The Three Resurrections
Part 1 The First Resurrection - Luke 24:1-12
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Jesus’ Historical Resurrection is Foundational
The resurrection is foundational to all that is Christianity. And it is that foundation of the veracity of returning from the dead that marks the biggest difference between all other religions and Christianity, only Christianity claims a risen, still living founder.
Abraham, the founder of the Jewish Faith is in a tomb in Israel.
Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, didn't believe in any resurrection. He said, "with that utter passing away in which nothing remains"
Mohammad, the founder of Islam, is in a tomb in Medina, Saudi Arabia.
Track down all the great religion leaders and founder in all of the world’s history and you’ll find that without exception death has claimed them all, all except one, the One. He gave himself to death but death could not hold him. He even foretold His death and also that it would be defeat in just 3 days.
The Facts Of the Historical Resurrection
Occurred in a definite time and place. Ten accounts of Jesus being seen after the resurrection.
It was witnessed by men and women followers I Cor.15:3-8.
The Jewish leaders did not refute the witnesses. They only had to produce the body but could not. Matthew 28:11-15
The Jews at Pentecost could deny the assertion of Peter, but they dared not. Acts 2:22-24
The eye-witnesses all died for Christ. Would they be willing to die for what they knew was a lie?
"Yet even the most skeptical Biblical scholars concede that something extraordinary happened in Jerusalem after good Friday to account for the radical change in the behavior of the disciples, who at Jesus' arrest had fled to their own homes in fear. Could Jesus' resurrection account for the fact that within a few weeks they were boldly preaching their message to the very people who had sought to crush them?" U.S. News and World Report Apr.16, 1990 pg.53.
There are around 20 accounts outside the Bible that were written within 100 years of Jesus’s life and make directly to Him or to his followers or family.
Perhaps the most famous was by the historian Josephus who fought during the Jewish revolt that result in the destruction of the Temple by Titus. In Josephus’ account written for the Roman Emperors Vespasian and Titus at end of 1st century and within 50 years of Jesus life, we read,
"Now 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, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many Jews and also many Greeks. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross, upon his impeachment by the principal men among us. Those who loved Him from the first did not forsake him, for he Appeared to them alive on the third day, the Divine prophets having spoken these and thousands Of wonderful things about him. And even now the race of Christians so named from him, has not died out." (Disputed)
“At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. And those who had become his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Accordingly, he was perhaps the Messiah concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.” (newly discovered 10th Century Arabic Text)
Atheists who became believers.
Albert Henry Ross who wrote under the pseudonym Frank Morison, was critical of the resurrection of Jesus, and set out to analyze the sources and to write a paper debunking he supernatural aspects of Jesus life. Ross firmly believed in the maxim of the famous atheist Aldous Huxley, that, “Miracles do not happen.” After researching the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, the wrote the book, "Who Moved the Stone?" putting in the title the question he could not answer as an atheist and became a believer.
Journalist Lee Strobel trying to disprove his wife’s new found faith in Jesus researched and interviewed scores of people, experts in their fields of history, theology and science. As he interviewed both believers and non-believers, he found questions he could not answers and proof that he could not deny. He would up believing in Jesus and then writing his book, “The Case for Christ”
Civil War General and US Ambassador, Author Lew Wallace, after being challenged during a train ride by the famous atheist Robert Ingersoll researched and then wrote “Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ.” Which become the best-selling novel of the 19th century and has never gone out of print. Now think about that for a moment. This novel outsold the novels of Charles Dickens, Sir Author Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Jane Austin and all the other 1800s novelists.
Homicide and Cold Case Detective, J. Warner Wallace – "Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels"
The Christian worldview does not require “blind faith.” In fact, Jesus repeatedly presented evidence to support His claims of Deity and when John the Baptist expressed doubt, Jesus responded with yet another evidential display of His power. Christians are not asked to believe without evidence (or worse yet, in spite of the evidence), but to instead place their trust in the most reasonable inference from the evidence, even though there may still be several unanswered questions. Christianity is evidentially reasonable, even if we are unable to examine every possible alternative. —J Warner Wallace
Abuse survivor and pre-law student Josh McDowell was challenged by some Christian friends in college to really examine and research the person of Jesus Christ.
So intense was his research that he dropped out of college went to Europe to follow the evidence. In the end he was so convinced that he became a believer, wrote the book, “Evidence that Demands A Verdict” and for over 50 years has been one of the foremost defenders of the Bible and the historical facts of the life of Christ.
He spends dozens of pages in Evidence That Demands a Verdict knocking down false theories, like the one suggesting Christ didn’t really die but woke up and escaped from the tomb.
“There were a hundred and some pounds of encasement of aromatic spices and gumming of cement consistency around His body, wrapped tightly in three separate linen cloths weighing about 117 pounds,” McDowell told CBN News.
He continued, “Christ was encased in that, and it becomes hardened. Second, how would He be able to move in such a state like that a one-and-a-half to two-ton stone away from the entrance?”
Oxford College Professor and author C. S. Lewis who after years of intense denial of God and Christ accepted Christ as his savior, through his reading and caring friends, especially JRR Tolkien. Once converted he became one of the one of the most influential intellectual defender of the Christian faith in all the 20th century.
In “Mere Christianity,” he wrote, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.
Facing Our Own Facts.
If it is true then that Jesus really lived upon this earth and around 30 AD was crucified and then 3 days later rose from the borrowed tomb they buried Him in, showed Himself to hundreds of people and proved He truly was Jesus of Nazareth who had died and now was alive, what does is mean to me. If accept the Gospel accounts as true, as history as so many billions and billions of people have, what difference does it make to me and you personally?
Just this, if Jesus died then He died as a substitute for me. He died to pay for my sin debt. He died to save me from the wrath of God’s judgment an through grace I can experience salvation.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
His death by crucifixion paid the price for my sin, His resurrection proved His power over sin and the death that always follows sin. Without both the cross and the empty tomb there could be no salvation. His death was proof of God's judgement and love. His resurrection was proof of his power over sin and death.
The question we must all face is do I believe that? Not just the history or facts of Jesus life, but do I believe that His death and resurrection can affect me now? Can change me today? Can save me from my sin and when I die take me home to heaven? That’s what I really must believe. If its not personal and real to you then all the history is just a collect of worthless facts.
