Dear Theophilus
Theophilus means “Beloved of God”.
Beloved, we have numerous primary witness accounts that Jesus Christ is risen out from among the rest of the dead. If we were in a court of law, a firsthand account carries much more weight than here say. Circumstantial evidence is also taken in to account in order to reach a verdict. We have both concerning Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.
Mary Magdalene was an actual firsthand witness, as was Peter, Mary the mother of Jesus, Joanna, and the other women that visited the empty tomb, the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus, the apostles and disciples that were present the two times he appeared behind closed doors and he ate with them, Thomas at the second supper, the seven disciples the morning they went fishing and he fixed them breakfast, and above 500 other brethren, as well as James, and later on the Apostle Paul. This is a substantial list of firsthand witnesses.
There is also the empty tomb to take into account. It had previously contained Jesus dead body and his grave clothes. He had been wound in over 100 pounds of strips of linen cloth packed with herbs. After God raised him from the dead, they were still intact, just as when they contained his dead body. They had not been disturbed. They were lying there as an empty mummy in the shape of the body they had contained, with the face cloth folded off to the side. Mary Magdalene saw it, as did Peter and the disciple that Jesus loved, as did all those who went to the open sepulcher.
Witnesses saw the risen Lord, they broke bread with him, they touched him, they heard him speak, and they spoke with him. He taught them out of the Scriptures and put them together for them so they could understand what had taken place. They saw him suddenly appear and others had him disappear before their eyes. They saw him ascend into the heavenlies!
These witnesses did not hallucinate; they saw him for forty days before he ascended! Not one witness claimed his resurrection from the dead was a hoax. It is indisputable and undeniable: he is risen, beloved!
Historians even attest to the authenticity of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.
God raised His Son from the dead to prove that Jesus was indeed His Son. He authenticated it by his resurrection from the dead. He declared that Jesus is the Christ, and our Lord, yea the Lord of all lords, and the King of all kings! He validated his life and what he accomplished by his resurrection from the dead.
Rejoice beloved! God raised His Son from the dead, and He will just as surely send him back for us as to save us and even redeem us from the grave if necessary.
I Thessalonians 1:10: And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.
Beloved, God has not appointed us unto wrath but to the acquisition of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are watching or sleeping, we shall be made alive together with him.
Comfort, encourage, and edify one another until you see him face to face. He is coming as surely as he came the first time, and, as he died and rose again, even so God will raise those who have died to eternal life by means of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we might live together with him.
Yes beloved, rejoice, and celebrate all that he accomplished for us and which we enjoy by the grace of God, and we will yet enjoy throughout eternity!
This is not just some religious gobbledygook, it is an established spiritual reality, and because of it we can confess Jesus as our Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead and we shall be saved and given eternal life!
He was the first fruits from the dead and we will follow at his coming! Life, eternal life, is ours by the grace of God and by the price our Lord paid for us. Rejoice, and live in its reality oh Theophilus, now and forever. He is risen!