The greatest fact in history is Jesus of Nazareth. He commands attention by the beauty of His teaching and the moral power of His life.

But what was He?  When we ask for His own answer we are confronted by a challenge.

He claimed:

to be the light of the world (John 8:12)

to give his life a ransom for men (Matt. 20:28)

to return from death (Mark 8:31)

to have power to raise others at the last day (John 6:40)

to be the Christ the Son of God (Matt. 16:16-17)

who will judge and reward men (Matt. 16:27)

when he comes in his glory as King (Matt. 16:28)

These are not the words of a mere moralist, or simply a social reformer, or a gifted healer.  The alternatives must be stated bluntly: either His claims are true, or He suffered from pitiable delusions.  Yet what deluded fanatic could offer teaching or present a character which all men revere?  What madman could raise the dead?

The supreme witness to Jesus is the fact of His own resurrection: and for that fact the evidence of the New Testament has withstood the assaults of sceptics and the scrutiny of the keenest minds through 1900 years.

His apostles' words stand firm: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses" (Acts 2:32).

Their conviction that He was the Messiah came from their personal knowledge of Him in His ministry; their certainty that He had risen rested also on personal experience.  That certainty was the foundation of their preaching, and they faced death rather than deny it.