Jesus said to His disciples that He was gonna start a movement and death itself wouldn’t stop it. And here we are 2000 years later, there are people on every continent and just about every country who celebrate the life and death and resurrection of Jesus.
All over the world there are people in nations that we can’t even name speaking languages that we don’t even know who are celebrating the life and death and resurrection of a Jewish day laborer from a meaningless part of Judea that nobody placed any importance on.
There were other wannabe Messiahs and we can’t name a single one of em’. None of us are likely to have books written about us after we’re gone. But there is so much written about this one person.
And within a few days after Jesus’ resurrection, the very same men who scattered in fear…just a few days later, not a few years, not 50 years, and not after all of the eyewitnesses had died, but just a few days later…these same men who had hid and were afraid for their lives went into the streets of Jerusalem and proclaimed Jesus as Savior. And they were within walking distance of where Jesus’ trial had taken place, they were within walking distance of the crucifixion site, and they were within walking distance of Jesus’ tomb.
And the book of Acts says that within weeks after the resurrection that a great many people within the city of Jerusalem had embraced Jesus as Messiah. And the reason His movement is still goin’ strong 2000 years later is because eyewitnesses to His resurrection went and proclaimed that and the Gospel.
And the reason His previously cowardly followers boldly re-engaged with the movement and the message of Jesus, was not because of Judaism or the Law of Moses, it was because they saw their resurrected Savior.
Was it Jesus who said it, or was it written after the movement had gained momentum? As far as I know, we have nothing that was written by Jesus....that everything we do have was written many decades after Jesus and embellished in order to build a new religion.
Look at what happened with Mohammad and Islam. From the fevered mind of a goat herder to a world wide faith.
