The Reality of the Resurrection, pt. 2

Did Jesus exist? The answer for any thoughtful person is an overwhelming yes. You can argue about what kind of person He was. You can argue whether or not the New Testament accurately records His teachings. But there is no doubt as to whether Jesus existed.

There are roughly a dozen non-Christian works from ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman sources whose composite testimony teaches us that Jesus was a Jew living in the first third of the first century. They teach us that He was born out of wedlock; that His ministry intersected with that of a man named John who called on Jewish people to repent of their sins and show it by being baptized; that He had a brother by the name of James; that in His adult life, like other self-styled and formally commissioned Rabbis, He gathered disciples; five of them are named in these non-Christian sources; He regularly taught things that brought Him into conflict with the Jewish authorities; He used unconventional approaches to Scripture and Jewish law; This ultimately led to His arrest and crucifixion.

Tacitus the Roman historian explicitly says that he was crucified under Pontius Pilate who we know from other sources was the governor in Judea from 26 A.D. to 36 A.D. Despite this ignominious and cruel death His followers continued to believe that He was the Messiah, the Jewish liberator, because they had also seen Him raised from the dead.

Jewish historian Josephus testifies that He worked wondrous deeds which we refer to in our time as miracles. All of this can be known about the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth before ever touching or picking up a Bible.

The existence of Jesus is a matter of historical fact that someone would have to be dishonest to deny. The controversial part of our faith is that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead, is indeed the God that rules the universe, is indeed presently reigning in heaven above, and that He will return to execute judgment this earth.

Why is the resurrection such a big deal? Why is it so controversial. Well, it’s because the implications of the resurrection are too significant to be evaded or ignored. Every honest mind will admit that the resurrection is either a historical fact that must be responded to in either belief or unbelief, or the resurrection is a matter of religious mythology, a fairy tail that is tacked on to the Christian faith just to add a happy ending to the story.

What are the implications of the resurrection?

If Jesus rose again from the dead, then He has the power of life, therefore He is the Creator God.

If Jesus has the power of life, then He has the right to grant life to whom He chooses, therefore He is the Judge of the Universe to whom all intelligent creatures are accountable.

If Jesus is the Judge of the Universe, then Jesus as the leader of the Christian faith stands separate from and above all other recognized leaders in world religions. Therefore, Christianity is exclusive, unique, and distinct from every other religion.

If Christianity exclusively recognizes Jesus as the Creator God and the Universal Judge, then Christianity alone stands as a valid religion, a valid way of approaching God. Therefore, Christians have the moral responsibility of sharing the truth about Jesus, the Creator God and Universal Judge with others at the cost of life or death. Those who do not respond to Jesus in faith will not be granted the gift of eternal life. Those Christians who do not share their faith and give others the opportunity to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ will be judged as selfish, unloving, even hateful and will themselves forfeit the gift of eternal life.

If the resurrection of Jesus is a mater of historical fact, then all these things are true. That’s why we want to establish the absolute truth of the resurrection of Jesus as a historical fact in this sermon.

I desire to leave no intellectual wiggle room in this message. By the end of this sermon you will either have to acknowledge that Jesus has been raised, that He is the Creator and Judge worthy of your complete faith and obedience, and that if you claim to love Him you must prioritize your duty to share Him with others so that they can be blessed with you. Or, you will have to be content to brave the consequences of rejecting Jesus as Lord of the universe and Lord of your life.

So, let’s examine seven arguments that are commonly put forth against the resurrection to see if they pass the test of history and logic.

Jesus wasn’t really dead, He was just in a coma.

Roman executioners would not have allowed this to happen. The penalty for an executioner not insuring the death of the executed would have been death itself.

Historically, four executioners were assigned to each execution. Would four Roman soldiers be so negligent with their own life to not insure Jesus’ death?

Furthermore, Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus had died so quickly. He sent a soldier to check to see if He was really dead: “Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.” (, NKJV)

John was an eyewitness of the crucifixion. He records that a soldier pierced Jesus’ side when He breathed His final breath to see if He was really dead. If He was alive, blood would have come out mixed with water. If he was dead, blood and water would have come out separately. This is what John said He saw: “But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” (, NKJV)

“But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” (, NKJV)

The disciples stole the body in order to fake the resurrection.

How would the disciples have gotten past the Roman guard?

Why would the disciples fake a resurrection create a lie that would ultimately lead to their suffering, insult, and death?

Each of the eleven original disciples were killed on separate occasions. How likely is it that they would have each maintained the same false story under individual suffering and threat of death?

This was actually the original lie that the leading Jewish priests cooked up to deny the resurrection. The absurdity of the claim is that no Roman Soldier would have been willingly to publicly report that he failed to guard the tomb of Jesus and let the disciples take the body: “Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.” (, NKJV)

The Romans stole the body in order to prevent a resurrection.

We have no reason to believe that the Romans believed that any such thing as a resurrection was possible and would have taken any actions to prevent one.

Also, the Romans did not like the political and social unrest caused by this new religion called “The Way” and later “Christianity” whose main teaching was that Jesus rose from the dead. If the Romans could have put a stop to this strange, new religion by producing the body of Jesus, why wouldn’t they?

The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus were hallucinations.

Hallucinations are experienced individually. There are absolutely too many witnesses that say they saw Jesus alive after His crucifixion to support this theory.

Also, the gospels record Jesus as appearing to different people at different times in different places. Therefore, proposition that the post resurrection appearances the result of “group-think” or “group psychology” are hard to support.

It wasn’t Jesus but another who was crucified.

Remember, there are non-Christian historical sources that testify that it was indeed the One who was called Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

Jesus’ Mother, Aunt, and Mary Magdalene a close friend are recorded as being present at His crucifixion: “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!”” (, NKJV)

Also, when did the switchover take place? Judas identified Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Mob arrested Jesus. When did the impostor come to take his place? Pilate displayed Jesus publicly before a crowd of Jews. Wouldn’t somebody have recognized that they were looking at an impostor? Furthermore, when was the impostor’s body removed from the tomb? Who removed the body from the tomb? Who allowed the body to be removed from the tomb?

Grave robbers stole the body.

Grave robbers typically don’t steal bodies. If anyone robbed Jesus’ grave they would have been primarily interested in the cloths that were saturated with expensive oils and spices. Luke records that these were still in the tomb when Peter came to see it: “But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.” (, NKJV)

Also, if a grave robber did steal Jesus’ body, they could have demanded a high reward for later being able to produce the body and put an end to the Christian religion in its early days.

Also, the grave robbers would have had to get through a Roman guard. Not an easy task: “On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.” (, NKJV)

Without the motive of stealing the grave cloths or later producing the body and disproving the resurrection, no grave robbers had a reason to rob Jesus’ grave.

The women who claimed that Jesus’ body was missing simply went to the wrong tomb.

The ladies who came to the tomb on Sunday morning saw where Jesus was laid on Friday evening: “So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.” (, NKJV)

Many people were interested in seeing whether or not Jesus was still dead. Peter came to see the tomb because he didn’t believe Mary Magdalene’s report (). Also, many high profile people would have been interested in disproving the resurrection and would have wasted no time in going to the correct tomb to show that Jesus’ body was still there.

For 2,000 years the truth of the resurrection of Jesus has not been falsified. I believe that this is because cannot be falsified. If someone could have proven that Jesus’ resurrection was a myth, they would have done so by now. Simply stated, if someone could have produced the body of Jesus and proven the resurrection to be a falsehood, why didn’t they?

So, why don’t more people believe in Jesus? Because people don’t necessarily reject the truth of the resurrection, they ignore it. They’d rather not wrestle with the implications for their personal life if these things are true. They’d rather not consider what kind of radical change must come into their life and worldview if Jesus is indeed the Creator God and Universal Judge. They’d rather not consider what ill fortune they must be bringing upon themselves by not yielding their supreme loyalty to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. They don’t have the courage to face the facts and make a decision, so they’d rather just focus their attention on other things.

However, the irony is that in avoiding the responsibility that comes with acknowledging the resurrection of Jesus as historical truth, they forfeit the immeasurable blessings that come with receiving Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.

If Jesus indeed rose from the dead, then He has the power to save your soul today. He has the power to deliver you from the forces of sin and death. No one can claim to have absolute certainty as to the time of their death or what will happen after he dies. Why not trust in the One who has historically demonstrated that He has power over death?

Furthermore, no one can honestly claim to be free from the curse of sin. Whether or not you have had any religious instruction, no one can claim to have been perfectly loyal to their conscience throughout the entirety of their life. Can anyone say that they’ve never lied, stolen, or betrayed another’s trust? What is the voice of our conscience is actually a reflection of the universal law of the Universal Judge? Wouldn’t you wan’t to have the certainty that your life was in His hands? Wouldn’t you want to ask Him to forgive your sins against His law, cleanse you, and enable you to live as a person of integrity? What if God historically demonstrated that He was able and willing to do just this? Would you give your life to Him?

Also, I appeal to the Christian. Because Jesus’ resurrection is a matter of historical fact, will you be courageous in sharing the truth about Him with others? Will you be afraid to proclaim that Jesus and His religion is indeed the only path to eternal life? Will you effectively commit the murder of thousands because you fear to tell others that the Jesus you worship makes demands on the life of every individual that He created and died to save? Will you let the emotion of fear win out over the principle of love in you life? In His resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that he indeed is still alive, that He ascended to heaven to pour out the gift of His Spirit on you to make you a living witness for Him (; ). Will you prioritize the work of saving souls from certain destruction because you know for a fact that Jesus is indeed the only way to salvation, to heaven, and to God?

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”” (, NKJV)