The Bible is all about Jesus and was written in 66 different documents, 27 of which are in the New Testament
The Old Testament was more about detailed prophecies about His Coming as a man Messiah (the Divinely Appointed, Anointed and Ultimate Deliverer and Everlasting Ruler). It also offered a foretaste of this through His miraculous appearances (Christophany) and interventions in the life of His people and the world as a whole.
The New Testament in turn provided us with comprehensive details of Jesus’ miraculous birth as a man, His miraculous deeds as God with us (Emmanuel), and His death as a Servant-King, His establishment of a New Covenant with all men, and the New Commandment of self-effacing, self-denying Service of Love. It went further to share with us the Acts of the Holy Spirit working through His obedient Followers, and many writings exhorting His followers to live… and die like Him.
It is important to note that Jesus’ Resurrection was not a hidden affair. Not only did He reveal Himself bodily to the women who followed Him while He was one earth, He also revealed Himself to his step-siblings who had mocked Him and considered Him crazy while He was on earth. And of course to all the Apostles, 500 hundred followers at the same time, and finally to Apostle Paul, who was once the greatest adversary of Christians soon after birth. Jesus’ earthly body has never been found till today, but that’s no doubt because it is alive and kicking on earth through the Church, which is His Body and Temple! Alleluia! And alive in Heaven, seated and the right Hand of God the Father and interceding for those who believe in Him and follow Him faithfully.
We must also not forget that in addition to the records in the New Testament, the writing of the were the leaders that the Apostles and first Christians handed over (Ante and Post-Nicene Church fathers) confirmed the truth of the Bible to varying degrees. Most of these lived between the first and second century which is very close to the period of the events recorded.
It is interesting to note that all the Apostles and many followers with, and after them, were persecuted and killed in gruesome ways for believing this truth. Some were used as baits to hungry lions in stadium games while many watched. Others were burnt as torches to light streets during pagan night festivals or parties of or so-called noble men. And they all faced their gruesome deaths boldly and courageously, knowing that they would live forever in Christ. And indeed as our Lord Jesus Christ declared, Evil has not and will never be able to prevail against the Church.
The history of the Bible which contains truthful records of these facts is actually very similar to that of Christians. Over millennia the Bible has been banned, burned and distorted, and in spite of all that it stands till today and keeps multiplying in different languages all over the world.
While those of us who have come to believe glory in this truth, many today still bury their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, suggesting either that He never lived on earth, or that the things said of Him did not happen but are mere myths. And yet, those who bother to take the trouble to seek truth keep pointing out that that there are more proofs of the truth about Jesus’ life, deeds and resurrection than that of Julius Caesar, to mention just one example of a historical figure that the world generally accepts as having lived on this earth and done the things said of him seems not be enough to persuade naysayers of the Way, the Truth and the Life.
I am therefore hoping what is presented below of what non-believers who lived about the time that Jesus did, had to say about Him, might persuade some to rethink or at least research further. Some of the writers were impartial and thorough historians, others were political figures whose aim was to mock Jesus and falsely accuse His followers, and yet others were full-fledged adversaries whose objective was to incite the populace against Christians and cause their destruction. Just as is still happening today, by the way!
The information I present below is the outcome of the research work done and shared by diligent men and women of God who wanted to refute the biased and baseless claims of those who are against Christ and His Church. So I am just another grateful beneficiary of their hard work who wished to encourage you to stand firm in your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Master.
Here is what I have been able to extract from the works of some of these dedicated Christian researchers.
1. Josephus, a renowned Jewish historian wrote in his book, the Antiquities of the Jews that Jesus was known to be ‘wise and virtuous’.
2. Josephus’ writing also confirmed that Jesus had a brother called James. This was mentioned in several parts of the New Testament. He reported that James was stoned to death alongside other Christians by the Roman authorities. It might also interest you to know that archeologists recently dug up a sarcophagus (holes in rocks where the bones of dead Christians were stored) with the inscription James as the brother of Jesus called Christus, thus confirming this truth in the Bible yet again.
3. Celcius was an Anti-Christian apologist. In other words, like many today, he was an active hostile to Christians and their beliefs like, manufacturing all sorts of arguments against Christian truths. But even he could not deny the fact that Jesus performed miracles. According to him, Jesus was a well-known poor man hired out to Egypt where he supposedly learnt how to perform the powerful miracles and was worshipped as a god. If Egypt was indeed the source of Jesus’ recorded miracles, isn’t it strange that there is no record of many such miracle workers in Egypt during that period and even after?
4. Tacitus was born in AD 56 so lived during the period the New Testament was written. He confirmed the crucifixion of Jesus by Pontius Pilate when Tiberius Caesar ruled. And so did Josephus.
5. A Samaritan known as Thallas who lived from AD 5 to AD 60, the same period as Jesus, confirmed in his writing that there was an earthquake and unusual darkness in area of Judea, as recorded in the New Testament.
6. Josephus’ writings confirmed that Jesus had lots of Jewish and Gentile disciples again as captured in the New Testament.
7. Julius Africanus who lived during the time of Tiberius Caesar confirmed that the unusual darkness that occurred about the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.
8. A certain writer called Flegon who lived during the same period also confirmed this unusual darkness.
9. Josephus wrote about the disciples’ claim of Jesus’ resurrection three days after His crucifixion. His writing also confirmed that
10. Pliny the Younger wrote that Christians worshipped Jesus as God and that they reserved a special day to share his teachings and sing together in praise of Him
11. Lucian of Samasota, a second century Greek satirist, referred to Jesus in his writing as a distinguished personage who was crucified’.
12. A certain Satonius confirmed in his writing that Christians were expelled from Rome as a result of protests against them by the Jews. His writing also confirmed their continuous grievous persecution by Nero
13. So did Tacitus who wrote about how the Christian religion was considered an abomination and how Christians were tortured by Nero.
Should you still have doubts about Jesus and the events surrounding Jesus’ life, death and resurrection after reading this, I would urge you to please do your own diligent research, even if only with the help of Google.
IT IS A MATTER OF ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN OR ETERNAL SUFFERING IN HELL.