Jesus And Easter

II. The Human Theories

There have been multiple theories that have been presented by men to explain the resurrection. If you can prove that the empty tomb was a result of the work of men, Christianity crumbles.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 1 Corinthians 15:17

From the swoon theory that says Jesus never really died, to the wrong tomb theory that says that everyone, including the owner of the tomb simply forgot where Jesus was buried, each theory has major holes in it and can be refuted with the facts that we’ve just looked at. The major theory that was put forth that day, the cover up by the Pharisees and chief priests that continues to be used by many skeptics today is:

A. The Theft Theory

This theory says that Christ’s body was stolen by one of three groups: The disciples, the Jews, or the Romans.

Let’s deal with the Romans and the Jews first because these are the simplest to refute. The Romans would not have taken the body because the very reason that Pilate crucified Jesus was to keep the peace. The missing body stirred up all sorts of trouble and problems in Jerusalem. If the Romans had the body, they would have produced it and ended the matter immediately. The same is true for the Jews. As soon as the disciples began preaching the resurrected Christ and Jews began turning away from tradition and entering into a relationship with Christ, the Jews would have said, " hold it, we have the body, it’s right here" and the matter would have been put to rest.

The most popular belief was that the disciples had taken the body.

Read 28:11-15

The guards knew that the empty tomb meant that they were responsible and that they would fall into trouble if they were allowed the body to be stolen, so they approached the chief priests .. The Chief Priests were faced with their worst nightmare, the tomb that they had under guard to contain the Body of Christ was empty. They had to think fast. The Chief priests paid them and promised to protect them if they would spread a lie about what had happened. The problem with the story is that

A) if they were sleeping, they would not have known who took the body, and

B) the disciples could not have pulled off a theft like this.

The disciples would have had to overpower the guards (whose own testimony refuted that that took place) to even have a chance to get into the tomb. 11 ordinary men would never have stood a chance against these guards. If they could have gotten in, they would have grabbed the body and bolted. Instead, the grave clothes were laid neatly in the grave where they had been. They wouldn’t have wasted time with the graves clothes, they would have been in a hurry to leave. Also, we see how brave they are when each one flees and deserts Christ. This is a group who has been humiliated and they are depressed, and defeated.

Their actions show that they believed it was over and being good Jews, they would have wanted the body of Christ to rest and would not have defiled it or themselves by moving it. There is also the fact that they still didn’t understand Christ’s teaching about Himself, the fact that He would rise.