Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Did Jesus really rise from the dead? What is the evidence which points to the resurrection of Jesus? Introduction: It is not uncommon for people to qu...
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Did Jesus really rise from the dead? What is the evidence which points to the resurrection of Jesus? Introduction: It is not uncommon for people to question whether or not Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified for being the “King of the Jews” actually „rose from the dead‟. Jesus own followers had not expected him to die let alone rise from the dead. In fact one of them had totally dismissed it as a possibility unless he could see and touch him for himself. This was „doubting Thomas‟. In some ways Thomas doubted on our behalf and so becomes for us a proxy. In addition to the experience of Thomas discovering the risen Jesus, there are many other historical, logical and legal reasons why the resurrection of Jesus is not just a manufactured construction of the early church leaders or their imaginations. Essential basics • Jesus was physically killed on the Friday • He was buried in a tomb cut out of a rock • Three days later (on the Sunday) he physically rose from the dead • He was seen and touched by numerous people over the next month before he went back to heaven. External evidence to the Bible: Roman Literary evidence • Trajan (53-117 AD): “…Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilate…” Jewish writer: Josephus (37-100 AD) “…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…and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross…he appeared to them alive again the third day, …and the tribe of Christians…are not extinct at this day.”

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Biblical Evidence • •

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I Corinthians 15:1 ff (earliest New Testament document 48 AD) Gospel of Mark 16 (Approx 65 AD) Very natural initial responses of the first eye-witnesses of fear and surprise. (If this document was later concocted to „prove‟ Jesus‟ resurrection, the apostles would not have had women as the first witnesses of the resurrection, for the evidence of a women in court in those days was not considered to be credible.) Gospel of Luke 24 (Approx 75 AD) Two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Gospel of Matthew 28 (Approx 75 AD) Soldiers bribed Gospel of John 20 & 21 (Approx 90 AD) Peter & John; Thomas

1 Corinthians 15:1-8 In this earliest reference to the resurrection, just over 15 years after Jesus resurrection, Paul lists a wide variety of witnesses to Jesus‟ resurrection. All of these people were still alive at the time of writing and Paul effectively says “Well if you do not believe me you can go and ask these other people”. • Peter • „The Twelve‟ (disciples) • „More than 500 of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep‟ (ie some of the 500 have died, but you can ask the other 450 plus people who are still alive). • James and all the apostles • Saul/Paul (road to Damascus) Gospel of Mark: 16:1-14 • •

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First appeared to the women Women (not seen as credible witnesses in a court of law in those days, yet Mark still records them as the first witnesses. If the disciples were trying to develop a convincing story to „prove Jesus‟ resurrection, they would have not included this reference to the women. But it remains there because that is the way that it happened.) Understandable reactions: „trembling and bewildered‟ they „fled from the tomb‟ (These are not reactions of faith expectant people, or concocted unreal positive reactions to Jesus‟ „wonderful and amazing‟ (!!!) resurrection.) Mary Magdalene (her personal unexpected encounter with Jesus) Two of them in the country (Emmaus)

Luke’s Gospel 24:1-44 • •

“the disciples did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” 24:11 “Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb…saw the strips of linen and went away wondering to himself what had happened” 24:12

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• • • • •

Two disciples on the way to Emmaus The two return to Jerusalem at night (It was dangerous for people to travel at night through the Judean country side through which they had walked with Jesus during the daylight. Returning at night must have been due to great urgency.) Jesus appears back in Jerusalem to the eleven and others “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost….Jesus said: „Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (24:37-39) “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.” (24:42,43)

Matthew’s Gospel 28:1-15 • •

“So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him.” 28:9,10. Chief priests: “You (the guards) are to say: „His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep. If this report gets to the governor we will keep you out of trouble” 28:11-15 (A large sum of money was also given.)

John’s Gospel 20:1-21:24 •

“Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running but the „other disciple‟ (this is the „disciple whom Jesus loved‟ who is John, the author of this Gospel) outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb…” 20:3-6 (this is typical of brash and bold Peter by contrast with the other disciples). This passage reads like a very real description by an eye witnesses to this event, including the comment by John that he believed but at that stage he did not understand. • “On the evening of that first day of the week (Easter Sunday)”, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them…” 20:19 • Thomas not there on the first Sunday night • The disciples told him the news that Jesus had risen from the dead • Thomas said: “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it” • A week later they were again gathered, this time with Thomas present. Jesus appears to them all and says: “Thomas, put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe”. Thomas said “My Lord and my God” 20:27,28 Thomas goes from extreme doubt to a deeply profound confession of faith.

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Acts of the Apostles • The first sermons of the early church were resurrection centred: the resurrection of Jesus was central to the message being proclaimed, not something tacked on to the end to validate the teachings or good deeds of Jesus. • The transformed lives of the apostles/ disciples indicate that a major change had occurred very soon after Jesus death. They go from being cowering disciples hiding behind locked doors in Jerusalem to people publicly proclaiming several weeks later in Jerusalem that Jesus had risen from the dead. • All of the apostles were prepared to go to prison & martyrdom (James, Peter et al). If the resurrection had been concocted by the apostles to „sell their message‟ or this new sect that Jesus had started, at least one if not more would have said when they were under threat of torture, prison or death: “I do not really believe that Jesus was the Son of God or rose from the dead. He was just a good man and great teacher. Please set me free.” How could 12 people all die for a lie that they had doctored up. • The resurrection of Jesus was so central that the day of worship for Christians changed from Saturday to Sunday (Acts 20:7).

Other theories that try to dismiss the resurrection: •

Swoon theory (that Jesus was not totally dead, but merely swooned or was unconscious) –



Jesus was fully dead according to the professional Roman soldiers whose job was to kill. They inspected the bodies and just to make sure Jesus was dead, rather than breaking his bones they speared his side (probably his heart for both blood and water came out). The Roman soldiers had killed thousands of Jewish insurrectionists and criminals by crucifixion during the decades of the first century. It was very common and they were very accomplished morticians. It must also be remembered that even though Jesus would probably been quite a strong person having been a carpenter, he had received 39 lashes from the Roman soldiers and had been up all night and then faced several court trials beginning in the early hours of the morning. This is partly the reason he was barely even able to carry his cross even before he was nailed to it.

Body stolen? –

Some suggest that the disciples stole the body in order to fabricate Jesus‟ resurrection. The disciples were extremely frightened when Jesus was crucified, thinking that they might be next in line for execution as his followers. They were very obviously neither imagining nor expecting resurrection and all of the twelve apostles throughout their whole lives agreed as to its reality and to the impact that Jesus life and death had on them, including his resurrection.

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– Wrong tomb? –

Some suggest that Jesus may have put into the wrong tomb or that there was some sort of mistake. This is hardly possible as the people involved who buried him (Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus) were both readily available and the grave site was watched over by several Roman soldiers. If there was some confusion, why did the Jewish or Roman authorities not produce the body from the real tomb, or at least conduct an inspection for the real tomb, even to prove to the newly forming Christian community that they were mistaken? This would have nipped in the bud this very publicly awkward situation for the local and national authorities.



Final challenge



Frank Morrison was a lawyer who wanted to write a book disproving the resurrection. He took into account all of the evidence from a legal and logical point of view. However, after thoroughly looking at all the evidence he wrote a book to the contrary proving the resurrection, such was the weight of the evidence that he found. The book is called “Who Moved the Stone?” Faber and Faber 1965. More recent authors include writers such as Lee Stroebel „The Case for Christ‟ (Zondervan 1998).

Physical body of Jesus Jesus invited them to “Touch me”. He also ate fish with them •

Judaism/Christianity based on real world (physical not just spiritual resurrection) by contrast with the Greek world view in which generally the material world is seen as base or even evil and by contrast the spiritual, non-material (intellectual) world is the far better.



Creation/ Incarnation/ whole person. God‟s creation is very much a physical reality and Jesus was incarnated (enfleshed) as a whole physical human being (by contrast with Gnostic teaching that later said he did not leave foot-prints or really die on the cross, etc)



Jesus‟ resurrection is a relatively minor miracle (others were also raised from the dead, eg Lazarus) compared to both the whole of creation and also the enfleshment of God in a mortal human being (God‟s incarnation in Jesus).



The universal Creeds of the church (Apostle‟s and Nicene) specifically refer to belief in the “resurrection of the body” (ie of the Christian believer‟s body, as was

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Jesus‟ body physically resurrected). It was known by the Romans that the early Christians in the 1st and 2nd centuries believed firmly in the physical resurrection of their bodies. When the Roman Empire were persecuting them at different times, not only would they kill them in some gruesome way, but they would then burn their bodies and scatter the ashes over a river/ lake in order to prevent them from possibly being able to be resurrected physically from the dead on the last day.

Mike Pietsch April 2012 Any further thoughts, questions, suggestions are greatly welcome. 0409 725 573 [email protected]

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