosh