III
DEAD AND GONE?
The Lie: Jesus was never raised from the dead.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus
Christ performed many great miracles in the presence of numerous eyewitnesses.
On some occasions, people who had been physically disabled from birth were
completely healed by Jesus and, because of this fact; even the enemies of
Christ were unable to deny that He was achieving the miraculous. However, some
of the Jewish religious leaders accused Jesus of working miracles by the power
of Satan because they were unable to disprove or explain away supernatural
events.
The contemporaries of Christ
were convinced of His supernatural power, but modern skeptics deny His miracles
because of their preconceived ideas about supernatural events. The historical accuracy of the Bible is often
disregarded whenever supernatural phenomenon is recorded because most people
have never experienced such phenomenon in their own lives and therefore assume
that supernatural occurrences are impossible.
The critic usually demands empirical proof for the miracles of Jesus,
yet he never questions other historical events which have far less
substantiating evidence.
Show Us a Sign!
There is one event recorded in the
Bible upon which all the other miracles of Christ will either stand or
fall. If this particular event could
somehow be substantially proven, then the miraculous ministry of Jesus would
have to be accepted in its entirety. Jesus Himself revealed the importance of
this one particular miracle on several different occasions during His ministry.
On one of these occasions He was
approached by some, of the Jewish religious leaders who asked Him to show them
a “sign.” These men had more than likely
witnessed, or at least seen the results of His miracles of physical healing. But, they may have wanted additional evidence
of His authority by having Him perform a miracle similar to those which were
accomplished through Moses or Elijah in the Old Testament. Or, they may have
wanted to see one of the signs from heaven that were associated with the coming
of the conquering Messiah.
Their attitudes were probably
somewhat sarcastic when they made this request for a “sign” because Jesus
replied to them: “An evil and adulterous
generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign
of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the
belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three
nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:39, 40). In other words, just as the prophet Jonah was
swallowed up by a great fish and then was spewed out alive after three nights,
Jesus was saying that He would be buried in the earth and would come forth from
His grave after three days and three nights.
The Apostle John wrote about
another occasion in which Jesus was asked to show a sign. John gives this
account of the incident: “The Jews then
said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these
things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple,
and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It
took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three
days?" But He was speaking of the temple of his body.” (John 2:18-21).
Jesus performed many miracles
that attested to Him being the Messiah, but the one miracle that He offered as
final proof to all of the skeptics was the miracle of His own bodily
resurrection from the dead.
Resurrection or Fraud ?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was
either the greatest and most important miracle that the world has ever
experienced or else it was the most deceitful and cruel hoax that has ever been
foisted upon mankind. If Jesus Christ
wasn’t raised from the dead, then the entire Christian faith has no validity
whatsoever. True Christianity can only
exist if Jesus was physically resurrected from the dead because the entire
Christian faith is centered around, and depends totally upon, a personal
relationship with the living Christ who conquered sin and death when He physically arose from the dead.
The founders of other major
religions are dead and their bodies still remain entombed. These religions are composed of philosophical
teachings and ethical values that will allegedly assist a person in paving his
or her road to Heaven. However, Jesus
made it perfectly clear that people are incapable of attaining Heaven by their
own merits and good works. He placed the
whole basis of salvation upon His own unique life; His death; and His bodily
resurrection.
The entire Christian Gospel
depends upon having faith in a living Lord and Savior and not upon adhering to a
particular system of religion. In his
first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul wrote; “Now if Christ is
preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that
there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been
raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain and your
faith also is vain.” (I Corinthians 15:12-14).
Throughout the years, many
prominent scholars have tried to accumulate enough evidence to disprove the
resurrection because they realized how vital it was to Christianity. However, in several cases, those who set out
to destroy Christianity became devout believers in Jesus because they discovered
a wealth of evidence in favor of the resurrection rather than opposed to it.
To site one example; a famous
Harvard law professor by the name of Simon Greenleaf, was challenged to put the
gospel accounts of the New Testament on trial, so to speak, by judging their
validity according to the same procedures and criterion that a courtroom would
use when evaluating legal evidence.
Dr. Greenleaf, after studying
the gospels, realized that their entire credibility depended upon the bodily
resurrection of Jesus. He therefore
focused his attention upon the resurrection itself and began to examine the
evidence. After many long hours of
research, Simon Greenleaf committed his life to Jesus Christ because he came to
the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus is one of the most
well-established facts of history.1
There have been other great men
who earnestly tried to refute the resurrection and then later became dedicated
Christians in the process. Some of these men (including Simon Greenleaf) went
on to write books pertaining to the validity of the resurrection. These
scholars reversed their antagonistic opinions of Jesus and Christianity because
they were intellectually honest men
who were willing to recognize the facts, even if those facts contradicted their
own presupposed ideas.
However, other skeptics of
Christianity have not been so intellectually honest. This fact becomes evident
upon examination of some of the ludicrous theories that have been devised by
intelligent people, apparently out of desperation, in order to refute the resurrection
of Jesus.
As a matter of fact, one of the
best ways to demonstrate the reality of Christ’s resurrection is to closely
analyze the various theories which have been contrived to explain it away. A close scrutiny of these alternative
theories will reveal that their proponents are completely oblivious to the
facts.
An Unconscious Tale
The first theory for consideration is
known as the “Swoon Theory.” This theory
was first made popular a couple of centuries ago by a man named Karl Venturini. Since that
time, it has undergone some slight revisions by various people and one of the
most recent modifications of this theory was made by Hugh Schonfield
in his book entitled “The Passover Plot.”
(However, in this case, the “swoon” was planned ahead of time but Christ
actually dies instead.)
According to the original swoon
theory, Christ didn’t actually die upon the cross. He was indeed crucified and endured great
pain and suffering, but he “swooned” before he was actually dead. And, since medical knowledge was not very
advanced during the time of Christ, He was taken down from the cross because He
was believed to be dead; He was then laid in a sepulcher, and the cold dampness
of the tomb revived Him from this death-like state. After He regained consciousness,
Jesus then managed to escape from the tomb and reveal Himself to His disciples,
who then proclaimed Him to be the Resurrected Lord and Savior.
Obviously the entire swoon
theory is more elaborate than what has just been put forth, but the basic conclusions
are the same - Jesus didn’t die so therefore He wasn’t resurrected. The swoon
theory may sound feasible until a close examination is made of the
circumstances which surrounded the crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. It is important to consider many details
before evaluating the swoon theory or any other theories that will be mentioned
in this chapter.
The first set of circumstances
to consider are those which are related to Christ’s execution: According to historical record, Jesus did not
sleep during the night preceding His crucifixion. His disciples kept falling asleep but Jesus
Himself had been earnestly praying until the time of His arrest. Jesus then underwent two mock trials where
His accusers spit upon Him, humiliated Him and beat Him with their fists and
with sticks. In addition to His two separate beatings, Jesus also received a
Roman scourging with a “cat-o’-nine tails.”
One single lash from this whip-like instrument tore out pieces of flesh
in nine different places. Jewish law placed
a limit of forty lashes upon scourging but Jesus was punished under Roman law
which had no such limit.2
When Jesus was finally led away
to be crucified, He was so weak that He was unable to carry His own cross. Normally a sentenced criminal was required to
carry his own cross bar for a distance; but, another man was required to carry
the cross of Jesus because of His physically weakened condition. Once He arrived at a place called Golgotha,
the Roman soldiers then attached Jesus to the cross by driving large spikes
through His wrists and ankles.
For many years, historical
scholars claimed that people were never nailed to a cross. They insisted that victims were always bound
to a cross with ropes because there was no extra-Biblical evidence that proved
otherwise. However, in 1968 an
archaeological discovery, dating back to the first century, was made in East
Jerusalem that proved that victims were sometimes nailed to a cross.
An archaeologist by the name of
V. Tzaferis discovered some chests which contained
the bones of people who had been removed from their original burial site and
were placed in a different location. One
chest contained the bones of a man who had obviously been crucified. Furthermore,
one of the actual spikes was found in the chest and it apparently had struck a
knot when it was driven into the wood because the tip was curled backwards and
still had splinters of olive wood clinging to it.3 Therefore, it is safe to assume that Jesus
was nailed to the cross, just as the record states.
As Jesus hung upon the cross,
His tendons and ligaments were stretched and torn; His bones were pulled out of
joint by His body weight and He endured the most excruciating pain and thirst
imaginable. In order to breathe, He had
to use whatever strength was left in His legs to raise Himself enough for the
weakened and stretched-out muscles of His chest to operate His lungs.
After hours of torture, if a
victim was not yet dead, the Roman soldiers would sometimes break his legs
because this would cause immediate suffocation.
Therefore, after hanging on the cross for more than three hours, the
Jewish religious leaders asked the Roman soldiers to break the legs of those
who were being crucified because it was their day of preparation before the
Sabbath and they didn’t want bodies to remain upon the cross during the
Sabbath. (Usually, crucified bodies were
left to hang upon a cross to be devoured by birds and animals, but since Jewish
law required burial, they agreed to break with tradition in Jesus’ case.)
The soldiers broke the legs of
those who were crucified with Jesus but when they came to Christ, they saw that
He was already dead so they did not break His legs. (When they refrained from
breaking His legs, another Messianic prophecy was fulfilled because the
twentieth verse of the thirty-fourth Psalm states: “He keeps all His bones; Not one of them is
broken.”) However, just to be absolutely
sure that Jesus was dead; a Roman Soldier thrust his spear upward into Jesus’
side causing blood and water to come forth in a separated state. (The significance of the fact that blood and
water came out separated was noted in the last chapter as being evidence that
Christ was truly dead).
In spite of the fact that the
New Testament is the most historically accurate piece of ancient literature,
many skeptics will totally disregard any recorded facts that may interfere with
their own particular theory about Christ’s death. Those who ignore the recorded facts about
Christ’s previous weakened condition and the spear being thrust into His side,
are still faced with some insurmountable problems because crucifixion was such
a heinous, horrible punishment, that chances for surviving it would have been
almost impossible for even the healthiest of men.
There is only one account in
ancient history in which a man was known to have survived an actual
crucifixion. In this particular case,
three men were crucified together and an influential person managed to persuade
the governor to reverse his sentence and remove them all from their
crosses. The men had only been hanging
one or two hours and yet two of them still died! 4
Another factor which has to be
considered is the fact that four professional Roman executioners signed
Christ’s death warrant. These men were
very familiar with death and they would not have risked their lives upon even
the slightest possibility of Jesus being alive.
A Roman soldier took his work seriously because they were often put to
death for making even the slightest errors.
Therefore, it is safe to assume that Jesus actually died upon the cross
to which He was nailed.
After Jesus was removed from the
cross, His body was wrapped in a linen cloth and then it was taken away by a
rich man named Joseph of Arimethea to be prepared for
burial. The nineteenth chapter of John’s
Gospel states that the body of Jesus was wrapped in linen cloths and was
prepared with spices in a manner according to the burial customs of the Jews.
The Jews used to take rolls of
linen bandages and individually wrap the legs, arms, and body of a deceased
person. However, the head was not
wrapped in bandages because of superstition; instead, a napkin-like cloth was
placed around the head. Therefore, after a body had been prepared, it looked
much like a human cocoon.
John’s Gospel also states that a
man named Nicodemus brought one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes (spices)
which were used to prepare the body.
These spices would have been mixed into a gummy consistency and then applied
to the bandages in layers as the body was being wrapped. This mixture of spices would have then dried
to form a hard shell around the body.
These spices were extremely
expensive and many people have scoffed at the idea of one hundred pounds being
used to prepare Christ’s body. And,
although it is true that normally this amount of spices would not have been
used to bury the average person, Jesus had some wealthy secret admirers who
finally stepped forth and buried Him with honor. Such extravagance was not uncommon among the wealthy
because history records other instances where men were buried with great
amounts of spices. For example, eighty
pounds of spices were used to prepare the body of Gamaliel
and hundreds of pounds were used for King Herod’s burial.5
After Jesus’ body was prepared,
it was laid in a rock hewn tomb in a garden near the place where He was
crucified. This tomb belonged to a rich
man named Joseph of Arimethea and apparently it had
never been used before. When Jesus’ body
was placed in the tomb, a huge stone was then rolled against the entrance to
seal it.
A
second century manuscript of the Gospel of Mark has a marginal note regarding
the size of this stone. The
transcriber’s marginal note says that the stone was so large that twenty men
couldn’t have moved it.6 The
average rock hewn tomb had a rectangular entrance of about 3 ½ X 4½ feet;
therefore, the average stone slab which was used to seal a tomb of this type
has been calculated, by engineers, to weigh anywhere from 3000 to 4000 pounds.7
Before a tomb was sealed off, the stone slab was usually placed
near the entrance, and adjacent to, the rock face of the mountain or cliff in
which the tomb had been carved out. The
stone was situated slightly uphill from the tomb entrance in a hollowed out
groove, or track that ran from the slab itself to the opening of the tomb. And,
directly below the opening, an indentation was cut out so that when the stone
was rolled along its track, it would drop into place directly in front of the
entrance.
With the assistance of a lever
and the force of gravity, a single person would have been able to set the stone
into place. However, it would have
required several people to move the stone once the entrance had been sealed
off.
After Christ’s death, the Jewish
religious leaders remembered His claims about being resurrected from the
grave. They wanted to make absolutely
sure that none of Christ’s disciples would sneak into the tomb and steal His
body; so they went before the governor and asked him to place a Roman guard
unit at the tomb’s entrance. An account
of this incident is found in the twenty seventh chapter of Matthew, who wrote:
“Now on the next day, the day
after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together
with Pilate, and said, ‘Sir, we remember that when he was still alive that
deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again; Therefore give orders for
the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may
come and steal him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’
and the last deception will be worse than the first.’ “ (Matthew 27:62-64)
Both the Romans and the Jewish
leaders had political reasons for making sure that the influence of Christ was
finally put to an end because Jesus had attracted many followers who were
becoming alienated against their religious and social structure. On many occasions, Jesus personally offended
the Jewish religious leaders by publicly exposing their true character and
motives. So, as long as Jesus was alive, the Jewish power structure was
threatened.
Roman oppression of the Jewish
people had already been causing a great deal of unrest within the Jewish
community. Because of this, the Roman
governors and the Jewish leaders had enough trouble as it was, trying to
suppress internal rebellions, without having further unrest caused by
Jesus. They knew that the slightest
rumor about Jesus Christ being raised from the dead would only create more
unwanted problems; that is why the religious leaders went to Pilate requesting
a guard for the grave.
When the Jewish leaders asked Pilate
for a guard unit, the Governor replied; “You have a guard; go make it as
secure as you know how.” Many people have incorrectly interpreted this verse to
mean that Pilate refused to give them a Roman guard because they had their own
temple guards. This is not true because
other verses in the New Testament indicate that a Roman guard was definitely
assigned to protect the tomb of Christ. When the Governor said, “You have a
guard; go make it as secure as you know how . . .,” it was as if he said “Your
request is granted, now take care of the matter.”
Of course, even if the Jews had used
their own temple guards, the tomb of Jesus would have still been well-protected
because the temple guards were skilled soldiers and very well-disciplined. If a Jewish temple guard was found sleeping
on duty, his clothes were set on fire; and if he lived through that ordeal he
was also beaten.8 However, as tough and as disciplined as the temple
guard was, it still was not as efficient as a Roman guard.
According to ancient and modern
historians, a Roman guard was composed of at
least four Roman soldiers and many times it consisted of as many as sixteen men.9 Soldiers in a
Roman guard unit were the most highly trained dedicated and efficient fighters
in the entire world. In fact, our modern
military still employs certain principles of discipline and training which have
been acquired from ancient Roman methods.
A Roman Soldier received five years of intensive basic training before
he was considered to be a fully qualified legionnaire.10 Once trained, he sometimes carried as many as
four weapons and proficiently used them to defend just eight square feet of
ground from any and all would be attackers.11 Roman legionnaires were sometimes outnumbered
ten to one in battle, yet they would still emerge victorious because of their
killing efficiency.12 Jesus’ tomb would have been guarded by at
least four of these Roman legionnaires, but, there were probably more than this
number assigned because of the political circumstances. In any event, it can be stated with
confidence that the tomb of Jesus was indeed made “secure.”
When the Jewish leaders and the
Roman guard first arrived at the tomb, they inspected the grave and then placed
a “seal” on the entrance. A Roman seal
could only be placed in the presence of a Roman guard. (This is another reason for knowing that the soldiers
at Christ’s tomb were Roman soldiers).
To seal the tomb, a small string or thread would have been stretched
between the edge of the stone and the edge of the opening. Two small lumps of clay would have been used
to support the thread and the insignia of Caesar would have been imprinted upon
the clay. The seal represented all the
power and authority of the Roman government; 13 therefore, a soldier
would defend the seal with his life and, if anyone tampered with the seal after
it was affixed, the Roman government would not rest until that person was
captured and put to death.14
After considering some of these
facts, the “swoon theory” can now be evaluated and it’s correlation with
history determined. If the swoon theory
is correct, then after being beaten, crucified, punctured with a spear,
pronounced dead by four Roman executioners, and wrapped up in one hundred
pounds of gummy spices and cloth bandages; Jesus was still not yet dead! And, when He was sealed up in a tomb, the
cold dampness somehow revived Him instead of killing him. After He awoke, Jesus somehow managed to free
Himself from the wrappings and spices in a totally dark atmosphere and then
mustered up enough strength to move a 4000 pound stone from the tomb’s
entrance. He must have then managed to
overpower or sneak by the Roman guard so that He could go to His disciples and
proclaim to be the resurrected Lord of life.
Based upon the evidence of
history, if the swoon theory is correct, then the tomb of Jesus must have still
been the site of a great miracle on Easter morning. The skeptics often accuse
Christians of having a “blind faith” yet it takes more faith to believe the
swoon theory than most Christians ever dreamed of having.
The Great Grave Robbery
The oldest
argument against the resurrection of Jesus is found in the Bible itself. This argument was devised by the
Jewish religious leaders of Christ’s day and has been believed by many people
all through history. The Gospel of
Matthew contains the following account of how this argument originated:
“Now while they were on their
way, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief
priests all that had happened. And when
they had assembled with the elders and counseled together, they gave a large
sum of money to the soldiers, and said ‘You are to say; ‘His disciples came by
night and stole him away while we were asleep; And if this should come to the
governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.’ And they took the money and did as they had
been instructed; And this story was widely spread among the Jews and is to this
day.” (Matthew 28:11-15)
The critics may not agree
entirely with Matthew’s account but there are some important facts established
with which most of them do agree. One
important thing that is learned from this account is that it was truly a multiple
man unit that was assigned to guard Christ’s tomb because Matthew states that;
“Some of the guard came into the city.” It is also made obvious that this
multiple man unit was a Roman guard.
The guard came to the Jewish
religious leaders because they had some clout with the Roman Governor. The soldiers knew that failure to perform
their designated duty would result in execution. That is probably why only
“some of the guard” came into the city because the rest of the guard had
probably feared for their lives. The
Jews could possibly speak on their behalf to Pilate, the governor, and keep
them from death. If the guard had not been Roman, why would the religious
leaders have been quoted as saying, “and if this should come to the governor’s
ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” Protecting the tomb of Christ had become a
Roman matter.
The most important fact that is
established in Matthew’s account is that the tomb of Jesus Christ was
definitely empty! There would have been no need to fabricate
any explanation whatsoever if the body of Jesus had not actually been absent
from the tomb. The stolen body theory,
the swoon theory, and others have all been devised to explain why the
tomb of Jesus Christ was empty on Easter morning. It would be foolish for any skeptic to deny
that Christ’s tomb was empty because to do so would require an absolute
disregard for some of the most well-established facts of history.
The New Testament records some
interesting details that were relevant to the empty tomb of Christ and the
position of the stone that was used to seal the entrance is one of these
details. The English versions of the
Greek New Testament all indicate that the stone had been moved away from the
entrance after Christ’s resurrection. However, the Greek language is much more
explicit and expressive than the English language; so, scholars who have
studied the Greek manuscripts have been able to learn something about the
actual location of the stone after it had been moved away from the
entrance. By examining each author’s unique statement regarding the position of
the stone; its location is determined to be uphill, and at a distance from, not
only the entrance, but, from the entire sepulcher. In fact, John’s description infers that the
stone must have looked as though it had been picked up and carried away.15
Another interesting detail about
the empty tomb of Christ is that it wasn’t completely empty. Jesus’ body was gone from the tomb but his
grave clothes were still in the same place where He had been laid. The Apostle
John notes that the linen cloth which had covered the head of Jesus had been
rolled up and was lying separate from the rest of the grave clothes. Apparently John saw that the wrappings which
had covered Christ’s body were still intact and undisturbed. They must have resembled an empty cocoon
because it was only until John saw the grave clothes that he finally believed
that Jesus had been resurrected.
Christ’s resurrected body had
passed into a new dimension without ever disturbing the linen wrappings and
spices which had covered His body. The
piece which had covered His head had been removed to show the world that His
body was no longer contained in the wrappings.
In fact, the stone wasn’t moved away from the entrance of the tomb to
let Christ out of it, but rather to show the world that the tomb was no longer
occupied. The grave clothes, the position of the stone, and the unoccupied tomb
were all available for public inspection.
If anybody doubted the rumor, all they would have had to do is take a
stroll to the grave site and see for themselves if it was true or not.
The enemies of Jesus never
denied the fact that the tomb was empty.
There has never been any ancient historical literature or archaeological
discovery of any kind which refutes the empty tomb. The Jewish religious leaders persecuted,
tortured and even killed people in order to stop the proclamation that Jesus
was alive. If the tomb had not been
empty, all they would have had to do is put the body of Christ on public
display and the Christian movement would have been immediately destroyed!
The only recourse for the Jewish
religious authority, other than proclaiming Jesus as Lord, was to say that the
body had been stolen because the stolen body theory is really the only possible
alternative to the Resurrection.
However, most skeptics who claim that Christ’s body was stolen have
never honestly considered all of the circumstantial evidence and logical
reasoning which contradict such an assumption.
Consider the evidence:
When Jesus was arrested in the
garden of Gethsemane, all of His disciples deserted Him. Peter, who had been His most outspoken
follower, publicly denied Jesus because he feared for his own life. In one instance, Peter even denied knowing
Jesus upon being questioned by a woman.
After Jesus was crucified, His
disciples became depressed, disillusioned and afraid. Therefore, it is not very reasonable to
assume that this same fearful group of men would have plotted to steal the body
of Jesus. If such a plan had even been
proposed, how possible would it have been to convince all eleven disciples to
become a part of the scheme? The plot
would have been a violation of the very moral and ethical principles for which
Christ had stood.
Let us suppose though, for the
sake of argument, that all eleven disciples had indeed experienced a sudden
change of character and decided to go along with the deception. If so, when they arrived at the tomb, they
would have discovered the Roman guard unit which had been assigned to protect
it. It would have been an extraordinary
coincidence for the disciples to have found the guard asleep on duty because
the Roman penalty for such an offense was death!16 The multiple man
guard unit slept in alternating shifts so that at least one person would always
be rested and alert. And, if a soldier
deserted his post, the death penalty was also invoked.17 The
soldiers had several motivating factors which caused them to perform their
duties correctly; the greatest of these factors would have been the motivation
to stay alive.
Let us now suppose though, for
the sake of argument, that all of the soldiers were indeed asleep at the
precise time of the disciples’ arrival at the tomb. Even sleeping legionnaires would have struck
terror within the heart of any average person, especially if that person was
plotting to steal something that the soldiers were protecting. However, in spite of the circumstances, the
disciples must have mustered up enough courage and stealth to sneak past the
guard without awakening them. When they approached the entrance, they would
have detected the Roman seal which had been placed on the doorway. And, even though they realized that breaking
the seal was punishable by death, they still remained true to their cause and
commenced moving the stone away from the entrance.
A four thousand pound stone
would have caused a slight earth tremor; but, in spite of this, the guard still
slept. Now, at this point of their
operation the disciples must have all experienced temporary insanity because
instead of moving the stone just far enough to make entrance into the tomb,
they rolled the stone uphill and completely away from the entire sepulcher. Fortunately, the guard still remained asleep
long enough for the disciples to somehow remove Christ’s body without
disturbing the wrappings which encased it.
After the disciples hid the body
of Christ, instead of keeping their secret to themselves, they decided to
persuade some other people to join in their deception. Not only did they convince other close
friends of Christ to say that Jesus was still alive, they somehow managed to
persuade more than five hundred people to make the same remarkable claim
because Jesus allegedly appeared to more than five hundred witnesses after His
resurrection. In fact, the Apostle Paul
wrote a letter to the Corinthians in which he stated that most of these
witnesses who actually saw Jesus were still alive! (This was an open invitation for anyone to
investigate the matter for themselves.)
Moreover, every single person who had been approached with the
opportunity to become a part of this great deception must have eagerly complied
because nobody in history ever divulged the conspiracy to anyone. Now wouldn’t it seem logical that at least
some of the more than five hundred witnesses would have gladly revealed the
secret conspiracy to Christ’s enemies?
Nevertheless, after this perfect
conspiracy was organized, the disciples marched right back into the streets of
Jerusalem to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus instead of going to some
far-off place where such a legend would have been much easier to
propagate. Apparently, insanity must
have gripped the minds of these conspirators; because, after making their
proclamations, the eleven disciples were continuously persecuted throughout
their lives for their eyewitness testimony about Jesus Christ and His
resurrection. They were beaten, tortured
and imprisoned on many occasions because they refused to renounce their
claims. Their persistent dedication to
Jesus Christ finally resulted in the torturous execution of all but one of
them. And the one who was not executed
had to be exiled to a small Island because of his refusal to deny Jesus.
If the
disciples of Jesus had stolen His body, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume
that at least one of them would have renounced his faith in order to
escape execution? However, such is not
the case because each disciple glorified Jesus until his final breath.
Of course, some skeptics have
tried to downplay the execution of Christ’s disciples by reminding people that
the world has had many martyrs who died for false causes. However, what they fail to point out is that
a martyr only dies for a cause that he or she sincerely believes to be true. The disciples of Jesus were martyred because they
believed He had been raised from the dead.
Their belief was based on the fact that Jesus actually appeared to them
after He had been crucified. He ate with
them; He drank with them; He let them examine the marks from His wounds; and,
He remained on earth for forty days after His resurrection. If Jesus was not resurrected, then there is
really no explanation for the harmonious and unwavering testimonies that were
proclaimed by each disciple until his death.
A Wrong Number
A careful
study of the theories that people have devised in order to explain away the
resurrection of Christ will only demonstrate their willful ignorance of the
truth. Some “scholars” have even tried
to say that the women who went to visit the body of Jesus must have gone to the
wrong tomb. This, they say, is the
reason why the tomb was empty. If this
was true, then the disciples must have also gone to the wrong tomb; the religious
leaders must have gone to the wrong tomb; and Joseph of Arimethea
must have forgotten which tomb he owned.
The many other problems that this theory encounters are obvious and are
not even worth mentioning.
A Helpful Enemy
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is
the most well-established fact of ancient history. This is because much of the evidence in favor
of it was provided by Christ’s very enemies.
His enemies attested to His death; His enemies placed a guard at the
tomb to prevent any foul play; and it was Christ’s enemies who provided
absolute assurance that the tomb was empty on Easter morning. When Jesus
conquered death He provided the ultimate proof that He was and still is who He
claimed to be - the Eternal Lord of Life and Savior of mankind.
The Truth:
“Jesus said to her, "I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and
everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die… (John 11 :25,26)
“For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to
undergo decay.” (Psalm 16:10 a
Messianic prophecy written 1000 years before Christ)
“And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel
of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat
upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as
snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said
to the women, " Do not be afraid;
for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. "He is
not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was
lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and
behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold,
I have told you." And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy
and ran to report it to His disciples.” (Matthew28:3-8)