Why I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

WHY I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST Spring Valley Mennonite; April 4, 2021; 1 Corinthians 15; John 19:39-40, 20:5-8; Matthew 27:62-66 Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest ethical teacher who ever lived. If you ask educated people, Christian or non-Christian, all over the world to list the most influential individuals who have ever lived, Jesus of Nazareth would always make their short list. His ethical teachings inspire people everywhere. So-is it really important to believe that He did all those miracles? Is it crucial to believe that Jesus came back to life after His crucifixion? Do we really need to believe in the Resurrection? I believe it was Josh McDowell who said, "I am convinced that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most far-fetched, ridiculous, deceptive, insidious, diabolical lie ever perpetuated upon the race of mankind, OR...it is the most fantastic event of all history!" This Easter morning, I want to explore with you why we can personally believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. My goal this morning is to present proof that believing in the Resurrection, rather than being based on "blind faith", is both logical and reasonable. But for a moment, let's return to the issue I first raised: I. IS BELIEVING IN THE RESURRECTION IMPORTANT? Another way to phrase that question is this: "Can a person really be a genuine follower of Jesus Christ and not believe that Jesus literally and physically rose from the dead? The Bible addresses that question squarely in the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul's great treatise on the Resurrection. I pass on three things we can glean from this chapter relating to our study: The first reason it is important to believe in the Resurrection is: 1. From verse 14: "and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, our faith also is vain." The Greek word for "vain" means empty, futile, useless, worthless and without purpose. Preaching and listening to preaching is a waste of time. Gathering here together is pointless, for there is nothing to talk about, no lasting value for us to be here. I wonder what pastors preach about if they don't believe in the Resurrection? "Here's a nice book I read which has some interesting stories in it?" "Here are some good principles of life taught by a man named Jesus who died a long time ago?" "Let's talk about a generic god that we can't know much about?" Such preaching would be a waste of time for both you and me! I'd rather be fishing! In fact, if Christ is not risen, let's all leave right now; I can find another job, we can lock up the building and give away the keys! We can have a big bonfire of all the Christian books in our libraries and we can all sleep- in next Sunday morning! If we trusting in a god who is dead, our faith is worthless! But Jesus is not dead! The second reason it is important to believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is found in: 2. Verses 16-17: "For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins." The Bible teaches that every one of us is a sinner. Sin is defined as "missing the mark." If we lined everyone in the world up right now in our parking lot (I know, we wouldn't all fit-we'll all take turns!) We're going to give everyone a baseball to throw into the Atlantic Ocean. Now there are some strong throwing arms out there, some professional baseball players, who could throw that baseball much further than others. But could anyone reach the Atlantic Ocean? Not a chance! Everyone would miss the mark. Everyone is a sinner and has missed the mark of perfect holiness; that is God's standard, the standard we must meet to escape our deserved punishment. The Bible says the wages, or the result of sin is death. But Jesus came as our Sin Bearer. He lived a life of perfect holiness, so He could be the spotless "Lamb of God", the perfect sacrifice. He paid for our sins by dying on the cross. But He also claimed repeatedly that He would rise from the grave three days later. In effect, He told His disciples that if He did not rise from the grave, they could forget everything He has ever said and go back to fishing! Is the Resurrection important? Unless Jesus rose from the grave we cannot have the forgiveness of our sin. BUT He did come back to life, and we can be born again to new life through our Savior, Jesus Christ. The third reason it is important to believe in the Resurrection is: 3. If Christ is not risen, all Christians are foolish and pathetic. Verse 19: "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." Why are we to be pitied? Because every sacrifice we have ever made, every dollar we have donated, every hour we have spent reading this book, every hour we have spent in church, every good deed done, every time we have stood up to ridicule and mocking, every change we have ever made in our lives based upon what the Bible said-if Christ is not raised, all has been worthless and that makes us pathetic. The world would be right and we are wrong! Have you ever played the game Jenko? It is a game where a tower is built of wooden blocks, and you play by pulling blocks out of the middle and place them on the top of the structure. Eventually someone pulls out the one piece that supports the structure and it collapses. That is like Christianity: the Resurrection is the supporting piece. Without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Christianity collapses. Is the Resurrection important? Without the Resurrection, there is nothing left to believe in. All we have is a dead martyr. But...Jesus is risen from the dead! We serve a Risen Savior! But how do we know that He literally was raised from the dead? How do we know there was an empty tomb? Allow me to tell you: II. WHY WE CAN BELIEVE JESUS WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD A word as we begin about how we prove something is true: there are two ways something can be proven. The first is by what we call the scientific method. Something can be proven by science if it is a repeatable event. For example, we can prove that paper will burn by bringing it into contact with a flame under controlled conditions. Every time I bring a burning match in contact with dry paper, it will ignite and burn. I can do it a million times and the same thing will happen. I have proven that paper burns by the scientific method. But what about something that is not repeatable, something that might or might not have happened in the past? This is the category into which the Resurrection falls. How do you prove something happened that cannot be repeated? We do it by what is called "legal proof". It is proven in the same way that we would conduct a legal trial: we present evidence and call witnesses, and then we draw conclusions based on the evidence. If we think about it, there are really very few things we can prove scientifically. Nothing in past history can be proven scientifically, for those events are non-repeatable. Look with me at six witnesses which present overwhelming evidence that Jesus rose from the grave. Exhibit One: (is) The Burial of Jesus. After Jesus was pronounced dead by the professional executioner, His body was taken from the cross by an unlikely pair of secret followers. Joseph of Arimathea teamed up with Nicodemus to claim the body from Pilate. I say unlikely, because both of these men were part of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Ruling Counsel that had condemned Jesus to death. Neither of these men went along with that decision, and were most likely absent from the trials were Jesus was condemned. Joseph was a wealthy man, and he owned a new tomb that had recently been cut into the rock. It was in the proximity of Golgotha. This was a solid rock tomb with a single entrance. The tombs were designed with several rock ledges inside where bodies were placed. There was a grooved depression in front of the door into which a large stone disk would settle. It took several men to roll the stone into this depression in front of the entrance. This was done after the body was placed in the tomb to seal the tomb. The stone had been rolled into place to seal the entrance. Turn to John 19: verses 38-40 (READ). Before the body of Jesus was placed in the tomb, it was prepared according to the burial custom of the Jews, as verse 40 stated. The process was to take long strips of linen cloth and wind it around the body with a moistened layer of sticky spices between the layers of wrappings. This spice-linen layering process would dry to form a hardened cocoon-like structure around the body. The arms were wrapped against the body. Remember Lazarus after Jesus raised him from the dead? Jesus told them to "unbind him and let him go." He was all wrapped up, just as Jesus' body was wrapped up. After Jesus had been raised-look at verse 5 of John 20 (Read vv. 5-8): The wrappings were still lying there, but they were empty. This was not a single piece of cloth, like a shroud, but a hardened cocoon of linen strips, slightly collapsed because the body was no longer inside. To remove any doubt that the body was missing the face wrapping was lying apart from the rest. If someone had stolen the body, they would have had to take wrappings and all; but the body of Jesus just left those wrappings behind! The only explanation of the empty wrappings left behind was that Jesus was raised from the dead. That is the first witness. EXHIBIT 2: THE PRECAUTIONS AT THE TOMB It is ironic that the very precautions taken to keep Jesus' body secure in the tomb just add to the case for the bodily Resurrection. Matthew records the precautions taken at the tomb. Turn to Matthew 27:62-66 (READ) Even though the disciples forgot about the promise of resurrection, Jesus' enemies remembered. They well knew the danger of any claim of resurrection, and took the strongest precaution they knew to guard against it. They went to Pilate and secured a Roman guard unit to watch the tomb. This traditionally would have consisted of as many as 12 Roman soldiers, trained to defend to the death what had been entrusted to them. These soldiers were under the punishment of death if they went to sleep while on watch. They were fully armed with the famous Roman pike, a six foot long spear; a large shield, a three foot long sword, a shorter double-edged sword, and a dagger in their belt. While they had little interest in the tomb they were guarding, they had the upmost respect to protect for the Roman seal that had been placed on the tomb. This seal was most likely a cord stretched between the face of the tomb and the stone disk. The cord was secured on each end by a wax seal into which had been pressed a signet ring, perhaps with the image of the Roman eagle. Such a seal carried the full weight of the authority of the Roman Empire. To break such a seal by an unauthorized person would be punishable by death. You just didn't mess with the Roman seal. It was this symbol of Roman authority that the soldiers were bound to defend with their lives. The tomb was securely guarded. But in spite of these precautions, the tomb is empty! These battle hardened soldiers all fell into a dead faint when the angel appeared on Easter morning to roll away the stone. By the way, the stone was not rolled away so Jesus could come out of the tomb; He was already gone! The stone was rolled away so we could look in and see He was gone! When the soldiers awoke to find the tomb empty, they realized they were in deep trouble. If their commander found out they had fallen asleep, they would forfeit their lives! That is why they went to the chief priests, explaining what had happened with the angel appearance and the earthquake. The Jewish leaders gave them a story to tell about the disciples coming in the middle of the night and stealing the body. Let's logically look at the claim that the body was stolen, for that is our: EXHIBIT 3: (what I call)THE PROOF OF HUMAN NATURE Who could have taken the body, if the story was true? We know that Jesus was crucified; His body placed in a new tomb, and a large stone sealed the tomb. The soldiers guarded the tomb which was sealed with an official Roman seal, to make sure no one would tamper with the body. So-IF the body was removed out of that tomb, one of two groups could have done so: either His friends or His enemies. His enemies had absolutely no reason to remove the body; they were the ones who had taken great pains to keep it there. That leaves His friends. Is it logical to think that His disciples, who in fear scattered and went into hiding would suddenly gain enough courage to attack the guards and steal a dead body? I don't think so! The disciples were more surprised than anyone when informed Jesus had risen-they were not expecting it! OUR EXHIBIT 4 IS: THE PROOF OF HUMAN NATURE The first law of life is self-preservation. When it comes to life or death, most humans will fight for life. But consider the disciples: here were men who were willing to give their lives because they had seen the Resurrected Lord. We find in Acts 4 the record of the Jewish leaders being very upset because Peter was "proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead". This was the same Peter who denied he even knew Jesus! But when Peter was arrested and brought before the very same people who sentenced Jesus to death, he boldly preached the resurrection to them! Men will not willingly die for what they know to be a lie, but all the disciples except John died martyrs' deaths. Multitudes of Christians since that day have willingly died because they believed Jesus rose from the dead. What had turned Peter from one who cowardly denied Jesus three times to a courageous Preacher of the Resurrection? He had seen the Risen Christ. Related to the boldness of the disciples is EXHIBIT 5: GRIEF OVERCOME When humans experience death, there is great sorrow for those left behind. We all have experienced this. Such grief can be devastating. It takes an undetermined amount of time to deal with the death of a loved one. When Jesus was crucified and laid in a tomb, the disciples were shocked and grief-stricken. Add to that grief the disappointment they felt at the death of a dream, the dream that Jesus was the expected Messiah. Yet, only days later, they were filled with Joy and excitement! Something happened to bring about this sudden change; their sorrow was turned to joy because Jesus was alive. I believe in the Resurrection because of the profound change in the disciples. The last proof I would give to you is: EXHIBIT 6: THE PROOF OF TIME A Christian professor was guest lecturer at a secular college. Afterwards, as he asked for questions, a young Jewish student asked, "What did Jesus Christ do that no one else ever did?" The professor replied, "Sir, you are a Jew. I take it that you know the early history of your people and that Titus and the other Roman Emperors crucified some 30,000 young Jews." The student agreed with the figure. The Christian professor continued, "I will name one of these Jews and you name one. I will name Jesus Christ. Now, young man, you name one of the other 30,000 whom they crucified." The young Jew admitted, "I don't know the name of another one." He couldn't call the name of one out of 30,000. Why? Because time has the ability to erase ordinary human names and events. Why do we remember the name of Jesus Christ and none of the other 29,999? Because Jesus was the only One who was raised from the dead! He has passed the proof of time. Christians have been gathering on Easter Sunday for over 2000 years to proclaim "HE IS RISEN!" The evidence is in. We have considered the witness of the empty tomb, the burial clothes, the precautions at the tomb, the proof of reason about who could have taken the body, the proof of human nature and how men don't willingly die for a lie, the proof of grief being overcome by joy and courage, and the proof of time. Along with you, I could add the proof of God's witness within my heart, for as I have given Him my life, He has come to live within. "You ask me how I know He lives; He lives within my heart. How about you? Jesus died and rose again just as He said. Since He did come back to life, it proves He is God's Son. He died to pay for your sins. Forgiveness of our sin is offered to us as a free gift; it is not earned nor deserved. We simply need to receive it. Jesus' disciple John put it this way, "He came unto His own people and His own people received Him not, But to as many as receive Him, to them He gives the right to become Children of God." Have you claimed the riches of eternal life? On that first Easter morning, the disciples saw and empty tomb-and believed. I challenge you this morning-the tomb is empty-the grave clothes lie abandoned . Jesus is alive and wants to have a relationship with you. Have you given Him your life? 7