Fact Checking the Resurrection

Throughout the history of man, there has been conspiracies theories about any and every thing. And its only getting worst. Here are a few of the most recent ones:

The landing on the moon was fake.

The CIA had JFK shot dead in Dallas.

The COVID pandemic was faked by the pharmaceutical companies.

Elvis is hiding out at Graceland

The 2020 Election was stolen.

The life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ, was fake.

Today, we are going to look at the oldest of conspiracy theories, the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

The most descriptive account of the crucifixion of Christ was written over 1,000 years before Jesus was born. This vivid detail of the anguish of Jesus as He bore our sins leaves little doubt that the crucifixion was a part of God’s plan from the beginning. As a part of this Resurrection season, let us take a closer look at the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We’ll look at the resurrection account in light of both scripture and history. What evidence outside the Bible validates the biblical account? Obviously, in the time allotted we can only hit the highlights of this subject; therefore, let us take a brief look at history and the biblical account that gives reasonable evidence to believe.

The purpose of this message is to help us gain a deeper understanding of the crucifixion and equip us all for sharing our faith among a skeptical world. It is frequently argued that there is no evidence outside the Bible to verify the Bible’s claims. Thank God this is far from true; history, archaeology and science are filled with irrefutable proofs that validate the scriptures. In this message we will look at historical accounts that are widely accepted as credible by both biblical scholars and secular historians.

So, let’s take a brief look at the Life, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.

The title of our message today is: Fact Checking the Resurrection

Our Scripture is taken from Psalm 22:1-26

but I will be reading to you several verse from Chapter 22 of the Book of Psalms

Psalm 22:1–2 NASB95

1 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. 2 O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.

Psalm 22:14–18 NASB95

14 I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.

Psalm 22:24–26 NASB95

24 For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. 25 From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. 26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever!

We will begin our journey today as we look at …

The Life of Jesus

Some time back, some time ago I read of a Pastor who had a discussion with an atheist who stated that he would not believe Jesus existed unless he saw irrefutable proof. He claimed that the authors of the Bible made up the whole story of Jesus.

Thing is that he needed no proof to believe in the conspiracy of the disciples but he needs irrefutable proof that the conspiracy does not exist. How do we know that Jesus really existed? How do we know that Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, or the founding fathers who signed our declaration of Independence existed? How do we know any historical event is true and not a fairy tale made up to shape history?

We know they existed because historical documents, artifacts, the testimonies of eyewitnesses and other evidence are examined and accepted as credible by those who have examined the evidence. We either believe the generation that lived through the events, or we have to believe that there is a massive conspiracy to fabricate historical events.

As individuals, very few of the men in our past are mentioned in detail; instead, most of their names show up in history as having been at an event but little is known about them as individuals. Where is Jesus mentioned in history? Obviously, the Bible will give the detailed description of Jesus because He is the central figure of the Bible; however, Jesus is accounted for in many other historical documents as well.

First look at the testimony of the Jewish Talmud {tall-mud}. The Talmud is a historical document that includes commentaries on the Jewish books of the law, along with civil and religious records. The Talmud is not supportive of Christianity and is very hostile to Jesus. The Talmud praises the trial, conviction and execution of Jesus. The Talmud also refers to Jesus as a bastard son of Mary.

The account of Jesus in this historical document was indisputably written by those who were enemies of Jesus. In a court of law, if your enemy testifies on your behalf, willingly or unwillingly, it is a highly credible testimony. The Talmud testifies on behalf of many of the Bible’s claims about Jesus; it verifies the existence of Jesus, states that Jesus was a teacher, verifies the trial of Jesus as instigated by the religious leaders, the conviction and crucifixion of Jesus. Even more importantly, the Talmud verifies that Jesus performed many healings and miracles.

It claims that Jesus performed these miracles through the power of sorcery; however, the key evidence is that even though the enemies of Jesus are hostile witnesses, they do not dispute the miracles but verify them and validate the Biblical account. Jesus’ enemies validated His works and even though their intentions were malicious, they provide a strong testimony for the scriptures.

There can be no reasonable doubt that Jesus did in fact exist and other historical documents hold testimonies that do not contradict the biblical account. We have testimonies that verify Jesus’ miracles, crucifixion, resurrection and the fact that His followers believed He was God. Two of these three witnesses are hostile to the gospel yet verify the gospel. There is no shortage of other proofs for those who will be open enough to seek it.

Ok, so now that we have proof the Jesus did exist, let’s look at the …

The Crucifixion

We have already seen that the Talmud validates the crucifixion. Lets look at the picture of the crucifixion. In an essay on a popular atheist website, the writer makes the comment, "On the cross Jesus said, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’ That doesn’t sound much like Jesus’ plan went as he expected".

Of course, this was not Jesus’ last words. After this quote, Jesus then said, “It is finished” and finally, “Father into your hands I commit My spirit”. Even so, as we have seen from the opening passage of this message, not only was the crucifixion foretold a thousand years before this torturous method of execution was invented, but even Jesus’ words and thoughts were foretold as well.

It is clear by reading Psalm 22 that God’s plan was completed exactly as expected. The historical account of Matthew 27:46 matches the prophecy of Psalm 22. Matthew 27:46 reads “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

To add to the historical significance of the crucifixion, we can look at the following passages:

Luke 23:44-45 reads

Luke 23:44–45 NASB95

44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

Matthew 27:50-51 reads

Matthew 27:50–51 NASB95

50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

There is also a plethora of historical evidence that validates this event in scripture. Two witnesses to this scripture are Thallus {{Thall-lus}} and Phlegon {{Fay-gen}}. Although they did not witness the crucifixion, they were both eyewitnesses to the events surrounding the crucifixion. Look at their accounts:

Thallus finished his historical account of the world since the Trojan war in 52 A. D. His work was destroyed but quoted by Julius Africanus in AD 221. Julius gives a commentary on Thallus’ AD 33 record of the darkness across the land. "Thallus in the third book of his histories, explains away the darkness as an eclipse of the sun - unreasonable as it seems."

Thallus testified that this event occurred on the exact day of the crucifixion but explained it away as an eclipse of the sun. Why did Julius state this explanation seems unreasonable? The reason is because the feast of the Passover was ALWAYS celebrated on the new moon during the Jewish month of Nisan. The new moon is the time when the moon has completed its cycle and the new cycle begins.

The beginning of the moon’s phases is no moon at all and each day more of the moon appears until it reaches a full moon and then begins to fade each day as it approaches the next new moon. This is an approximate 30 day cycle. On the new moon, the moon has no visibility at all in the sky because it is on the opposite side of the earth. It is impossible to have an eclipse when the moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the earth. Therefore, the statement that reports this event as an eclipse truly is an unreasonable assumption. Traditionally people credit this darkening to clouds; however, this is not the case at all. Look at the testimony of a Greek historian named Phlegon.

A Greek author from Caria named Phlegon wrote about the darkness that occurred in the 4th year of the 202nd Olympiad (equivilant to 33 A.D.). "There was the greatest eclipse of the sun. It became as night in the sixth hour of the day, noon, so that the stars even appeared in the heavens. There was a great earthquake in Bithynia and many things were overturned in Nicaea".

Thallus’ account did not mention an earthquake but Phlegon did, however both reported the same darkness and both believed it to be an eclipse. Thallus was not close enough to feel the earthquake but Phlegon was close to feel it because the earthquake was regional, but the Bible says that the darkness was over all the land. It is no wonder that they chose an eclipse as the reason since there was no other logical explanation without understanding the scripture’s claim that the sun refused to shine. How this occurred will never be known, but the evidence clearly shows that this event occurred on the date and the time that agrees with the scriptures.

Listen, if two records of the same event occurred thousands of miles apart, an eclipse cannot explain it. Add to this the fact that never is an eclipse so dark that the sky is darkened, and all the stars can be clearly seen. Though many have sought natural causes to explain the darkness, they clearly validate the Bible’s account.

So, we have looked at and verified the life of Jesus. We have also looked at and verified the Crucifixion, now let’s focus on …

The Resurrection

The resurrection is the most controversial part of the biblical account of Jesus. If Jesus was not bodily resurrected, He was not God, He was not a Savior and Christianity is a lie. Symbolic resurrection is not compatible with the Christian faith. The resurrection is the evidence that Jesus proclaimed to be a sign that He was who He claimed to be.

The resurrection is the proof that Jesus conquered death. It is also what gives Jesus the authority to claim that He is the resurrection and that we all will be partakers of the resurrection if we are found in Christ. This alone separates Christianity from religion. The apostle Paul states that if the resurrection is not a fact, then we are false witnesses before God.

He sums it up this way, "if Christ is not risen, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins!" 1 Corinthians 15:17. If Jesus could not rise from the dead, He is not our Savior and our faith is a lie. However, if Jesus were God in the flesh as He claimed to be, then taking up His body would be a small thing. Lets finish this study by examining the proof of the resurrection.

To clarify the resurrection, let us first look at the arguments against it. There are many alternative views used by critics to claim that the disciples conspired to make Jesus look like more than a man. Out of all the dozens of alternate stories, only two are even remotely worth examining. Most conspiracy stories are so weak that no one who uses any form of common sense would consider them valid.

Even the two more common views are so weak that only those desperate for another answer would even give them credibility. Most skeptics try to argue Jesus out of history in order to avoid the debate all together. History does not support them, but that doesn’t seem to be a deterrent to those determined to disbelieve. So, let us examine the two most popular conspiracy stores about Jesus.

The Swoon Theory.

https://www.gotquestions.org/swoon-theory.html

This alternative explanation has been repackaged with many variations. The most popular variant was ‘The Passover Plot’ published in 1965. The basic argument is that Jesus and His disciples conspired to fulfill messianic prophecies by faking Jesus’ death on the cross. They managed to manipulate the Jewish leaders into trying and convicting Jesus, the people into demanding the crucifixion and the Roman government into executing Him.

The legal manipulation would have been a miracle in itself. Before being nailed to the cross, Jesus was supposedly given a drug that appeared to make him look dead and trick the soldiers into removing Him from the cross while he was still alive. The cool damp air of the tomb revived Him and He appeared alive to His followers.

By just using simple logic, this argument fails miserably. The first obvious flaw that jumps out is the question ‘how did they know Joseph would offer his tomb?’ If you can believe that Joseph and Pilate were a part of this conspiracy, there are plenty of other flaws to fight through.

One, Jesus was beaten so badly that He was too weak to carry His own cross and a bystander was commissioned to carry it for Him. He had nails driven through His wrists and feet. The blood loss is hard to escape. The blood poured out His feet, hands, back from the beating, and finally a mortal wound was inflicted between His ribs when the spear pierced His heart.

If someone has faith enough to get past the impossible odds of survival, there are a few more problems to deal with. How does a man who has had spikes driven through his limbs get up and walk and appear as a victorious leader to the people? Somehow Jesus revived, untangled himself and pushed a massive stone away from the entrance of the tomb without any guards noticing and He ran away unnoticed.

Not only did he escape, but he also walked seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus with two travelers who did not notice he was wounded. How is it that most people can’t walk with minor pain in their feet, but Jesus was able to walk with holes in His? He had full use of His hands because he took over the evening meal and broke bread.

I could come up with dozens of functions that would cause Him excruciating pain if this was a faked resurrection. If by some miracle Jesus and the disciples did pull this off, He would have looked so weak and anemic that no one would have been amazed. It seems a little hard to believe the disciples were able to get the multitudes fired up by seeing a half-dead Jesus.

Ok, so lets look at …

Jesus’ Tomb?

Three decades ago, archaeologists found an crypt in Jerusalem that had what is believed to be a family tomb. This was not big news until this year when James Cameron announced that he was filming a documentary, and the Discovery Channel aired their own documentary claiming this was the tomb of Jesus Christ. Now, thirty years after the fact, it has been announced that “researchers have made a new discovery that could shake Christianity off its foundation”.

Why is it that each time the atheists make a claim, Christians put their faith in these wild theories even though there is no credible evidence? When researchers found a tooth of a pig some years back, it was declared to be a missing link for mankind and they used this tooth to create – not one hominid, but an entire family.

Science eventually prevailed and it was proven to be a tooth of an extinct pig and not the imaginary ‘Nebraska Man’ created from the imaginations of evolutionists. The evidence of Jesus’ tomb is on par with the pig’s tooth – a speck of evidence and a ton of imagination.

The arguments for the tomb of Jesus are so easily refuted, that no rational person would give them any credibility and a couple of paragraphs should sufficiently aid the Christian with all the information that is needed. The first thing that should be noted is that the archaeologists that discovered the tomb did not see any significance in the names at all as related to Jesus Christ (and still do not).

Why? These names were so common during the era of Christ, that it is not surprising at all to see them together. Think about the scriptures. In the four gospels, three Mary’s are directly involved with Jesus. There could have been more, but the fact that in one place you see three people named Mary should be sufficient evidence that the name is quite common. The same is true for the name ‘Jesus’. Jesus was the third most common name in Israel during the era of the tomb. Evidence for this is also found in scripture. In Colossians 4:11 Paul introduces one of his workers as Jesus whom they call Justus.

Colossians 4:11 NASB95

11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.

Those who promote the Jesus Tomb theory claim that they have absolute evidence through DNA testing. The claim of DNA evidence serves only one purpose – to make the theory sound scientific. Just think about it for a moment. How does DNA evidence identify a body? The answer is easy. It is compared to a known source. To identify a body in crime, DNA is taken from the body and compared to either existing DNA obtained from the person before death or by comparing it to either parents or children in order to draw reasonable certainty that this person is a match.

You can obtain DNA evidence at any time, but you cannot use this DNA until you have something to compare it against. Without a person that is a relative, the DNA evidence sits in a file until a relative comes forward. The DNA evidence used to ‘discredit’ the resurrection is worthless because there is nothing to compare it against – other than the imaginations of the directors of this project. They throw this around as evidence solely because they know most people have a high respect for DNA evidence but do not understand how it works. Your ignorance is the key to their theory.

The strongest evidence against the Tomb of Jesus theory is the location of the tomb. At least the swoon theory had the foresight to put Jesus in a far away place, but the new theory puts Jesus right in the middle of Jerusalem. Think about the implications of this for a few moments.

The church is now growing at an alarming rate, the Jewish religious leaders are doing everything in their power to stop this new faith, the apostles are being beaten, threatened, jailed and killed for their claims that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. Doesn’t it seem a little odd to say that Jesus was living openly in Jerusalem – the hotbed of controversy – and no one thought to point down the street and say, “Why is Jesus living down the road with his children?” The irony almost makes me laugh.

The entire Christian belief system would crumble and the early church with it if Jesus was on the streets of Jerusalem. If these were just a bunch of cult followers, they would have rewritten the Bible to fit the evidence and would have made Jesus into a cult leader instead of a risen Savior. This would include rewriting the Old Testament that foretells that His life would be taken from the land of the living (Isaiah 53:8).

Isaiah 53:8 NASB95

8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

So the next issue that we find along our journey to the truth is ...

The stolen body theory.

This is the only counter-argument that is even remotely logical. It also has flaws that can’t be explained. First, who stole the body? It is undeniable that the body of Jesus was no longer in the grave. The disciples, Jews and Roman soldiers all concurred that the body was missing. As one historian put it, "history’s silence is deafening concerning the body of Jesus. No one has ever claimed to see the body of Jesus after the resurrection." If the Jews or Romans stole it, they would have produced it. All of the efforts to squelch Christianity and the determination to explain away the resurrection would have ended quickly if someone produced the body.

Lets look at the possibility that the disciples took Jesus’ body. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples scattered like cowards. Peter was the boldest of the 12 and he denied Jesus 3 times. To show how cowardly he was at this point, he was afraid of a servant girl who probably had no say in that culture at all. Yet when she confronted Peter he called curses down upon himself to prove he did not follow Jesus.

They were too afraid to come forward to take Jesus down and help with the burial. How is it that they would suddenly be bold enough to risk certain death and sneak among the guards, break the seal, move the stone without rousing anyone and take the body. Also consider that the head cloth was neatly folded and laid beside the burial cloth. Anyone sneaking into the tomb would be hastily retreating after getting the body. They would not take the time to remove the burial cloth and then neatly fold it. How would a stolen body suddenly empower 11 men who were hiding from the Jews to go out and begin preaching His resurrection boldly before the same leaders they feared? What would make eleven men rejoice at being beaten, imprisoned and then put through painful deaths? A stolen corpse? This argument also does not hold water.

The final possibility is that Jesus was resurrected. We see that all the evidence against the resurrection falls short, but what evidence lends credibility to the resurrection?

Let’s begin by examining the disciples. These men fled in all directions when Jesus was arrested and they did not offer any defense on His behalf. After the resurrection there was a dramatic change in their lives. These men who were afraid to be present at Jesus’ burial now were going into the very city where the crucifixion occurred and were boldly proclaiming His resurrection at their own peril. The crowds were still present and so were the council members that tried Jesus and the soldiers who crucified Him. Why would they suddenly have such a change of heart that they would preach the same Jesus that they had just denied? Not only did they preach the resurrection, but they also condemned those responsible for His death and called them to repent so they could be forgiven.

There were many eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ. Look at Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:6-8

1 Corinthians 15:6–8 NASB95

6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 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.

Paul presented his claim before the very people that could question him and in fact invited them to question. He is saying that most of these witnesses are still alive and available to examine.

People may be willing to die for what they believe to be true, but who would die for what they knew to be a lie? The eleven disciples saw Jesus die. They gained absolutely no financial gain from this faith; indeed we see just the opposite, they lost everything except their joy and the hope of heaven. When Jesus was alive, their hope was their expectation of an earthly kingdom.

Look at how Jesus’ disciples died and determine if this sounds like men clinging to a lie:

Matthew was slain in Ethiopia

Mark dragged through the streets until dead

Peter and Simeon were crucified

Andrew crucified

James beheaded

Philip was crucified

Bartholomew flayed alive

Thomas pierced with lances

James, the less, thrown from the temple and stoned to death

Jude shot to death with arrows

Paul was beheaded

All of these men could have lived if they had said one statement: "He is dead", but they refused.

By all standards, even the harshest critics agree that the scriptures have maintained an incredible accuracy over the centuries.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact of history and applies to every person’s life. Because Jesus died, our debt was paid. Jesus’ last words on the cross was, "It is finished", the debt has been paid. His death on the cross paid the debt for your sin and His resurrection gives you life.

I want to close with this ..

Romans 10:9-11 says:

Romans 10:9–11 NASB95

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Salvation depends on the resurrected Christ. When you believe and confess Him as your Savior, you will no longer have to fear the shame of your sins and no longer have to fear God’s holy judgment for those sins.

The proof of the Resurrection sits before you in the Holy Bible, Psalms 22 written over 1000 years before His crucifixion, along with Isaiah 58, written some 740 before His crucifixion and lives in the heart of all believers today.

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