Sermon Tone Analysis

Review of the Crucifixion

A Messiah who failed to deliver and to reign, one who was defeated, humiliated, and slain by his enemies was a contradiction in terms.

Nowhere do ancient Jewish texts speak of this sort of “Messiah.”

Jews believed that the resurrection to glory and immortality only took place after the end of the world; they had no concept of, much less belief in, a resurrection within history.

Ancient Judaism had no place for the resurrection of an isolated individual, especially of the Messiah.

So it’s difficult to exaggerate, therefore, what a catastrophe Jesus’ crucifixion would have been for the disciples.

It wasn’t just that their beloved teacher was gone; rather, Jesus’ death on the cross meant the crushing defeat of any hopes they had entertained that he was the Messiah.

Importance of the Resurrection

Why is the resurrection so important to Christianity?

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Jesus’ burial is reported in extremely early, independent sources:

All four gospels contain accounts of Jesus’ resurrection (; ; ; ).

Throughout the book of Acts, the apostles continually speak of Jesus’ resurrection, encouraging people to trust in him as the one who is alive and reigning in heaven.

The rest of the New Testament depends entirely on the assumption that Jesus is a living, reigning Savior who is the head of the newly formed church.

Simply put, one can find ample proof for the resurrection throughout the New Testament.

A Different Resurrection

Christ’s resurrection was not a simple coming back from the dead as others had experienced (such as Lazarus in ).

What do you think was different with Christ?

Rather, when Jesus rose from the dead, he began a new kind of human life in which he had a perfect body that was no longer subject to weakness, aging, death, or decay.

When Jesus rose from the dead, he had a body that would live eternally, for Jesus had “put on the imperishable”; he had “put on immortality” ().

Jesus’ new body was a physical body.

When his disciples saw him, they “took hold of his feet” ().

His disciples “ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” ().

In his new body, Jesus “took … bread and blessed and broke it” ().

He also invited Thomas to touch his hands and side ().

The Bible is clear: Jesus physically rose from the dead with a body made of “flesh and bones” ().

Skeptics will say, “Of course the Bible will talk about the resurrection.

That’s not proof.”

How would you respond?

Results of the Resurrection

Consequently, all who look to Jesus for their salvation have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” ().

That is, Christ earned for us a new future life that is like his own.

Although our bodies are not yet like his new body, our spirits have already been made alive with new resurrection power.

This resurrection power helps us live the lives we were made to live.

It gives us the power to gain more and more victory over sin in our lives.

Because of the resurrection, we can consider ourselves “dead to sin” ().

Although we will not attain sinless perfection in this life, Paul still tells us that “sin will have no dominion” over us (); it will not rule us or control us.

This resurrection power also includes power from the Holy Spirit, which enables us to do the work Jesus commissioned us to do ().

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In addition, Jesus’ resurrection insures our right standing before God.

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When God raised Jesus from the dead, he was affirming Jesus’ work on our behalf.

He was demonstrating his approval of Jesus’ work of suffering and dying for our sins.

He was affirming that Jesus’ work on our behalf was complete; the penalty for sin was paid, and therefore, Jesus did not need to remain dead any longer.

What is the significance of and

Defending the Resurrection - Historical Proof

Our New Bodies

Jesus’ resurrection means we will also experience a resurrection of our own.

Look at the following verses: ; ;

; ; ).

At the final resurrection, our resurrection, we will receive a new body just like the one Jesus now inhabits.

Jesus’ Ascension

Forty days after his resurrection (), Jesus led his followers just outside Jerusalem “and lifting up his hands he blessed them.

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven” ().

When Jesus left the earth, he left for a specific place: heaven.

Once in heaven, Jesus was “exalted at the right hand of God” ().

God “highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” ().

After his ascension, Jesus received glory, honor, and authority that had never been his before as one who was both God and man.

Angelic choirs now sing praise to him with the words, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

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Now at God’s right hand, Christ “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet” ().

Christ’s life provides a pattern for ours.

Just as his resurrection lets us know what will eventually happen to us, his ascension lets us know where we will eventually go.

And so we wait “with eager longing” () for Christ’s return when we will be taken from this world into a glorious new one.

Then we, with our new perfect bodies, will live forever in our new perfect world.

INTRODUCTION

The Empty Tomb

1. the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb by a group of his female followers on the Sunday morning after his crucifixion; 2. various individuals and groups’ experiencing appearances of Jesus alive after his death; and 3. the origin of the earliest disciples’ belief that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

If these three facts can be established as historical, the question will then be whether they are best explained by what I’ll call the “Resurrection Hypothesis”— namely, that God raised Jesus from the dead, or by some other explanation.

According to the accounts, Jesus was buried by a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin named Joseph of Arimathea.

As a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to be a Christian invention.

Jesus’ burial by Joseph is very probably historical, since it would be almost inexplicable why Christians would invent a story about a Jewish Sanhedrist who gives Jesus a proper burial.

If the accounts of Jesus’ burial in the Gospels are basically accurate, then the location of Jesus’ tomb was known in Jerusalem to both Jew and Christian alike.

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If the accounts of Jesus’ burial in the Gospels are basically accurate, then the location of Jesus’ tomb was known in Jerusalem to both Jew and Christian alike.

Why is this important?

Even if people had believed that Jesus had risen, the Jewish authorities would have crushed the whole affair simply by pointing to Jesus’ occupied tomb or perhaps even opening the tomb to reveal the corpse as decisive proof that Jesus had not risen back to life.

Jesus’ resurrection story flourished in the very city where Jesus had been publicly crucified.

One of the most noteworthy facts about the early Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection was that it flourished in the very city where Jesus had been publicly crucified.

So long as the inhabitants of Jerusalem thought that Jesus’ corpse lay in the tomb, few would have been prepared to believe such silliness as the claim that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

One of the most noteworthy facts about the early Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection was that it flourished in the very city where Jesus had been publicly crucified.

So long as the inhabitants of Jerusalem thought that Jesus’ corpse lay in the tomb, few would have been prepared to believe such silliness as the claim that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

So long as the inhabitants of Jerusalem thought that Jesus’ corpse lay in the tomb, few would have been prepared to believe such silliness as the claim that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

even if people had believed that Jesus had risen, the Jewish authorities would have crushed the whole affair simply by pointing to Jesus’ occupied tomb or perhaps even opening the tomb to reveal the corpse as decisive proof that Jesus had not risen back to life.

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First, Jesus’ burial is reported in extremely early, independent sources.

The Creed Paul Received

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In the minds of first-century Jews, there would have been no question that Jesus’ tomb would have been empty as a result of his being raised.

Therefore, when the tradition states that Christ “was buried and he was raised,” it automatically implies that an empty tomb was left behind.