"Can Not Cover Up The Resurrection"

Cannot cover up the Resurrection they tried but it didn’t work!

Matthew 28:62-66

1. They were told to make the tomb secure

• 62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.

• 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, `After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

• 65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how."

• 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

2. They attempted to cover up the Resurrection

• 12When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13telling them, "You are to say, `His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' 14If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." 15So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

3. Cannot cover up the resurrection There are evidences of the Resurrection I found six but there are more

1. Empty Tomb Luke says, “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

2. He appeared unto the women Mary Magdalene and other holy women. Even the apostles did not believe Mary when she told them the tomb was empty

3. New Found Courage is proof Men once hid in terror now

A. After the crucifixion, Jesus' apostles hid behind locked doors, terrified they would be executed next.

B. But something changed them from cowards to bold preachers. Anyone who understands human character knows people do not change that much without some major influence. That influence was seeing their Master, bodily risen from the dead.

C. After seeing Jesus alive, Peter and the others left the locked room and preached the risen Christ, unafraid of what would happen to them. They quit hiding because they knew the truth

4. There was also a large crowd of eye witnesses Paul writes to the Corinthians he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,B and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

5. The conversion of Paul was proof of the Resurrection No greater hater of Jesus than Paul yet he was converted the risen Christ appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road, Paul became Christianity's most determined missionary. He endured five floggings, three beatings, three shipwrecks, a stoning, poverty, and years of ridicule.

6. The Apostles would die for Jesus that is proof of the Resurrection

• Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.

• John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos

• James, the brother of Jesus was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. He was thrown from the southeast pinnacle of the temple (over a hundred feet down) when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a club.

• Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed in present-day Turkey and was martyred for his preaching in Armenia, being flayed to death by a whip.

• Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.” He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he died