15 years ago it was nearly Easter and I was preparing for my first ever sermon. I had broken my leg playing football only 5 months before and I was just about up and walking properly again. My plans to start a Soccer Academy had come to fruition just one week before I broke my leg during Labour weekend 2008, it felt like such a disaster at the time ! But with help from others, the Soccer Academy continued through to Summer with me on crutches and by Autumn, the opportunity to preach came up for Easter. Funnily enough, I can also pinpoint the start of our journey to France to that very week in April 2009. My old life died when I broke my leg and a new life was born !
I always like to revisit that message I gave back then on Resurrection Sunday 2009.
In December 2022 we finished a 12 part series on the Apostles Creed and the resurrection of Jesus nearly 2000 years ago and of the Dead in the future is an essential part of the Christian faith including the Easter story in statements 4, 5 and the hope of resurrection it brings us in statement 11. It is our great hope enough to sustain us for whatever life may throw at us. How the World needs this Good News right now !
Paul in fact said that the resurrection of the body is very easy to believe so we don’t need to spend time on that today.
1 Corinthians 15:35-38
But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain—perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.
Instead we can focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus. I started reading this week in Matthew 25, this was after Jesus had entered Jerusalem on the donkey at Passover time.
The last chapter of Matthew is the shortest out of the last chapters of the 4 gospels.
At Passover, Jerusalem would swell in number from 25,000 to an estimated 150,000. Remember Pilate and Herod were there for the Passover and they heard the large crowds shouting « Hosanna to the Son of David » the crowds recognised him as the Messiah and thought he was coming to take over, no wonder Pilate and Herod were shaken to the core. The first thing Jesus did was to go to the temple and driven out the merchants, no wonder the Pharisees and other leaders were scared that the Romans wouldn’t stand for a riot.
All the chapters after Jesus had entered to Jerusalem up to his death on the Cross are full of darkness, judgement and pain. Condemning the Pharisees, overturning the tables in the temple, the prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the world, stars falling from heaven, the final judgment, betrayal, failure, abandonment, sorrow, despair, torture and death.
The destiny of the entire human race hang in the balance in that week of terrible suffering.
John 12:31-33
Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
But that makes us ask if the Devil has already been judged and cast out, why is there so much pain in the world? Why is the Devil still at large ? The reason is that the Devil was cast out of Heaven and down to Earth.
Revelation 12:10-12
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Though the Devis already judged, the judgment of mankind is still to come. Because evil men and women deliberately choose the Devil over God, thereby inviting him in. They only have ourselves to blame! But there is a way out !
Good Friday was a dark day in human history when mankind crucified the Son of God. But it is called Good Friday for a reason. In what appeared to be a day of utter defeat, God was putting in place the means by which all mankind could be saved. It was both a day of victory for evil and a day of victory for good. Only God could have pulled it off in such circumstances. We look at what is happening in wars around the world and it looks like evil is triumphing. We do not want to be like the disciples all doom and gloom when Jesus had told them the opposite, that he would rise again. Similarly, we have been told that when we see all these things that were spoken of by Jesus and the prophets happening in our time, that our redemption is near, Jesus is coming soon ! So we must not be negative, all doom and gloom either. Instead, now is the time to be excited and motivated to tell others the Good News of the Gospel.
Then in Matthew 28, suddenly light breaks through on Sunday morning. Suddenly the world is the right way up again. Isn’t that just the way life is. Some give up hope on Friday when the sky is dark and death comes, they don’t make it to Sunday. The Jesus Film was faithful to the account in the Gospel of Luke but I’m not aware of any film that followed the account in Matthew;
Matthew 28 is written below for comparison sake.
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.” So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.” Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Nevertheless it is worth today to look at the evidence for the resurrection and how the world has tried to explain it away. Other than the 4 gospels, there have been a number of good books written on the topic.
1. Former sceptics such as the lawyer Frank Morison (Who Moved the Stone ?)
2. Former agnostics like the student Josh McDowell (Evidence that Demands a Verdict)
3. Former atheists like the journalist Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ)
4. and the cold case detective J Warner Wallace (Cold Case Christianity)
When you hear the arguments that have been put forward by the sceptics and balance that against your own knowledge of the truth and personal experience, I am confident you will cast any doubts aside and believe just as the writers intended.
Let’s have a look again at these false explanations of the Resurrection. As the Cold Case Detective would say, we want to eliminate the wrong suspects from our enquiries and having eliminated all the other suspects, be left with the truth. First of all then;
1. Swoon Theory: That Jesus didn’t actually die but somehow revived in the tomb, rolled the stone away, walked out and recovered. To do this Jesus would have had to survive the beating and lashing he received that ripped open his flesh, the nails in his hands and feet, more than 6 hours nailed to the cross, and a spear thrust into his side and up into his heart. Then after 2 nights in the cold tomb and in critical condition with severe loss of blood, roll the very heavy stone away (up to 2 tonne), walk out past the Roman Guard, and within a few hours appear to the women and disciples fit and well. We can very safely assume the executioners had done their job and that Jesus had died. When Jesus was speared, doctors say that the blood and water coming out was proof of death. John who was at the crucifixion testified;
John 19:33-35
But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
2. Hallucination – The people that claim they saw Christ after he died were only hallucinating. Well that sure was a lot of people hallucinating! This theory is very poor for a number of reasons;
1. The number of witnesses
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 tells us
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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 by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
2. The number of sightings – at the tomb, on the road to Emmaus, the upper room on 2 occasions, at the lake and on the Mount of Olives.
3. They were physical encounters not just sightings. Jesus encouraged the disciples to touch him and told Thomas to put his hand in the holes in his hands and side.
4. They all testified the same type of story that they had heard him speak, seen him, touched him and eaten with him. With a hallucination you would find that one person’s was quite different from another’s. Hallucinations are very individualistic in that respect.
3. Impersonation – The person they met wasn’t the real Jesus. It’s true that quite often in their encounters, people didn’t recognise him or naturally doubted at first. In one of the funniest passages in the bible in Matthew 28:16-17 were told;
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
However the fact they didn’t recognise him was more to do with;
• They weren’t expecting to see a dead man alive again
• His body was resurrected and was somewhat different.
However their lack of recognition was always temporary and after hearing him speak or eating with him, the Bible tells us suddenly they would recognise him. It is not possible that an impostor could have fooled his family not to mention the disciples who’d been living and travelling with him those last 3 years. Also could anyone other than the Son of God have ascended into Heaven right before their eyes?
4. Spiritual Resurrection – This theory was sadly put forward by modern scholars. They say that the story is only an illustration of the truth of new life after death. So what they’re really saying is that Christ’s body remained in the tomb. They’re missing one crucial fact – the empty tomb! But also the encounters were definitely physical not spiritual. Jesus told the disciples specifically that he was definitely not a ghost. In Luke 24:39
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
In fact Jesus resurrected body should give us great hope of a physical resurrection;
• He could appear in different forms so they didn’t recognise him (Mark 16:12)
• He could eat
• He could appear and disappear
• He could pass through solid objects like the door not because he was a ghost but as Winkie Pratney said, because he was more solid than the door!
5. The Wrong Tomb – The suggestion here is that the women and the disciples went to the wrong tomb. This is not credible for several reasons;
• The tomb was right there at Calvary where the crucifixion had taken place
• The women and John who were at the crucifixion could see the body being buried a short distance away. One may have been mistaken but not all of them.
John 19:41-42
Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.
• There was a Roman seal on the tomb with guards standing over it and it was easily identifiable
• Most importantly, Jesus’ enemies the Jewish Leaders and the Romans could not produce the body or show the correct tomb. The body was definitely missing and the tomb was definitely empty
6. Theft – All of the previous theories are ruled out leaving the only one the Jewish Leaders could offer at the time. That the disciples had stolen the body. Actually they knew it wasn’t true but they wanted to try and squash the story there and then. This is found in
Matthew 28:12-15
When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Apart from what is written in Matthew, what else disproves the claim that the disciples stole the body?
• The evidence of the linen cloth and swath being left behind neatly folded.
John 20:7
and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
People hurrying to steal a body wouldn’t bother to undress it and leave the clothes folded neatly behind. That clearly points to Jesus himself. This detail is quite humorous to me, personally I think Jesus knew his Mum was coming down to the tomb later and he knew he’d better leave a tidy bed !
• The disciples were not willing or able to take on a Roman guard of well disciplined battle ready soldiers;
• Their hopes and dreams of Jesus being the Messiah had been crushed
• They were grief stricken over the loss of their friend
• They had all run away less than 2 days before and were hiding in the upper room. Only the women were brave enough to venture out first thing on Sunday morning.
• The only fighting man among them was Simon the Zealot
• There was no reason to move him. Jesus had been buried honourably in the best tomb paid for by a rich man
• It didn’t do them any favours to tell people that Jesus was alive – they were persecuted and eventually killed because of their testimony. If they had stolen the body, then all but one of them died for a lie.
So there you have them. Six suspects ruled out because they don’t stack up under cross examination. Still you have to explain the empty tomb.
So who do you believe? The eye witness accounts or the critics writing 2000 years later?
All of which leaves us with the only true explanation, that Jesus really did rise from the dead. This is what the gospel writers wanted us to know about God. That in his kindness, all he wants from us so we can be saved is our belief. Believing in the Resurrection is the key to our salvation.
God promises in Romans 10:9
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
That week and a half back in April 2009 as I prepared for my first sermon on April 12th, I sat down and read the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and tried to put myself in the story. I’d encourage you to do the same. The more I read and challenged them with my own questions, the more sense they made to me. They seem so full of real responses, of accurate pictures of ordinary life being invaded by the extraordinary and in no way do they attempt to gloss over the weaknesses of the characters in the story. They don’t paint the disciples as heroic souls who battled against the Romans and fought for Jesus. They are very honest accounts of doubt, of fear and surprise and joy found in a new reality with real hope.
That really is the challenge for me. That having been convinced about the Resurrection and receiving the new life, of then letting it motivate and change me on a daily basis. Then telling others what I’ve discovered. Yes we need to believe for our salvation but we owe God more than just belief. What does this mean to you? How do you answer Jesus’ question;
John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
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