“Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8, NKJV)
Paul posed this challenging question to Herod Agrippa II during his defense before the king (Acts 26:1-29). It is a question that still drives to the heart of faith or faithlessness of each person (the word translated “incredible” means “without faith”). Either God has the power to raise the dead, or He does not. The God who created life and sustains life has the power to resurrect life from the dead. That was Paul’s premise. Paul was imprisoned and under the threat of death from the Jewish rulers for preaching the resurrection of Jesus (through which God fulfilled His promise to the Jewish fathers, Acts 26:6-7). The evidence of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead includes 1) The empty tomb (Lk. 24:1-3), 2) Eyewitness accounts of resurrection appearances of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:4-8), 3) The bribes and lies of the enemies of Jesus (Matt. 28:11-15), and 4) The Old Testament resurrection prophecies and their fulfillment (Lk. 24:44-48; Acts 2:24-31). It is not faithless to believe God raises the dead. He raised Jesus. One day, He will raise all of us, too (1 Cor. 15:20-23). The faithful will be raised to eternal life, and the faithless will be raised to eternal condemnation (Jno. 5:28-29; Acts 24:15). This is our incentive to believe in Jesus, who is “the resurrection and the life” (Jno. 11:25-27).
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