Alive - by Dave Smith

at this hour millions of men would die for him.’ 2
HG Wells: ‘I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must
confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth
is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the
most dominant figure in all history.’ 3
The late Queen Elizabeth II: ‘Billions of people now follow his
[Jesus’] teaching and find in him the guiding light for their lives. I
am one of them.’ 4
Scholars of all persuasions are generally agreed that there was
something extraordinary about Jesus’ character and teachings, as
well as the centrality of miracles during his ministry. While not proving
the later resurrection, the fact that Jesus did so many miracles –
including raising others from the dead – makes it more likely that if
anyone would have experienced resurrection, it would have been
someone like him.
This is coupled with another remarkable fact of Jesus’ life: his
fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. In fact, he fulfilled more than
300 prophecies (spoken by different voices over 400 years) –
including, for example, the fact that he would come from the line of
Jesse (Isaiah 11:1; Luke 3:23,32), that he would be born of a virgin
(Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26–35), in a place called Bethlehem (Micah 5:2;
Matthew 2:1). These prophecies about his birth were obviously
outside of his control! So, too, were the prophecies concerning his
death. A remarkable 29 Old Testament prophecies, from 1000–500
BC spoke of his betrayal, trial, crucifixion and burial. All of these were
fulfilled in one 24-hour time period. 5
Finally, it’s worth noting that as he was nearing the end of his
earthly ministry, Jesus made numerous direct and indirect references