RESURRECTION: HISTORICAL IMPERATIVE

RESURRECTION: HISTORICAL IMPERATIVE 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Michael Bebe, Darwin’s Black Box; William Lane Craig, “The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus”; Stanley Grenz, What Christians Really Believe & Why; Charles Gresham, What the Bible Says About the Resurrection; Philip E. Johnson, Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law and Education; George Ladd, I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus: Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict March 20, 2005 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction A couple of years ago there was a news report about an Army veteran named John Crabtree who had been receiving benefits from the government. He had been wounded in Vietnam and was now on permanent disability. One day, out of the blue, he received an official notification from the government of his own death. Needless to say, this was quite a shock! Mr. Crabtree wrote the government a letter insisting that he was indeed very much alive and would like to continue receiving his benefits. The letter did no good. He then tried calling the government. (Have you ever tried to call the government?) The phone calls didn't change the situation either. Finally, as a last resort, the veteran contacted a local television station, which ran a human-interest story about his situation. During the interview, the reporter asked him, "How do you feel about this whole ordeal?" The veteran chuckled and said, "Well, I feel a little frustrated by it. After all, have you ever tried to prove that you're alive?" That dilemma might be pretty close to what was on the mind of Jesus just after His resurrection. It seems, according to our text this morning, that He was quite deliberate about showing Himself alive, physically, to as many of His followers as He could in the 40 short days between His resurrection and His ascension into Heaven.” The Significance of the Resurrection Let’s take some time this morning to study the historical reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the records. We’re going to be focusing on 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, so you may want to turn there in your Bibles. First, though, I want to remind you of the truth we studied last week, that the resurrection is critically important in Christian belief. It is an important part of the gospel. In fact, the resurrection puts the “good” into the “good news.” Christian scholar and noted apologist, Josh McDowell, wrote this unsettling comment: He said that the resurrection of Jesus is “One of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of men, OR the most fantastic fact of history.” And he is absolutely right.  The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the crux of faith. If He did not rise, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:17-18 "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins …" If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But if He did rise as He promised He would, and in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, then He is who He said He was, all that He taught is true, He death did in fact pay the price of men’s sins, and the hope of every Christian to live forever with the Lord is secure. Peter was defending himself against the Sanhedrin days after Pentecost when he said, "What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us . . . by raising up Jesus . . . God raised him from the dead.” (Acts 13:32-34) Jesus predicted His own death and resurrection when He said to the religious leaders, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." (John 2:19) He was, of course, speaking of His own body/life, as the rest of the story confirms. The great illusionist Houdini promised he would rise from the dead, and we’re still waiting. Johnny Carson once quipped that he planned to have these familiar words on his tombstone: Don’t go away – we’ll be right back! No you won’t, Johnny! But Jesus was! Jesus predicted His own resurrection and, in a sense, obligated Himself to follow through. No one else has ever come back from the dead to live forever. And when Jesus did rise He validated His word, vindicated His ministry and was victorious over the last and greatest enemy—death! But he not only predicted His resurrection and fulfilled the prediction, He arranged to have eyewitnesses on hand to see him physically, interact with Him, eat with Him, touch His scarred body and, in fact, verify His resurrection. And that was a gift to us, wasn’t it? Sure it was! Because we have been given reason to believe. The rest of this teaching will be in support of that reasonable evidence. First, let’s consider what Paul says clearly in these verses before us about the witnesses to the resurrection. Witnesses to the Resurrection 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 –  "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After 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. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." The eyewitnesses Paul lists the individuals who literally saw Jesus bodily alive after His resurrection. The first one listed is Peter, the impetuous fisherman-turned-disciple. He was the first to see the empty tomb, and among the first to see the risen Christ. Of course the other apostles were there as well on a number of early occasions when Jesus came to be with them after he rose. Thomas, you’ll recall, was missing the first time. He was a skeptic like we are and refused to believe that the others had seen Christ risen. Then Jesus came again and appeased Thomas’ small faith demands. Apparently the apostles were able to assemble 500 disciples at once and while they were gathered, Jesus came and appeared to them, too, satisfying their doubts as well. Verse 7 mentions James. James was the half-brother of Jesus and was the staunchest skeptic of all. Jesus showed Himself alive to James and it made all the difference. James not only believed, but went on to become a vibrant witness and the leader of the Jerusalem church. Paul adds that all the apostles saw the resurrected Christ. And the last one on his list of eyewitnesses is Paul himself. His “abnormally born” comment seems to be related to the idea that he was just a little late to be among the original apostles of Jesus and he met the risen Lord later in his encounter with Him on the Road to Damascus, and somewhere in Arabia. These are the eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ. But not the only ones! This seems to be the “official list” for Paul, but there were others as well who saw Christ alive. How important is an eyewitness in a court of law? Anyone who’s ever watched a Perry Mason episode or an hour of Law & Order knows that the eyewitness is the most crucial part of a trial. An eyewitness who can prove he was at the scene at the time will trump even an alibi on the part of the accused.  The Other Eyewitnesses The other eyewitnesses are often overlooked when this text is being studied. Who are they? The two Mary’s. One of these Mary’s is the mother of James and Jesus. The other is Mary of Magdala, who actually has the honor of being the first person to whom Jesus revealed Himself post-resurrection.  Joanna is another of the women who saw Jesus early, according to Luke 24. As well, there were other women among the disciples who saw the risen Lord. Luke 24:11 tells us that when these women came and excitedly told the apostles about the empty tomb, they didn’t believe them, "because their words seemed to them like nonsense." Then let’s not forget the two men who met Jesus while they were walking on the road to Emmaus. Their story is immortalized not only in Luke chapter 24, but also in the famous painting. For whatever reasons Jesus was pleased to join up with these discouraged disciples who were leaving Jerusalem despondent over the death of Jesus. As soon as they realized who they were talking to, Jesus left them, and they hurried back to Jerusalem with the news. But there is still another group of unlikely eyewitnesses. We seldom think to include these guys in our lists, because they weren’t disciples. That would be the guards who stood watch over the tomb of Jesus. They had quite a night shift, didn’t they? The Pharisees remembered Jesus’ prediction that He would rise, so they petitioned Pilate for guards. He told them "Take a guard" [webmasters note: Matthew 27:65] (which really meant to take a small detachment of guards). Matthew 28:11-14 makes it clear there were a few of them. When the angel rolled the stone away from the mouth of the tomb, the Bible says they were "so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men." [webmasters note: Matthew 28:4] There is every reason to believe that they remained at their post during the encounter between Jesus and the women, because later they reported to the chief priests "everything that had happened." [webmasters note: Matthew 28:11] That’s when the chief priests and elders paid them to lie about what happened in order to quash the story of the resurrection. Of course, what did happen was that the whole story, including their bribe made its way around Jerusalem. So, not only was Jesus’ resurrection verified, but the reputation of the chief priest and elders got a mud bath. And don’t let anyone try to tell you that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross (“He just swooned and seemed to die, and the coolness of the tomb revived Him”) A woman wrote J. Vernon McGee: "Our preacher said that on Easter Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed him back to health. What do you think?" McGee replied, "Dear Sister, beat your preacher with a leather whip for thirty-nine heavy strokes. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours Run a spear through his heart. Embalm him. Put him in an airless tomb for three days. Then see what happens."  One of the most trusted New Testament scholars in modern history said this: “Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported that the resurrection of Christ.” The fact is, there is no historical even in any part of ancient history with more testimonial evidence than the resurrection of Christ. Another highly respected scholar, Henry Morris, put it this way: “The fact of His resurrection is the most important event of history and therefore, appropriately, is one of the most certain facts in all history.”  One of my favorite comments in defense of the resurrection is by Chucl Colson, the famous “hatchet man” of the Richard Nixon White House staff. When I am challenged on the resurrection, my answer is always that the disciples and 500 others gave eyewitness accounts of seeing Jesus risen from the tomb. But then I'm asked, "How do you know they were telling the truth? Maybe they were perpetrating a hoax." My answer to that comes from an unlikely source: Watergate.  Watergate involved a conspiracy perpetuated by the closest aides to the president of the United States—the most powerful men in America, who were intensely loyal to their president. But one of them, John Dean, turned state's evidence, that is, testified against Nixon, as he put it, "to save his own skin"—and he did so only two weeks after informing the president about what was really going on—two weeks! The cover-up, the lie, could only be held together for two weeks, and then everybody else jumped ship in order to save themselves. Now, the fact is that all those around the president were facing was embarrassment, maybe prison. Nobody's life was at stake.  But what about the disciples? Twelve powerless men, peasants really, were facing not just embarrassment or political disgrace, but beatings, stonings, execution. Every single one of the disciples insisted, to their dying breaths, that they had physically seen Jesus bodily raised from the dead. Don't you think that one of those apostles would have cracked before being beheaded or stoned? That one of them would have made a deal with the authorities? None did. Men will give their lives for something they believe to be true; they will never give their lives for something they know to be false.  The Watergate cover-up reveals the true nature of humanity. Even political zealots at the pinnacle of power will, in the crunch, save their own necks, even at the expense of the ones they profess to serve so loyally. But the apostles could not deny Jesus, because they had seen him face to face, and they knew he had risen from the dead.  No, you can take it from an expert in cover-ups—I've lived through Watergate—that nothing less than a resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying whispers that Jesus is alive and is Lord. Two thousand years later, nothing less than the power of the risen Christ could inspire Christians around the world to remain faithful—despite prison, torture, and death. Jesus is Lord: That's the thrilling message of Easter. It's a historic fact, one convincingly established by the evidence—and one you can bet your life upon. By God’s gracious arrangement, we who trust in Christ have been given a rich roster of eyewitness testimony to establish without doubt that Jesus was bodily raised from the dead. But there is another important area of evidence that is worth our consideration.  Effects of the Resurrection Another confirming testimony to the resurrection of Christ is what happened to and among His followers after they witnessed His resurrection. First, these people were radically changed by the resurrection. Radical Change in the Disciples In our studies of the gospels it is not hard to pick up on how slow to believe were the disciples. Frankly, they often just didn’t seem to get it! (We probably wouldn’t have either, but we have the benefit of hindsight.) But when we see them involved in the ministry of the gospel in the book of Acts, they are totally transformed! They moved way past their old state of fearful, cowering and unbelieving. And that is what they were. After the death of Jesus, these disciples are hiding away from the religious authorities, afraid for their lives. But, post-resurrection, and with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, they are brand new people. Cowardice is replaced by courage, backpedaling has turned to boldness, and the faithless ones have become faithful. Something happened to these men and women! They witnessed the living Christ! Add to that newfound confidence the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, and they are NEW! I want to suggest to you that, if Jesus had not really appeared to them in bodily form, proving Himself alive without any doubt, these ordinary fishermen, day laborers and tax collectors would have been back doing something safe. This was no apparition of a ghost-like Jesus, or simply some spiritual awakening. Listen, without the physical resurrection of Jesus, their world would have crumbled. But they saw Christ alive, and now every promise He ever made about life abundant and eternal was certain, and their lives were gladly given over to the Lord in the service of gospel ministry. These bumbling servants who ran away in fear when Jesus was arrested and tried, who couldn’t stay awake and pray with Him in His hour of need, who denied Him in the hour of testing—these same men and women have suddenly come of age; they are working miracles and ready to give their lives for Christ. What changed them from spiritual wimps into mighty witnesses? One thing: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus had told them on a number of occasions that he would suffer death and then rise again on the third day. Now that He has come through on these promises, His followers are encouraged and strengthened. “Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection.” (John R. W. Stott)  Another indicator of the tremendous change that had come over the disciples was the nature of their preaching after the resurrection. They were focused (no, obsessed) with the resurrection. It was the very heart of all they preached, it seems. In every sermon in the book of Acts the central message had to do with the resurrection of Jesus. It was like it was all they could talk about. Following the healing of the lame man and their arrest for preaching the resurrection, the apostles were told by the Sanhedrin not to preach in the name of Jesus any more. Here’s how our transformed disciples responded: "We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." [webmasters note: Acts 5:29-32] Just a few weeks before these guys were hiding from the Sanhedrin in fear of their lives. The resurrection gave them a new confidence, and tey were ready to put their lives on the line. The central theme of their preaching was the resurrection.  Acts 2:22-36; 3:11-15; 4:8-10; 10:39-43; 17:2-3;  Romans 1:1-4; 4:25; 10:9-10; 1 Peter 1:3 Another undeniable mark of these disciples post-resurrection is their willingness to die for the sake of the Lord and the preaching of His gospel. Legend and history tell their stories, how every one of the apostles died in service to the Lord as martyrs. Thousands of others died preaching the gospel at the hands of enraged Jews and Romans alike. Not to mention the millions of believers who’ve paid the ultimate price to witness for Christ through the rest of human history. In the last 3 decades of the twentieth century, more Christians died for their faith than in all the previous 19 centuries combined. Now, if you or I were out there preaching in first century Rome, and we were threatened with our lives, I know the first thing we’d be thinking: he was alive, wasn’t He? Oh, yeah, He was. I remember talking to Him, and eating meals with Him. I remember touching the wounds in His hands and side. He’s alive—and I know I’m safe in His keeping. “Are these men, who helped transform the moral structure of society, consummate liars or deluded madmen?” “These alternatives are harder to believe than the fact of the Resurrection, and there is no shred of evidence to support them.” Paul Little  There is simply no explanation for the massive, unparalleled growth of the Christian faith throughout the centuries. While skeptics and tyrants have tried to crush it, and Satan and his minions have done battle with it, the Church of the Lord Jesus started with 120, baptized thousands of millions and stands today two billion people strong.  How can anyone explain the millions of transformed lives through 2,000+ years of human history without a valid resurrection at its beginning? Alfred Hitchcock was a great story teller- master of horror and the surprise ending. He produced some great movies and hosted a weekly TV program. One chilling episode featured a wicked woman who had hurt people most of her life and she had finally killed a man.  This time she didn’t get away with it. She was brought to trial and found guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As they escorted her out of the courtroom in handcuffs she screamed at the judge, “Whatever prison you put me in I will escape from.” He waved her off and she walked out.  In the next scene you find her taking the notorious bus ride from freedom to prison. Just before she goes into the gate of the prison she looks out the window and sees an old man working from a wooden cart. He is covering a fresh gravesite with dirt. She thinks, “If I’m ever going to get out of these walls, I have to know someone who has a key to the gate. He has a key.” She begins to turn it over in her mind, and as time passes, she befriends the old graveyard caretaker who is a prisoner himself.  She finds that whenever someone in prison dies there is a bell that announces that someone else has died. The old man not only took care of preparing them for burial, he also built the caskets, placed the dead in them, put them on his old wooden wheeled cart and took them outside the gate and buried them.  She happened to find out that he suffered from cataracts and he had no money to pay for the surgery that would help him to see again. She said to him, “I have plenty of money on the outside. You help me out of this prison and I will make sure you get the money to help restore your eyesight.” He said, “I can’t do that.” She said, “No, no. Let me tell you the plan. When I hear the bell toll, I will come down to the room where you are putting the body and I will crawl in the casket and lay alongside the corpse.  Time passes, the bell tolls, she slips from her cot, makes her way down the dark hallway and down the steps to the room. She looks around the dimly lit room, sees the casket, opens the lid, climbs up and squeezes in beside the body, now cold from death and pulls the lid down tightly. And she begins to smile.  In a matter of hours she feels the rolling of the cart. She is on her way out the prison gate to the gravesite. She feels the casket tilt and drop into the hole. She hears the lumps of dirt begin to hit the casket and now she grins from ear to ear.  She knew that according to her plan the next morning the old man would come and dig up the casket, let her out and set her free.  Morning came, but the old man didn’t.  By afternoon she begins to break into a sweat and wonders, “Where is he?” By nightfall she fears the worst. Not knowing what else to do she strikes a match and notices the face of the corpse. It is the old man who was supposed to get her out of the grave.  She had calculated everything but the most important thing. If you’re going to get out of the grave, you’ve got to trust someone who is not going to die. Only Christ qualifies.   [Back to Top]