Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 21, 2019
Special: Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ
Introduction
In accordance with the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead after His physical body was in the grave for three days (1 Cor. 15:4).
Jesus predicted several times that He would rise from the dead on the third day (Matt. 16:21; 17:9, 23; 20:19; 26:32; 27:63f. 28:6f; Mark 14:28; Luke 9:22; Mark 8:31; 9:9, 31; 10:34; Luke 18:33; 24:7, 46) and in fact our Lord declared that He was the resurrection (John 14:6).
The apostles confirmed that He had risen from the dead on the third day (Acts 1:22; 2:24, 32; 3:15).
Neither the Romans nor the Jews could produce the body of our Lord to disclaim what the apostles were proclaiming to the world and it was in the interests of these two groups to put an end to such talk by simply producing the body which they could not since He had in fact risen from the dead.
Not even a guard of Roman soldiers protecting the tomb could prevent the resurrection of Christ.
The tomb of our Lord was owned by Joseph of Arimathea who was rich and was sealed with large rock by the Romans at the request of the leaders of the Jews in order to prevent the theft of the body by the disciples (Matt. 27:62-66).
Even our Lord’s enemies remembered hearing Him distinctly say that He would rise from the dead on the third day.
Pilate’s own soldiers were sent to perform the task of protecting the tomb (Matt. 28:14).
These hardened Roman soldiers were terrified by the angel who rolled away the large rock which had sealed the tomb from entry on that Sunday morning of our Lord’s resurrection (Matt. 28:4).
In fact some of the guard went into the city of Jerusalem to report the resurrection of Christ (Matt. 28:11-15).
In Matthew’s day it was common knowledge in Jerusalem that these Roman soldiers had witnessed the angels rolling away the great rock which sealed the tomb and had accepted a bribe from the Jews to keep quiet about the resurrection (Matt. 28:15).
It was the guards that spread the lie that the body had been stolen.
The foundation of Christianity is built upon the resurrection of Christ since the integrity of our Lord is at issue and is attested by many witnesses that He did rise from the dead as He said He would (Acts 1:22; 4:2, 33; 17:18; 23:6; 1 Cor. 15:14).
William Lane Craig states: “Without belief in the resurrection the Christian faith could not have come into being. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. Even had they continued to remember Jesus as their beloved teacher, his crucifixion would have forever silenced any hopes of His being the Messiah. The cross would have remained the sad and shameful end of His career. The origin of Christianity therefore hinges on the belief of the early disciples that God raised Jesus from the dead.”
The resurrection of Christ is the greatest attested fact in all of human history and is mentioned by secular historians as well.
Tacitus writes, “Christus, from whom the name (Christians) had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular” (Annals XV, 44).
Josephus writes, “Now, there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works-a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day” (Antiquities Book 18, chapter 3).
Talmud states, “On the eve of Passover Yeshu was hanged. For forty days before the execution took place, a herald went forth and cried, ‘He is going forth to be stoned because he has practiced sorcery and enticed Israel to apostasy. Any one who can say anything in his favor let him come forward and plead on his behalf.’ But since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover.”
The Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Thomas Arnold, was for 14 years the famous headmaster of Rugby, author of the famous 3-volume History of Rome, appointed to the chair of modern history at Oxford, and one well acquainted with the value of evidence in determining historical facts, states the following: “The evidence for our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be, and often has been, shown to be satisfactory; it is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece, as carefully as every judge summing up on a most important cause. I have myself done it many times over, not persuade others but to satisfy myself. I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead” (The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict, page 217).
Former Chief Justice of England, Lord Darling states: “we, as Christians, are asked to take a very great deal on trust; the teachings, for example, and the miracles of Jesus. If we had to take all on trust, I, for one, should be skeptical. The crux of the problem of whether Jesus was, or was not, what He proclaimed Himself to be, must surely depend upon the truth or otherwise of the resurrection. On that greatest point we are not merely asked to have faith. In its favor as living truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true.”
The four gospels agree that Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb after His crucifixion and that on the third day it was empty.
Even our Lord’s enemies could not dispute that the tomb was empty.
Our Lord’s enemies could have simply disproved the resurrection of Christ and stop all the talk in Jerusalem concerning it if they could have simply produced the body, which they knew they could not.
They didn’t even attempt to arrest the apostles because they trusted in the veracity of the Roman soldiers who were under the command of Pilate himself.
The silence of the Jewish leaders is as significant as the boldness of speech by our Lord’s disciples.
The grave clothes were undisturbed in the tomb and is incontrovertible evidence that our Lord’s body was not stolen by grave robbers since they would not take the time to make sure everything was in proper order because of time constraints to commit such a crime.
Our Lord’s body was buried with myrrh, which glues linen to the body not less firmly than lead.
The gospels describe an orderly scene, not one of confusion that would have resulted had the grave clothes been torn from the body.
That something extraordinary had taken place is shown by the fact that John “saw and believed” (John 20:8).
Fifteen Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ
The Scriptures describe fifteen post-resurrection appearances by the resurrected Christ and there are a great variety of witnesses to the resurrection of Christ.
Both men and women were witnesses to the fact that He had risen and He appeared before large groups to individuals as well as small intimate gatherings of individuals.
The Lord Jesus appeared to one person (e.g. Peter 1 Cor. 15:5), to two on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-15), to the eleven (John 20:24-28), and on one occasion to more than five hundred (1 Cor. 15:6).
Especially important is Paul also known as Saul of Tarsus who was the greatest enemy of the early Church and he was an intelligent and well-educated man and one with a bias against the Christians.
But he is emphatic that he saw the risen Jesus, and this certainty altered the whole course of his subsequent life of suffering and persecutions.
Importantly Paul made the claim early, for his letters, the oldest available documents that record this claim, were written within twenty or thirty years of Jesus’ death.
Paul says that “most” of the five hundred to whom Jesus appeared were still alive (1 Cor. 15:6), thus they could be interrogated as to the veracity of such a claim.
The following is a chronology of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ: (1) Mary Magdalene (John 20:14-18; Mark 16:9). (2) The women returning from the tomb (Matt. 28:8-10). (3) Peter later on the day of the resurrection (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5). (4) The disciples going to Emmaus in the evening (Luke 24:13-31). (5) The apostles (except Thomas) (Luke 24:36-45; John 20:19-24). (6) The apostles a week later (Thomas present) (John 20:24-29). (7) In Galilee to the seven by the Lake of Tiberius (John 21:1-23). (8) In Galilee on a mountain to the apostles and five hundred believers (1 Cor. 15:6). (9) At Jerusalem and Bethany again to James (1 Cor. 15:7). (10) To the eleven disciples (Matt. 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-20; Luke 24:33-53; Acts 1:3-12). (11) At Olivet and the ascension (Acts 1:3-12). (12) To Paul near Damascus (Acts 9:3-6; 1 Cor. 15:8). (13) To Stephen outside Jerusalem (Acts 7:55). (14) To Paul in the temple (Acts 22:17-21; 23:11). (15) To John on the island of Patmos (Rev. 1:10-19).
There evidently were more appearances that the Scriptures do not record but which are implied by John at the end of his gospel since our Lord gave the disciples many infallible proofs that He had indeed risen from the dead (John 21:25).