The Reality of the
Resurrection
By Dr. Hal Harless
Foundation Fellowship of Greenville
Easter, April 8, 2007
I. Introduction
A. The Lost Tomb of Jesus?
Canadian filmmaker, Simcha Jacobovici (Ya-kōbō-wiki), claims to have found the lost tomb of Jesus! The Discovery Channel recently aired a special on this alleged find. The "find" actually distills down to finding a tomb in Jerusalem with 10 ossuaries, one of which is inscribed "Jesus, son of Joseph." Since no bones were with the ossuary, we have no evidence that this "Jesus" had been crucified or how old he was. Jesus and Joseph are very common names in 1st century Judaism. Thus, Jacobovici's theory is pure conjecture.
The documentary was an exercise in sensationalism that was full of exaggeration, falsehood, tenuous logic, and ignoring of contrary evidence. Amos Kloner, the Israeli archaeologist that excavated the tomb originally, disagrees totally with Jacobovici's conclusions calling them "impossible." Several of the experts appearing in the film are angry about being quoted out of context. Dr. Darrell Bock remarks, "Movies are about stories that look real but are not. This special matches up with that depiction of reality. Compelling TV and dramatic, but in the end, complete historical fiction. Hopefully our times have not slid to the point where we can no longer tell the difference between Jerusalem and Hollywood."
B. Read Matt 27:5728:20.
II. The Resurrection is the greatest FEAT of history.
A. The Resurrection is a Fact of history.
1. Jesus predicted His resurrection.
2. The Bible records it.
3. The Apostle Paul taught that it was foundational, "if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" (1 Cor 15:17 NASB).
4. All of the Early Church Fathers (Ignatius, Clement, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Tertullian) witness to a belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Some of these men actually studied under the apostles.
5. Even the Jewish historian, Falvius Josephus, reports that Christians believed in the resurrection of Jesus.
6. As N. T. Wright says, "The idea that faith must never have anything to do with history, so popular in certain circles for many years, is long overdue a decent burial."
B. The Empty tomb
1. Before the Resurrection
a. Jesus was, without a doubt, dead.
1) Jesus had been whipped severely.
a) The Roman flagrum had several lashes with pieces of bone and metal embedded in them.
b) The Jews limited whippings to 39 lashes, but Roman lictors had no such limitation.
2) Jesus had to carry at least the crossbeam of the Cross to Calvary.
3) Crucifixion
4) The Roman soldier thrust a spear through Jesus' heart.
a) John relates that blood and water came out.
b) This indicates asphyxiation and a burst heart.
5) The Roman centurion who presided over the execution pronounced Jesus dead.
b. Jesus was buried.
1) Cave carved from solid rock
2) One ton stone rolled across the door
3) Wrapped in linen and 100 lb. of spices
4) The tomb was guarded and sealed.
a) Requested by the Jewish authorities because Jesus had predicted His death and resurrection.
b) The fact that the guard was in danger from Pilate and had to be authorized by him (Matt 28:14) indicates that it was a Roman guard and not the Temple police.
i) The Greek koustodia < Latin custodia is a military technical term for a 4-soldier guard.
ii) One was always on watch.
iii) Falling asleep on watch was punishable by death.
iv) The governor sealed the tomb to guard against tampering (Matt 27:66).
c) The disciples had run away (Mark 14:50) and were cowering in fear behind locked doors.
2. After the Resurrection
a. Empty TombEven early Church's critics could not deny (Matt 28:1115).
b. No guards (Matt 28:24, 1115)
c. A flimsy story! How did they know what happened if they were asleep?
3. False explanations for the empty tomb fall into two categories:
a. The tomb was not empty
1) "The tomb was unknown."
a) Contradicts the gospels that a known tomb was empty.
b) Contradicts the early Jewish claim that the disciples stole the body from a known tomb.
c) Exhumation and production of the body would have ended early Christianity.
d) All four gospels identify the tomb as Joseph of Arimathea's, a well-known figure.
2) "It was too dark to see; they went to the wrong tomb."
a) Same problems as above plus
b) If it was too dark to see which tomb was the correct tomb, it was too dark for a gardener to be working (John 20:15). But Mary Magdalene initially mistook Jesus for the gardener.
c) The women would not have set out before sunrise because of the Sabbath.
d) Those opposed to early Christianity would have certainly corrected the misunderstanding.
3) "It is all legendary."
a) There is not enough time between the events and the gospels for the development of legends.
b) We have eyewitness accounts, not hearsay.
c) The resurrection did not fit either Jewish or pagan expectations.
i) Jews expected a resurrection, but only at the end of time.
ii) Pagans thought the idea of resurrection to be foolish. Death was seen as freeing the spirit from the prison of the body. The reaction of the Greeks in Athens to Paul's preaching is an example of this attitude.
iii) Pagan myths had gods coming to life and dying in synch with the seasons. Jesus rose only once, not yearly.
4) "It was a hallucination or a spiritual resurrection." (Jacobovici's position)
a) The Gospels are clear that the disciples did not expect the Resurrection (Luke 24).
b) The appearances were physical not mystical visions (read John 20:1931).
c) Eyewitnesses as John writes (read 1 John 1:13).
b. The tomb was empty
1) "The disciples stole the body."
a) Earliest explanation (Matt 28:1115)
b) We still hear it today, e.g., The Passover Plot.
c) This explanation admits to the empty tomb.
d) The Roman guard is a problem.
i) The guards have to admit to being asleep, which could cost them their lives.
ii) How did they know who stole the body, if they were asleep?
iii) How did they know what had happened, if they were asleep? Maybe they slept through the Resurrection!
e) Habeas corpus?
i) The disciples would not have stolen the body.
(a) The disciples lacked the courage to face a Roman guard and had all ran away.
(b) They did not expect the Resurrection (Luke 24) so they would not be trying to make it happen.
(c) They would have had to die for what they knew to be a lie.
ii) The Jewish leaders would not have moved the body.
(a) They asked Pontius Pilate for the guard.
(b) They could have produced the body at Pentecost and killed the early Church.
iii) The Romans would not have moved the body.
(a) For all of the same reasons as the Jewish leaders
(b) They would not want to cause civil unrest.
2) "Jesus swooned or fainted on the Cross and revived in the tomb." Josh McDowell calls this the swoooooooooooooooooon theory.
a) Roman executioners knew a dead man when they saw one.
b) The tomb was sealed and Jesus was wrapped in linen and 100 lb. of spices. He would have suffocated.
c) Three days without food or water would have killed Him.
d) He would have bled to death from the spear wound.
e) How could Jesus, after all this, crawl to the door still bound in grave clothes, shove aside the 1 ton stone in His weakened state, fight four Roman soldiers, and appear to the disciples as the victorious risen Lord of Life?
f) Here is a letter written to a local advice column
along with the response:
Dear Eutychus:
Our preacher said,
on Easter that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed
Him back to health. What do you think?
Sincerely,
Bewildered
Dear Bewildered:
Beat your preacher
with a cat-of-nine-tails with 39 heavy strokes, nail him to a cross; hang him
in the sun for 6 hours; run a spear through his heart; embalm him; put him in
an airless tomb for 36 hours and see what happens.
C. Post-resurrection Appearances
1. Read 1 Cor 15:119.
2. Eyewitnesses
a. Mary Magdalene (John 20:14; Mark 16:9)
b. Women at Tomb (Matt 28:9, 10)
c. Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor 15:5)
d. Disciples on road to Emmaus (Luke 24:1333)
e. Apostles without Thomas (Luke 24:3643; John 20:1924)
f. Apostles with Thomas (John 20:2629)
g. Seven in Galilee (John 21:123)
h. 500 plus believers in Galilee (1 Cor 15:6)
i. James (1 Cor 15:7)
j. Those present at the Ascension (Acts 1:312)
k. Paul on way to Damascus (Acts 9:36; 1 Cor 15:8)
3. Conclusion
C. S. Lewis writes, "The first fact in history of Christendom is a number of people who say they have seen the Resurrection. If they had died without making anyone else believe this 'gospel' no gospels would ever have been written."[1]
D. Transformed lives
1. The disciples went from cowering in fear to turning the world upside down.
2. Those present on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). One could have walked to the tomb and back while Peter was giving his sermon.
3. Paul went from being a persecutor of the Church to being an apostle.
4. The existence of the entire Church is based upon the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
5. Lew Wallace, author of Ben Hur
6. Frank Morrison, author of Who Moved the Stone? and the book that refused to be written
7. Me!
E. Conclusion
1. The Resurrection is the greatest FEAT in history!
2. John Singleton Copley, one of the great legal minds in British history and three times High Chancellor of England, wrote, "I know pretty well what evidence is, and I tell you, such evidence as that for the resurrection has never broken down yet."
III. So what? The Resurrection
A. Vindicates the claims of Christ
1. The Resurrection proves that Jesus is not just another failed Jewish Messiah.
2. The Resurrection proves Jesus claims to be God.
3. We Christians do not serve a dead martyr; we serve a living Lord!
4. Billy Graham relates:
In my book World Aflame, I told the story about Auguste Comte, the French philosopher, and Thomas Caryle, the Scottish essayist. Comte said he was going to start a new religion that would supplant the religion of Christ. It was to have no mysteries and was to be as plain as the multiplication table; its name was to be positivism. "Very good, Mr. Comte," Carlyle replied, "very good. All you will need to do will be to speak as never a man spake, and live as never a man lived, and be crucified, and rise again the third day, and get the world to believe that you are still alive. Then your religion will have a chance to get on."
B. Source of power to live the Christian life
1. Read Rom 6:111
2. The very power that raised Christ from the dead is available to us today to live the Christian life.
C. Guarantee of eternal life to all who trust in Jesus Christ
1. Paul writes, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep [have died]. For since by a man [Adam] came death, by a man [Jesus] also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Cor 15:2022 NASB).
2. Jesus Christ took the punishment for all of our sins on the Cross.
a. Paul writes that "He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor 5: NASB).
b. Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus' birth, "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him" (Isa 53:6 NASB).
3. We can be saved by simple trust alone in Jesus' death for our sins.
a. Being good enough cannot save us. Paul writes, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph 2:89 NASB).
b. Trusting in Jesus alone will save us and give us a forever relationship with our living Lord. Paul writes, "However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Rom 4:5 NIV).
IV. Come forward P&W team
V. Prayer
VI. Communion
VII. Benediction