I wish to begin our message with a quote. Virginia, minister once stated, “We have closed our minds to such trivial considerations as the question of the resurrection of Christ. If you fundamentalists wish to believe that nonsense, we have no objections, but we have more important things to preach than the presence or absence of an empty tomb twenty centuries old.”(1)
If you find this statement appalling then just listen to this: Hal Lindsay reveals to us that, “One of the very first exposés of the beliefs of our future ministers was made by Redbook magazine in August of 1961. The publishers hired one of the top pollsters in the nation to survey a full representation of our seminaries which are supposedly preparing men for Christian service in the Protestant churches. Here [is just one] of the results: Of the ministers in training . . . fifty-four percent rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.”(2) I would like to hope that opinions have changed for the better since 1961, but you have to wonder.
Why do so many people wish to disprove the resurrection? The reason why is because the resurrection is the foundation of our faith. In the resurrection, whenever Jesus overcame death, He defeated sin, so that all who will believe in Him will overcome sin and death just as He did, and be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), and be able to live in the presence of a holy God for all eternity in heaven.
If the resurrection can be proven false, then all we believe in will come toppling down around us. “The importance of Christ’s resurrection [can] be seen when we consider that if He arose the gospel is true, and if He arose not it is false.”(3)
In 1 Corinthians 15:14-18 Paul stated, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.”
If there is no resurrection then all who have died will remain dead in the ground, and we are still left dying in our sins. That is a pretty dismal and hopeless thought.
In our message this morning I am going to ask the question, “Is the resurrection of Jesus Christ a cunningly devised fable?” thus, the title of our message with a question mark: “A Cunningly Devised Fable?”
What we are going to do this morning is look at a common argument made against the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then look at some simple proofs of the resurrection. It is my hope that by the time this message is over we will come to realize that the resurrection did indeed happen, and that it is far from being a cunningly devised fable.
A Worn Out Argument (Matthew 28:11-15)
11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Does this sound somewhat familiar to you? The main argument that many people use to refute the resurrection, is they say that Jesus’ disciples came and stole His body from the tomb. It’s been said that “if the tomb was empty it would seem that there are only three possibilities: that friends took the body away, that foes took the body away, or that Jesus arose.”(4) It seems as though many people choose to believe in the former two arguments.
I wish to state that this is a worn out and overused argument. It has been used since the very day of Jesus’ resurrection, for around 2000 years! If you want to believe that the disciples stole Jesus’ body away, at least take a look at what the Bible has to say about it.
Right here in the Bible, written nearly 2000 years ago, we are warned that people would try to say that Jesus’ body was stolen, and we are told that this is a common saying even today – that is, the day in which this particular gospel was written. However, it has been perpetuated so long, it’s a rumor that’s still being told even in our day and time in 2018.
It has been suggested that, instead of the disciples, perhaps Jesus’ enemies came and took His body away; but one commentary points out that “Jesus’ enemies’ chief ambition was not to remove the body, but to keep it in the tomb, hence their application to Pilate for the guard to be set at the tomb.”(5) Allow to explain by sharing Matthew 27:62-66:
“On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, ‘Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise.” Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, “He has risen from the dead.” So the last deception will be worse than the first.’ 65 Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.’ 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.”
The chief priests and Pharisees did not believe in the resurrection. However, they knew that if someone removed Jesus’ body, then people would believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. They couldn’t have that kind of rumor circulating. They wanted to squash this new religion, because it contracted their own beliefs; and so they petitioned that a soldier be posted guard to make sure that Jesus’s body was not stolen from the tomb by His disciples. They wanted to keep Jesus in the tomb.
They also knew that if Jesus went missing from the tomb, that they would have a difficult time convincing people that it was because the disciples had stolen His body. It’s just not a good enough argument; and yet, in Matthew 28:11-15, that’s the very argument they resorted to using.
Allow me to share one more observation. “Matthew Henry [who lived from 1662-1714] in his ‘Commentary,’ . . . [he] remarks, ‘The grave-clothes in which Christ had been buried were found in very good order, which serves for an evidence that his body was not ‘stolen away while men slept.’ Robbers of tombs have been known to take away ‘the clothes’ and leave the body; but none ever took away ‘the body’ and left the clothes, especially when they were ‘fine linen’ and new . . . Or if they . . . were supposed to have stolen it . . . [and] left the grave-clothes behind, yet it cannot be supposed they would find leisure [time] to ‘fold up the linen’.”(6)
Hundreds of Eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)
5 He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
If the resurrection never occurred, then why was Jesus seen by so many eyewitnesses? In these select few verses alone we read where the resurrected Lord appeared to more than five hundred twenty-five people. That is a whole lot of witnesses who testified to having seen Jesus raised from the grave, and this is just one example where numerous eyewitnesses saw the resurrected Lord.
John testifies of Jesus in 1 John 1:1 of how He was that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled.” Luke testifies in Luke 24:36, 39-40, “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you . . . Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.”
In Easton’s Bible Dictionary we are informed, “It is worthy of note that it is distinctly related that on most of these occasions our Lord afforded His disciples the amplest opportunity of testing the fact of His resurrection. He conversed with them face to face. They touched Him, and He ate bread with them.”(7) So, people not only saw Jesus, but they touched him as well, experiencing the reality of his physical manifestation with more senses than just their sight alone.
There are at least ten documented appearances of Christ after His resurrection and prior to His ascension. The order of these appearances is as follows:
“(1.) to Mary Magdalene near the tomb (John 20:11-18); (2.) to the women returning from the tomb (Matthew 28:9, 10); (3.) to Peter (Luke 24:34); (4.) to the disciples approaching Emmaus in the evening (Luke 24:13-32); (5.) to all the disciples except Thomas, who was absent (Luke 24:26-43); (6.) to the disciples, including Thomas, on Sunday night one week later (John 20:26-31); (7.) to seven disciples beside the sea of Galilee (John 21:1-25); (8.) to more than five hundred people . . . on an appointed mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20); (9.) to James the half brother of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7); and (10.) to the apostles at the ascension (Acts 1:3-11).”(8)
Once again I am going to ask, “If the resurrection never occurred, then why was Jesus seen by so many eyewitnesses?” Jesus wasn’t lying dead somewhere, or else so many people could not have seen Him, and experienced Him. You either believe it or you don’t. If you don’t believe it simply because it’s written in the Bible, and you doubt whether the Bible was truly inspired by God, well then, that is another issue which you need to settle first. Keep in mind though that 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
Jesus Was Not A Fable (2 Peter 1:16-19)
16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
The apostle Peter stated here, “We did not follow cunningly devised fables” (v. 16). What did he mean by a “fable?” Well, the word “fable” is defined as “a fictitious narration intended to enforce some useful truth or precept” and “to invent; to devise and to speak of, as true or real.”(9)
Peter was telling us that when he “made known to [us] the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” that he was not telling us a fictitious or made-up story. He was telling us the truth. He was so convinced by what he proclaimed that he was willing to stake his life on this truth, for “church tradition holds that he suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Roman Emperor Nero sometime in the middle of the first century A. D.”(10)
Why was Peter so convinced in what he believed and proclaimed? He shows us why in verses 18-19, when he said, “And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed.” Peter heard the voice of God proclaiming Jesus to be God’s very own beloved Son when he was on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter was speaking from experience, from having had a miraculous encounter with God; not to mention, John chapter 21 shares how Peter saw the resurrected Lord.
Peter, along with the hundreds of eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus, knew for certain that Jesus Christ was not a “cunningly devised fable.” They knew this based on their experience. Peter was making an appeal to experience here, and he was saying that based on his experience, Jesus was every bit of who He said he was. Jesus was indeed “the prophetic word confirmed.”
Time of Reflection
I want to wrap up our message this morning by keying in on the last thing that Peter stated here. Jesus was “the prophetic word confirmed,” the long predicted and awaited Messiah and Savior of the world foretold by the prophets of old.
Concerning this confirmation of the prophetic word, Peter tells us, “You do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (v. 19). If you will believe the revelation of Jesus Christ concerning the virgin birth, His life, and His crucifixion; if you will believe the evidence of hundreds of eyewitness concerning Jesus’ resurrection; your belief will enable the light of Christ to penetrate the dark recesses of your heart. When the morning star of Jesus arises in your heart, then you will inherit eternal life.
Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
I wish to invite you this morning to allow the morning star to come in. Invite Jesus into your heart as Savior and Lord of your life. Believe in and confess Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world, and put aside the skepticism which causes you to wonder if the claims about Jesus are just cunningly devised fables. Accept Him and you will be saved from the consequences of your sin, which is spiritual death, and you will be given eternal life; and the resurrected Lord Jesus will resurrect your soul into heaven whenever your body is placed in the ground.
NOTES
(1) Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7,700 Illustrations (Garland, Texas: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), taken from Logos 2.1E on CD-ROM.
(2) Ibid.
(3) M. G. Easton, “resurrection,” Easton’s Bible Dictionary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).
(4) “Resurrection,” The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1962) taken from Logos 2.1E on CD-ROM..
(5) Tan.
(6) Matthew Henry, as quoted in Easton, “resurrection.”
(7) Easton, “resurrection.”
(8) W. A. Criswell, ed., Baptist Study Edition, New King James Version, (Criswell Center for Biblical Studies, 1991; Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), p. 1389.
(9) Noah Webster, “fable,” 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 2002).
(10) Dietrich Gruen, “Peter,” Who’s Who in the Bible (Lincolnwood, Illinois: Publications International, Ltd., 1998), p. 244.
