In early 2007, the media was running stories about an amazing discovery: the alleged bones of Jesus and some of his family members.  The discovery was made into a documentary and a book called Jesus Family Tomb.  The headlines soon died out for the simple fact that the evidence was incredibly weak for these claims.  What is amazing is that many Christians seem oblivious to the seriousness of the claims.  To them, it is inconsequential whether Jesus rose from the dead. 

                        It is interesting that astute observers outside of Christianity clearly picked up on the problem here.  Marc Gellman is an orthodox rabbi from Melville, NY and he writes occasional pieces for Newsweek.  In a March 2007 article, (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17501882/site/newsweek/), Gellman agreed that the movie was bogus, but he disagreed about the significance of Jesus’ resurrection.  He writes, “Some Christian respondents to this film have said that even discovering the bones of Jesus would not seriously undermine their faith. They say that 2,000 years of tradition does not just get canned because somebody found some bone boxes in the basement of the Israel Museum. I know many Christian clergy who have told me that the main truth of Christianity for them is to love as Jesus loved and that no archeological discovery can change that spiritual lesson. I love these folks but, as an outsider, I just don't agree that decisive refutation of Jesus' resurrection would have no effect on Christian faith.”  Ironically, we have a rabbi who is arguing that the resurrection is essential to Christianity while many Christian clergymen deny it!  Well, what does the Scripture have to say on the matter?  Turn to 1 Corinthians 15.

                        In the church of Corinth, some false teachers were causing trouble because they were denying the resurrection of Christ and our future resurrection.  Is that a big deal?  Absolutely.  In v.1-2, Paul reminds them of the gospel that he preached to them and in which they believed and that it was the gospel that saved them.  Then, he relates to them the content of the gospel in v.3-4: Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again.  This is the heart of the gospel.  This is what a person must believe in order to be saved and to spend the rest of eternity with God in heaven.  At the very heart of the gospel is the resurrection.  Take away the resurrection, and you have no gospel.  Take away the gospel and you have no salvation.  As Paul states a little later in v.17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”

                        If the resurrection is essential to Christianity, the obvious question is: Did it actually happen?  The question of whether Jesus rose from the dead is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, questions in human history.  Is there solid evidence for his resurrection or is it wishful thinking?  Considering the significance of the resurrection, I think it is wise for every person to explore the evidence with an open mind.  Before looking at the evidence for the resurrection, it is necessary to look at the theories that deny the resurrection. 

        

 

 

                        Perhaps the most popular theory that denies the resurrection is that the disciples stole the body.  This theory is also the most ancient one.  After the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem caught wind that the tomb was empty, they came up with this theory.  You can read about this in Matthew 28:11-15.  The theory goes like this.  After Jesus was buried in the tomb, Jesus’ disciples snuck by the Roman soldiers and took the body.  Later, they made up the story that Jesus rose from the dead and preached it to those around.  This theory has some major problems.  First of all, if a Roman soldier was caught asleep on the job, the law stated that he could lose his life and they often did.  Therefore, these guys had a lot of motivation to stay awake.  But somehow, this theory says that all of the soldiers--likely four of them--fell asleep.  Not only that, they were so sleepy that they did not hear the disciples sneak past them and move the stone.  Now, a stone covering a grave was a large, disc-shaped stone that moved along a groove and it would settle in a depression right in front of the tomb.  It was not hard to move it in place, but would take several grown men to roll it back.  This would cause an enormous amount of noise.  To top it all off, if the soldiers were asleep, how would they know it was the disciples who stole the body?  Next theory.

           

                        Some people believe that Jesus did not really die.  This is often called the “swoon theory” because Jesus only swooned or fainted on the cross and did not die.  It was first invented a few hundred years ago.  Jesus only appeared to die on the cross, and when he was placed in the tomb, he revived and escaped.  Then, he found his disciples and convinced them that he rose from the dead. 

 

                        There are a couple of huge problems with the swoon theory.  For one thing, it is far-fetched physically.  If you have seen Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, you can understand why.  Jesus was brutally beaten and scourged before being crucified.  Then, he endured six hours of crucifixion which is regarded as the cruelest punishment in the ancient world.  To make sure he was dead, the soldiers stuck him with a sword and blood and water came out from his side.  This likely means the sword pierced the pericardial sac around his heart.  It is difficult to imagine that somehow the Roman soldiers, who were trained and experienced in crucifying people and knowing when a person was dead, would have totally botched this case.  And to top it off, you must believe that Jesus revived in the tomb without any medical treatment, moved the enormous stone, and then either snuck past or subdued the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb.  Second, it is far-fetched morally.  In the gospels, both friend and foe recognize that Jesus is a man of impeccable character.  The swoon theory goes against all the evidence of Jesus’ blameless character.  Jesus would have to endorse this deception.  Such behavior hardly squares with Jesus who consistently lives and advocates the highest standard of morality.  Lastly, it is far-fetched religiously.  Even if Jesus somehow pulled this off, would his bloody, beaten, mangled appearance have inspired the disciples to worship him as God in human flesh?  Or that they would have preached, “You too can have a resurrected body like this?”  The early church worshiped a Jesus who had risen from the dead victoriously, not a Jesus who barely escaped death.  Because of the huge problems of the swoon theory, few scholars actually believe this happened. 

                       

                         Some suggest the women stole the body.  That theory has all the same problems as the disciples stealing the body, plus the women have to be able to move the large stone.  Some suggest the women went to the wrong tomb and mistakenly thought Jesus was missing.  If that happened, the Jewish and Roman authorities would gladly open the real tomb.  Some suggest that Joseph of Arimathea moved the body before the guard arrived.  The soldiers would never seal the tomb unless the body was already there.  Put simply, all the theories that deny the resurrection are extremely weak. 

                       

                        Let us now look at the evidence for the resurrection.  To help you remember, think of the acrostic EAT.  EAT stands for: empty tomb, appearances of Jesus, and transformation of the disciples. 

 

 

                        It is indisputable that Jesus’ tomb was empty.  If the disciples knew it was there, obviously they would not have gone around preaching Jesus’ resurrection.  If for some absurd reason they went ahead and preached the resurrection, the Romans and the Jewish religious leaders would simply need to open the tomb and they would be silenced.  Without a shadow of doubt, Jesus’ tomb was empty.  This fact cannot be argued against. 

                       

                             A remarkable feature about the gosples is how all four of them unashamedly describe that women were the first ones to witness the empty tomb.  Why is that amazing?  In this time and culture, women were 2nd class citizens in Jewish life.  A common prayer that many Jews prayed daily included this phrase: "I thank you that I am not a female" (Hank Hanegraaff, Resurrection, 33).   Further, a woman’s testimony was regarded as worthless and they would not even testify in a court of law. As one scholar writes, “If a man committed a crime and was observed in the very act by some women, he could not be convicted on the basis of their testimony, since their testimony was regarded as so worthless that it could not even be admitted into court” (William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, 276).  Let me clarify, these attitudes are not endorsed by the Bible.  To the contrary, Genesis 1:28 tells us that both male and female are created equally in the image of God.  However, they were the attitudes of many of the Jewish and Roman people of the time of Jesus.  Therefore, if you were to make up the story about the empty tomb, you would never have a group of women be your eyewitness.  Though this might have been embarrassing, it points to the credibility of the gospels.  God has a great sense of humor.  The tomb was empty.   

                        Just as with the empty tomb, it is also remarkable that women were the first eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus.  Over the course of 40 days, Jesus appeared numerous times, sometimes to individuals and sometimes to large groups.  Turn back to v.5-7 [read].  Very shortly after Jesus’ death, it was universally believed in the church that Jesus appeared not only to the apostles, his brother James, some female disciples, but to 500 hundred people.  Why is that remarkable?  Because almost all of these persons were still alive.  It is one thing to make an incredible claim after all of the potential eyewitnesses have died.  It is quite another thing to make an incredible claim while they are alive.  If I told you that I won the county spelling bee in elementary school, with some work you could figure it out because there are plenty of people still living that you could ask.  If I tell you this same thing 60 years from now, all of a sudden, it becomes a lot harder to disprove.  In case you are wondering, I didn’t win the county . . . I won the national title.  Just kidding.  I did win for my class though. 

                       

                        Do you see my point?  In essence, this early Christian creed is doing just that—there are hundreds of witnesses available for cross-examination.  C. H. Dodd, a famous NT scholar, said, “There can hardly be any purpose in mentioning the fact that most of the five hundred are still alive, unless Paul is saying, ‘The witnesses are there to be questioned’” (Hanegraaff, 41).  William Lane Craig writes, “Paul could never have said this if the event had never occurred; he could not have challenged people to ask the witnesses if the event had not taken place and there were no witnesses.  But evidently there were witnesses to this event, and Paul knew that some had died in the meantime.  Therefore, the event must have taken place” (Hanegraaff, 41).   

                        By the way, some will say, “Ok, they obviously thought they saw Jesus, but these were only hallucinations.”  Again, this does not square with the evidence.  Hallucinations are: rare, individual experiences--not group experiences.  Plus, they occur when people are hopeful and expectant, not fearful and despondent like the disciples.  When Jesus appeared to his disciples they were often surprised or frightened; hardly, the typical situation of frenzied anticipation. 

                        So far we have seen strong evidence that the tomb was empty and that people saw the risen Jesus.  The last piece of evidence was the transformed lives of the disciples.  Again, Jesus was their leader and teacher for 3 years.  They believed he was the Messiah, but they did not yet understand that he must die.  Therefore, when Jesus was arrested—all of them deserted him.  At the cross, the only disciple recorded as being there was John.  The disciples were bewildered, timid, and absolutely devastated.

                       

                         But something happened.  Something happened to change these cowardly, confused men to clear, bold witnesses for Jesus.  Something happened to give them the courage to preach to anyone they could, even the very ones who put Jesus to death.  Something happened to give them the perseverance to endure imprisonments and beatings.  Something happened to give them the hope to look death in the face and not flinch.  Did you know that all of the original disciples, excluding Judas and John, died as martyrs?  Peter claimed he would never deny Christ, but denied him not once, not twice, but three times, the last time to a servant girl.  However, Peter became the most powerful preacher of the early church, leading thousands of people to faith in Christ.  Eventually, the Romans decided to execute him, but Peter pleaded with them to crucify him upside down because he was not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ.  Something happened to Peter to turn him from a coward to a bold, fearless preacher. 

                       

                        But it was not just the 11 apostles.  James, the brother of Jesus, explicitly rejected Jesus as the Messiah.  However, James became the leader of the early church and a martyr.  Now if you have a brother, think about worshiping him as God in human flesh.  Could anything sound more absurd?  Yes, think about being willing to die for the belief that your brother is God.  Something happened to James to turn him from a hardened skeptic to worshiping his own brother as God. 

                       

                        Paul was a zealous murder and persecutor of Christians.  However, Paul became a missionary who traveled all over the Roman Empire starting churches.  During those 30 years of ministry, he was on the receiving end of unbelievable persecution, eventually resulting in his martyrdom.  Something happened to Paul to turn him from a persecutor of Christians to a missionary and martyr for Christ.  

                       

                        What was it that these individuals and the other disciples experienced that caused a complete transformation?  Was it the disciples making up some incredible story about Jesus rising from the dead?  No way.  People will on occasion be willing to die for something they think is true even though it is actually wrong.  For example, the terrorists who hijacked the planes and flew them into the Trade Towers believed they were doing the right thing.  I think they were absolutely deceived, but the point is that they were convinced in their own minds that it was true.  However, I know of no one who has ever knowingly and willingly laid down his life for a lie, especially some of the agonizing deaths that the disciples endured.  Would you be willing to die such a death for a lie?  Not only that, it is incredible to imagine that all of the disciples were willing to do this.  Something happened to these disciples to transform them so dramatically.  What happened was that they saw the resurrected Jesus and they knew he was truly God in human flesh.  If God has come in human flesh and has risen from the dead, truly everything has changed.

                       

                    There is plenty of additional evidence, but I hope by now you can see the tremendous strength of the claim that Jesus from the dead.  I find it amazing how God orchestrated these events to demonstrate that the resurrection actually occurred.  For example, even the actions of the Romans to prevent any theory of the resurrection--sealing the tomb, putting guards there, etc--unwittingly confirmed it.  Cambridge University professor B. F. Westcott, one of the most brilliant New Testament scholars England has ever produced, sums it up best: “Indeed, taking all the evidences together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ.  Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it” (Paul Little, Know Why You Believe, 58).      

 

                        The evidence is very strong and compelling that Jesus actually rose from the dead.  However, this is no mere intellectual exercise.  It has profound application for our lives because all of us face the same fate -- death.  The question is do we have hope that goes beyond wishful thinking.  Can we have a basis for hope?  The resurrection of Jesus gives us the basis for hope.  It is the most important event in human history.  His resurrection proved that he had conquered sin and death.  There was now hope for humanity.  Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead in order to give you the opportunity to receive eternal life and spend the rest of eternity with God.  If you would like to do so, pray to God: Lord, I confess that I have sinned against you, and I want to turn from my sin.  I believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man who died on the cross and rose again.  I am trusting his atoning sacrifice to forgive all my sins and to grant me eternal life.  Joyfully, I want to follow Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.  Thank you for your gracious offer of salvation that I now trust by faith.