Resurrection Day
April 3rd, A.D. 33
The most likely time and date that Jesus died was approximately 3P.M. on Friday, April 3rd, in the year A.D. 33. Shortly afterwards, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took possession of Jesus’s body, wrapped it and placed it in an unused tomb owned by Joseph. On Sunday April 5th, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and discovered it open, but Jesus’s body was not there, John 20:1-18.
Jesus said he would rise on the third day (Matthew 16:21), and he did. To this day we commemorate this miraculous event on Easter Sunday, even non-christians know the story. Two thousand years later, the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ, more than any other single historic event continues to influence how we humans live today. Even the calendar we use to track time is centered around the life of Jesus Christ.
A Nuclear Reaction Inside A Tomb?
Of all the evidence, and there is much evidence, pointing to the validity of the christian belief in Jesus as God incarnate, perhaps none has caused as much debate as the Shroud of Turin. The age of the shroud has been a key argument put forth by skeptics to debunk the resurrection. They usually cite the 1988 carbon-14 dating results that put the age of the shroud at around the 13th or 14th century A.D. Because of that timing they conclude the shroud must be a forgery, a hoax. However, newer and more sophisticated methods of dating the shroud have placed its age in the first century A.D., timing which lines up with the actual resurrection event.
It turns out that Neutron Radiation may be the long overlooked X factor in the dating saga. (Be sure to watch the video linked above). Because, if the age of the shroud is confirmed to be in the first century, its authenticity becomes even more plausible, contradicting the assertion of skeptics. But beyond the age of the linen, the image itself appears to have been made by what can only be described as a Nuclear Reaction of some kind. The energy required for this would be something along the lines of 34,000 billion watts lasting just a fraction of a second. No forger of the first, or the medieval 13th or 14th centuries, could have had the means to create such an elaborate hoax. Not even modern science can duplicate this image. Now add in recently analyzed DNA samples from the shroud, and what you end up with is an even larger collection of evidence confirming beyond a reasonable doubt something Believers have long known to be true. Jesus Christ overcame death.
Resurrection Day (aka Easter) - It’s Not About The Bunny
My purpose in writing today is not so much to do a deep dive into the Shroud, or the many other proofs surrounding the life of God incarnate, perhaps another time. I just thought it might be good to pause a moment and remind ourselves that the real meaning of today is not about eggs and bunnies. Rather it’s about something bigger, something much much better.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” - John 14:6. Here’s wishing everyone a blessed Resurrection Day, or Easter if you still prefer.