The Reality Of The Resurrection Series

The Reality of the Resurrection

The Resurrection is Evidenced by Facts

The Empty Tomb

The Tomb was Secured

The Disciples were Scared

The Effects on the Lives of the Disciples

The Resurrection is Essential to Living Life Eternal

The Resurrection is Essential to Living Life Now

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How are you today?

We are in the midst of a series called the Creed and we are talking about beliefs that are essential to Christianity that others have tried to refute or teach against through the years.

We have talked about the Trinity and the certainty of our eternal life for those who have truly received Jesus and today we are going to talk about the Reality of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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This is something that others have tried to refute and discredit because if you can somehow show the resurrection did not happen, Christianity would be completely discredited and it would crumble.

And if you have ever taken time to consider the reality of the Resurrection, it can, on its face, seem pretty unbelievable. I mean, when is the last time you saw a resurrection?

Never.

You may have seen a resuscitation, but you have never seen a resurrection where someone has died and come back forever!

So given that we have never seen a resurrection

how do we know it is real and

even if it is, what does it really matter to me?

Those are the questions that we are going to look into today to help us find out about the reality of the resurrection.

But how in the world can we determine if this is a reality, considering it happened so long ago?

Are there really any facts we can look at or consider?

Well, the reality is, is that

The Resurrection is Evidenced by Facts

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Today, we are going to look at some of the facts that support the resurrection.

If you would turn with me this morning to Luke 24:1-8

We are going to read what was recorded by Luke, who was a doctor and historian.

Is Luke Reliable?

If you question us looking into the Bible for facts about Jesus and the resurrection, I want to assure you that the Bible is the best recorded history of these events and Luke was quite an accomplished historian.

That is not just my assessment, but the assessment of one of the most widely recognized archeologists and historians of the modern era of Archeology.

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Sir William Mitchell Ramsay was an Oxford educated professor who doubted the reliability of the New Testament and was known “for his expertise in the historic geography and topography of Asia Minor.

When he first went to Asia Minor, many of the cities mentioned in Acts had no known location and almost nothing was known of their history or politics. The Acts of the Apostles was the only record and Ramsay, skeptical, fully expected his own research to prove the author of Acts hopelessly inaccurate since no man could possibly know the details of Asia Minor more than a hundred years after the event—this is, when some thought that Acts was then supposed to have been written. He therefore set out to put the writer of Acts on trial. He devoted his life to unearthing the ancient cities and documents of Asia Minor. After a lifetime of study, however, he concluded:

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'Further study . . . showed that the book (of Acts) could bear the most minute scrutiny as an authority for the facts of the Aegean world, and that it was written with such judgment, skill, art and perception of truth as to be a model of historical statement' (The Bearing of Recent Discovery, p. 85).

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He went on to say 'I set out to look for truth on the borderland where Greece and Asia meet, and found it there [in Acts]. You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian's and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment...'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mitchell_Ramsay

Because of the truth he found recorded in Luke’s record, Sir William Mitchell Ramsay, though he started out as an unbeliever, came to trust in Christ as his Savior because of the accuracy and truth he found in Luke’s recorded history of the time.

So, let’s consider what Luke has to say and see what details of his account

we can consider

Luke 24:1-8

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24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'" 8 Then they remembered his words.