Evidence Supporting the Claims of Jesus
Most people assume that any religion requires blind faith and that there is no real, factual evidence to support any of them. You may be surprised to find that there are volumes of compelling evidence that support the claims of Jesus.
Even those within the church are rarely introduced to the growing volume of evidence that supports their faith. Yet the Bible instructs Christians to:
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience…” (I Peter 3:15-16)
There are many that can give sound reasons for faith in Jesus and they do it very skillfully. They are intelligent people, often possessing the highest academic credentials. Here I will introduce you to just a few within several different categories of evidence:
Detailed Eye Witness Testimony
The gospels are the first four books of the New Testament. Each is named after its author. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each is a detailed eye-witness account of the life of Jesus. While many have criticized these accounts as being compiled long after the life of Jesus, more recently discovered documents show clearly that they were actually written within one generation. In fact, we have thousands of manuscripts of these documents, many times more than any other ancient work.
I challenge you to read Luke and Acts consecutively. Acts is the story of the establishment of the church immediately following the life of Jesus. They are both written by Luke. As you read, ask yourself: Does this read like a compilation of myths or more like a detailed historical account?
For more details about the reliability of the Gospels, I suggest beginning with ‘More than a Carpenter’ by Josh and Sean McDowell or ‘The Case for Christ’ by Lee Strobel. The latter is also available in video. For a more exhaustive treatment, see ‘Evidence that Demands a Verdict’ also by Josh and Sean McDowell.
The Uniqueness of the Bible
The Bible was written over the course of about 1,500 years by 40 different men. We know it’s nearly impossible to get a team of five people to agree on anything, yet the Bible is completely congruent and consistent in it’s single theme throughout - God’s redemption of mankind. It’s preservation alone through so many centuries seems unlikely without divine aid, especially considering that many have attempted to eradicate it. It has not only survived. It has thrived. It has been printed and sold more than any other book in the history of the world.
For more on the uniqueness of the Bible, see An Investigation: What makes the Bible unique at Josh.org . For a more complete examination, consider ‘Evidence that Demands a Verdict’ by Josh and Sean McDowell, Part I, Chapter 1: The Uniqueness of the Bible. This book is available from Amazon in print, Kindle and audio.
Reason
I recently heard or read that most philosophy is attempting to answer three basic questions: ‘Where did we come from?’, ‘What is the meaning of our lives?’, and ‘Where are we going?’. Life definitely presents some questions that are difficult to answer. Some, by carefully examining these questions, come up with a surprisingly convincing argument that not only does God exist but that the claims of Jesus must be true as well.
Probably the best known work that takes this approach is ‘Mere Christianity’ by C.S. Lewis. Regardless of your belief system, you can’t deny that C.S. Lewis is a brilliant author. Though he wrote many books with a Christian theme, you may be more familiar with his fictional ‘Chronicles of Narnia’, some of which were made into films by Disney beginning with ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ in 2015.
The content of Mere Christianity was originally a series of wartime, BBC radio broadcasts on Christian Faith targeting the young soldiers going to battle to save Britain from Nazi Germany during World War II. I’ll warn you that it’s not a light read. The formal British English and serious topics may challenge you at first. However, those who forge ahead should quickly adapt to the language to reach an intellectually rewarding destination.
Some of the many topics covered are:
Right and wrong as a clue to the meaning of the universe
The law of human nature
What Christians believe
Rival conceptions of God
Morality (several topics)
Forgiveness, hope and faith
Mere Christianity is available on Amazon. There are many editions and formats, so it is suggested to search on the title and author name, C.S. Lewis.
Archaeology
Many have attacked accounts from the Bible as being completely unsubstantiated and should never be considered as ‘historical’. They claim that they are only fantastical stories and myths created by a deeply religious, more primitive culture of that time. Yet, a large volume of those attacks over the years have been debunked by archaeological discoveries. King David from the Old Testament and Pontius Pilate, the Roman ruler that tried Jesus, now have archaeological findings in support of their existence.
Biblical Archaeology is a whole field of study on its own. New discoveries are published frequently. The best place to begin learning is The Biblical Archaology Society website. Check out the most recent headlines on the home page, read recent issues of their magazine, The Biblical Archaeology Review or download free e-books.
One of the best collections I’ve come across is in the book ‘Is Atheism Dead’. The author, Eric Metaxas, turns the histories of amazing archaelogical finds into engaging stories.
Fulfilled Prophecy
This is the evidence that convinced me. Many, many predictions written in scripture have come true. Among the most convincing and relevant are the very specific messianic prophecies written hundreds of years before the time of Jesus.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Jesus from Luke 24:44-47)
From ‘More than a Carpenter’ by Josh & Sean McDowell:
“The Old Testament contains 60 major messianic prophecies and approximately 270 ramifications that were fulfilled in one person, Jesus Christ.”
“Using the science of probability, we find the chances of just forty-eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person to be only 1 in 10 to the 157th power.”
‘More than a Carpenter’ is a great introduction to fulfilled prophecy and several other types of evidence. Since its first printing in 1977, it has sold over 15 million copies and been translated into dozens of languages. It is now updated with revised material and a new chapter addressing questions frequently raised today. ‘Evidence that Demands a Verdict’ previously mentioned, gives a much more comprehensive view.
New Testament Fulfillment of Old Testament Foreshadowing
I’ve placed this right under prophecy as a separate category because it is prophetic in nature but distinctly different. It’s not widely known, even within the Christian church.
Not only were there distinct, specific prophecies about the Messiah but with careful study, one finds that many elements of the Old Testament ‘foreshadowed’ their fulfillment in the New Testament. For instance, most of the elements in the Old Testament Tabernacle symbolized the actual heavenly Tabernacle. They were a ‘shadow’ of the real thing that was yet to come. Several Jewish festivals and events also foreshadowed things to come. The study is very intriguing. Jesus sometimes even cites the Old Testament reference before identifying Himself as the fulfillment!
I found one book on this that is very well done. The title is ‘Jesus Unmasked’. Chapter 14 is ‘Jesus is the Seven Festivals’. It explains how each of the seven Jewish festivals was a shadow or symbol of the coming messiah and how Jesus is the substance or reality of them. Here is an excerpt:
During the seven-day celebration of the Feast of Booths, torches were lit to illuminate Jerusalem. The number of lights increased each day so that by day eight on the feast day, Jerusalem was lit up like a rocket. On this day, men carried torches around the temple and placed them in the ground.
This light was to be a symbol of the Messiah who would be a light to the Gentile nations (Isa. 49:6). Jerusalem was ablaze. In the midst of this, with Jerusalem lit up like a comet, Jesus proclaimed:
“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12).
Zing. Pow. Lights out.
While the Jews were festively celebrating with torches blazing everywhere, Jesus’ words were absolutely bodacious. “Hey. Those torches you are carrying? The light they give is a picture of Me. You think Jerusalem is a bright light? I am the light of the world!”
This is only one of many, many examples. Not only did the Old Testament provide hundreds of overt prophecies that were fulfilled but it is full of not-so-obvious symbolism that was fulfilled in the life of Jesus. The intricate tapestry of the prophetic and its fulfillment seems impossible to have been woven without divine guidance.
The author of ‘Jesus Unmasked’ is Todd Friel. Print, Kindle and audio versions are available on Amazon. The book focuses specifically on foreshadowing that is identified as such by the New Testament so it’s not just conjecture.
Science
Science?! You may think, “Come on Chris. There’s no way you can use science here. Science is always opposed to religion and giving evidence against any existence of a God”. With our current cultural narrative on this, it’s easy to see why someone would think this way. Actually though, both religion and science should ideally be an open-minded, honest pursuit of truth. It is a shame it rarely happens that way.
Of course the majority of Scientists still adhere to evolution but that does not mean they are right. Bear in mind that science once also held a majority consensus that the world was flat. Even though scientists who hold to creationism and intelligent design are often persecuted and ostracized from the scientific community, their ranks are growing and their arguments are compelling and sophisticated.
If you would like to explore this category further, here are some good starting places:
Stephen C. Meyer - Author, scientist and speaker
CREATION.com - Exhaustive resources on creationism
Changed Lives
Christianity is still the world's largest religion at about 2.4 billion. While there are many who are not genuine, there are still millions who are. Each one has a story of transformation. Many are very dramatic. Drug lords, addicts, criminals, prostitutes, crooked politicians and even hypocritical religious leaders who come to truly believe and yield their lives to follow Jesus, experience life-change that they never could have imagined. Even a skeptic when hearing just a handful of these stories, has to scratch his head and wonder if there’s something to it.
Consider a few high profile examples:
Josh McDowell, already cited here as a leader in evidence for faith, shares in his books about his dramatic change. He actually set out to disprove Christianity and ended up being convinced of its validity in the process. He relates the many drastic differences that came after his conversion.
Lee Strobel, an avowed atheist, annoyed with his wife’s new-found religion, set out to use his skills as an investigative reporter to show her how foolish it was. Like McDowell, he became convinced in the process. He wrote ‘The Case for Christ’ and several other books since.
Charles W. Colson pleaded guilty to Watergate related offenses in 1974 and served seven months in prison. His book, ‘Born Again’, details how he came to know Christ during that tumultuous time after reading ‘Mere Christianity’ by C.S. Lewis. After his release, he established a prison ministry to take the message of Jesus to inmates across the U.S.
Mosab Hassan Yousef was the son of a founding leader of the terrorist organization, Hamas. He was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he turned away from terror and violence to follow Jesus. He is the author of ‘Son of Hamas’.
I have a story of my own transformation. It is very tangible in my mind. I can honestly say that because of it, I am a completely different person. I discovered what I had been through was perfectly described in the Bible. See I Corinthians 5:17. Further confirming the validity of my own experience has been hearing the stories of scores of other Christians over the years and the uncanny points of commonality that we all share.
Spiritual Realm
Many scientists and atheists view the world with a presupposition of anti super-naturalism. Modern documentation and paranormal investigation, though not conclusive, seem to at least offer some evidence that there is a spiritual realm.
High profile cases such as Amityville, The Haunting in Connecticut and others seem to end up pointing to the existence of demons rather than what we think of as ghosts, the spirits of people that formerly lived. This is consistent with the Bible which records that Jesus cast out evil spirits.
I will only offer one example that I have looked into that I think may be worthy of your consideration. The 1974 movie, The Exorcist, was disturbing enough to cause some people to seek counseling. Not many know that it was inspired by a true story of the exorcism of a young boy.
The book ‘Possesed’ by Thomas B. Allen details that story and even includes actual notes taken by a Catholic priest as the series of exorcisms were performed.
‘In the Grip of Evil’, a documentary (A Henninger Media Development/Vanderpool Films production), is based on the book by Allen.
‘Possessed’ (Showtime Entertainment/Maintitle Pictures production) is a film dramatization of the story.
I’ve just covered a few of the categories of evidence I could come up with. It’s intended as an introduction that I hope will whet your appetite for more. I challenge you to begin your own pursuit.
Additional Resources
Feedspot has a list of 20 top blogs for Christian evidence.