Evidence For Christ's Resurrection: Faith in the Truth vs The Faith Of Attacking It (2010)
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes for young children to answer are throughout sermon)
In this season, we are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We call this holiday, "Resurrection Sunday." The focused celebration has to do with the prophesied Messiah coming to earth. Then, according to prophecy, He was to be rejected by people who were born into the two ancient covenants that God made with Abraham, and Moses. The prophecies indicated that He must be crucified. But it does not end there. The prophecies also indicate that he must be bodily resurrected from death 3 days later. God's prophecies are one way that He has demonstrated to us that the crucifixion was not an afterthought. They clearly show that the crucifixion was not a mistake. It was all part of God's preordained plan. In fact, it was the pivotal event in God's plan that had to take place for the salvation of the elect. Just as importantly, was the resurrection that followed the crucifixion. Peter explains the importance for the purchasing salvation, when he says,
"18 ... you were not purchased with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Jesus Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." 1 Peter 1:18
Through Christ's sacrificial work, and resurrection, our faith and hope are in God. Without the crucifixion, as the price paid for sins, then the elect would not have been purchased for salvation. Without the resurrection, our faith is worthless, as Paul says,
"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" 1 Corinthians 15:14
But the fact of the matter is that our faith and hope are in God because Christ really has been raised. Further, our faith and hope is based upon evidential facts. This morning, we are going to examine some of that factual evidence for Christ's resurrection. Please prepare your heart for the preaching of God's word in this special Resurrection Sunday sermon titled,
Evidence For Christ's Resurrection: Faith in the Truth vs The Faith Of Attacking It
[prayer]
Something happened two thousand years ago that changed history from B.C. which is "Before Christ," to A.D. which is "Anno Domini." Anno Domini is Latin for "the year of our Lord." That something that happened in the year that is named after our Lord, was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I want us to think about this a moment: The resurrection of Christ is the pivotal proof that He was who He claimed to be. It is the main proof that He has the power to save anyone from their sins, giving them everlasting life. As we think about this, we must also recognize that there is evidence for the proof. Yes, I said that there is "evidence" for the "proof."
/1/
This brings me to the first point I want to make concerning the facts behind our faith. It may sound simple, but it is very important. What I mean is that the initial records of Christ were not written by people detached from the events. The four Gospel history books that record Jesus' resurrection, were written by men who were either personal students of Jesus, like Matthew and John (who were actual eyewitnesses to the events), or they were men like Mark, and Luke the physician. Both Mark and Luke, carefully interviewed eyewitnesses and other people who were close to the events described (Luke 1:1-4; 3:1 John 19:35). There were others too. Peter walked with Jesus as a student. Peter personally encountered the risen Christ. There were also men like the apostle Paul. He is the same one who wrote,
"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." 1 Corinthians 15:14
Let's think about Paul. At the time that Paul witnessed the risen Jesus, he was hostile to Christianity. His faith was to reject the resurrection. So, Paul was on his way to kill Christians in his hatred for their beliefs. But on his way, Paul encountered the risen Christ. Instantly, Paul went from hunting Christians, to preaching, and writing, about the risen Christ. Paul's commitment to the resurrection led to his own persecution, and execution. All these men of history, carefully and passionately attested to the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They lived, breathed, recorded, and proclaimed, the very history they experienced. All the experiences they recorded were fresh on the minds of everyone involved in that generation.
/2/
This leads to the next point. The historic gospel writings are dated between 50-65 AD. Jesus died in the early thirties AD. Most written records of the resurrection of the historic Christ (that we know of) originated within the first 30 years after His death. The point that I am making here is that in recognizing this short time period, and considering the rapid growth of Christianity, plus the fact that Jerusalem and the surrounding area had only about 40,000 people, (see footnote 1 below) it would have been easy for any contentious contemporary eyewitnesses to come forth to discredit the history writers for recording inaccurate information. This is a very important point on many fronts. Think about the fact that Christians were being intensely persecuted. Exposing false claims would have been the logical course of eyewitnesses who disagreed, right? But, such discrediting attacks taking place within those early years simply can not be found anywhere--even in legal proceedings. Instead of refutations, what do we find? We find contemporaries affirming the resurrection of Christ at every turn. This is seen all through the history Book of Acts. Luke the physician wrote Acts as the earliest record of the spread of Christianity. There is no record that any eyewitness in the early Christian community ever refuted any detail in this exhaustive chronicle of events. Paul, writing about 20 years after Christ's crucifixion, spoke of the risen Jesus publicly appearing to over 500 people. Paul pointed out that many of those people were still alive when he wrote about their witness. If Jesus had not really risen from the dead, then think about what this kind of claim would meant for Paul's credibility. This kind of documentation would have been suicidal for Paul's trustworthiness. Any dissenting witness could have easily refuted Paul's reference. But, in all of the historic records, no refutation is found. Just as importantly, records of such a miraculous event would have been rejected by at least some of the many hundreds of other followers of Jesus while He walked in His pre-cross ministry, if in fact, there was not a consistent consensus to believe that it was true. But no follower of Christ is ever recorded as rejecting the Lord's later resurrection. Keeping all of this in mind, we must also consider that serious historians recognize that complex mythical legends built around an actual event, usually take generations to develop. Why? Because the original witnesses had finally died. But every single early account states boldly, in complex and intricate detail, that Jesus rose from the dead as a matter of fact. It is clear that the apostles passionately preached the fact of the resurrection of Christ as their main message. The fame of their relentless preaching emphasis is even confirmed by non-Christians who would naturally have a tendency toward faith in skepticism. The Jewish historian, Josephus, who was born a couple of years after Jesus resurrected, recorded what the Christian witnesses asserted throughout the land,
"They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive."--Josephus
Suetonius recognized the nonstoppable movement of those who embraced the facts concerning Christ's resurrection. Suetonius was clearly upset by the history of the resurrection, so he called it a "mischievous and novel superstition." Tacitus also recorded what he called the "deadly superstition," saying, "... the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judea, where it had started, but even in Rome" (Tacitus, p.365). Though unwilling to believe the facts of the resurrection, Tacitus confirmed that the resurrection was first preached in Judea among the contemporaries of Jesus.
/3/
This leads to another important point about contemporaries of that time. There is archaeological evidence that show that people in the early years after Christ's resurrection, believed that He rose from the dead. Caskets that contain bones, called "ossuaries" were discovered in a sealed tomb just outside Jerusalem in 1945 in Talpioth. Found in the ossuaries, were coins minted about 20 years after Christ's crucifixion. Along with the coins, there were several charcoal markings of crosses, and writings of hope for the dead, such as,"Jesus help" and "Jesus, let him arise." (What Is The Proof For The Resurrection? Ralph O. Muncaster 2000 Harvest House, p 22.) These ossuaries reflect the firm belief of Israelites around Jerusalem in the early years.
/4/
There is also a somewhat minor, yet noteworthy, fact concerning the mode of death aspect of Christ being confirmed by various early non-Christian sources. For example, the Jewish Talmud written between 40 and 180 AD agrees with the gospel history accounts on the execution part of Christ,
"On the eve of the Passover, Jesus, was hanged."
"Hanged" is found in the Bible describing crucifixion, Luke 23:39 and Galatians 3:13. Lucian, another non-Christian from around 170 AD, wrote something that confirms his recognition that early Christians believed in the resurrection. He said that they,
"... worship the crucified sage"
To worship the sage means that such worship is of a living being which means, of course, Christ was considered resurrected. There is also the issue of Pontius Pilate. There are some of the religion of antichristism who do not believe that Pontius Pilate really sentenced Christ to death. Each gospel history records that the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, sentenced Jesus to death. The facts compelled Josephus to record,
"Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die" (Josephus, p.379, quoted in Habermas, p.92).
The non-Christian Roman historian, Tacitus, AD 55-117, confirmed these very same statements, saying,
"... Christ had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate" (Tacitus, p.365)
There is only one valid reason why ancient historians confirmed the basic facts of the mode of crucifixion--even recognizing that the Christian faith was based upon the resurrection that followed. That one valid reason is that they recorded the actual data of the day.
/5/
This leads to the fifth point. There is internal evidence in the Bible that attests to the accuracy of the histories because it is so faithful to certain counter-beneficial, but nevertheless, tediously accurate details. For example, the gospel histories state that women first discovered the empty tomb. Now, you may be wondering why such a fact as this is important. It is important because women in Jewish society were considered to be second class citizens. They were not qualified to be legal witnesses under Roman law. Women Could not testify in a trial because their testimony was considered to be worthless. This stigma was so strong that even if a crime was witnessed by a whole group of women, the testimony could not be admitted into trial. For the gospel writers to record that the women were the first ones to discover the tomb empty, and were the primary witnesses, would be a point of ridicule, especially the fact that one of them had previously been a prostitute. It would not have been a point that was used to try and convince people through valid testimony. If the empty tomb account could have had even the remotest possibility of being invented to convince people of a lie, then it is more likely that the testimony of men would have been used to embellish the facts. These kinds of details simply show us that the history writers were telling it like it was.
/6/
This leads us to consider another point. It is hard for us to understand how secure the tomb was that Jesus' body was placed inside. But we are fortunate today. We have archaeological findings, and scholarly research, to help us get a fuller picture of the details concerning the amazing security of the tomb. For example, the size of the entrance to Jesus' tomb was about 4 1/2 to 5 feet high. Mark described the stone that covered the tomb entrance as being very large in Mark 16:4. A very large stone would have been typical for the grave of a rich man such as Joseph of Aremethea. Joseph is the one who donated his tomb for the burial of Jesus. A vital piece of information is that Matthew records that a large stone was moved by being rolled in front of the entrance, Matthew 27:60. The rolling of the stone indicates the common method used to place an immense stone at a tomb entrance. Two engineering professors from Georgia Tech, identified the type of stone used in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. Then they calculated the weight of the stone used to cover the doorway. They surmise that it had to be from 1-1/2 to 2 tons. These stones were rolled into place by an incline and groove. They were incredibly difficult to move again, once set in front of a tomb entrance. This is an important fact to consider. But it is doubly important when we consider that the Jewish leadership knew that Jesus prophesied that He would rise from the dead. This prompted them to take extra precautions to make sure the tomb was heavily guarded. So Pilate was asked to provide a guard of soldiers to watch the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66) According to Matthew 28:11, there were several men in the guard. This reflected the standard mode of both Jewish and Roman guard units. If it would have been a Jewish Temple guard, it would have been a detachment of 10 men. If it was a Roman guard, which is probable from the present imperative mode of the Greek, and the use of the term Koustodia, from the Latin (see footnote 2 below), then it would have comprised 4 to 16 men. Each man in a custodian guard, was trained to protect six feet of ground. A 16 man custodian, in a square of 4 on each side could protect 36 yards against an entire battalion. The typical mode of operation was that 4 men were placed in front of whatever it was that they were supposed to protect. The other 12 would sleep in a semicircle in front of them with their heads pointing in. Every four hours, another unit of 4 was awakened, and those who had been awake, would sleep. They would rotate this way around the clock. The penalty for dereliction of duty was death. Not only was the tomb well guarded, but Pilate also ordered a government seal to be placed on the tomb. The Roman procedure for this involved an initial step of inspection. After inspection, the stone was rolled into place. Next, a cord was stretched across the rock. Then the cord was fastened with sealing clay. Finally, the clay was stamped with the official signet of the Roman governor (cf. Matthew 27:66). The penalty for breaking the government seal would be death. We find this same kind of precaution being practiced all the way back to the time of Daniel:
"And a stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing might be changed in regard to Daniel," Daniel 6:17
Now think about this--because we find that in all four history accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, despite the precautions of the government, three days after the crucifixion, Jesus' tomb was found empty. But not just empty. Every single one of the writers describes the resurrected Christ appearing alive to people after being crucified. Luke the physician, recounts that the historic Christ
"... presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" Acts 1:3
When Paul recorded that the risen Christ had appeared to a group of over five hundred people, and stated that most of them were still alive when he wrote that statement, it was as if Paul was saying
"If you want to check it out for yourself, then go ahead and ask the eyewitnesses. There are over 250 of them still around."
That same passage that Paul wrote is also important because it contains an early creed that predates the writing of the four Gospels. Paul repeats the creed when he says,
"3 ... I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have [died]; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also," 1 Corinthians 15:3-7
@1 Christ _______________ for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and _________________ on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-7
All critical scholars place the creed within the first five years after the crucifixion of Christ. (Habermas quoted in Miethe, p.23, also see "Reasonable Faith," copyright 1994, by William Lane Craig, The Resurrection of Jesus)
/7/
This leads us to consider a seventh point. The early Christians moved their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. This is important because the Church was initially made up of Jews, and Jews had been worshiping on Saturday for over a thousand years according to the Old Covenant Mosaic Law. The resurrection of Christ occurred on Sunday which is the reason for the day-change coinciding with freedom from the Old Covenant in the New Covenant of Christ. The impact of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week (cf. Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 6:2 for group meeting, ie. Gk. ekklesia, 1 Corinthians 11:18; sunoge, James 2:2 etc.) was so strong that it caused a change in a centuries long paradigm, even among devout Jews.
/8/
This leads us to consider another fact that begs to be noticed. The students of Jesus were so convinced that Jesus had risen, that they went on to preach the resurrection despite persecution, torture, and martyrdom. Luke recorded the martyrdom of James, (Acts 12:2). Josephus also described the martyrdom of James by stoning (Josephus, p.423). Clement, recounted the martyrdom's of both Peter and Paul. Peter was recorded to be hanged upside down. After a lengthy imprisonment for preaching the resurrection, Paul was beheaded. Thaddaeus was described as being killed with arrows. Matthew and James were killed with swords. Stephen was stoned. Before Paul became a Christian, he was part of the group that stoned Stephen, Acts 7:56. The apostle John was banished to the island of Patmos, Revelation 1:9. These are amazing facts when you consider that before Jesus was crucified, many of those same men detached themselves from any association with Jesus because of fear for their lives. What history has accurately recorded is that these men went from shamefully denying Christ, to boldly dying for Christ (Matthew 26:56, 69-75). Tacitus; Hadrian 117-138 AD; Pliny the Younger, the governor of Bithynia, circa 112 AD; and Suetonius, circa 120 AD, all give detailed accounts of the morbidly torturous persecution of the early Christians. Such torturous persecutions were endured by multitudes who believed that their own bodies would someday be resurrected. They all based the hope of their own resurrection upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Honesty compels us to recognize the unlikeliness that they would base that hope upon a supposed hoax that they fabricated. The early Christians did not have the means, the power, the foresight, or the organizational genius, to pull off a hoax as big and as bold as the resurrection of a man like Jesus Christ in the situation of his death. Further, all they needed to do to avoid torture and martyrdom for spreading a hoax of a risen man, was to simply recant. But they refused to turn against what they claimed to be true. Their steadfastness is best explained by their intimate knowledge, and surety, of the evidence of the resurrection. Such a straightforwardly honest observation is what stimulated the venerable Christian apologist of the 18th century, William Paley, to ask:
"Would men in such circumstances pretend to have seen what they never saw; assert facts which they had no knowledge of, go about lying to teach virtue; and, though not only convinced of Christ's being an imposter, but having seen the success of his imposture in his crucifixion, yet persist in carrying on; and so persist, as to bring upon themselves, for nothing, and with full knowledge of the consequence, enmity and hatred, danger and death?" (William Paley, A View of the Evidences of Christianity, 2 Vols., 5th ed. (London: R. Faulder, 1796; rep. ed.: Westmead, England: Gregg, 1970), 1:327-8.)
The answer is "no;" and of course, history bears that out.
/9/
This leads us to consider another point: The apostate Jewish high priest, Gamaliel (a member of the Sanhedran which is the Jewish high court that opposed Jesus) understood the implication of what was going on. So, he suggested to the Sanhedran elders that the rise of the Christian movement might possibly be God's doing; Acts 5:34-40. The question is: Why would Gamaliel say such an unusual thing directly after the crucifixion of Christ? The Sanhedran knew that Christianity's stability rested upon the resurrection of Christ. The only explanation for why Gamaliel would make such a statement was because the facts surrounding the resurrection were so compelling that he was moved to admit that the rise of Christianity might actually be God's doing.
All of these things that we have looked at this morning are amazing facts. They are so amazing that spiritually dead people have tried to offer their own theories, based upon their own faith systems, as to what they wish really happened.
{a}
One of the first anti Christ theories, is the conspiracy found in the book of Matthew. It is where the soldiers guarding the tomb were bribed by the chief priests to preach a false sermon. They were told to tell people,
"His students came at night and stole Him away while we slept" Matthew 28:13
There are people today, who follow this legacy. Based upon their own faith, they preach that the students stole Jesus' body. One of the major problems concerning this specious belief has to do with the chief priest's actual proposition. How would the guards know the students--or anyone for that matter--would have come and stolen the body while they were asleep, if, in fact, those soldiers were really asleep? No one sees anything when they are asleep. So immediately we recognize how problematic that lie was, and still is today. Further, it is far, far, from likely that all of the 4 to 16 men comprising a custodian guard would have fallen asleep. Also, it is not probable that the students could have moved the stone without being detected by the trained guard. There is also that fact that John records that the linens used to wrap around the body were still in the grave (John 20:5-7). This would mean that any supposed grave robbers would have taken the time to unwrap the body, which is not very probable, or explainable. More, if the disciples had stolen the body, then they were being relentlessly persecuted and killed for something they knew was a lie. Remember what Paley astutely said. Men will die for what they believe to be true, though it may actually be false. Think of people flying airplanes into buildings because they believe a lie to be true; or blowing themselves up on trains and stuff like that; But, men do not endure such daily rejection, persecution, and wearing hardships, as the original followers of Christ endured, and ultimately die for what they know is a lie. Another consideration is that the students were psychologically shell shocked. Their expectant dreams of the warrior king had been doused at His arrest and crucifixion. To them, they were thinking: What happened to our miracle worker Messiah? David slew a giant with a slingshot. Samson defeated armies with a jawbone. Our Messiah should have done more. But our Jesus was arrested; He was maimed in a bloody public beating, and finally he was impaled, naked and shamed, on a cross where we saw Him die. So, it is not very plausible to really think that in their defeated minds, they could imagine that stealing Jesus' body would accomplish anything but more stress, more futility, and more pain in their confusion and fear. Another factor to consider is that the students were too devoutly fearful of Yahweh to be so morally corrupt as to act as cheap frauds by stealing Jesus' body and then suggesting He had risen from the dead. And finally, this belief does not account for all the resurrection appearances of Jesus that that have been mentioned already.
{b}
This leads us to consider another attempted attack upon the resurrection. It is similar to the accusation that the students stole Jesus' body. It suggests that the authorities are the ones who stole Christ's body. But this loose belief does not explain why the authorities would do the very thing that caused all their problems--the very thing that the Spirit used as the catalyst for the explosion of Christianity across the land.
{c}
Another argument presented to get around the clear fact of Jesus' miraculous resurrection, is the false belief that the students went to the wrong tomb. But this kind of story does not make sense. The women followed Joseph, the owner of the tomb, to the tomb where Jesus was placed. Matthew records,
"Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb" Matthew 27:61
Further, it was obviously the tomb where the soldiers had been. So both Marie's knew where Jesus was buried. In John 20, John states that he and Peter ran to the tomb immediately after being told by the women that they had seen Jesus. The false belief would also mean that both John and Peter would have been wrong about where Jesus had been buried, which is not likely. And think about Joseph of Aremethea, who was a member of the Sanhedran. He laid Jesus' body in his own tomb (Matthew 27:57, Mark 15:43). Joseph would not have been confused about the whereabouts of his own tomb. Certainly Joseph was smart enough to recognize that his tomb was empty. Also, it does not make sense that Jesus' empty linen cloths would be lying on the floor of the wrong tomb, John 20:5-8. What does make sense is that in the ensuing days, when the resurrection was being proclaimed and questioned; defended and doubted, people would want to verify all the details; starting logically, with the right tomb. It would have been easy for the high priests, and other enemies of the Christians, to simply, and easily, go to the right tomb and produce the body. But they did not, because, as we see, this false belief argument against the historic Christ is wrong.
{d}
Besides all that, the believer in skepticism against Christ, has a hard time getting around all those resurrection appearances. So, to combat the reality of the resurrection appearances, another argument is created to believe. It is called the false doctrine of the hallucination theory. According to the explanation, supposedly the students of Christ expected to see Jesus alive, and so because of this expectation, they all had a mass hallucination experience. Yes, there are humanists who believe that the witnesses of the resurrected Christ only imagined seeing Him. Yet we know, and embrace, the facts in the right faith: One of which is that the followers of Jesus were not really expecting to see Jesus alive again. Mary came to the tomb on Sunday morning with spices specifically to anoint the dead body, Mark 16:1--not the alive body. Also, Thomas said,
"Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." John 20:25
Did you ever wonder where the term "doubting Thomas" came from. Well, that is where the saying came from. Also, both James the half brother of Jesus, and Saul the Pharisee of Pharisees, were skeptics. They all transferred their faith in skepticism over to faith in the living Christ in direct association with Jesus' resurrected appearance to them--not because they were expecting it (John 7:5, and 1 Corinthians 15:7). Professor of history at Miami University, Edwin Yamauchi made a profound statement when he said:
"I would argue that only the appearance of the risen Christ can satisfactorily explain how Jesus' skeptical brother James (John 7:5) became a leader in the early Church (I Cor. 15:7; Acts 15), how despondent Peter became a fearless preacher at Pentecost, and how a fanatical persecutor of Christians became Paul, the greatest missionary of the Gospel." (Edwin M. Yamauchi is a professor of history at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Quote is from article in Christianity Today on March 15, 1974 and March 29, 1974. )
The point is that these guys were not expecting to see Jesus alive again, which, of course, satisfactorily explains all their doubtful behavior before their radical change of mind and actions. But there is another point. Jesus appeared in many settings, to various people, at different times. Some were in groups. Hallucinations are individualistic. It is not likely that groups of people, as in 500, would share such a complex hallucination. And of course, this theory does not explain the tomb being empty in the first place.
{e}
Another false belief argument presented to get around the clear fact of Jesus' miraculous resurrection is to suggest that Jesus did not really die. Some have believed that Jesus fainted on the cross. Later, in the tomb, they hope that He must have revived from being really alive. This is called the "swoon theory." But we know that Jesus was scourged before He was crucified. He had the flesh torn off of his back with a lashing device called an "flagellum" (Matt 27:26). Further, Jesus had been on the cross for six hours. He had a spear shoved up through His side to make sure he was dead (Mark 15:25,33; John 19:34). John, who witnessed the crucifixion, explained that blood and water come from Jesus' pierced side, John 19:34-35. This was either a manifestation of pulmonary edema which was the accumulation of fluid in the lungs, or ascites which would be the accumulation of fluid in the abdominal area, or pericardium where water accumulated in the pericardial sac around the heart; or a combination of these trauma related conditions--any of which would produce both blood and water from the spear piercing. Also, the Romans were crucifixion experts. They crucified people for one goal: To kill. So, someone would have to discredit the thoroughness of the Romans in their art of killing when it came to Jesus, and at the same time, make the person that they failed to kill be "the Christ"-- the one that all the prophecies predicted would be crucified, and would raise from the dead. The false belief of anti Christicism, I would think, would have a hard time falsely believing that this would be a mere coincidence. And finally, the false belief is further ridiculed because it would have a.) Jesus surviving three days in a tomb without food or water or medical attention of any kind, b.) with hands damaged by spikes, and c.) requiring enough strength, to d.) free himself from the grave clothes, and e.) push the heavy 1 1/2 to 2 ton stone up the incline groove--away from the mouth of the grave, to f.) bypass the highly trained guards, and then g.) be able to walk miles on feet that had been pierced with spikes. Then after all this, to supposedly appear to the students in such a way as to give them the impression that he triumphed over death, and was now healthy. Only such a false belief against the historic Christ, would have the students worshipping such a half-dead, mutilated, barely surviving victim, while calling Him the risen Lord of lords and King of kings, as they went around the countryside being martyred for their testimony. But history shows the facts of the true faith. They worshipped Christ as the reigning Messiah King--even to their dying breaths as martyrs. The truth of the matter is that such an untenable belief argument creates a fictional Jesus who is a scheming deceiver, which does not remotely reflect all that the historical Jesus taught and modeled in His pre-death ministry. Such a caricature of Jesus is impossible to entertain from any consistently logical approach, except by the false religion of antichristism. In fact the fainting-theory presents a scenario that would require a miracle to produce. Yet, the miraculous resurrection itself is the true miracle that God wants us to recognize. But there are some antichristists who continue to ignore the historic evidence that I just shared with you.
{F}
They go on to attempt to argue that the resurrection is really a borrowed story from what is called the mystery religions and Gnosticism. There are problems with this faith based theory that immediately nullify it as a serious consideration. Foremost, the mystery religions, and Gnosticism, that have any recorded hint of a redeemer myth, all come after the resurrection of Christ--not before. The earliest manuscripts that record Redeemer passages are from around 140 AD. It is the mystery religions and Gnosticism that contain fabrications, and myth. Further, it is likely that it is actually the other way around--those false religions borrowed from the historic resurrection of Christ. (Blomberg, p.101. and see, Phil 2:5-11; 1 Tim. 3:16; Nash, p.228). Also, there are major differences in content between the resurrection of Christ, and the Gnostic myths (Nash, p.228). All the redeemer hymns have a freakishly alien-like mystical being, dying and rising year after year (Nash, p.140). This re-arriving solstice-cycle-creature was believed to appear in conjunction with the rebirth of spring (Blomberg, p.101). But, history shows Jesus as dying only once and rising only once in bodily form according to ancient prophecy. Added to this, His execution scars were still visible for all to see (Hebrews 9:24-28). In fact, the spiritually dead Gnostics abhorred these facts concerning Jesus. So, they actually denied that Jesus rose from the dead bodily. Instead, they suggested that His resurrection was only as a spirit. Of course, the historic record demonstrates that Christianity was never successfully influenced by Gnosticism or any Mystery religion. But rather, all "truly" scholarly research clearly reveals that the real Christianity influenced each and every one of those cults. It eventually defeated them and erased their claim to relevance from the face of the earth.
The overarching point that I am making this Resurrection Sunday morning is that without having to contrive theories to discredit Jesus Christ's resurrection, we have the clear record of the facts. Jesus said
"I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10
Christ came to give life that is abundant. To give this life starts with his own life. Christ also came to be the sacrifice for humanity. But He came for more. Jesus came to rise from the dead three days later, just like He said He was going to do. Jesus rose up alive; and because of this fact, Jesus is the one that gives abundant, glorious, everlasting life in Himself. All of it was necessary. Why? Because everybody is born in sin. Also, everyone sins in their thoughts and actions. This is the huge problem. Why? Because sin separates us from God. Our sin results in eternal death. God says that all have sinned and fall short of His glory, Romans 3:23. The price required from everyone because of our sin, is death.
"the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
@2 The payment for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal _____________ in Christ Jesus the Lord. Romans 6:23
"Death" means both physical and spiritual death. It is called everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord, in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. This is the bad news. The good news is that,
"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that those believing in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
@3 God loved the world to such an extent that He gave His only begotten Son, so that those ______________________ in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Christ Jesus died for sinners so that they would not have to die. To take part in this salvation, means to be saved forever. To be saved spiritually forever, you must obey the Lord by giving your self to the resurrected Christ in faith. You must trust in His grace-gift to save you. You must believe that He is the reigning King of kings and Lord of lords and submit to Him. The Scriptures are clear. The Spirit tells you what to do,
If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and the person confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10
@4 If you confess Jesus as ____________, and believe in your heart that God ________________ Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9-10
The immutable fact that Jesus rose from the dead to reign as both Lord and Savior, is God's proof to us that Christ Jesus is who He says that He is. My urging to you this morning is to heed the call of the Spirit of God. Turn to Him now. Confess that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved. If you are turning to Christ in believing in Him for your salvation, then pray with me now.
@1 Christ _______________ for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and _________________ on the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:3-7
@2 The payment for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal _____________ in Christ Jesus the Lord. Romans 6:23
@3 God loved the world to such an extent that He gave His only begotten Son, so that those ______________________ in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
@4 If you confess Jesus as ____________, and believe in your heart that God ________________ Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9-10
FOOTNOTES:
(1) The permanent population of Jerusalem during the reign of Herod is estimated by the archaeologist, Magen Broshi, to have been approximately 40,000 people (Biblical Arch Review. Volume 4, Number 2) With the influx of pilgrim traffic, predominately for the festivals of Pesah, Shavuot, and Sukkot, the population of the city may have jumped to about 150,000.
(2) A.T. Robertson adds that the Latin form koustodia occurs as far back as the Oxyrhynchus papyrus in reference to the Roman guard. The Jews knew Pilate wanted to keep the peace, so they were sure he'd give them what they wanted, Josh MacDowell, "A Ready Defense, p. 227)
