A Case for the Risen Christ
Intro: How important is the resurrection? One Theologian said “…the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live” (Wolfhart Pannenberg, Prism Magazine- March/April 1997); Another preacher put it this way, “The resurrection is the fulcrum of faith. The resurrection is the axis, the center, the core, the pivot point of faith for a Christian. If there is no resurrection of Jesus, then Christianity is just another ancient religion with its own particular form of spirituality and morality. The truth of Christianity hinges on the resurrection” (Edward F. Markquart).
-That may sound like a series of overstatements to you, but let me assure you that it is not. As Christians, we don’t have a leg to stand on if there is no resurrection. The amazing thing is that there is a lot of substantial evidence that verifies the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ!
-The problem with access to so much information these days is that we don’t always know what to do with it all. Sometimes information overload can cause confusion.
-I heard of a grandfather who wanted to see how much his four-year-old granddaughter knew about the Easter story. He put her on his lap and asked, “Julie, why do we celebrate Easter?” Without hesitating, she said, “Jesus was crucified. After He died, His body was put into a grave. They rolled a big stone in front of the opening. A bunch of soldiers guarded the tomb. On the third day, there was a big earthquake and the stone rolled away.”
-Grandpa was pleased with how much his granddaughter knew about the Easter story but then she continued, “When the earthquake happened, the entire town came out by the grave. And if Jesus came out and saw His shadow, they knew there would be six more weeks of winter!”
-This morning I hope to simplify the overwhelming data about the Resurrection. What if we were in a courtroom trying to determine the truth about the claims of a resurrection? Each of you has jury duty this morning. How would the available evidence hold up in a court of law? Let’s go to court.
Opening Argument
-In the opening argument we want to get the whole story right about what happened on that first Easter. With all the information available in the world today, most of it is irrelevant and not very useful. I find much of it interesting and enjoy searching it out (i.e. sun darkened when Jesus died. Passover is always full moon – solar eclipses cannot occur at full moon. God darkened the sun some other way [dust storm, His hand, some other way]). A lot of these things don’t really matter. What does matter tremendously is whether or not Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus staked His entire reputation on the Resurrection -- if it didn’t happen, everything that Jesus said and did is up for debate.
-The issue before the court this morning is not that of a crime, but a claim -- a claim so remarkable and so vital that it can either make or break the credibility of Christianity. The claim is that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead. The Resurrection is the supreme miracle of Christianity -- it’s at the very heart of the faith. If it never happened, the Christian faith collapses into mythology and billions of people have been deceived. If it did happen, it authenticates everything Jesus did and said -- and believers have the guarantee of eternal life and forgiveness of sins.
-The Apostle Paul stated it boldly in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.” The Resurrection is either one of the most wicked, heartless, vicious hoaxes ever or it is the most fantastic fact of history.
-We will look at overwhelming evidence that Jesus Christ did exactly what He predicted He would do -- that on the third day He rose from the dead. Acts 1:3 states that “After His suffering, He showed Himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that He was alive.”
-That’s what we intend to do this morning – look at three key pieces of evidence that will provide convincing proof that Jesus rose from the dead.
Exhibit A: The Empty Tomb
-The Bible teaches that after professional executioners crucified Jesus, His corpse was placed in a solid rock tomb. After His body was covered with about 100 pounds of spices, it was extensively wrapped in strips of linen cloth. A very large stone, estimated to weigh about 2 tons, was then rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb.
-After this boulder was in place, a group of up to 16 Roman soldiers was assigned to secure the tomb. These men were human fighting machines. These gladiators were trained to protect the area around the tomb against an entire battalion.
-Matthew 27:66 tells us that in addition to the Roman guard, they put a tamper-proof official Roman seal on the stone. Anyone who happened to make it past the Roman soldiers would then have to break this seal, thus incurring the wrath of the Roman law.
-In spite of all these precautions – the stone, the soldiers, and the seal – the tomb was empty that first Easter morning! When the first people arrived to peer in, all they saw was the blood-stained burial cloths, as if Jesus had materialized right through them.
-The empty tomb serves as Exhibit A. It is a powerful testimony to the Resurrection of Jesus. Critics down through the years have not been able to refute the empty tomb -- instead they’ve come up with other possibilities. Maybe the disciples stole the body? But this seems far-fetched when you consider that this group of fearful disciples would have had to overpower armed soldiers, roll away a two-ton boulder, dispose of the body, and then manufacture a myth about His resurrection -- a myth that they gave their lives for. That doesn’t seem plausible.
-Another possibility would be that the religious leaders disposed of the body. But, this has some serious flaws as well. If they had removed the body, all they would have had to do is parade the remains through the streets of Jerusalem and they would have derailed Christianity from the very start. But, they couldn’t produce the body because the body was no longer dead -- Jesus had been raised to life again.
-Folks, Christianity rises or falls on the empty tomb. It is the one silent and infallible witness. Critics cannot explain it away. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then where is the body? Leaders of every other religion died and stayed dead -- their bones are decaying in the ground. That’s not the case with Jesus. He claimed that He would rise from the dead on the third day -- and that’s exactly what He did. The empty tomb validates His claim.
-While this alone provides substantial evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, this fact was not convincing in itself to the original followers of Jesus. Even though Jesus had predicted that He would rise from the dead, it’s obvious, from their behavior, that they were not expecting it. They needed more evidence -- something that would remove all doubt from their minds.
Exhibit B: Multiple Witnesses
-The early Christians did not believe Jesus had risen just because of the empty tomb -- they believed because they saw Him with their own eyes. When they talked to others about Jesus, they did not say, “We found an empty tomb,” instead, they said, “We saw Jesus alive!”
-The most outstanding proof that Jesus rose from the dead is that more than 515 eyewitnesses saw him on 12 different occasions. Acts 1:3 says that, “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 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”
-Jesus gave unquestionable proof that He was alive! After His resurrection, He made an appearance to a woman in the cemetery. Later that same day, He walked through a closed door and talked with his frightened followers who were huddled in Jerusalem. In the evening, he walked side by side with two men as they made their way down a road. He appeared to believers and doubters; to tough-minded people and tenderhearted souls.
-Several people saw Him on more than one occasion, some alone, and some with large groups; sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. The apostle Paul, when writing a letter to a group of new Christians, laid it all out in 1 Corinthians 15:3-6: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After 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.”
-It is pretty common to get two people in court who both swear they are telling the truth, but have two entirely different accounts. Now, imagine if an eyewitness was there who saw everything and testified that one version of the story was true. That would make the account a little more believable, right? How about if there were 3 eyewitnesses who could substantiate what happened? What if 12 people were willing to testify about what really happened? Or 100? It would be very telling, and totally convincing if over 515 people stepped up to verify what happened!
-To put this in perspective, if we were to call each of the 515 people to the witness stand to be questioned and cross-examined for just 15 minutes each, and we went around the clock without a break, it would take from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all. After listening to nearly 129 straight hours of eyewitness testimony, who could possibly walk away unconvinced?
-That’s how strong the case is for the resurrection of Jesus! Over 500 different individuals were willing to testify that they had seen the resurrected Christ. When Christianity was launched on the scene, these eyewitnesses were still alive and could be questioned. In effect, the early church could say, “If you don’t believe us, you can ask those who saw Him with their own eyes.”
-Peter, who was one of those eyewitnesses, got up one day and preached his first sermon. After summarizing what the prophets wrote about Jesus, and how Jesus lived, Peter laid out the details surrounding His death. A copy of his sermon notes has been preserved in the Bible. This is how he formulates his conclusion in Acts 2:32: “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” It’s interesting that Peter preaches this sermon right in the heart of Jerusalem -- the very city where Jesus was crucified and buried. People knew the tomb was empty and that Jesus had appeared to hundreds of people -- it was verifiable.
-Peter later wrote a letter that appears in the Bible. He wants his readers to know that he didn’t make the resurrection up -- he saw Jesus, he talked with Him, and even had a fish fry with Him on the beach one day. Here’s what he wrote in 2 Peter 1:16: “We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we make known to you the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”
-So far we have Exhibit A: The Empty Tomb and Exhibit B: The Multiple Witnesses.
Exhibit C: Changed Lives
-As one minister stated, “The most powerful historical proof of the resurrection is the ‘resurrected’ disciples. Dull, defeated people became fearless, adventuresome leaders. Cowards became courageous; the timid became bold” (Lloyd Ogilvie).
-Those who met the Resurrected Jesus have had their lives totally transformed. The Resurrection is validated by the changed lives of His followers.
-Something happened to radically reorient this original group of followers. After Jesus was put to death, the disciples scattered. The Bible tells us that they were gathered in a locked room on the top floor of a building. They were filled with fear. Their leader had been executed. What would happen to them now?
-John 20:19-20 lets us in on a scene that would forever change their outlook -- and their lives: “On the evening of that first day of the week [Easter Sunday evening], when the disciples were together with the doors locked out of fear...Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.”
-Instead of confronting the disciples for not standing with Him in His time of need, Jesus appeared to them and said, “Peace be with you.” This overwhelming peace cut through their own guilt and feelings of failure. Their fear was replaced with joy. Peter was changed from a coward who had denied Christ three times to a man of rock who became one of the pillars of the new church.
-These ordinary men were transformed from frightened fugitives into one of the most effective missionary organizations the world has ever seen. What motivated them to go everywhere and proclaim the message of the risen Christ? Was it money? Power? Fame? No.
-Each one of them had come from doubt to determination, from confusion to conviction, from fear to faith. Listen to how they died and see if it sounds like they were just making up the Resurrection:
• Matthew was killed in Ethiopia
• Mark was dragged through the streets until he was dead
• Peter, Simeon, Andrew, and Philip were crucified
• James was beheaded
• Bartholomew was flayed alive
• Thomas was pierced with lances
• James, the less, was thrown from the temple and stoned to death
• Jude was shot to death with arrows
• Paul was boiled in hot oil and beheaded
-May I suggest that the only thing that could have possibly changed their lives so dramatically was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Every one of these guys could have lived if they had said just one statement: “He is dead.” But they refused because they knew He was alive!
-Exhibit C is changed lives. Not only did the resurrected Christ impact this group of individuals, His life-changing power has transformed people from the third decade of the first century down through today. The combined testimony of changed lives attributed to the risen Christ runs into the billions, from every race and tribe and language and nationality in the world. Despite the various intellectual and social backgrounds, believers are united in their conviction that Jesus Christ is alive.
-Jesus has changed my life. And, I know that He has changed many of you as well. His life-changing power is just as available to us today as it was to that group of frightened followers on Easter Sunday night.
Closing Argument
-In considering the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, thinking men and women will take the time to sort through all the available information and study the evidence. First of all, how do you explain away the empty tomb? Second, how do you argue against multiple witnesses? Finally, how do you get away from the fact that the Resurrected Christ changes lives?
-The evidence is strong and compelling. In fact, many skeptics have approached the resurrection with the goal of disproving it. As they gathered all the data, they discovered that the evidence demands a verdict.
-Though you might agree with the strong evidence for the Resurrection, some of you are bored with it. It doesn’t do much for you. The data, simply put, does not seem relevant to your life. Sometimes, news and information weary me and I get bored. I want some news that I can use. The Resurrection is full of news that you can use -- it applies in a remarkable way to your life.
News You Can Use
-After investigating the evidence for the Resurrection, the question ultimately comes done to this: So What? What difference does it make in my life?
Easter answers at least 5 questions that we all have:
1. The question of doubt. Is it true? How can I know it’s true? What is truth? Like Thomas, who wouldn’t believe unless he actually could touch the wounds of Jesus, the evidence for the Resurrection can displace doubt from your mind.
-I hope you will invest in finding some answers to the doubts in your mind. Search for the truth. Be diligent about pursuing it!
2. The question of loneliness. Does anyone really care about me? Do I matter? The Resurrection proves that you matter deeply to God. Jesus died for you as payment for your sins and rose again to demonstrate how important you are to Him. He can now meet your deepest need for a relationship with Him because He’s alive.
3. The question of weakness. How can I find the power to change? Why can’t I break those bad habits in my life? Listen, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you right now! He can transform you just like he radically changed that first group of weakened people. An encounter with Jesus can give you strength and confidence like you’ve never had before.
4. The question of guilt. How can I get rid of my guilt for all the wrong I’ve done? Do you want some good news -- some news that you can really use this Easter Sunday? The Resurrection is final proof that God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as your sin substitute. Jesus is the sin-bearing Savior of the world -- the Resurrection validates this transaction.
5. The question of death. What happens when I die? Because of what Jesus did, you can now know that there is life beyond the grave. It’s not just a theory -- it’s a proven reality. Because Jesus is alive, death will never have the last word; a rising is promised for every dying, and a new beginning for every ending.
-As you analyze this evidence, you can’t sit on it forever. The evidence for the Resurrection is overwhelming -- and very relevant to your life. The evidence demands a verdict. It’s time to make your decision. It’s time to encounter the living Christ for yourself. If you want irrefutable proof for the Resurrection, then let Jesus change your life. Open yourself up to Him. Turn to Him now. Embrace the living Lord Jesus.
-In John 20, when Peter and John ran into the empty tomb, they were surprised and startled. Verse 8 says that John “saw and believed.” The word here is not the one used when we see something in the distance or even up close. It means to see with an inner light that leads to a conclusion. In other words, the light went on for him.
-Has the light gone on for you this morning? If so, then take the next step and believe. Put your faith in the Resurrected Christ and ask Him to save you from your sins and change you from the inside out.
Adapted from Brian Bill, sermoncentral.com, Case for Christ
