Date: Jan. 3, 2012

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The Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:14, that “if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.†He continues this thought in verse 19 stating, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable.†(1599 Geneva Bible) The person and deity of Christ have been under intense scrutiny in the last few years. There was Brian Fleming’s DVD documentary, The God Who Wasn’t There, which denied that Jesus ever existed. Then there was Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, presenting Jesus to be a mere man who married Mary of Magdalene and had children. Most recently there was the Discovery Channel documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus where the claim is made that the 2,000-year-old “Tomb of the Ten Ossuaries†belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus was buried there. Ironically, most “enlightened†and skeptical scholars disagree with the conclusions of Brian Fleming, Dan Brown, and James Cameron. That’s because they are convinced that Jesus never rose from the dead—and in their minds that’s enough to bury Christianity. If the skeptic can prove that Jesus’ life ended in the cold dark tomb, then Christianity is truly dead. The Gospel has no real power and there is no hope of eternal life. Have the skeptics been successful in proving that the resurrection is a hoax? Or, is Jesus’ triumph over the grave a confirmed fact of history? In his book, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell states: Jesus has three basic credentials: (1) The impact of His life upon history; (2) Fulfilled prophecy in His life; and (3) His resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ and Christianity stand or fall together. A student at the University of Uruguay said to me: “Professor McDowell, why can’t you refute Christianity?†I answered: “For a very simple reason: I am not able to explain away an event in history—the resurrection of Jesus Christ.†Before I go much further, it is important to clarify that we believe in the Resurrection of Christ because the Bible says it happened. Facts do not interpret themselves. The Bible is a history book. There were those who were witnesses to these events (Luke 1:1–4). The burden of proof is with the skeptics to prove otherwise. With the presuppositional truth of Scripture, we can look at the facts and draw rational and compelling conclusions. The inspiration and material for this series is drawn greatly from Josh McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict. As we conclude this brief introduction, I encourage you to read the Scriptural account below from Matthew 28:1–11 (1599 Geneva Bible). See also Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20–21): Now in the end of the Sabbath, when the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, came to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake: for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. And his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him, the keepers were astonished, and became as dead men. But the Angel answered, and said to the women, Fear ye not: for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified: He is not here, for he is risen, as he said: come, see the place where the Lord was laid, And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead: and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee: there ye shall see him: lo, I have told you. So they departed quickly from the sepulcher, with fear and great joy, and did run to bring his disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus also met them, saying, God save you. And they came, and took him by the feet, and worshipped him. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid. Go, and tell my brethren, that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. Now when they were gone, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the high Priests all the things that were done. Refuting the “Body-Snatcher†Theory Like the liberal Sadducees and the “enlightened†Greeks of Jesus’ day, modern skeptics believe that it is impossible to come back from the dead. When starting with the presupposition that miracles are impossible, skeptics are limited by their worldview and are required to look for a naturalistic cause for “miracles.†Such is the case with the Resurrection of Christ. When an empty tomb stares back at the skeptic, they are forced to concoct the most unbelievable theories to explain what really happened to Jesus. The most radical theory claims that Christ’s disciples deliberately lied about the resurrection and actually stole the body of Christ to save their reputation. At first glance this theory may seem plausible. But let’s stop and think about this for just a moment. Where were the disciples just after Jesus’ death? They were in hiding—dejected over the loss of their master and fearful for their lives (John 20:19). If you were among the disciples who feared the authorities for following Christ when He was alive, would deliberately lying give you the courage to face persecution and death? It’s hard to imagine these frightened and dejected men would decide to make up a story and then be willing to die for it. It is true that many people have died for a lie. From Jim Jones to the Heaven’s Gate cult, people who are deceived by a cult leader can be quite willing to die. It would be extremely rare, however, if anyone would deliberately construct a false story and then die for it with a martyr’s zeal. It is even more difficult to believe that 11 men would go to their deaths for this lie without one of them squealing under pressure. Furthermore, it is inconceivable that these men could base the world’s highest and most ethical teaching–Christianity–on a deliberate lie. For the sake of the skeptics argument, however, let’s assume they did muster up enough courage to steal the body of Christ. If so, could they have overtaken the Roman Guard? The religious leaders feared that Christ’s disciples would steal his body (Matt. 27:64). In Matthew 27:65, we learn that Pilate alleviated their fears and ordered a guard to secure and seal tomb. A.T. Robertson, noted Greek scholar, says this phrase is in the present imperative and can refer only to a Roman Guard and not the temple police. This Guard was known as the custodian, which represented the guard unit of the Roman Legion. This unit was probably one of the greatest offensive and defensive fighting machines ever conceived. The punishment for a soldier who failed to follow orders in this unit was to be stripped of his clothes and burned alive. It seems highly unlikely that the disciples could overpower this elite military unit even if they had the courage. For the sake of the skeptics argument once again, however, let’s assume they did overpower the guard and steal the body. After whipping the toughest men in Rome, their next step would be to roll away a stone weighing several tons. Next, they would have to carry away the body of Christ, hide it from the world, and secure it more closely than the Roman Guard was able to do. And they did all of this only to live out the rest of their days spreading lies about His resurrection and going to their martyr’s death. Believable? Hardly. But wait! There’s a clever twist on this theory. Some skeptics believe the body of Christ was stolen not by his disciples. Rather, it was stolen but by the Roman and Jewish leaders, who left an empty tomb to be discovered by Mary Magdalene. This is a good theory unless you think. If the authorities had taken the body, they could have simply produced the body and paraded it down main street on the Day of Pentecost! Christianity would have been dead in an instant. What really happened? Instead they had to bribe the soldiers to say the disciples stole the body and convince the governor to spare the lives of the soldiers (Matt. 28:11-15). Refuting The “Wrong Tomb†Theory Maybe in the fog of the early morning, the women went to an empty tomb… but it was the wrong tomb! Then Peter and John went to the wrong tomb, and then the other disciples, and then the Jews and the Romans, and even the angel went to the wrong tomb! Once again, this theory does not hold water. The authorities could have pointed out which tomb was the correct burial site for Jesus, and stopped all of the excitement in an instant. Refuting The “Legend†Theory Another theory claims that the resurrection is simply a legend that developed over time and was recorded later in the Bible as fact. There’s a couple of major problems with this naive theory. The first problem is that Biblical account reveals embarrassing details about the disciples. While they were hiding in fear of their lives after the crucifixion, women (one of which was a former prostitute) discover the empty tomb! A truly legendary story would paint Christ’s followers to be heroes and would certainly not give credit to women. The second problem is that proponents of this theory must still account for the fact that the disciples suffered persecution and a martyr’s death for their faith. Would they die for a myth they themselves fabricated? Not a chance. We’ll look at three more theories in part 3 of this series. In the meantime, may your faith be strengthened as we discover that our faith is a real and reasonable faith. Christ intersected time and space when he came to this earth to die for us and rise from the grave. Doctor Luke writes in Acts 1:3, that Christ- “ …presented himself alive after that he had suffered, by many infallible tokens, being seen of them by the space of forty days, and speaking of those things which appertained to the kingdom of God.â€
- “I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.â€(1)â€
- “The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across [a person's] shoulders, back and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally stopped. (1)â€
- “It is absolutely inconceivable that as many as (say) five hundred persons, of average soundness of mind and temperament, in various numbers, at all sorts of times, and in diverse situations, should experience all kinds of sensuous impressions—visual, auditory, tactual—and that all these manifold experiences should rest entirely upon subjective hallucination. We say that this is incredible, because if such a theory were applied to any other than a ‘supernatural’ event in history, it would be dismissed forthwith as a ridiculously insufficient explanation. (2)â€
- “One is often surprised to find how many apparent contradictions [in the Gospel Resurrection accounts] turn out not to be contradictory at all, but merely supplementary… Divergences appear very great on first sight… But the fact remains that all of [the Resurrection accounts], without exception, can be made to fall into a place in a single orderly and coherent narrative, without the smallest contradiction or difficulty and without any suppression, invention, or manipulation, beyond a trifling effort to imagine the natural behavior of a bunch of startled people running about in the dawn-light between Jerusalem and the garden.(3)â€
- “On the day of the crucifixion they were filled with sadness; on the first day of the week with gladness; At the crucifixion they were hopeless; on the first day of the week their hearts glowed with certainty and hope. When the message of the resurrection first came they were incredulous and hard to be convinced, but once they became assured they never doubted again. What could account for the astonishing change in these men in so short a time? The mere removal of the body from the grave could never have transformed their spirits, and characters. Three days are not enough for a legend to spring up which would so affect them. Time is needed for a process of legendary growth. It is a fact that demands a full explanation.
- Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even on the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence—and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn’t make sense. (2)â€
- “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
- You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (3)â€
- “And Jesus came, and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me, in heaven, and in earth. Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the holy Ghost, Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, until the end of the world, Amen. (4)â€