What is the most significant event in world history? No doubt, you can receive as many answers to that question as there are people. But for the Christian, the answer is simple. The most significant event in the history of mankind is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Some religions, both ancient and modern, require no historical basis, or they depend upon ideas rather than events. Christianity is not one of these.” - E.F. Harrison, Historian
Scholars agree that to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was not an actual figure of history is an untenable position (Note: I elected to reference liberal scholars and skeptics through-out the message to show that the idea of Christ being a real figure of history isn;t just an idea promoted and accepted by conservative, evangelical Christians).
“This view [that Jesus didn’t exist] is demonstrably false. It is fuelled by a regrettable form of atheist prejudice, which holds all the main primary sources, and Christian people, in contempt. Most of its proponents are also extraordinarily incompetent.” - Maurice Casey, Liberal Professor of N.T., Nottingham University
“I don’t think there’s any serious historian who doubts the existence of Jesus . . . We have more evidence for Jesus than we have for almost anybody from his time period.” - Prof Bart Ehrman, Liberal Professor, Religion Dept., University of North Carolina
“Some judgments are so probable as to be certain; for example, Jesus really existed, and he really was crucified, just as Julius Caesar really existed and was assassinated. We can in fact know as much about Jesus as we can about any figure in the ancient world.” - Marcus Borg, Liberal Professor, Jesus Seminar Member
And among the undeniable facts of history is that after Christ’s crucifixion, the tomb He had been buried in was found to be empty on the third day following His death.
“If we apply the same sort of criteria that we would apply to any other ancient literary sources, then the evidence is firm and plausible enough to necessitate the conclusion that the tomb was, indeed, found empty.” - Historian & Skeptic, Michael Grant
That the empty tomb is an event of history is also affirmed by means of just applying common sense. When the disciples found the empty tomb, they didn't go to Athens or Rome to spread the news. No, they went to the city of Jerusalem, where, if what they were claiming was false, it could have been denied and easily proven by the authorities. That the tomb was empty . . . “could have not been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned.” - Paul Althaus, German Theologian
That Jesus lived, was crucified, & His tomb found empty on the third day afterward are undeniable facts. But, “Why was the tomb empty?”
Various efforts have been made to provide explanations for the empty tomb - the disciples went to the wrong tomb; the disciples hallucinated - again, if these had been the case, their claims of an empty tomb could have easily been disproven by the authorities producing Jesus’ body.
Others say that the body was stolen by the disciples while the guards slept. Not only does the depression and cowardice of the disciples as a result of Christ’s crucifixion argue against them making such a bold move; but so does their bravery in the fact of later persecution and
martyrdom. People will give their lives for what they believe to be true, but not for what they know to be false. Then there are those who contend that Jesus didn't really die on the cross. They say He merely “swooned,” was mistaken for dead, then awoke once He was placed in the tomb and then escaped.
“It is impossible that a being who had stolen half-dead out of the sepulcher, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indulgence, and who still at last yielded to His sufferings, could have given to the disciples the
impression that He was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life, an impression which lay at the bottom of their future ministry. Such a resuscitation could only have weakened the impression which He had made upon them in life and in death, but could by no possibility have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm, have elevated their reverence into worship.” - David Friedrich Strauss, Skeptic and Writer
What other explanation might there be?
“I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.” - Professor Thomas Arnold, Chair of modern history at Oxford
The best explanation for the empty tomb is that which the angel announced to the women who first discovered the tomb to be empty.
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” - Matthew 28:5-6a (NIV)
Notice those last four words: “just as he said.” Through-out His ministry, Jesus constantly spoke of His death, burial, and resurrection - see Matthew 17:22-23; 20:18-19; 26:31-32; John 2:l9; l0:l7-18. In fact, Jesus declared that the sign that would prove the truth of His ministry was that He would be raised from the dead.
“Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days
and three nights.” - Matthew 12:39-40 (NLT)
The resurrection of Christ is the ultimate sign of the truth of His claims! And what did He claim? He claimed to be the Messiah, to be God come in the flesh, to be our only hope, to be our one and only Savior. His resurrection simply put an exclamation point at the end of our Lord’s claim.
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. 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.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Conclusion: What choice have you made?
Won’t you join with the hundreds upon hundreds of thousands who have chosen to believe - only to discover by experience through that act of faith the reality of what the Scriptures proclaim - that Jesus is alive?
Some are afraid to trust in Christ as their Savior, because they don’t understand everything they would like to have an answer to. Note what the angel said, “Do not be afraid . . . He has risen.” In light of the overwhelming evidence of history for the fact of the resurrection, set aside your fears and trust in Christ today.
If you have acknowledged Christ as your personal Savior, then choose today to stand for Him and share the truth about Him, unashamedly, unapologetically, boldly, and fearlessly. Again, note what the angel said, “Do not be afraid . . . He has risen.”
