Empty Tomb 2

There is one more theory which attempts to explain the empty tomb: Jesus didn’t actually die, but only passed out and appeared to be dead. I actually watched a History Channel documentary a few years ago that proposed that Joseph of Arimathea, being a wealthy guy, was able to purchase a rare drug from the East which Jesus added to His wine at the Last Supper. This drug would have made Jesus appear dead, only to revive three days later after the effects wore off. In the meantime, Joseph also paid physicians to treat Jesus’ wounds so that by the time He came to on the third day, He would appear to have miraculously recovered. The work of the physicians went unnoticed because it was assumed they were making traditional burial preparations. I think in the end Jesus went on to found the Illuminati.

Well, this is the channel that broadcasts Ancient Aliens.

Most versions of the “swoon theory” are not as sensational as the History Channel version, but no less unbelievable. First of all, Jesus would have had to survive multiple beatings by the temple guard, Roman soldiers, and Herod’s soldiers followed by crucifixion and a spear thrust through His side. Next, Roman soldiers (the most highly trained killers in the ancient world) would have to be mistaken that Jesus had died. After that, Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by being wrapped in linen and applying about seventy-five pounds of spices (John 19:39). If Jesus did not die, He lay in the tomb for a couple of days without medical care of any kind. According to the swoon theory, mortally wounded Jesus was able to unwrap his burial linen, roll the stone in front of the tomb away, and either fight off the posted Roman guards or evade them, to get to the appointed meeting place with His disciples in Galilee. Even if Jesus had somehow pulled this off, the disciples would not have proclaimed His resurrection from the dead–they would have hired a physician to treat their mortally wounded rabbi!

How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,however improbable, must be the truth? – Sherlock Holmes

Although believing that Jesus bodily rose from the dead may be difficult, the alternative explanations are so riddled with contradictions that they are even more difficult to believe if we take the time to examine them.

Empty Tomb

In the previous post I mentioned that any explanation of the resurrection event would have to account for an empty tomb. Alternative explanations like hallucinations don’t add up when we consider that if the tomb were not empty as the biblical authors claimed, then the authorities would only have had to display Jesus’ corpse to refute the preaching of the apostles.

There are some alternatives theories that take the empty tomb seriously:

1. Jesus’ body would most likely have been thrown in a shallow common graves, where it was devoured by stray dogs.

This is a relatively new theory proposed by former Roman Catholic priest and member of the Jesus Seminar John Dominic Crossan. The problem with this theory is that it is nothing more than an educated hunch by Crossan based on what occurred in other historical accounts of crucifixion. There is no alternative historical account or tradition describing Jesus’ burial in a common grave or His body being eaten by dogs. It isn’t plausible that the Jews would have permitted shallow graves that were accessible to stray dogs, since they were so concerned with ceremonial cleanliness. We have four independent accounts in the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of Jesus being buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Since Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, who condemned Jesus to death, it is unlikely that the Gospel authors would have made this detail up.

2. Jesus’ disciples stole the body and then lied about encounters with the risen Jesus.

The is a very old theory. It’s origin is recorded in the New Testament!

Matthew 28:2-4, 11-15 ESV

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men…. While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

Although a skeptic might find it difficult to believe that an angel descended on Jesus’ tomb and rolled the stone away, the theory that the disciples stole the body is also unbelievable. A band made up mostly of former fishermen would have had to overcome a guard of Roman soldiers, the most highly trained military men of the time. We do not know exactly how many guards were posted at the tomb, but we know from Matthew 27:62-66 that Roman soldiers were obtained by the chief priests and Pharisees to prevent the disciples from stealing the body. At minimum, they most likely posted 11 guards, anticipating the 11 remaining apostles. It would not have been implausible to post two or three times the expected number of disciples. And, of course, there were other disciples of Jesus in addition to the apostles. In Acts 12:4, Herod posted a guard of four squads (a squad consisted of four soldiers) over just Peter, who was shackled in prison. Although we still cannot be certain about the number of Roman soldiers posted over the tomb, we can reasonably assume that they would have posted overwhelming force to discourage Jesus’ disciples from stealing His body.

Even assuming that Jesus’ disciples were able to overcome the highly trained Roman guard, they probably would not have maintained a lie about Jesus’ resurrection in the face of violent persecution and death. The alternative explanations don’t hold water. The best explanation for the empty tomb is that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.

Enthroned by Crucifixion

This is from the Youversion Bible app reading plan “Lent for Everyone” by N.T. Wright. I read it this morning in my devotions, and I thought I would share it on the blog.

The point he [Matthew, in chapter 12, verses 1-21 of his Gospel] is making, underneath it all, is that of a different kind of kingdom, an alternative model of kingship. John the Baptist had misunderstood what Jesus was up to, hoping that he might be the sort of leader who would mount a rescue operation and get him out of prison, and he had to be put right. James and John, later on in the story, were eager to have the best seats when Jesus became king, and they too needed to be put right (20.20—28). In the same way, Matthew is keen to point out here that Jesus is redefining what God’s kingdom looks like, and hence what being God’s Messiah might actually mean.

In fact, of course, what he says here is exactly in line with the Sermon on the Mount. The meek will inherit the earth, and Jesus is leading the way. God’s kingdom belongs to the humble, and Jesus is showing how it’s done. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who suffer, are persecuted, and even killed, because they are following God’s way . . . and Jesus will go ahead of them in that, too. Matthew, by quoting this passage here, is pointing forwards all the way to the climax of his gospel, when Jesus will be ‘enthroned’ as ‘king of the Jews’ by being nailed to the cross.

There is, to be sure, great comfort for us in all of this. If God’s kingdom came the same way that earthly kingdoms come, by force of arms and military victory, the weak and the vulnerable would once more come off worst. But God does things the other way up, and we should all be thankful for that. In particular, those of us who struggle from time to time in our faith and discipleship should take heart from Isaiah’s words, applied here to Jesus: he will not break a bruised reed, or quench a smouldering wick. His task, and his delight, is gently to fan into flames what was smouldering, gently to strengthen and firm up the weak, bruised faith, hope and love that we have at the moment. Let that be our prayer this Lent. – N.T. Wright

Posted from WordPress for Android

The Issue on Which Everything Hangs

If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead. – Timothy Keller

Believing Thomas

Easter is just around the corner, and we Believers need to be prepared to defend the truth that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead. Otherwise, what are we celebrating?

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. – 1 Corinthians 15:17, ESV

One of the strongest arguments for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the minimal facts argument, pioneered by Gary Habermas. Dr. Habermas gathered and reviewed over 1,400 scholarly works on the resurrection event written from 1975 to 2003. The authors of these works ranged from Fundamentalists to Liberals, but they all agreed on about a dozen historical facts that they considered to be accurate. For the sake of brevity, I will focus on the four facts typically used by William Lane Craig.

1. Jesus died at the hands of Roman soldiers on the cross and was buried.

2. Early on the Sunday morning following the crucifixion, a group of Jesus’ women followers found the tomb empty.

3. Individuals, and sometimes groups of people, believed they had encounters with a risen Jesus.

4. Jesus’ followers believed and proclaimed His resurrection from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary.

The evidence that Jesus died and was buried is solid. The burial itself is confirmed by multiple independent sources, such as 1 Corinthians 15 and the four Gospels. We are so used to thinking of the Bible as a single book that we forget that it is really a library of separate works written by different people, although all inspired by the same Spirit. Even though the Gospels differ on some details (which can be reconciled), if compared they do not differ until after the burial of Jesus.

The empty tomb is also confirmed by multiple independent sources. Most notably, the empty tomb was discovered by a group of women. At the time, a woman’s testimony was not taken seriously and according to the Jewish historian Josephus not even admissible in court. If early Christians had made the resurrection accounts up they would have had men discover the empty tomb first. Instead, they admit that women went to Jesus’ tomb while the men were hiding in fear from the authorities! An empty tomb is also very problematic for alternative explanations of what happened. Some skeptics try to claim that the appearances of the risen Jesus were only hallucinations, or that the women went to the wrong tomb that Sunday morning. If this was the case, the authorities would have refuted the claims that Jesus had risen from the dead by publicly displaying his rotting carcass.

The New Testament states that Jesus was seen by different individuals, and sometimes large groups, at various times and places. According to 1 Corinthians 15:6, “He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive,” at the time Paul wrote the letter. Once again, we cannot believe that this was a hallucination or a dream. There is no such thing as a group hallucination! Even if the early followers of Jesus were all on an acid trip and claimed to see Jesus under the influence, each account would have been radically different. Instead, we have multiple independent testimonies that confirm and compliment one another.

It is also compelling evidence for the resurrection that some of the people who saw him were previously hardened skeptics. During His earthly ministry, Jesus’ family thought he was crazy (Mark 3:21), but later He appeared to His brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7) who went on to become an apostle (Galatians 1:19) and a prominent leader in the church at Jerusalem (Acts 15, 21). Jesus appeared to Saul (also known as Paul) on the road to Damascus. He had just supervised the execution of Stephen and was on a mission from the High Priest to arrest Christians and bring them by force to Jerusalem. Before he encountered Jesus, Saul was, “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), but days after the encounter, “he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God'” (Acts 9:20).

The truth is that even Jesus’ closest followers were skeptics. When the women returned from the empty tomb and told the men what they had seen and heard, it only “seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11). When Jesus appeared to two of His followers in disguise on the road to Emmaus, He rebuked them for their unbelief and explained to them that the Messiah must suffer before entering into His glory. When Jesus appeared to the apostles in Galilee, even in His presence (this time not in disguise), some doubted (Matthew 28:17). Thomas famously said he would not believe unless he touched Jesus’ nail scarred hands, and felt the hole in His side. However, perhaps we ought to refer to him as “Believing Thomas,” instead of “Doubting Thomas,” because after Jesus appeared to him he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Jesus answered Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is often interpreted as Jesus telling Thomas he should have believed without evidence, but this is not the case. If Jesus or His followers were against evidence, John would not have concluded his gospel with these worlds:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. – John 20:30-31, ESV (emphasis mine)

Thomas had the eyewitness testimonial evidence of his fellow apostles and others who had seen the Lord. We also have their testimonies today in the New Testament.

The Creation Waits with Eager Longing

This year, Easter falls on April 5th, so I will be devoting the month of March to the Christian claim that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.

The literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a central Christian doctrine. A merely spiritual “resurrection” in which Jesus lives on in our hearts, or died and went to heaven but did not actually rise from the dead, is not an option for Christians. Neither is a symbolic “resurrection” which is just a myth or a legend meant to teach us some higher, but more believable, truth. As difficult as it might be to believe that a man who lay dead man for three days could be alive again, that is what Christians believe, and if it is not true then Christianity is a lie.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul testified to the resurrection of Jesus. He did not describe it as a symbolic or a myth, but as an historical truth based on eyewitness testimony.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. – 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, ESV

Contrary to the claims of skeptics who deride Christian claims as pre-scientific hullabaloo, the Greeks of Paul’s time knew that human beings did not come alive from the dead. They were just a suspicious of these sort of claims then as we are now. Paul addresses their unbelief head on.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.  Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death. – 1 Corinthians 15:12-26, ESV

Paul is tying together several key truths here, which are contingent on a literal, bodily resurrection. Of first importance is the gospel message: Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was alive again, forever, on the third day. Jesus was seen alive by over 500 people, including the apostles. The reason Paul argued so tenaciously for Jesus’ bodily resurrection is because the truth of the gospel depended on it. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. Apart from the resurrection of Jesus, there is no reason teach others to follow Jesus because there is no point in following the teachings of Jesus. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. If Jesus is not alive from the dead, then none of us are reconciled to God and there is no hope for deliverance from His just wrath.

There is another reason Paul promoted a literal bodily resurrection of Jesus. Paul was not simply preaching Christianity as an escape of Believers from a sin cursed Earth to a sublime Heaven when they died. The full gospel message is that Jesus is the firstfruits of a new creation. This part of the message has been largely forgotten by our churches today. Certainly, Christians believe that believers who are absent from the body are present with the Lord in heaven. But one day, the eternal Christian hope is that Jesus will return to Earth. You didn’t really think He would just leave this world to fester forever in bloodshed and disease while you blissfully strummed your harps in heaven, did you?

The dead will be resurrected and judged along with those who are alive at the time, and God will punish the wicked and grant the faithful eternal life. At that point, the heavens and the earth will pass away, and there will be a new heavens and a new earth without evil, or pain, or death. Jesus’ resurrection was evidence that Christians too would be raised from the dead to eternal life in an immaculate, incorruptible, and deathless new world.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved. – Romans 8:19-24a, ESV