A Personal Invitation

Over the past few weeks the pastors at our church have highlighted the “historicity” that is contained in the gospel resurrection accounts. The authors detail specific public activities - this person, this place, this time - all of which could have been easily verified or discredited by their readers. I especially appreciate that God had Joseph of Arimathea place Jesus’ body in his new, unused, nearby, and recognizable tomb. Had he not, Jesus’ body would have been tossed in a ditch somewhere. Who then could attest to his resurrection?

But there is another side to the resurrection accounts that has equally caught my attention. That is the personal revelation of Jesus to those who came to believe. His followers had the data. They had the historical proof nearer in time than we have, and it wasn’t enough. The New Testament accounts are full of individuals who come to faith as a result of “seeing Jesus,” whether as profound as Paul being struck down on the road to Damascus, or as quiet as Lydia by the riverbank of whom scripture says: “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” - Acts 16:14

This truth became very relevant to me this past weekend. A family member visited from out of state Friday, and because of a transmission failure as he entered Gaithersburg, was stranded here till Monday morning. Surprisingly he came with us to church Sunday, and as we were discussing the sermon at lunch, he asked my sons - “so, the way Jesus goes up into the air in a cloud... Why can’t he just be an alien from another planet?”

My sons engaged with the conversation enthusiastically. Questions like: “To what purpose did the alien come?” and “Why Jerusalem and not Rome?” were asked alongside data points of the activities of God over the ages. Data points which are verified in multiple sources outside the Bible. What came into view as I listened to the conversation was that data and proof were not sufficient. Faith is not primarily a mental activity.

Earlier in the weekend this family member had shared some significant personal experiences. For instance, he detailed the profound effect witnessing the full solar eclipse on a mountaintop was for him. He shared that everyone drove away afterwards in a hushed silence. The event affected him.

It is said that people do not change without a pain point. We do something, buy something, start something, stop something because we are affected, because it matters to us. We do what we “want” and afterwards rationalize the why. In no area should this be truer than in the realm of Christian faith, which, understood rightly, necessitates a dying to self. One does not do that just because it ‘makes sense.’

And that’s where the New Testament accounts excite me! God knows this about us, and meets us where we are at!

Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” - John 20:27

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs... - Acts 1:3

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory...  - I Peter 1:8

These are experiential verses. We serve a God who, in a myriad of different ways, comes and personally makes himself known, to each of us. He is not just a God of the past and now in heaven whom we discover. He comes by his spirit to us, finds us, calls us.

The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. - John 10:3

So remember that as you are sharing with your friend or family the facts of the God who has revealed himself in history, pray with them and for them, that God would grant to them also a personal visitation.