The Resurrection You Can See

And then there is your refusal to believe that the dead are raised. You say, “Show me even one person raised from the dead, so that I can see it and believe.” First of all — what would be so impressive about believing once you had watched it happen? And besides, you believe that Heracles, who burned himself to death, is alive, and that Asclepius, struck by lightning, was raised. Yet you refuse to believe what God has done for you. Even if I did show you a dead man raised and living, you would refuse to believe that too. [a]

God puts many proofs in front of you so that you will believe him. Consider, if you will, how the seasons and the days and the nights come to their end — how they too die and rise again. And is there not a resurrection of seeds and crops going on all the time, and for people's own use at that? Take a grain of wheat, say, or any of the other seeds: once it is thrown into the ground it first dies and breaks down, and then it is raised and becomes an ear of grain. And the nature of trees and fruit trees — is it not by God's command that they bring their fruit out in season, out of what was unseen and invisible? There is more. Sometimes a sparrow or one of the other birds swallows the seed of an apple or a fig or something else, comes to a rocky hillside or a tomb, and passes it there in its droppings; and that seed, once swallowed and carried through so much heat, takes hold and grows into a tree. All of this the wisdom of God brings about, so that by these very things it may show that God is able to bring about the resurrection of all people together.

And if you would like to see a more astonishing sight, one that proves a resurrection not only of earthly things but of the things in heaven, consider the resurrection of the moon that happens every month — how it wanes, dies, and rises again. Now listen, sir: there is a work of resurrection going on in you yourself, even if you do not know it. Perhaps you fell ill once and lost your flesh and your strength and your looks; then, when you received mercy and healing from God, you got your body back, and your looks, and your strength. And just as you did not know where your flesh went when it disappeared, you do not know where it came from, or where it came back from, either. But you will say, “From food and fluids being turned into blood.” Quite so. But this too is the work of God, who made it work that way, and of no one else.

So do not refuse to believe. Believe. I myself used to disbelieve that this would happen, but now I have thought it through and I believe — and at the same time I came upon the sacred writings of the holy prophets, who by the Spirit of God foretold the things that had already happened, in the way they happened, and the things happening now, in the way they are happening, and the things still to come, in the order in which they will be carried out. So, having the proof that events give when they occur exactly as they were announced beforehand, I do not disbelieve. I believe, and I obey God. Submit to him yourself, if you will, and believe him — so that you do not refuse to believe now and then be convinced later, in torment, among eternal punishments. [e]

Those punishments were foretold by the prophets, and the poets and philosophers, who came along later, stole them out of the holy writings to make their own teachings believable. Still, they too spoke in advance of the punishments that are to come on the godless and the unbelieving, so that everyone would have witnesses to it and no one could say, “We never heard it; we never knew.” So do read the prophetic writings for yourself, if you will, and read them in earnest. They will guide you more clearly, so that you escape the eternal punishments and obtain God's eternal good things.

For the one who gave the mouth for speaking, and shaped the ear for hearing, and made the eyes for seeing, will examine everything and judge what is right, paying each person the wages he deserves. To those who with endurance, through good works, seek what cannot perish, he will give eternal life, joy, peace, rest, and an abundance of good things — things no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and that have never entered the human heart. But for the unbelieving and the scoffers, who will not obey the truth but obey wrongdoing instead — when they are steeped in adulteries, sexual immorality, men having sex with men, greed, and forbidden idol-worship — there will be anger and fury, affliction and distress; and in the end eternal fire will hold such people.

And since you added, my friend, “Show me your God.” — this is my God, and my advice to you is to fear him and to believe him.