True Or False 4
The Passion: True or False? Part 4 Jesus is alive
Video - Whether we realize it or not, all of us need a resurrection. Proving whether or not Jesus was raised from the dead won’t do us any good unless this power can also be applied to our own lives. 2 things – demonstrate the veracity of Jesus resurrection and help apply this to your life. Luckhoo story – 245 aquitals – evidence expert, his quote after coming to faith and examining the evidence. "I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt." Guy a few years ago trying to explain it to his 5-year-old son Sean. in church on Easter, and just before the service began, pointed to the cross and said, "See the cross? The people put Jesus on the cross. The people killed Jesus." Sean looked nervous, then asked: "These people?" heart of Easter today; heart of Christianity. 1 Corinthians 15:17: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins." resurrection is the linchpin of Christianity and the ultimate authentication of Jesus' claims. End of the movie – black screen, then resurrected Jesus. Just Hollywood? No! theories to try to explain away res.
False – Jesus’ Body Was Stolen – fraud from those who had an agenda – Matthew 28:1- 14 – problem – disciples didn’t crux or res.. John 13:36And res. John 20:9, killed for a lie. Repeated sightings of Jesus cited as evidence.
False – Women went to wrong tomb. No brainer – here is the right one.
False – Jesus’ Resurrection was a Hallucination – Mass hypnosis by those who wanted to believe – Thomas problem – show me – sceptic. John 24:20. hallucinations. But psychologists said that's not possible because hallucinations are like dreams -- they're individual events that can't be shared between people. It would be like me asking you, "Did you enjoy the dream I had last night?" In fact, one expert said that 500 people sharing the same hallucination would be a bigger miracle than the resurrection itself! But I wasn't ready to give up yet. What if these weren't hallucinations, but instead an example of what psychologists call "group think" -- a kind of wishful thinking where people in a group subtly encourage one another through the power of suggestion to see an image? – no anticipation of res, contrary to belief about messiah. Still empty tomb.
True – Jesus is alive. Affirmative evidence of the resurrection
Early –Reliability of the bible documents. account of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection date back very early. Early church Creed recited preserved for us by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 clearly affirms that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He was buried; he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” specific people Jesus appeared to. dates early as two or three years after the crucifixion, and the beliefs that underlie it go back to the cross.
This completely rebuts the idea that legends about the resurrection developed in the decades after Jesus' death. Studies have concluded there was nowhere near enough time for that to have occurred. In fact, when the apostle Paul mentions that Jesus appeared to 500 people at one time, specifically many still alive. saying, "Hey, these people are still around -- ask them yourselves if you don't believe me, and they'll tell you it's true." Still witnesses around because this res stuff began right after death!
Empty – Caiphas high priest and Jesus accuser – we found his tomb! Not Jesus’. Laid in tomb of prominent – Joseph of Arimathea, found empty by women (key ) if made up story don’t use women! No one ever claimed anything but empty – story the disciples stole the body demonstrates this. how did it get empty? possible suspects - no reasonable explanation. Romans - no. Jews, no same reason. disciples had nothing to gain and everything to lose by stealing the body. Why would they want to live a life of deprivation and suffering and then be tortured to death for a lie? If this had been a charade, certainly one of them would have broken ranks under torture and told the truth. Unanimous testimony of history - tomb was empty on Easter Sunday. No motive for the disciples or the Romans or the Jewish authorities to have stolen the body. The only explanation that fits the facts is that Jesus really did return from the dead.
Eyewitnesses - Not only was Jesus' tomb empty, but over a period of 40 days Jesus appeared alive a dozen different times to more than 515 individuals. To men and women, to believers and doubters, to tough-minded people and tender-hearted people, sometimes to groups, sometimes to individuals, sometimes indoors, sometimes outdoors in broad daylight. He talked with people, He ate with them, He even invited one skeptic to put his finger in the nail holes in His hands and to put his hand in the spear wound in His side in order to verify that it was Him. And that disciple, Thomas, became so convinced that he ended up proclaiming to his violent death in South India that Jesus had, indeed, been resurrected. Five hundred and fifteen people -- that's a lot of witnesses. I had to stop to put that into context!
- talking to one bro last couple weeks who was bugged by the hole in the hand at res. Wounds of honor! And evidence to Thomas! God loves doubters! -
Condi Rice testimony the other day – 10 minutes per questioner. Eyewitnesses to Jesus res – 15 minutes each – around the clock for 128 straight hours!
Real events of history that revolutionized the lives of whose who encountered Him. the disciples - dejected and despondent because they thought their leader was gone forever. Peter denied Christ three times. They fled and hid. After Easter, they're boldly proclaiming Jesus is alive. Ongoing effects - People’s lives were changed Suddenly, these once-cowardly men are transformed into people filled with courage, willing to fearlessly proclaim to their death that Jesus had conquered the grave. Lots of people have died for the faith through history. Look at that Muslim terrorist who blew himself up and killed a lot of other people in Tel Aviv recently. Why was he willing to die that way? Because he sincerely believed he would immediately go to be with his god in paradise. But then someone pointed out to me that what the disciples did was very different from that. Listen to this: people will die for their religious beliefs if they’re convinced their beliefs are true -- like that terrorist. But people will not die for their religious beliefs if they know their beliefs are false or don’t understand. Young guy with all the explosives the other day. Disciples knew! First hand touching witnesses. Almost all died horrible deaths for this. Why if a lie?
Implications: More than historical curiosity. Hitchcock story – Woman sentenced to life in prison for husbands murder. Vowed escape – entering prison saw old man covering grave outside walls. Befriended him – would give money if he would help. Plan – she would hide in next casket, he would dig up later when no one saw. Heard bell, hid in casket, buried, waited, no one came. Finally panicing she lit a match and looked at body with her in casket – old man. Her only hope lay buried right next to her!
Obvious lesson – hope in another she sincerely thought could save, but who died and took her with him. All other religious leaders offer the same as that old man, But Jesus rose from the dead. Who are you going to put your hope in to overcome the grave? Who are you going to put your hope in to overcome the stuff of life, the relational things. You just heard the evidence; it points compellingly toward Jesus Christ as telling the truth when He said in John 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies." One thing we haven’t talked about today is the “why” of Jesus’ death. You see, your wrongdoing has separated you from a perfect God, and out of His love for you Jesus chose to suffer the pain of the cross as your substitute, to pay the penalty that you deserved for your sin so that you could be reconciled with God. And when you confess your wrongdoing and personally apply Christ’s work on the cross to your life -- you receive Christ as your forgiver and leader and you receive eternal life as a gift of grace -- then you can have confidence that you, too, will overcome the grave and spend eternity with Him in heaven.
Go ahead, do what Luckhoo and Strobel did. Do what I did: look at the evidence yourself. You decide. But keep the image of that hopeless woman in mind while you ask yourself this question: “Who is the only one who the evidence has demonstrated can offer you hope for your eternity?” Who are you counting on for the Long Term? All he said is true – he is God, we need him, there is no other way Acts 17:29-31
Jesus is able to bring life to the dead places in your life and relationships! Ephesians 1:17-19, Romans 8:11 Resurrection Power -(parenting, marriage, life, etc.) eph 1:17-19, romans 8
New series – Authentic living: living life to the limit. Authentic relationships in our family. Authentic community. Authentic relationship with God. Authentic impact on those around us: changing the world for good.
This woman had placed her hope in another human being who she sincerely thought would be able to save her -- but he went to his grave and ended up taking her with him.
Friends, listen to me: every single religious leader in history is in his grave right now: Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, all of them -- except one, and that's Jesus Christ. His tomb is empty because He had the power of God to overcome the grave. So let me ask the question: Who are you going to put your hope in to help you overcome the grave?
False
The guards spread the story that the disciples had stolen the body in the night and took it to an unknown location. This is still a popular claim, particularly in Jewish circles. It explains the story of an empty tomb and the inability of anyone to disprove the claim that Jesus rose from the dead.
There are some problems with this theory though. First of all is the fact that Jesus had taught His disciples to be honest and men of integrity. Stealing Jesus’ body and then perpetuating a hoax would have gone against everything they believed. Second, some might argue that they were trying to make Christ’s prophecies about His resurrection come true. But that is a problem. Let’s put it this way: even though the
disciples were honest, they weren’t necessarily what you would call honor roll students. It is clear that at the time of Jesus death, they didn’t even understood that He was going to die, let alone that He was to be raised (). At the grave the disciples are confused. They didn’t understand what was going on. They didn’t anticipate a resurrection (). The third problem to this theory is the changed lives of the disciples. At Jesus’ trial, death, and burial, they scattered and hid in fear of being caught (Mark 14:50). The disciples were cowards. But when they saw Jesus alive, they became bold and outspoken.
Jesus’ resurrection was the theme of the earliest preaching by the apostles (Acts 2:30-31; 3:15; and 4:10, 33). They placed belief in the resurrection at the center of their faith (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:1-5, 12-19). If they had stolen Jesus’ body, then they were killed – most of them brutally – for what they knew to be a lie. People will sometimes die for what they think is true, but they won’t die for what they know is a lie. It’s unbelievable that none of them ever denied belief in the resurrection of Christ, in spite of suffering and persecution (cf. 2 Cor. 11:22-33; Heb. 11:32-40). Finally, the greatest problem with this theory is if the body was stolen, then how did Jesus keep showing up alive?
False – The Women Went to the Wrong Tomb Another false belief is that the women mistakenly went to the wrong tomb. The tomb they visited was empty, and they jumped to the conclusion that Jesus rose from the dead. They spread this rumor to the disciples, which led to the widespread belief in the resurrection of Jesus. There are serious problems with this creative resurrection theory also. If the women went to the wrong tomb, then the disciples who went to check to the women’s claims, also had to go to the wrong tomb. But even if they did repeat the mistake of the women, all the Jewish authorities would have had to do to stop the rumors was to just point out that they went to the wrong tomb. They would have said, “No, you have the wrong tomb. See Jesus is in this tomb. Here is His body.” That obviously would have disproved the women’s and disciples’ claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. And again, the greatest problem is, if the body was stolen, then how did Jesus keep showing up alive?
False – Jesus’ Resurrection was a Hallucination Some people try to answer that question with this third false theory – they claim that what appeared to be Jesus’ resurrection was actually a hallucination. They say, people thought that Jesus kept showing up alive, but they were actually hallucinating it because they
wanted to see Him alive, and they believed He would come back. One problem with that theory is the fact that the disciples didn’t believe Jesus would come back. They were devastated. They thought He was dead and gone. Even after some of the disciples saw Jesus alive, not all of them believed. They told Thomas Jesus was alive, and he didn’t believe it. Let’s read this event in John 20 starting at verse 24: 24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." 26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Thomas didn’t believe Jesus was coming back from the dead. He was a skeptic that wanted proof. And Jesus gave it to him. Thomas didn’t just see Jesus alive again, he actually put his fingers in Jesus’ nailed pierced hands and spear pierced side. Again, - if it were just a hallucination, then where was the actual body? Why didn’t the
Jewish or Roman authorities produce it? All they had to do was take Jesus’ corpse and wheel it through Jerusalem. That would have stopped all resurrection talk.
Jesus is Alive – True or False? By Lee Strobel – No body home.
Who would you guess is the most successful defense attorney in the world? F. Lee Bailey? Well, he's fallen on hard times. Johnnie Cochran? Let's check an authoritative source on this: the Guinness Book of World Records. This is what it says on Page 547: "Most successful lawyer: Sir Lionel Luckhoo . . . (who) succeeded in getting his 245th successive murder charge acquittal by January 1, 19 85." That's an absolutely astonishing feat that nobody in the world has come close to replicating - - 245 murder trials in a row, either won before a jury or on appeal. No wonder he’s renowned as the real-life Perry Mason.
What skills do you think he needed to rise to that unprecedented level of courtroom success? Certainly he must be smart and savvy. He must have tremendous analytical skills so he can dissect what may appear on the surface to be an air-tight case. And he must be a world-class expert on what constitutes reliable and persuasive evidence. All of that describes Luckhoo, who was knighted twice by Queen Elizabeth and who also served as a distinguished diplomat and a justice on his country's highest court.
As we approach Easter, wouldn't it be interesting to get an opinion from an expert like Luckhoo on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Well, we're in luck, so to speak. During his own spiritual journey, Luckhoo turned his expertise to the question of whether the resurrection of Jesus Christ fits the test of legal evidence. And here's the conclusion he ultimately reached: "I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt."
Amazing, isn't it? Our everyday experience tells us that pigs don't talk, regardless of the movie Babe; that Santa Claus doesn't slide down chimneys; and that dead people don't spring back to life. And yet here's the most successful attorney in the world applying the test of legal evidence to the case of Jesus Christ and concluding with absolute confidence that His resurrection is reality. And then Luckhoo did the most logical thing he could do: he gave his life to Christ.
Well, today you and I are going to examine some of the facts ourselves. Last week we looked at the evidence that points convincingly toward Jesus being the unique Son of God. We saw how the record of His life is reliable; how His claims to being God are credible; how Jesus alone fit the fingerprint of the Messiah by fulfilling ancient prophecies against all odds; and how Christ has impacted millions of individuals. And now here we are on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, which culminates with Easter -- and we're going to talk about the evidence that confirms what Easter is all about.
I hope I have more success in explaining Easter than my brother-in-law did a few years ago when he was trying to explain it to his 5-year-old son Sean. They were sitting in church on Easter, and just before the service began, my brother-in-law pointed to the cross and said, "See the cross? The people put Jesus on the cross. The people killed Jesus." Sean looked around very nervously, then asked cautiously: "These people?" Well, we're going to get at the heart of Easter today; in fact, to the very heart of Christianity itself. The Apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians 15:17: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins." So the resurrection is the linchpin of Christianity and the ultimate authentication of Jesus' claim that He is God. I especially hope that those of you who are spiritual skeptics or seekers will do that Sir Lionel Luckhoo did -- keep an open mind and let the evidence lead you wherever it points.
I'm going to begin by summarizing how Jesus died, and I'm going to get a little graphic for a very important reason. Some people take the position that Jesus never really died on the cross; in fact, that's what many Muslims are taught. It's called the "swoon theory" -- that Jesus fainted on the cross or took a drug that made Him only appear to die, and then the cool air of the tomb revived Him and He emerged
alive. So, they contend, there was no resurrection because He hadn't died. But as I describe to you what happened to Jesus, you'll quickly see the fallacy of that position. If you’ve seen Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of Christ,” with the horrible brutally worked upon Jesus, you already know the impossible nature of the “swoon theory.” After Jesus' trial in which He was found guilty of blasphemy for claiming to be God,
John 19:1 says: "Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged." A medical expert named Dr. C. Truman Davis studied what this involved and concluded this was a brutal beating that left Jesus on the very edge of death. Jesus was tied to a post and beaten at least 39 times -- and probably more -- with a whip that had jagged bones and balls of lead woven into it. Again and again, the whip was brought down with full force on His bare shoulders, back and legs. At first, the heavy thongs cut through His skin only. But as the blows continued, they cut deeper into the underlying tissues, first producing an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins, and finally the spurting of arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying
muscles. The balls of lead first produced large, deep bruises which were then broken open by subsequent blows. By the end, the skin of His back was left hanging in long ribbons and the entire area was an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. One witness to a Roman flogging wrote this: "The sufferer's veins were laid bare, and the very muscles and tendons and bowels of the victim were open to exposure."
Undoubtedly, Jesus was in serious to critical condition even before the crucifixion began. It's no wonder He was unable to carry His own cross. Then five-to-seven-inch spikes were driven through His wrists, crushing the median nerve, which we call the funny bone. Experts say this would be like squeezing your funny bone with a pair of pliers. So painful was death by crucifixion that a new word was coined to describe it -- the word "excruciating," which is Latin for "out of the cross." After His wrists and feet were nailed securely, He was hoisted into the air to hang. Death from crucifixion is basically a slow death by suffocation. Because of the stress on the muscles, Jesus could breathe in, but He couldn't breathe out unless He pushed up with His feet to relieve some of the pressure on His chest. Of course, that was tremendously painful because of His bloodied back scraping against the coarse cross and because of the spikes through His feet. After a while of pushing up again and again, exhaustion sets in. If the Romans wanted to hasten death, they used a mallet to shatter the victim's shin bones so he couldn't push up anymore, and the victim's lungs would fill with carbon dioxide and he'd slowly asphyxiate.
And that's what the executioners did to the criminals crucified on either side of Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw He was already dead. To confirm that, the soldier plunged a spear between His ribs, puncturing the sac around the heart and the heart itself, and causing a clear fluid and blood to spew out, which eyewitnesses recorded. Then four Roman experts confirmed He was dead. Friends, nobody came down from a cross alive -- and that included Jesus. An authoritative article in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Society concluded: "Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead (even) before the wound to His side was inflicted. . . . Accordingly,
interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge."
In fact, think about this: even if He wanted to go against everything He taught by intentionally deceiving people, even if He had somehow survived the cross, even if He were somehow able to escape from the cocoon of linen wrappings soaked with 75 pounds of spices, even if He could somehow roll away the huge boulder from the mouth of His tomb -- a boulder so big that one ancient account said 20 men couldn't budge it -- even if He could somehow get past the elite Roman guards, think of the condition He would have been in when He appeared to His disciples. He wouldn't have inspired them with confidence and gotten them all excited about receiving that kind of resurrection body someday. He would not have appeared as the glorified, perfected Jesus like you saw in “The Passion of Christ.” He wouldn't have prompted them to triumphantly declare His glorious return and launch a worldwide movement. They would have been horrified and sickened by His bloody and broken condition. They would have pitied Him and gotten Him a doctor. So the evidence clearly refutes the "swoon theory," which, by the way, people often bring up but no reputable scholar believes.
Now let's look at the affirmative evidence for the resurrection. I'm going to summarize it with the three E's, as you see behind me on these placards. "EARLY." We discussed this last week when we talked about the reliability of the ancient documents that make up the New Testament of the Bible, but it's important to reiterate that the account of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection date back very early. For instance, a creed recited in the early church and preserved for us by the apostle Paul
in 1 Corinthians 15 clearly affirms that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He was buried; he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” and then it cites specific people who Jesus appeared to. This creed has been dated back to as early as two or three years after the crucifixion, and the beliefs that underlie it go back right to the cross itself.
This completely rebuts the idea that legends about the resurrection developed in the decades after Jesus' death. Studies have concluded there was nowhere near enough time for that to have occurred. In fact, when the apostle Paul mentions that Jesus appeared to 500 people at one time, He specifically states that many of them were still alive. In effect, he was saying, "Hey, these people are still around -- ask them yourselves if you don't believe me, and they'll tell you it's true." That's how confident he was. There were witnesses still around for people to question because the proclamation that Jesus was the risen Son of God began virtually immediately after His death.
"EMPTY" -- the empty tomb of Jesus. During His trial, Jesus' chief accuser was the Jewish high priest Caiaphas, who served in that position from 18 to 37 A.D. It was Caiaphas who accused Jesus of blasphemy for claiming to be God and handed Him over to Pilate to be killed. Just six years ago, archaeologists were digging in Jerusalem, and they managed to uncover the burial grounds of Caiaphas and his family. But though His accuser's grave has been found, nobody to this day has ever uncovered the body of Jesus Himself. Jesus' body was laid to rest in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Jewish council, and the tomb was sealed and placed under heavy guard, and yet it was discovered empty on Easter morning by -- and this is very significant -- several women.
You see, the fact that the ancient documents say women discovered the tomb empty lends even more credibility to these accounts. The reason is that women had low status in Jewish society at the time and didn’t even legally qualify as witnesses. So if the disciples were making up this story, surely they would have claimed that men discovered the empty tomb because their testimony would have been more credible in that culture. This is just one more indication that the writers were committed to accurately recording what actually happened.
But here's the most powerful fact concerning Jesus' tomb: nobody ever claimed it was anything but empty! Even His opponents admitted it was vacant on Easter! They tried to bribe the guards to say that the disciples stole the body while they were asleep, which is ridiculous because they didn’t have the motive or opportunity -- and, besides, how would the guards have known it was the disciples if they were sleeping?
But the point is, when the disciples declared the tomb was empty, Jesus opponents didn't respond by saying, "No, it's not." Or, "You've got the wrong tomb -- His body is over there." Instead, they admitted it was true -- the tomb was vacant!
Now, the question is, how did it get empty? When I was first trying to figure this out as a skeptic, I went through a list of possible suspects but couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. For instance, the Romans wouldn't have taken the body. They wanted Jesus dead. The Jewish leaders wouldn't have taken the body. They wanted Him to stay dead. Either the Jews or the Romans would have loved to have paraded Jesus' lifeless body down Main Street of Jerusalem because this would have instantly killed the growing Christian movement that they were expending so much energy trying to destroy. But they couldn't because they didn't have the body. And the disciples had nothing to gain and everything to lose by stealing the body. Why would they want to live a life of deprivation and suffering and then be tortured to death for a lie? If this had been a charade, certainly one of them would have broken ranks under torture and told the truth.
Then I thought, "Well, maybe the women went to the wrong tomb -- after all, this happened in the pre-dawn darkness. Maybe they lost their way." But that didn't withstand scrutiny either. Not only did Mary Magdalene and the other women find the tomb empty, but Peter and John came and checked it out. What are the odds they all would have made the same mistake? And don't you think they would have made absolutely sure it was the right tomb before they risked their lives proclaiming Jesus' body was gone? Besides, their friend Joseph of Arimathea knew where his own tomb was located. And if somehow they all came down with amnesia, don't you think the Jewish and Roman authorities would have gladly pointed out the real tomb to show Jesus was still in it?
Friends, the unanimous testimony of history is that the tomb was empty on Easter Sunday. There was no motive for the disciples or the Romans or the Jewish authorities to have stolen the body. The only explanation that fits the facts is that Jesus really did return from the dead.
"EYEWITNESSES." Not only was Jesus' tomb empty, but over a period of 40 days Jesus appeared alive a dozen different times to more than 515 individuals. To men and women, to believers and doubters, to tough-minded people and tender-hearted people, sometimes to groups, sometimes to individuals, sometimes indoors, sometimes outdoors in broad daylight. He talked with people, He ate with them, He even invited one skeptic to put his finger in the nail holes in His hands and to put his hand in the spear wound in His side in order to verify that it was Him. And that disciple, Thomas, became so convinced that he ended up proclaiming to his violent death in South India that Jesus had, indeed, been resurrected. Five hundred and fifteen people -- that's a lot of witnesses. I had to stop to put that into context!
- talking to one bro last couple weeks who was bugged by the hole in the hand at res. Wounds of honor! And evidence to Thomas! God loves doubters! -
Think about it this way: if we were holding a trial to determine the facts concerning the resurrection, and if we were to call to the witness stand every eyewitness who personally encountered the resurrected Jesus and we cross-examined each of them for only 15 minutes, and if we went around the clock without a break, how long do you think we'd be sitting here? This first-hand, eyewitness testimony would continue through tonight, through all day Sunday and Sunday night, through all day Monday and Monday night, through all day Tuesday and Tuesday night, through all day Wednesday and Wednesday night, through all day Thursday -- and we'd be listening to the last eyewitness account at about 3 o'clock
next Friday morning! Who could possibly walk away after listening for more than 128 straight hours,. I've covered scores of criminal trials as a legal affairs journalist, but I've never seen a case with anywhere near as much eyewitness testimony as that!
Well, when I was a skeptic, I tried and tried to poke holes in their testimony. First, I thought, maybe these appearances were hallucinations. But psychologists said that's not possible because hallucinations are like dreams -- they're individual events that can't be shared between people. It would be like me asking you, "Did you enjoy the dream I had last night?" In fact, one expert said that 500 people sharing the same hallucination would be a bigger miracle than the resurrection itself! But I wasn't ready to give up yet. What if these weren't hallucinations, but instead an example of what psychologists call "group think" -- a kind of wishful thinking where people in a group subtly encourage one another through the power of suggestion to see an image?
A few years ago I was able to ask that question of Dr. Gary Collins, the president of a national association of psychologists, a university professor of psychology for 20 years, and the author of more than 40 books on the subject. But Dr. Collins said, no, that wouldn't be possible, because the circumstances were all wrong for anything like this to have occurred. For instance, the disciples weren't anticipating a resurrection. This was totally contrary to their Jewish beliefs. And so they weren't primed for this sort of thing to happen. Besides, Jesus ate with them, He talked back to them, and He appeared numerous times before all kinds of people in various settings -- all of which runs contrary to this "group think" theory. Besides, what about the empty tomb? If they just imagined Jesus, then where was His body? Certainly the Romans would have produced it if they could have.
Friends, the appearances of Jesus weren't a hallucination, they weren't wish fulfillment; they weren't mythology or mistake. They are real events of history that revolutionized the lives of whose who encountered Him. I mean, look at what happened to the disciples. Before Easter, they were dejected and despondent because they thought their leader was gone forever. Peter denied Christ three times. They fled and hid. But history clearly shows that after Easter, they're boldly proclaiming Jesus is alive.
People’s lives were changed Suddenly, these once-cowardly men are transformed into people filled with courage, willing to fearlessly proclaim to their death that Jesus had conquered the grave. Now, at first I wasn’t very persuaded by the fact that they were willing to die for their beliefs. After all, lots of people have died for the faith through history. Look at that Muslim terrorist who blew himself up and killed a lot of other people in Tel Aviv recently. Why was he willing to die that way? Because he sincerely believed he would immediately go to be with his god in paradise. But then someone pointed out to me that what the disciples did was very different from that. Listen to this: people will die for their religious beliefs if they’re convinced their beliefs are true -- like that terrorist. But people will not die for their religious beliefs if they know their beliefs are false.
And the disciples were in the unique position in history to know first-hand -- to know for sure -- whether Jesus had really risen from the dead. They encountered Him. They talked and ate with Him. And they declared it was true -- He was resurrected. It wasn't a hallucination or a trick. And because it was true, they were willing to die for it. Do you see? If they had been lying, do you think they would have willing let themselves be tortured to death for a lie? Nobody knowingly and willingly dies for a lie.
Friends, Luckhoo was right: the evidence is absolutely overwhelming. The three E's add up to a powerful and persuasive equation -- EARLY ACCOUNTS + an EMPTY TOMB + EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY = certainty that Jesus was, indeed, resurrected. And that’s the ultimate authentication that He is who He claimed to be -- the one-and-only Son of God.
But this is more than just an historical curiosity. The resurrection has profound implications for you and me. And to explain that, I'm going to end with a story made up by Alfred Hitchcock and recounted in a recent book by David Jeremiah. It’s not a true story, but it is a story with a lesson. It's the story of a woman who murdered her husband years ago and was sentenced to life in prison. She vowed that somehow, some way, she'd escape. As her prison bus approached the penitentiary, she saw an old man, another prisoner, covering up a grave in a small cemetery outside the prison walls. Right then and there, she hatched a plot. Once inside, she befriended this prisoner. He was going blind and needed cataract surgery. "I'll give you the money for your surgery if you'll help me escape," she said. And
he agreed. Here was the plan: the next time she heard the bell toll, which indicated an inmate had died, she would sneak down to the workroom where he made the casket and slide inside with the body and pull the covering closed. He would wheel the casket out to the cemetery, lower it into the grave and cover it with dirt. But that night, when nobody was watching, he'd return and dig up the casket and set her free.
Late one night, the bell tolled. The woman sneaked down to the workroom. It was dark, but she found the casket, lifted the lid, slipped inside next to the body, pulled the cover over her -- and waited. Sure enough, a few hours later she felt the casket being rolled toward the grave site. She smiled as the casket was lowered into the hole. She heard the clumps of dirt hitting the casket and covering her up. She had done it! She could barely contain her excitement. Silence followed as she waited in the dark. Time began to drag. Hours passed, then more hours. Finally, she began to worry. She broke out in a cold sweat. Where was that old man? What was keeping him? Can you imagine the emotions that would have coursed through her? In a moment of panic, she reached into her pocket and took out some matches. As she lit one, she glanced at the corpse beside her -- and saw that it was the old man himself. Her only hope lay buried right next to her!
The lesson for you and me is obvious. This woman had placed her hope in another human being who she sincerely thought would be able to save her -- but he went to his grave and ended up taking her with him.
Friends, listen to me: every single religious leader in history is in his grave right now: Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed, all of them -- except one, and that's Jesus Christ. His tomb is empty because He had the power of God to overcome the grave. So let me ask the question: Who are you going to put your hope in to help you overcome the grave? You just heard the evidence; it points compellingly toward Jesus Christ as telling the truth when He said in John 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies."
One thing we haven’t talked about today is the “why” of Jesus’ death. You see, your wrongdoing has separated you from a perfect God, and out of His love for you Jesus chose to suffer the pain of the cross as your substitute, to pay the penalty that you deserved for your sin so that you could be reconciled with God. And when you confess your wrongdoing and personally apply Christ’s work on the cross to your life -- you receive Christ as your forgiver and leader and you receive eternal life as a gift of grace -- then you can have confidence that you, too, will overcome the grave and spend eternity with Him in heaven.
Go ahead, do what Luckhoo did. Do what I did: look at the evidence yourself. You decide. But keep the image of that hopeless woman in mind while you ask yourself this question: “Who is the only one who the evidence has demonstrated can offer you hope for your eternity?” Let's stand for closing prayer.
Jesus is Alive – True or False? Matthew 28:1-15 and John 20:24-29 By Brian Mavis
It was the night of October 31, 1936. Halloween night. The men and women sat at the round table with joined hands. They awaited the message - the message they had hoped for every Halloween night for the past 10 years. But the message did not come. Finally, one woman rose from the table and announced to the others - and to a listening radio audience - "Houdini did not come through," she said. "My last hope is gone. I do not believe that Houdini can come back to me, or to anyone...The Houdini Shrine has burned for ten years. I now, reverently... turn out the light. It is finished. Good night, Harry!"
The woman was Bess Houdini, wife of the famed magician and escape artist. And this was the last séance she would participate in to try to contact her dead husband. Houdini was known as “The Man No Jail Could Hold.” But he couldn’t escape from death. (paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa103000a.htm)
Today we are finishing our series inspired by Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of TheChrist. Do you remember how the movie ends? Jesus dies. The screen fades to black. You think the credits are going to roll, but an image flashes back on the screen. It is Jesus – resurrected, flawless, and glorious. He has escaped death. He is back and alive. Is this something we should really believe? Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Is this history or just a Hollywood ending? What is true and what is false? There are, of course, people who don’t believe. They don’t think Jesus escaped the bonds of death so they have to develop other theories. Let’s begin by looking at three theories that are suggested to explain away the resurrection:
False – Jesus’ Body Was Stolen The first false theory is that Jesus’ body was stolen. This theory was actually a fraud concocted up by the Jewish religious leaders and spread by the Roman guards only hours after the resurrection. Let’s read how this happened in Matthew 28, starting at verse 1.1After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.2There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." 8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." 11While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
The guards spread the story that the disciples had stolen the body in the night and took it to an unknown location. This is still a popular claim, particularly in Jewish circles. It explains the story of an empty tomb and the inability of anyone to disprove the claim that Jesus rose from the dead.
There are some problems with this theory though. First of all is the fact that Jesus had taught His disciples to be honest and men of integrity. Stealing Jesus’ body and then perpetuating a hoax would have gone against everything they believed. Second, some might argue that they were trying to make Christ’s prophecies about His resurrection come true. But that is a problem. Let’s put it this way: even though the
disciples were honest, they weren’t necessarily what you would call honor roll students. It is clear that at the time of Jesus death, they didn’t even understood that He was going to die, let alone that He was to be raised (John 13:36). At the grave the disciples are confused. They didn’t understand what was going on. They didn’t anticipate a resurrection (John 20:9). The third problem to this theory is the changed lives of the disciples. At Jesus’ trial, death, and burial, they scattered and hid in fear of being caught (Mark 14:50). The disciples were cowards. But when they saw Jesus alive, they became bold and outspoken.
Jesus’ resurrection was the theme of the earliest preaching by the apostles (Acts 2:30-31; 3:15; and 4:10, 33). They placed belief in the resurrection at the center of their faith (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:1-5, 12-19). If they had stolen Jesus’ body, then they were killed – most of them brutally – for what they knew to be a lie. People will sometimes die for what they think is true, but they won’t die for what they know is a lie. It’s unbelievable that none of them ever denied belief in the resurrection of Christ, in spite of suffering and persecution (cf. 2 Cor. 11:22-33; Heb. 11:32-40). Finally, the greatest problem with this theory is if the body was stolen, then how did Jesus keep showing up alive?
False – The Women Went to the Wrong Tomb Another false belief is that the women mistakenly went to the wrong tomb. The tomb they visited was empty, and they jumped to the conclusion that Jesus rose from the dead. They spread this rumor to the disciples, which led to the widespread belief in the resurrection of Jesus. There are serious problems with this creative resurrection theory also. If the women went to the wrong tomb, then the disciples who went to check to the women’s claims, also had to go to the wrong tomb. But even if they did repeat the mistake of the women, all the Jewish authorities would have had to do to stop the rumors was to just point out that they went to the wrong tomb. They would have said, “No, you have the wrong tomb. See Jesus is in this tomb. Here is His body.” That obviously would have disproved the women’s and disciples’ claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. And again, the greatest problem is, if the body was stolen, then how did Jesus keep showing up alive?
False – Jesus’ Resurrection was a Hallucination Some people try to answer that question with this third false theory – they claim that what appeared to be Jesus’ resurrection was actually a hallucination. They say, people thought that Jesus kept showing up alive, but they were actually hallucinating it because they
wanted to see Him alive, and they believed He would come back. One problem with that theory is the fact that the disciples didn’t believe Jesus would come back. They were devastated. They thought He was dead and gone. Even after some of the disciples saw Jesus alive, not all of them believed. They told Thomas Jesus was alive, and he didn’t believe it. Let’s read this event in John 20 starting at verse 24: 24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." 26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Thomas didn’t believe Jesus was coming back from the dead. He was a skeptic that wanted proof. And Jesus gave it to him. Thomas didn’t just see Jesus alive again, he actually put his fingers in Jesus’ nailed pierced hands and spear pierced side. Again, - if it were just a hallucination, then where was the actual body? Why didn’t the
Jewish or Roman authorities produce it? All they had to do was take Jesus’ corpse and wheel it through Jerusalem. That would have stopped all resurrection talk.
True – Jesus is Alive Not only are the theories for alternative explanations of the resurrection flimsy and biased attempts to avoid the facts, the evidences supporting the resurrection are extremely strong. It is true that Jesus is alive, never to die again. Let’s look at three arguments that show that Jesus’ resurrection is the most amazing fact of history.
Jesus Predicted It First, Jesus predicted He would rise from the dead. Have you ever read the predictions of Nostradamus? I don’t know about you, but the ones I have read are so vague and confusing that they can be interpreted to mean just about anything. Or what about horoscopes? They are so generalized and indiscriminate that they can apply to anybody at anytime. But Jesus’ predictions were totally different. Jesus’ predictions weren’t ambiguous or generalized. They were very clear and specific. Listen to some of these predictions:
• Matthew 16:21 – 21From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
• Matthew 17:22-23 – 22When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the disciples were filled with grief
• Matthew 20:18-19 – 18"We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"
• Matthew 26:32 – 32But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee." And immediately after His death, even His enemies quote Jesus’ prediction about His resurrection. Listen to this:
• Matthew 27:62-64 - 62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first Over and over again, Jesus not only predicted that He would be mocked, flogged, and crucified, but that He would actually rise from the dead three days later. And He did!
Eye-witnesses Saw It
Not only did Jesus predict that He would rise from the dead, eyewitnesses saw it. Listen to what Paul – a former unbeliever – said about this: 3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
Jesus was seen alive over a 40-day period after His crucifixion, by men, women, skeptics, believers, individuals, and simultaneously by a group of over 500 people. Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes: "What gives a special authority to the list (of witnesses) as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says in effect, 'If you do not believe me, you can ask them.' Such a statement in an admittedly genuine letter written within thirty years of the event is almost as strong evidence as one could hope to get for something that happened nearly two thousand years ago." (Josh McDowell)
History Supports It
Lastly, history supports the resurrection of Jesus. That the church ever came into existence and that you are here today at this church is a result of the resurrection of Jesus. What do you think the main message of the disciples was after Jesus rose from the dead? – “Turn the other cheek.” “Give to the poor.” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” No. It was none of those things. The main message of the disciples was “Jesus is alive!” Listen to what Peter said:
22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him:" 'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.' 29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. (Acts 2:22-32).
Within a generation of Jesus’ life, documents were written about His death and resurrection. If treated without prejudice the historical records are as plentiful and as reliable as any ancient event we know of. As F.F. Bruce, of Manchester University, said, “If the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”
There are also historical documents outside the Bible that speak of the resurrection. For example, the Toledoth Jeshu, a compilation of 5th century Jewish writings, acknowledges that the tomb was indeed empty and proceeds to try to explain it away. It confirms that Jesus was crucified and buried, and it tries to explain how His tomb was empty. Even this document – written by nonbelievers – believed that Jesus wasn’t in His tomb after three days. They just don’t want to believe how it happened.
The resurrection of Jesus couldn’t have been preached and believed for a single hour in Jerusalem if it weren’t true. There would have been too many ways to discredit the claims and disprove the evidence.
So What?
But the question has to be asked. So what? Why does it matter that Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again?
The consequences are enormous. Jesus’ resurrection sets Him apart from all other religious leaders and anyone else who ever lived. All other religious leaders were powerless to death, proving their humanity. Jesus had power over death, proving His divinity. The resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith. All of what Jesus said and did falls if the resurrection is false. All of what Jesus said and did stands if the resurrection is fact. If the resurrection is true, you can put your trust in Jesus Christ. You can be forgiven of your sins. You can be given the power to live right. You can have everlasting life – being reunited with loved ones after death, and even getting to see, know and love Jesus forever.
Now What?
At the beginning of this message I told you about Houdini’s failed attempt to slip the shackles of death and communicate with his wife Bess. Shortly before his death, Houdini made a pact with Bess that if he could, he would return and make contact with her from the other side. They devised a coded message that only he and Bess knew; this would prove that it really was Houdini breaking through from the afterlife. But after 10 séances in 10 years, Bess had not received her beloved husband's personal message. The message was based on word combinations that corresponded to a secret spelling code. The Houdinis' secret phrase spelled out one word – “Believe.” Jesus did more than just communicate from the grave – He rose from the grave. He gave many evidences and proofs that He was alive. Do you remember what he said to “Doubting” Thomas?
27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." 28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" 29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
You can’t see Jesus, but you have heard the evidence. You can’t see Jesus, but you can believe. Jesus is spelling out a one-word code for you. Can you hear it? He is saying “Believe.” You don’t have to have all your questions answered and all your doubts cleared to make a thoughtful decision and claim that you believe in Jesus. Where do you stand right now? Are you ready to respond to Jesus? If so, everyone – including intellectuals – come to God the same way. Do you believe? If you believe, pray this prayer with me: Pray. “God, thank You for what you have done for me. I believe You sent Jesus to die for y sins instead of me. I believe Jesus rose again to give me everlasting life. Please forgive me for the wrong things I have done. Please give me a clean heart. I invite you into my life. Teach me to do everything You want me to do and to follow You all the days of my life. I pray this believing what Jesus did for me. Amen.”
Obey. Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). Jesus taught to be baptized. His commands are summarized in loving God with all you are, loving the needy like you love yourself, and loving others as Jesus loved you. The best way to begin doing this is to be part of a good church that is learning to follow Jesus together.