Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/70

Contributor - John J. Opmeer

Title - The Witness of The Big Fisherman

Topic - Easter

Acts 2 : 32 God has raised this very Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses to this fact. Jesus Christ, the dead is living! That was the great news which was gladly accepted by the unbelieving disciples. It is unbelieving news.

Of greater consequence for human living than any thing that has ever happened since life began on earth. In fact it is so unbelievable that many have dismissed it without much of an examination of the evidence that is available.

When it comes to the resurrection, people who otherwise admire Jesus, hesitate or worse: treat it as a fairy tale. There are people who do not want to believe in it. They refuse to deal with the facts, they harden their hearts against the available witness. What is the reason that there are so many unchurches people?

One good reason is that they refuse to listen to the Christian witness. What is the reason that there are so many shallow Christians? Thy refuse to deal with the evidence.

They leave the Bible to their minister to study. If people would only turn to the evidence that is available in the Bible. Even if they doubt that evidence. More often than not the sheer honesty and power and truth of the evidence will (open their minds to the working of the Spirit of God. I would like to give a few examples of this. The first is the apostle Paul:

Backed by the full power of the state, he tried to crash the Christian movement, but in doing so he came upon the evidence that Christ the crucified is living, and he became a witness himself.

General Wallace promised a friend that he would write an objective account of the life of Jesus, with all fancy and miracles left out. In doing so he had to read the Gospels over and over again and ended up a Christian himself writing his famous book "Ben Hur".

I read a book by a scientist Frank Morison titled "Who moved the Stone?" The remarkable thing about this book is that the writer set out to prove the opposite of the resurrection. In doing so he also had to read the New Testament very carefully and ended up defending the resurrection.

EVIDENCE

What kind of evidence are we dealing with?

Sometime between the burial of Jesus and a period at most seven weeks later, a profound conviction came to the little group of disciples that Jesus had risen from the grave.

We are not dealing here with one or two emotionally upset women.

We are not dealing here with one or two disciples who through the shock of grief were beginning to see things but with the whole group of disciples and friends and with firm objective facts.

When people are coming out of a period of intense grief over the loss of a loved one, they may be able to face life again. But certainly you won't expect from them exuberant joy.

When you turn to the disciples, that is exactly what you find, within a very short time after the death of Jesus not just are two, but all of them.

Even if they all had gone out of their minds, it would not explain their intense joy and power of conviction so soon after tragedy had struck them down.

In physics we know that no stationary object will move unless there is an initial impact.

Likewise the disciples were in a very stationary mood. They were not moving at all. The Sanhedrin did not bother to put them in prison, they were not dangerous at all.

What was the tremendous impact that started that motion?

What was the spark that caused this intensively heated center of burning zeal?

You can come up with all the answers and explanations you can think of but upon examination you will reject them yourself as inadequate worthless.

There is only one explanation: JESUS IS RISEN!

There are so many witnesses of His resurrection that I hardly know where to begin.

I would like to deal with the witness of Peter the big fisherman.

PETER AT PENTECOST

When the veil lifts and the disciples of Jesus come into the public eye again, Peter is their unquestioned leader.

Fortunately we know more about this man than about any other single disciple and you can be sure that the picture we get of him is true to life. Weaknesses are not glossed over. Far from being presented as a hero, we get a picture of a blundering, utter impulsive single man.

That of what is reported on him would have been left out by any editor.

Take for instance Jesus' sharp rebuke of Peter at Ceasarea Philippi: "Get thee behind me Satan," or Peter's denial of Jesus in the outer court of the house of Kajafas.

It is this man, demoralized, shaken up after the crucifixion, whom we find seven weeks later in the midst of a quickly gathering crowd in Jerusalem, making a public explanation of the behaviour and excitement of the disciples.

Here is part of what he said:

"Men of Israel, Jesus of Nazareth Who worked for three years in your midst doing the works of God, you crucified and killed. This same Jesus, God raised up and of that we are all witnesses."

Very clear and definite language. There is no doubt that this group of people seven weeks after the crucifixion believed in Jesus' resurrection and were willing to risk their life for it. Would you persist in a lie so that you might be stoned like Stephan or beheaded like Jesus?

Sooner or later someone would have cracked and told the truth.

THE EMPTY GRAVE

I want you to remember that within 15 minutes walking distance from where Peter was standing, there was the grave of Jesus for all to examine. Everybody in Jerusalem knew that that grave was empty, but nobody could explain why. The Pharisees desperately needed Jesus' body to make once and for all an end to the rumors that Jesus had risen from the grave.

It would have been public exhibition number one. But they could not produce the body. The only thing they could do was to spread the rumor that the disciples had stolen the body.

Over against this Peter is now publicly claiming: Jesus was raised from the dead and of this we all are witnesses.

Either he is lying, or the Pharisees are ... but there is no other real alternative.

Either you believe that the disciples stole Jesus' body, or you believe Jesus' bodily resurrection.

And if you can come up with another explanation, I would like to hear it.

Where the Pharisees right? Was Peter lying?

If the Pharisees were right, all they had to do was to get the lost body of Jesus. It would not have been difficult for them to find out. They could have imprisoned the disciples right away, they could have tortured and bullied them to find out where the disciples were hiding Jesus' body.

Later on they were doing all those things in order to stop the Christian movement from spreading.

Why did not they use the same means to stop the rumor of Jesus' resurrection? Why?

There is only one answer: they were lying. The disciples had not stolen Jesus' body.

Since the grave was empty as everyone in Jerusalem knew and since the disciples had not stolen Jesus' body, there is only one other possibility: Peter's witness on the day of Pentecost is absolutely true.

Peter is the man to whom Jesus had said: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And 3,000 people believed Peter on that one day.

Here is the man to whom Jesus had said: "You are, Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." These words were now coming to fulfilment.

Here he stands, now truly a fisher of men, now truly a rock, on which Jesus builds his church.

And he preaches the gospel of his crucified and risen Lord.

Will you believe this witness?

He was only a big fisherman, but after 2000 years he is more widely known than the mighty emperor Augustus, all because of the resurrection.

That event so tremendous that we can't describe it so powerful that it made a fisher of men out of a fisherman and can you make turn to God.

So full of hope, that death cannot intimidate us anymore.

Can you say with Peter:

I believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I believe that he is living now and will always be with me.

I believe that since He lives, I will live also.

There is all reason in the world to believe it.

No matter what else you believe about Jesus not until you begin with Easter will your life be changed.

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