THE LOST TOMB of JESUS???
Acts 1:1-4
1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
I think it was last Easter I said something about not being surprised if they say they have found the bones of Jesus in a grave. About a year later it has happened, and just like last year just in time for Easter. Last year it was the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Philip, The Jesus Papers, and the Da Vinci Code. I said God allows times when the “evidence” seems to contradict the Word of God to give us a choice to believe by faith or accept the evidence. Later it seems he will discredit the “so called evidence”. He wants us to believe his word above all else.
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Claims in a new documentary that an ancient tomb discovered decades ago outside of Jerusalem contained the bones of Jesus and his family may be a great money-making gimmick - but scientifically, it is nonsense, according to leading archeologists and scholars in Jerusalem.
"The Lost Tomb of Jesus," due to air on the Discovery Channel on March 4, claims that a 2,000-year-old tomb containing 10 boxes of bones belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth. (Two millennia ago, the dead were left to decompose in a cave and their bones collected a year later and buried in bone boxes or ossuaries.)
The documentary claims that inscriptions on six of 10 ossuaries found in a single tomb indicate that there is a one in 600 chance that bones in the tomb were those of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and a son, along with other family members, a press release said.
According to the Bible, Jesus was God incarnate who was crucified, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. He wasn’t married and never had any natural children. Mary Magdalene was a woman out of whom seven demons were exorcized and became a follower of Jesus.
Professor Amos Kloner of Bar Ilan University oversaw the original archeological dig 27 years ago. Kloner could not be contacted Tuesday, but comments published in the Jerusalem Post indicated that he dismissed the tale entirely.
"It makes a great story for a TV film," Kloner said. "But it’s completely impossible. It’s nonsense."
WHY DOES IT MATTER? The very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven
The Problems with the Lost Tomb of Jesus
1. It is not a new discovery. It was found 27 years ago in 1980.
William Dever, an expert on near eastern archaeology and anthropology, who has worked with Israeli archeologists for five decades, said specialists have known about the ossuaries for years.
"The fact that it’s been ignored tells you something," said Dever, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona. "It would be amusing if it didn’t mislead so many people.
2. The DNA evidence only proves they are not all blood relatives.
- It seems to mean two were married.
3. The names Jesus and Mary are common names in that time.
-Critics said all the names were commonplace in Biblical times
Hebrew University archeologist and epigraphist Leah DiSegni said that the names found in the tomb were among the most common names of the day.
It would be like finding a tomb with the name "George" on it in the future and people asserting that it must have been the tomb of President George Bush, DiSegni told Cybercast News Service.
Many women in that era were called Miriam (Hebrew for Mary), DiSegni said. That was why they added descriptive titles to their names, such as where they were from.
4. There is real problems translating them to Jesus and Mary.
Pfann is even unsure that the name "Jesus" on the caskets was read correctly. He thinks it’s more likely the name "Hanun." Ancient Semitic script is notoriously difficult to decipher.
Nor is there anything remarkable about finding bone boxes inscribed with the names of Yeshua, Miriam or Mary, the Christian clergy leader asserts. This is especially the case since Yeshua was "one of the most popular male names of that period," he adds, and "30 percent of women were named Mary at that time."
And Mariamene, which some scholars believe was Mary Magdalene’s original name, was "as popular as Jill or Sally is today in our culture," Schenck says. Speculating about the bone boxes depicted in The Lost Tomb of Jesus based simply on the names they bear, the minister contends, "is like finding [an artifact with the name] ’Bill Smith’ and saying, ’which Bill Smith is it?’ There’s just nothing here."
5. Jesus family was from Galilee, and so his family plot would not be in Jerusalem.
*Since Jesus was from the Galilee area, there is no way he and his relatives would have had a family tomb in Jerusalem, said Kloner. The tomb in which the ossuaries were found belonged to a "middle class family from the first century," he said. (Amos Kloner)
6. All the bones were buried in 1980, and only DNA remains.
The ossuaries do not contain any bones. The bones were reburied after their discovery, as is standard practice with archaeological finds in Israel.
7. Not even the producers believe it is really Jesus.
DiSegni did not think the film makers truly believed the theory they were promoting but were simply out to make money.
"It’s a pity people are so easily fooled" and more ready to believe in "fables than in reality," she added.
8. People will become more skeptical to the true story of Jesus.
Professor Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar, archeologist and historian at the University of the Holyland. The film makers want to "stir up a hornets nest," said Pfann. He doubted the documentary would affect Christians as long as they don’t succumb to skepticism, he added.
"It’s not the kind of thing that’s a challenge to our faith," said Pfann, a Christian. "For people who really have faith it’s not an issue."
"We don’t have any physical record of Jesus’ existence," he claimed. "So what this film ... shows is for the first time tangible, physical, archaeological and in some cases forensic evidence."
He said that to a layman’s eye "it seemed pretty darn compelling." James Cameron
"I don’t think that Christians are going to buy into this," Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."
9. It is being used as evidence for the Da Vinci Code Theory.
Director Simcha Jacobovici told the press conference: "For millions of readers, the Da Vinci Code was a fantasy, a fiction. Here is a Judah, son of Jesus, next to a Jesus and a Mariamne."
The Scripture Record “Many Convincing Proofs”
I The Ancient Convincing Proofs
A. Three days in the tomb - No doubt of his death
B. The Evidence of the Graveclothes - Eyewitnesses
C. He spent 40 days with them after he arose -no room for doubt
-Over 500 at one time saw him
D. They proclaimed his Death and Resurrection in the same city it happened in, and thousands became followers. (If they could have disproved it they would have)
E. His disciples did the same signs and wonders through his name as he did while on earth.
F. His disciples were willing to be killed for this story.
-they were eyewitnesses, they were not deceived or deceivers
Transition: Even Today they are giving their lives for Him. Every Home for Christ letter this week told of a Muslim man named Bela from the village of Gitten in Ethiopia. Bela and his wife, and 8 children turned from Islam to Jesus Christ when a EHFC missionary visited their village. The leaders from the Mosque came to him and demanded that he renounce Jesus and return to the Mosque, when he refused they beat him. They cam back later and demanded he renounce Jesus again, and when he refused they tied up his wife and began to stone her. When he wouldn’t respond they beat him with knives and clubs, and finally slashed his throat because he wouldn’t renounce Jesus. He was a believer for the grand total of one week. He would rather be dead than turn away from the living Christ.
II The Modern Convincing Proofs
I wrote to the Jesus Film people after getting their recent newsletter this week and complained. I said, “The accounts of the Jesus Film I used to get sounded just like the book of Acts - Witch doctors being saved, demons being cast out, miracles, etc, but now all I hear is a sanitized version of Christianity lacking supernatural events. Then I read my own question on an old message - “What is happening in your church that you can’t explain naturally?” I had to admit that I too had given in to a sanitized version of Christianity too.
A. Personal Experience - His Spirit bears witness within me Romans 8:16
I spoke to him this morning as Nicole C. Mullins says on her song my redeemer lives. I felt his presence. We need the ancient convincing proofs of Bible times, but we also need modern proofs that we experience today.
B. He still Speaks- John 10-
Are you listening. God once told me the color of the carpet of the church I was to go candidate at to confirm his leading. It was blue. I told my wife before hand, and so when we walked in I said look at the carpet.
C. He still Answers Prayer (John 14:14) 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
My daughters laptop was not working well, so I decided to reformat it and reinstall Windows XP. After I wiped it out it wouldn’t reinstall, because the disk was damaged. I though oh great at least it worked before a little, now it won’t work at all. So I laid my hand on the laptop and prayed for God to heal it. I tried again and still damaged. Then I thought to try an older disk, and miraculously it worked. I put the other one back in and no disk damage. Praise God it is working well today. NOthing is impossible, because Jesus is still in business.
D. Miracles Still happen (John 14:12)
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
In Peter Wagners book "How to have a healing ministry" he tells of Mel Tari one of the leaders in the Indonesian revival record of the dead being raised (page 176). Tari’s small ministry team had been called to a funeral in the village of Amfoang to console the grieving family. The man had been dead two days and without embalming he was rapidly decaying. You couldn’t stand within 100 feet of him for the smell. In the middle of the funeral God told Tari and his team to stand around the corpse and sing songs until he rose from the dead. They obeyed and on the sixth song the corpse began to move his toes, and by the end of the eighth song he was awake and smiling. The result was 21,000 people coming to know Jesus. Because he is still alive.
E. People are still healed in his name (Mark 16:17-20)
17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." ...20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
How many of you could say God has healed me in my life?
Raise your hand.
Even in my own small ministry I have seen cancer disapear, deteriorating disks healed and the pain gone, bones in the ear canel missing from birth restored, etc. Jesus is still in the healing business.
F. Dreams and Visions are still coming to the church from Jesus (Acts 2"17)
17 "’In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams
I had a dream before I ever candidated here at Grace that I was meeting with a church board, and a black man was asking the question. I know there aren’t very many black Wesleyan Churches, but when I interviewed here Rueben asked the questions as the vice chairman of the board. This confirmed God’s call to come here to me.
G. Lives are still being Transformed Today by believing on his Name.
Drunks are becoming good fathers and mothers. Prostitutes are leaving the streets. Marriages are being restored. The hopeless are recieving hope, because Jesus is not in a tomb, but still alive.
THE LOST TOMB OF JESUS?????
Problems with the Lost Tomb
1. It is not a _________ discovery. 1980
2. The DNA evidence only proves they are not all _______ relatives.
3. The names Jesus and Mary are _________ names in that time.
4. There is real problems ________________ the names to Jesus and Mary Magdalene.
5. 5. Jesus family was from __________, and so his family plot would not be in Jerusalem.
6. All the bones were buried in 1980, and only ________ remains.
7. Not even the ___________ believe it is really Jesus.
8. People will become more ____________ to the true story of Jesus.
"I don’t think that Christians are going to buy into this," Prof. Pfann said. "But skeptics, in general, would like to see something that pokes holes into the story that so many people hold dear."
9. It is being used as evidence for the _______________ Theory.
I The Ancient Convincing Proofs (Acts 1:1-4)
A. Three days in the tomb - No doubt of his death
B. The Evidence of the Graveclothes - Eyewitnesses
C. He spent 40 days with them after he arose -no room for doubt
D. They proclaimed his Death and Resurrection in the same city it happened in, and thousands became followers.
E. His disciples did the same signs and wonders through his name as he did while on earth.
F. His disciples were willing to be killed for this story.
II The Modern Convincing Proofs
A. Personal Experience - His Spirit bears witness within me Romans 8:16
B. He still _________- John 10
C. He still Answers Prayer (John 14:14)
D. _____________ Still happen (John 14:12)
E. People are still healed in his name (Mark 16:17-20)
F. Dreams and Visions are still coming to the church from Jesus (Acts 2:17)
G. Lives are still being ________________ Today by believing on his Name
