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The Evidence of the Resurrection
By David A. DePra
Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors
were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. (John 20:19)
Imagine a group
of confused, exhausted, and fearful men and women, huddled together in a locked
room, afraid for their lives. With each
sound they hear, their hearts leap. With
each voice they hear outside, they fear it may be the authorities coming for
them. Only three days before, Jesus had
been arrested, tried, beaten, and crucified. And
everyone knew they had been with Him. Would
they be next?
How had things
come to this? The disciples had left
everything to follow Jesus. For three and one-half years they had seen Jesus do
miracles, heal the sick, cast out demons, and raise the dead.
They had heard teaching that had never
been given before. God had become REAL to them.
In fact, they, themselves, had gone out, two by two, and done miracles
in Jesus name. Above all else, they had
been eye-witnesses to a perfectly sinless man.
As John
writes:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of
life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and
show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested
unto us" (1 John 1:1-2)
But now Jesus
had been crucified. The unthinkable, the impossible had happened. How?
They
had been certain, and had confessed, that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the
Son of the living God. The fact that He was now dead cast a doubt on whether
anything they believed about Jesus was true. A
dead Messiah? No such thing had ever
been considered in Israel.
Notice the
two-fold problem: Their lives were
in danger. But worse, their faith
had been shattered. Where were they
to go from here?
Well, it was
late in the day that first Sunday following the crucifixion. Three days had
passed since the disciples’ world had come crashing down. They rehearsed the
events of the last week, trying to make sense of them. But they could not.
All they could do is be afraid.
Earlier that day
the confusion of these disciples only seemed to become more compounded. The tomb
of Jesus had been found empty. Mary Magdalene had found the stone rolled away
and the tomb empty. Even Peter and John had seen that Jesus’ body was gone. (see
John 20:1-10) Who would steal his body?
And why?
Even more
amazingly, some of the women had claimed to have seen Jesus alive.
John
writes,
It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women
that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles." But the
disciples did not believe. John continues, "And their words seemed to them as
idle tales, and they believed them not. (Luke 24:10-12)
Alive?
That was impossible! These
disciples had no frame of reference, or expectation, for a resurrected Messiah –
for Jesus being raised. Vaguely they
could remember Jesus saying some things about being raised up – but they really
didn’t understand what He meant by those words.
He really didn’t mean that He would die and be raised, did He?
Indeed, they were so unprepared for the possibility that Jesus might be
raised from the dead, that they did not even consider it upon seeing an empty
tomb. They did not believe it even
when some of the women claimed that they had seen Him alive.
So we find these
disciples hiding that Sunday night -- in fear for their lives.
Their faith dashed to pieces and
wondering if they would ever be able to return to normal lives again?
Again – where were they supposed to go from there?
A Big Change
In just a few
moments everything was going to begin to change. Something would change these
disciples from being confused, fearful, and in hiding, to those who were clear,
bold, and willing to openly proclaim a risen Christ. What changed them?
One thing is for
sure: The danger to them had not changed. They were right to be afraid for their
lives. Their Master and teacher, Jesus Christ, was executed for what He taught.
And the probability existed that they also would be arrested for teaching His
message. So what changed these disciples?
There is only
one possible answer: They saw the risen Christ. Indeed, John writes:
Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And
when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the
disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be
unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said
this, he breathed on them, and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." (John
20:19-22)
This would
be the first of many appearances by Jesus after His resurrection. Paul would
write:
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but
some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the
apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due
time. (1 Cor. 15:3-8)
These
appearances of Christ changed the disciples.
There was yet an even greater change to come, but at this point, seeing
Him alive was enough. Once they saw that
Jesus was alive, they were no longer afraid. They were no longer confused.
Now things started to make sense.
Peter perhaps
stands as the one representing the greatest change.
Remember that he had been identified as being a disciple of Jesus the
night Jesus was betrayed. He had
denied Jesus three times in fear for his life.
But in only 50 days from that Sunday night when he was in hiding with the
rest of the disciples, the day of Pentecost would, "fully come." (Acts 2:1)
It was Peter who boldly preached the
very first sermon under the New Covenant; the very first sermon by a born again
believer. On that day, he boldly
stood up and proclaimed to the crowds:
You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God
among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
of you, as you yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death:
because it was not possible that he should be held by it….Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you
have crucified, both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:22-24, 36)
What changed
Peter? Again -- only one thing could
have changed him. He had seen the
resurrected Christ. Nothing else can explain his willingness to risk his life to
preach that Jesus had been raised from the dead – nothing else can explain his
boldness before many of the same people who had actually been responsible for
crucifying Christ. Nothing else can explain why any of the disciples would take
such a risk – and keep taking it for the rest of their lives.
Fearing For
Good Reason
The disciples’
fear, of course, that they would suffer death for being followers of Christ, was
not without foundation. Their fears were confirmed right from the start.
Every one of the apostles was arrested
at some point, either as a group, or separately, within weeks of that day of
Pentecost. They suffered persecution, at great personal cost, from that point
forward. Every one of them wound up dying for their faith and their message --
except perhaps John. But even John
suffered much persecution and even years of imprisonment.
Peter would be
crucified at Rome in 67 A.D.. Thomas, who was the last of the apostles to
believe Jesus had been raised, was lanced to death in India for his faith and
message. Philip was executed in Turkey in about 90 A.D.. Andrew was crucified in
Greece about 69 A.D.. James, the lesser, was stoned to death in Jerusalem.
Bartholomew was whipped to death. Simeon was another one of the apostles who was
crucified, in N. Africa, about 61 A.D.. Jude was put to death in Persia in 65
A.D.. Matthew was martyred in Egypt. James, the brother of John, was one of the
first to be killed, in Jerusalem, about 44 A.D.. Luke, the author of the gospel
and Acts, was hanged by priests. Mark, who wrote a gospel, was dragged through
the streets of Alexandria. Steven was stoned to death within weeks of Pentecost.
And of course, Paul, who was not yet converted to Christ, would be beheaded for
his faith.
The disciples
were in hiding after the crucifixion.
But after they saw Jesus alive they were out opening proclaiming Him.
They had been eyewitnesses to the most important event in the history of
the world: The Resurrection of the Son of God. And
Jesus was sending them out to tell people about it.
Theories
Most Christian
people are probably unaware that there are 39 known references to Jesus Christ
by non-Christian writers – outside of the Bible -- contemporary to NT times, or
close to it. It is also a fact that
in this day and age that even the most agnostic scholar does not deny the
existence of Jesus Christ. That was
not the case 50 years ago, but it is the case today – not even the biggest
critics of Christianity, who are scholars, deny that Jesus Christ actually
lived. Neither does anyone deny the
Jesus Christ was crucified. That
may surprise some people, but it is a fact – the skeptics and agnostics know
that the existence and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ are historical facts.
And finally, neither does anyone deny that the disciples of Jesus Christ
believed that He was raised from the dead, indeed, no one denies that they
claimed to see Him alive. Again –
these are recorded and verifiable historical facts.
No one with any credibility disputes them.
What is disputed
by the skeptics is that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead.
Therefore, it must be explained as to WHY the disciples believed that He
was raised. Did they simply INVENT
the story? In other words, were
they, as a group, LYING? Or did
they imagine that they saw Him alive – a mass hallucination?
Or – did they actually see the Risen
Christ? Really, those are the only
three options: They were liars,
lunatics, or they were telling the TRUTH.
First of all,
the suggestion that the disciples were lying – that they had conspired to invent
the story of Jesus’ resurrection.
This does not add up at all. Once
the disciples claimed to have seen Jesus alive, they did not stay together – and
try to start a movement. They didn’t try
to start a church. There was no
scheme to make money or gain a following.
No. They were in just as
much in danger after they starting preaching as before – in fact, in MORE
danger. If they had invented this
story of a resurrection, once they began to be arrested, beaten, and persecuted,
they would have given up the lie.
We have to
remember that we are talking about a much different world back then than we have
today. Today there are countries
where you can be executed for preaching Christ, but in those days, it was pretty
much everywhere. This certainly was
the case if you preached Jesus Christ Risen in Israel.
After all, Jesus Himself had been crucified.
The point being that the disciples had absolutely NOTHING to gain and
EVERYTHING to lose by preaching that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead.
It is absurd to imagine that they fabricated this big lie and then went
around preaching it under those circumstances.
In addition, the
apostles eventually went in different directions to distant lands to preach
Christ. In these distant countries
they were separated from each other – and again, they had NOTHING to gain and
EVERYTHING to lose in doing so.
People who conspire to invent a lie don’t do that.
They don’t conspire to invent a story and then break up and never see
each other again. The whole point
of a conspiracy is to stay together for GAIN.
These apostles
died when separated from the others by many miles.
They were not executed as a group. They were not hiding and then one
night hauled off to their death. They
died for what they believed – most of them thirty to forty years after the
resurrection. No one would invent a
resurrection story and stick to it at the cost of thirty or forty years of
persecution and then death. If they thought inventing such a story was going to
be gain to them, by thirty or forty years later they would have learned
otherwise.
Not only that,
but why invent a risen Christ? Get that.
If you are going to lie about Jesus Christ in order to perhaps start a
movement around His name, why not just make a martyr out of Jesus?
Why not just say He was a great man and
died for the Truth? Adding a
resurrection to the story you are fabricating adds something that is impossible
to prove? They could prove He lived
and that He died. Why complicate
things? Plenty of religions are built on
martyrs. Why not this one?
The apostles
spent the rest of their lives preaching that Christ was raised from the dead,
and almost all of them died for it.
Of course, the fact that they were willing to die for what they believed does
not prove that WHAT they believed was true.
Lots of people have died for what they believe throughout history – and
in many cases they were deceived.
They died for a LIE.
But this was
different. Why?
Well, first of
all, the preaching of Christ Risen STARTED with the apostles.
They were not handed a resurrection story.
They did not buy into someone else’s account of Jesus rising from the
dead, and then die for believing it.
No. They said they SAW the risen Christ.
In other words, it is one thing to die for lies you ignorantly
believe. But no one willingly dies
for lies they invent.
As noted earlier, lots of people have
died for false religion. This
proves NOTHING. Lots of people have
been deceived by false teaching and been put to death.
In fact, there are a few people who have even invented false religion and
been executed for it. They have
been hauled off and executed for their false teaching.
But in the case of the disciples, we are not talking about one liar who
pays the price for his lies. We are
talking about upwards of 500 or more who had personally seen the risen Christ,
who, to a greater or lesser degree, spent the next 40 years preaching Him at the
risk of their lives – mostly separated from each other by distance.
Many of them were executed for preaching Christ.
None of them ever came out and confessed that the story had been
fabricated.
We have to
remember the context of what was happening at that time. Today, Jesus is big
business. Then, He was big trouble. Today, you can earn lots of money selling
religion. Then, you could earn death. Again -- there is not one thing the
disciples had to gain by preaching Jesus as risen from the dead.
But they did have everything to lose.
There was no money in it. No popularity
in it. Nothing but hardship and eventual
death. You don’t voluntarily take that course – and they did VOLUNTARILY take it
-- if you are part of a conspiracy to invent a lie.
No. You take that course
ONLY if you know what you are preaching is the Truth.
Other
Theories
Another
theory which attempts to discredit the resurrection is the notion that the
disciples were all so disappointed that Jesus had been killed that they sort of
all, "imagined," that He appeared. This is the, "mass hallucination," theory. It
is utter nonsense. Such self-deception could never be maintained in the face of
possible martyrdom – by a large group of people. Furthermore, Jesus had appeared
a number of times, to many different people, and different sized groups of them
– and not to all of them just once. Not only that, but He had taught them from
the scripture over the course of the forty days after His resurrection.
Did they imagine that, too, every day for forty days?
He had even eaten with them. Thomas had
felt his wounds. And what about the
ascension? Was that imagined, too? By
all 120 of the disciples who were there?
Actually, if the
disciples were having mass hallucinations about a risen Christ, there would be
one sure way of proving that it was a hallucination:
GO TO THE TOMB. If the body of Jesus was still in the tomb, well, this
would have snapped them out of their delusion.
Of course, the
Pharisees claimed that the disciples stole the body of Jesus.
Some agnostic scholars today agree with
them. But wait. If there is one thing such an accusation by the Pharisees
proves, it is that the body was missing! Right?
They would not have said the disciples
stole the body if the body was still in the tomb.
Sure. And it also proves that the tomb where Jesus was buried was a known
and accessible tomb – a tomb the Pharisees had inspected, and saw was EMPTY.
The suggestion
that the disciples stole the body from a tomb guarded by Roman soldiers is
ridiculous. Rather, the disciples were
hiding in fear of their lives.
Besides, who steals a body out of a tomb, and then preaches a message about it
that they know will get them executed? As
mentioned, why invent the resurrection story at all? Just make Jesus a martyr.
You can still have your little religious movement.
You don’t need a risen Christ.
You cannot
escape the conclusion: The disciples
were NOT lying. They were not part
of a mass hallucination. They saw
the risen Christ.
The Witness
of God
Have you ever
noticed how God doesn’t seem concerned about proving historically that Christ
rose from the dead? I mean, we do
have these historical proofs. But
at the end of the day, we weren’t there.
We are not eyewitnesses to the resurrection.
But that does not mean there is no first hand evidence of the
resurrection for us today. There is
– and according to John the apostle, it is the greatest evidence of all. John
writes:
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the
witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believes on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself: he that believes not God hath made him a
liar; because he believes not the witness that God gave of his Son. And this is
the witness, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
(1 John 5:9-11)
The greatest
evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is CHRIST IN US – Christ dwelling
in believers. Our faith is not
based merely on a history lesson.
It is not based simply on the eyewitness testimony of the apostles.
No. If Jesus Christ is risen
then He is alive today – and if we receive Him – He will live IN US.
Now, I realize
that unbelievers and skeptics alike will scoff at this.
But they contradict themselves.
Why? Because they won’t
believe the historical OUTWARD evidence – and yet God is offering them an INWARD
evidence of Christ HIMSELF. Thus,
they won’t accept ANY evidence at all.
John clearly
states that the witness of man – the eyewitness account of the disciples seeing
the Risen Christ – that this is great.
But the witness of God is greater.
And the witness of God is the living Christ in us.
This was the
greater witness of Christ even to the very disciples who had seen Him alive.
For you will note that despite the fact that the disciples had seen and
talked with the Risen Christ, and seen Him ascend into heaven, that Jesus
forbade them to go out into ministry – until when?
Until they received the Spirit of God from on high – which happened in
Acts 2. Why?
Many people have tried to say it was because they needed power to
minister. That CANNOT be the reason
because even prior to His death and resurrection Jesus had sent them out to
minister, and they even cast out demons in His name.
Giving them power would have not required them to receive the Spirit of
God in Acts 2. No.
They had to tarry in Jerusalem because before they did anything more in
the name of Jesus, they needed to receive CHRIST HIMSELF.
Despite all of
the experiences these people had undergone with Christ – both before His death
and resurrection and after – despite all of that, those experiences were
OUTWARD. They had seen the Risen
Christ – but this was an outward witness.
God wanted to give them something far greater.
He wanted to give an INWARD witness; indeed, He wanted to give them Jesus
WITHIN. In that upper room, where
the church began – the new birth began in God’s people – they received through
the Spirit of God Christ WITHIN.
Somewhere along
the line, people have gotten the idea that Christianity is a list of teachings
to believe in – teachings of Jesus and the apostles.
Or perhaps a list of rules to follow.
But as important as sound doctrine and
Biblical teaching is, Christianity is not faith in doctrines or rules. It is
faith in a Person, Jesus Christ.
Christianity is CHRIST IN US, the hope of glory.