John 20:1-18
Jesus is Alive – True of False?
Introduction
A. How many people here believe everything you hear?
B. I hope no one raised their hands
C. I hope that when someone tells you something, you check the facts behind it to see if the person is correct
D. Let me give you an example. Last week we were discussing Pilate, the guy that ordered Jesus to be crucified, I said he was an elected official. Jon Grubbs after the service ask me if I was sure of the fact he was elected
E. As soon as I said it last week, I realized I was wrong for Pilate was an appointed official rather then an elected official, but I did not correct myself.
F. See Jon took the information reviewed the facts and did not just accept everything that I said at face value
G. Sure enough he was right
H. The pass couple of weeks we have been taking a logical and historical examination of the claims that the Movie, “The Passion of Christ” makes
I. We have been examining the fact around the events, and today we are going to look at the events centered around the resurrection of Jesus
J. There are some things that everyone agrees on
K. No one argues that Jesus of Nazareth was beaten and then hung of the cross
L. No one argues the fact that Jesus was then taken off the cross and put in the grave
M. No one argues the fact that Jesus’ body was no longer in the grave
N. The conflict occurs when we try and explain were the body went
O. Christianity claims that he rose from the dead
P. Is that true? Is Jesus Alive?
Q. Today we are going to evaluate some of the leading theories about what happen to Jesus’ body and see if they hold up under logical and scientific evidence
R. We are going to look at some possible explanations, Specifically:
a. Swoon theory
b. The Theft Theory
c. The Hallucination Theory
d. The Wrong Tomb Theory
I. Swoon Theory
A. The View
1. People who believe in the swoon theory believe that Christ never died
2. Instead, he went into a swoon. Basically a swoon is about the same as a comma
3. When Jesus was on the cross he did not die but rather, just swooned.
4. So when the took Jesus down from the cross and placed him in the cool tomb, the cool air revived him
5. Along with the air were the embalming spices that were used actually have “reviving effect”
6. He then was well enough to unwrap his bandages and then sneak out of the tomb
B. The Evidence
1. Let us examine the evidence:
2. The Romans executed a lot of people crucifixion style, based on records we know there were a lot more crucifixions then we have for the electric chair.
3. They knew death, they could easily tell when someone was dead
4. John 19:33-35 (Read)
5. These were expert witness saying “He is dead,” by the way when they stuck Jesus in the side with the spear he did not flinch
6. Then they took him down off the cross removed the nails from his hands and feet
7. Wrapped him burial clothes packed with spices and put him in the grave
8. It is in that dark cave, were he would have to become revitalized, without medical aid
9. Then wiggle out of the tightly bond wrappings that had about 75 lbs of spices in them holding them together, in such a way to preserve the shape of the wrappings
10. Get enough strength to hoist the stone, that by all accounts three women could not lift, without waking the soldiers guarding the tomb (assuming they were sleeping, which we know that if they were caught sleeping, it would mean the punishment of death for sleeping on the job) or breaking the seal that the Romans had put on it
11. Then went to the Village Emmaus about 7 miles away after recovering from the pain and suffering and not to mention 2 big holes in his feet that would have caused great discomfort.
12. When you are working out or when you are moving something heavy one of the phrases we often say is “I am going to feel this tomorrow:” Why do we say that? Because when we wake up in the morning we are going to feel it, it will be sore, it will cause discomfort
13. Now think about Jesus, he did not get any sleep between Thursday night and Friday night, probably had been up for about 40 hrs or so, then he was beat, kicked, bruised, had a crown of thrones on his head, hung of the cross, oh by the way poked in the side with a spear, “would he feel this in the morning?”
14. Would someone in the condition be able to unwrap themselves of the burial clothes? Be able to remove the stone? Walk 7 miles? And appear to be “normal” with no bruises or scars?
C. The Verdict
1. The swoon theory true of false?
2. False
3. There is no way he could have completely recovered in one day with no medical attention,
4. To heal from a beating that bad would take weeks, or months maybe even years
5. The swoon theory is impossible, the swoon theory does not adequately explain what happened to Jesus’ body
II. The Theft Theory
A. The View
1. This is the view that the disciples came during the night and stole the body from the tomb
2. This theory was one, if not the one, of the oldest theory there is
3. In fact the first time we have mention of this is in Mathew 28:11-15
4. This is by far this most popular theory among the Jewish nation, now and even more so back then
B. The Evidence
1. Now we know that the Jewish leaders went to Pilate and asked him to supply guards at the tomb for three days because they remembered Jesus said that he would rise again on the third day
2. So Pilate said “go ahead” use the guard
3. A Guard consisted of 60 men. They would take turns guarding. A typical “watch” would be four men. One would have to be awake and the other three would be “ready” at any given moment while the rest of the guard could be up and moving in about 10 minutes
4. These guards were followed very strict orders. In fact do you want to know what the punishment for sleeping on the job was? Death!
5. So for all of the guards to be sleeping at once, there would be a severe punishment, death, waiting for them
6. It is also recorded that the door was sealed. When they say sealed that does not mean that the door was filled with insulation, rather had the official seal, to move the stone they would have to break the seal to break the seal would have been subject to the wrath of the Roman law
7. The stone that was in front of the tomb was big! Real big. In fact look at Mark 16:1-3
MK 16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?"
8. Do not try and spiritualize these verse, Mary and Mary were thinking, how are we going to move this massive stone, I do not think we are strong enough to do it, we are going to need help”
9. Why do they need help? The stone is Big!
10. So in order to steel the body, they would have to move this massive stone, without making any lifting grunts, (you know the grunts you make when you lift something heavy), and not make any noise picking it up or putting it down. If they were to roll it, it would make noise
11. Then quickly get inside the tomb, unwrap Jesus of the clothes, take the time to fold the clothes and put them back nicely and carry Jesus’ I’m guessing 180 to 200 lbs body out of the tomb, walking over the sleeping soldiers and walking away without stepping on a leave and making too much noise that would cause the guards to wake up
C. The Verdict
1. Is the Theft Theory True or False?
2. False
3. Think about the absurdity, the guards would deserve death if they were sleeping
4. The disciples, had proven that they were cowards, and probably were suffering some form of depressions
5. The disciples could never have moved the rock without waking the “allegedly sleeping guards”
6. They would have not taken the time to unwrap Jesus of the clothes, they would have left it on
7. They were not brave enough to suffer the consequences of the breaking the law by breaking the Roman seal
8. And if all of this did happen, why were the disciples never charged officially with stealing the body
9. They knew who the disciples were, they could have easily charged them with theft, but they never were
10. And to think for a minute that the roman guards were allowed to say that the disciples stole the body while they were sleeping and were never punished for sleeping on the job?
11. The theft theory does not hold up!
III. The Hallucination Theory
A. The View
1. The view of the hallucination theory is that the every occurrence of people seeing the resurrected Jesus was a hallucination
2. That every time Jesus appear to someone that is was just a hallucination
3. Maybe is was caused by extreme hope that he would raise from the dead
4. Maybe is was caused by an extraordinary amount of stress that was caused after Jesus death
5. Or maybe it was something that they were taking something that would cause hallucinations, such as drugs
B. The Evidence
1. It is recorded that Jesus made 12-post resurrection appearance.
2. In those 12 post resurrection appearances there are at least 520 people
3. Of those 520 people that claim to have see Jesus there story was the same
4. It is hard to find 520 people who would be willing to give the same story
5. Another thing that we know about hallucinations is only particular kinds of people have hallucination
a) Those who are high strung highly imaginative and very nervice.
b) The appearances that Christ made were not restricted to person of any particular psychological make up
6. Hallucinations are very individualistic and extremely subjective. They seldom if ever will agree with another person
7. Hallucinations will also recur over a long period of times
a) Example of this would be I was moving furniture with a Vietnam Vet once we went under a tunnel and he had a hallucination that he was back there, when he came to he apologize and told me this has happened ever since he got back about once a month or so
8. What is interesting to note about these hallucination is that they all stopped within a 6 weeks of the resurrection. There is no record of any resurrection appearances past the six weeks
C. The Verdict
1. Hallucination theory true of false?
2. False
3. It is impossible to conceive that 520 people would have had the same story about how Jesus looked
4. It is impossible to conceive that 520 people would have these hallucinations and then they would stopped
5. It is impossible to conceive that 520 people would by in the right psychological mindset in the first place to have hallucinations
6. Oh yeah there is one more thing that the hallucination theory cannot answer, where did the body go, how come it is not in the grave?
IV. The Wrong Tomb Theory
A. The View
1. The wrong tomb theory state that the women went to the wrong tomb
2. They thought that Jesus was put in the one tomb when really it was different
3. And so when they got to the tomb that they thought it was, obviously Jesus was not there because it was the wrong tomb
4. After all Jerusalem is a rocky area and there are reportedly a lot of tombs like the one Jesus was buried in
B. The Evidence
1. Let’s take a look at the evidence
2. Mary and Mary were there when put Jesus in the tomb:
a) Mathew 27:61
b) Mark 15:47
3. Notice that the observers where he was laid
4. Then 72 hrs later, they went back to the grave early in the morning
5. When the noticed that Jesus was not in the grave, they were amazed
6. They then went and found the disciples, what would you do if you were the disciples and you had two ladies telling you that Jesus’ body was not there
7. Exactly I would run down there and check it out for myself
8. And that is what the disciples did, Now I am sure that at least one of them stopped looked around and made sure that it was the right tomb
9. And sure enough they thought it was the same tomb as Mary and Mary thought it was
10. Also notice how the Jewish authority never says that it was the wrong tomb
11. Sure they tried the disciples stole it theory but they did not even use the wrong tomb theory
12. That would have been an easy story to have people believe
13. Finally there is Joseph of Arimathea. He was the one who owned the tomb
14. We do not know much about Joseph of Arimathea, however, we can assume that he would make sure that the tomb that he owned was the one that they were saying was empty
15. Also we know that the Roman Guards were guarding the tomb, they could have said you silly people that is the wrong tomb and ended the controversy, but they did not say that
C. The Verdict
1. The wrong Tomb Theory True or False?
2. False!
3. There is no way that the women would have forgotten the quick
4. There is not way that the disciples would have come and looked in the wrong tomb too
5. There is no way that the Jewish leaders would have not tried to show that it was the wrong tomb
6. There is no way the Roman guards would have not pointed out the it was the wrong tomb
7. Why?
8. Because it is so absurd to believe that is was the wrong tomb
Conclusion
A. What does that leave us with then?
B. If all these theories are wrong what is left?
C. There is one possible explanation for all of this, Jesus is alive
D. Jesus is not in the tomb
E. We know the tomb was empty
F. So someone has to explain were the body went
G. The only possible explanation is that Jesus is alive
H. Jesus defeated death
I. Everything we know about history, everything we know about science, everything we know about Biblical accuracy all prove this:
J. Jesus is alive!
K. Because Jesus is alive, everything He said is true
L. Jesus told us that we can have eternal life
M. Why? Because he was willing to take the place of us for the punishment for our sins
N. All we have to do is ask Him to forgive us our sins and believe that He will, and we will be saved
O. Jesus is Alive
P. And there is NOOOOOO Doubt about it!
