The Biblical Case for the Resurrection

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A number of years ago I read the story of a man named Frank Morrison. Frank Morrison was a

British lawyer by profession so he had been very well educated. And in the process of his education, he had been greatly influenced by a number of scholars who openly denied the Bible as true and even denied that miracles as we know them are possible. Philosophically, he became a skeptic especially toward Christianity. For years, he promised himself that one day he would write a book. A book intended for one purpose: to disprove the Resurrection of Jesus Christ finally and forever. At last, he found the time, so Frank Morrison set out to disprove the historic Christian belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. After months of carefully examining the New Testament documents, he embraced Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As a result, he wrote the book that in many ways has become a classic apologetic for the Resurrection, a book entitled Who Moved the Stone? Morrison begins his book by saying that the book is “essentially a confession, the inner story of a man who originally set out to write one kind of a book and found himself compelled by the sheer force of circumstances to write quite another.”

Now it’s a wonderful story of conversion as he encountered the New Testament truths of the Resurrection and the Lord used it to redeem him, but it is not surprising. Because when you look objectively at the evidence for the Resurrection, it is completely overwhelming. I want you to turn with me just as we sort of begin our study tonight back to Mark chapter 16. In Mark 16 and the first eight verses, Mark gives us his record of the Resurrection. Let me read it for us again just to set the historical backdrop.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” Looking up they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

The Resurrection as we noted the last time that we looked together at Mark’s Gospel, the Resurrection is central to our faith. William Lane Craig writes, “The real Jesus rose from the dead in confirmation of His radical personal claims to divinity. If Jesus did not rise, then Christianity is a fairytale which no rational person should believe.” We looked at that a couple of Sunday mornings ago. John Locke wrote, “Our Savior’s Resurrection is truly of great importance in Christianity, so great that His being or not being the Messiah stands or falls with it.” Now the last time we were here involved with Mark’s Gospel on Sunday night, we walked through Mark’s record of the historical event of the Resurrection that I just read for you.

Tonight, I want to step back a little bit. I want to ask the question: What are the reasons we believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Now obviously you could immediately say we believe in the Resurrection because Scripture tells us that Jesus was raised and that is the right answer. However, Scripture itself presents a number of specific reasons for believing in the Resurrection. I think you and I, because this is so foundational, it’s so central—let me remind you that at the beginning of His ministry, the end of His ministry, Jesus staked everything He taught, everything He claimed on the Resurrection. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then you don’t need to believe anything he taught, and you certainly don’t need to accept His amazing claims. And so, this is foundational to the Christian faith. It’s at the center. So, we need to understand the biblical reasons for believing in the Resurrection, both to confirm and to strengthen our faith and frankly, to be able to give a defense of the faith to others. So, in our time together this evening, we are going to step away from Mark’s Gospel and I want you to consider with me nine biblical reasons why you should believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nine biblical reasons why you should believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now some of what I am going to share with you comes from two excellent books that I would highly recommend to you and frankly to anyone who is struggling with the reality of our faith. From time to time, parents will come up to me and say, “You know, my children have been subjected to liberals and to those who are attacking their faith and they are struggling. Is this true? How do I know this is true compared to all the other world views that are out there?” It comes down to the Resurrection. So, let me encourage you to look at two books or to recommend these two books to others who are struggling in this way. One of them is more comprehensive than the Resurrection. It’s simply called Reasons We Believe by Nathan Busenitz. It is a great little summary, sort of listing of defenses of our faith. Reasons We Believe by Nathan Busenitz. The other one is more specific, and it is a great book on the Resurrection itself. It’s called The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas and Michael Licona. It is an excellent resource. It deals with all of the evidence. It deals with all of the possibilities and shows the Resurrection as we understand it as the only valid result of that study. So, those are a couple of books I would recommend to you, but we are going to go through sort of a case as I put it together from my own study in the past from those resources and from some other things as well. Let’s look at nine reasons why you should believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The first reason is because of the prophecy of the Old Testament. The Old Testament prophesied that the future Messiah would physically die but that His body would not decay. Instead, He would be raised from the dead before the process of decay set in. Where did the Old Testament Scriptures teach the Resurrection? Well, one of those places is Psalm 16. Turn there with me. Psalm 16 and verse 8:

I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Obviously, some of this passage pertains specifically to David who crafted this Psalm. But there are elements of it that do not pertain to him, and the apostle Peter argues on this basis in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Turn over with me to Acts chapter 2 and notice verse 24. In the middle of his sermon, this is really where he has been driving, Peter says in Acts 2:24: “God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. For David says of Him,”—and then you will notice the large text in your Bible, the all caps, that means it’s a quote from the Old Testament. It’s a quote from the passage we just read in Psalm 16. And notice what he says about this text in verse 29: “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” In other words, His body did experience decay. And so, verse 30, because he was a prophet and he knew that “God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead”—in other words, God revealed this to him directly, he was a prophet—“he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the [Messiah], that he was neither abandoned to hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” Clearly, Psalm 16 was the place even on the day of Pentecost Peter went to say, “Here’s the proof that the Messiah would be raised from the dead.”

But I want you to turn back with me to another passage Isaiah chapter 53. We normally think of Isaiah 53 as being all about the death of Christ and certainly it is. It is an explanation of why He needed to die—what God was doing as He was enduring the wrath of God for our sins. Verse 5, “He was pierced” for our acts of rebellion. He was crushed for our perversion. “The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are [spiritually] healed.” Verse 6, “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all”—that is, all of us who will believe in Christ—“to fall on Him”—to strike Him. On the cross, as you have heard me say so many times, and don’t ever lose the amazement over this reality, on the cross God took the record of your sins, every single one of them: every thought; every act; every word; every lack in your life; every failure to love God perfectly; every failure to love your neighbor as yourself; every moment of your life, He credited that life to Jesus Christ. And for those hours on the cross, He poured out what you deserve for all eternity on Christ and the debt was paid in full. That’s the amazing thing about Christ and His death.

But notice that Isaiah doesn’t leave Christ dead. Clearly, He dies. Notice verse 9, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, [and] He was with a rich man in His death.” That is Joseph of Arimathea, his tomb, was borrowed, of course, for the death and burial of Jesus. But notice this that suddenly things change, verse 10, “The Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering”—that’s the reason for His death. He was an offering for our guilt. “He will see His offspring”—wait a minute, I thought He was dead. I thought He died. Here’s the implication of the Resurrection: even though He died, “He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” The Messiah isn’t going to stay dead. He’s going to die for sins—for your sins. But He is going to come back to life because He is going to “see His offspring." He’s going to have His days prolonged. This is the Resurrection. Edward Young, one of great commentators on the book of Isaiah writes, “It is of importance also to note that the servant Himself will see the seed. If He were to die and remain dead, this would be impossible. Hence, this verb makes clear that death will not hold the servant, but rather, after His death, He will again come to life and as a living one will see His seed.”

Because of these passages, and there are a couple of others as well, one of the earliest Christian creeds, 1 Corinthians 15, speaks of the Resurrection as having happened according to the Scriptures. So, we believe in the Resurrection because the Old Testament said the Messiah would not stay dead. He wouldn’t decay, but He would rise from the dead.

Secondly, we believe in the Resurrection because of the prophecy of Jesus Himself. On a number of occasions throughout His earthly life and ministry, our Lord predicted His own death and Resurrection. Although the disciples didn’t get it, they didn’t fully understand those predictions at the time, that is, until after His Resurrection. They remembered and they recorded a number of those predictions and there are a number of places where you can see the predictions about our Lord’s Resurrection. I want you to turn to Mark’s Gospel since that is where we have spent so much of the last couple of years going through Mark’s Gospel. Let me just remind you of when Jesus predicts His Resurrection in Mark’s Gospel. Turn to Mark chapter 8, verse 31. This is after Peter’s confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” This is near the end of Jesus’ ministry, verse 31: “He began to teach them [at that point] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly.” This, of course, is when Peter decides to rebuke Jesus, but this is when He began to make it very clear this is what was going to happen. He was going to die, and He was going to be raised again. Mark chapter 9, verse 30: “From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, ‘The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.’” Turn over to chapter 10, verse 32: “They were on the road going up to Jerusalem”—this is about a week before His crucifixion—“and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed”—in other words, He has His face set. He knows what He is going to Jerusalem to do. He has told them this is what is going to happen, and He is walking ahead of them with determination with eagerness. “His face is set,” as the King James says, “like flint” to do what He has been called to do. “And again He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles.’” Here is the fullest expression He’s given of what is actually going to happen and the detail is amazing: “They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him,”—all the details are there—“and three days later He will rise again.” In the Upper Room, in Mark chapter 14 verse 28, Jesus, one last time, reminds them, verse 27: “Jesus said [to them], ‘You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘i will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.’” I will be raised from the dead.

Now after Jesus’ Resurrection, it is interesting that both the angel on the day of His Resurrection, the angel at the tomb, and the Lord Himself, they refer back to these earlier predictions. In fact, look at Luke 24 and verse 6. This is the angel, one of the two angels, this is the one who is speaking, “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ And they remembered His words.” Clearly, the disciples were supposed to be encouraged about the reality of the Resurrection from Jesus’ own prediction and so are we. Hendrickson writes, “Those reminders served as it were to pull the rope that caused the bell of memory to ring so that faith was strengthened.” They remembered, “He did say that! He prophesied that this would happen! He told us this would be true!” We believe the Resurrection because of the prophecy of the Old Testament and because of the prophecy of Jesus Himself.

The third reason we believe the Resurrection may seem to be a little odd at first, but it is very important to understand: the certainty of Jesus’ death. We believe in the Resurrection because Jesus really was dead. All four gospels as well as the rest of the New Testament record document the fact that Jesus was finally executed by crucifixion and that He really truly died. You know, isn’t it true that we are tempted as believers to read the Bible sometimes as if it were a fairy tale—as if it really weren’t true? I want you to think about a person in your own life with whom you have personally witnessed and seen the process of death take place. That is exactly what happened to Jesus of Nazareth. He was every bit as physically dead as that friend or that person that you loved. He really truly died. A couple of centuries ago, a man named Venturini promoted the idea that Jesus didn’t really die. He just went into a coma like state because of all the trauma of the Crucifixion. And He was buried and then in the coolness of the grave, he resuscitated and found a way somehow to get out and then began to present himself as though He had been raised from the dead. The apostle John absolutely shatters that ridiculous view. Let’s look at the biblical evidence in John 19. Jesus was truly dead. John 19 and notice verse 31. Let’s go back just a little so you get the run here of what is going on, verse 30: “Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit”—He died. “[But] then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation [it was Friday], so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath,”—that is, Saturday beginning at sunset on Friday—“(for that Sabbath was a high day),”—it was in connection with the feast—“asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So, the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.” Frankly the process that this paragraph describes is a brutal one. A person who was crucified could survive for days on the cross writhing in anguish, lowering and raising himself against the wounds in his wrists and feet, struggling for breath. But when the Romans desired that the death occur quickly, the soldiers overseeing the crucifixion would take a heavy iron mallet or a bar. Picture something like our sledgehammer and they would violently break the person’s legs. Archaeology has unearthed a first century crucifixion victim that documents this very practice. One of those man’s legs is broken cleanly. The other bone of the other leg is shattered into pieces. Breaking the legs made it impossible for the victim to continue pushing himself up in order to get breath. And so, it hurried his death by asphyxiation which was the real cause of death in crucifixion. So, a team of soldiers on that day started with the men on each side of Christ and when they got to Christ, they saw He was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs. Now understand these were hardened Roman veterans. They were accustomed to seeing, experiencing, recognizing death so there was no doubt in their minds that Jesus was dead according to verse 33. But it was very important to be sure because if a Roman soldier was derelict in his duty and allowed a person who was supposed to be executed to live through that execution, he himself could be executed in the same way. And so just to be sure, verse 34 says, “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.” I have seen all my life, as I am sure you have those dainty little pictures of a nearly bloodless white skinned Jesus hanging on the cross with little pricks in His palms and trickles of blood and a tiny spear print in His side. Listen, this wasn’t to stick Him to see if He would respond to the stimulus of the spear. Instead, this was to ensure His death. And so, the soldier took the spear, came under the rib cage of Jesus and pushed it up into His heart making sure that the heart itself was pierced. Now there is a lot of debate about the significance of the water and blood that flowed from the wound. But don’t miss John’s main point: the soldiers knew Jesus was dead, so they didn’t break His legs. They didn’t shatter His legs but just to make sure that He was dead, one of them took his spear and thrust it up into His chest cavity and into His heart. John witnessed it. Listen, Jesus didn’t swoon. He didn’t drop into a coma. He was certifiably dead.

You know, this isn’t debated. In the first century, this wasn’t even debated. Jesus’ enemies agreed that He was dead. In Mark 15, Pilate and the centurion both agree that Jesus is dead. In Matthew 27, the scribes and Pharisees agree that Jesus is dead. In fact, the Sanhedrin has a plan to seal the tomb so that no one could falsely claim that He had been raised. They knew and were confident He was dead. The Roman detail did not miss.

Paul makes it clear that Jesus was dead in many places. Romans 5:8: “Christ died for us.” Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:14: “We believe that Jesus died.” The apostle Peter who saw the Resurrected Christ says in 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ also died for sins. Once for all, the just for the unjust so that He might bring us to God having been put to death in the flesh.”

But what about even evidence outside of the Scripture? Jesus’ death is certain even in the extra-biblical evidence. There are several extra-biblical non-Christian sources that demonstrate that even unbelievers affirm the reality of Jesus’ death. Josephus writes: “Pilate, upon hearing Him accused by men of the highest standing among us condemned Him to be crucified.” And he goes on to speak of the reality of that crucifixion and death. Tacitus, the Roman historian, says, “Nero fastened the guilt of the burning of Rome and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty”—that’s the way polite Romans referred to crucifixion—“suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberias at the hands of one of our procurators Pontius Pilate.”

There are other documents as well. Lucian writes, “The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account.” Mara bar-Serapion writing to his son from prison says, “What advantage came to the Jews by the murder of their Wise King, seeing from that from the very time their kingdom was driven away from them?” The Jewish Talmud writes, “On the eve of the Passover Yeshu was hanged.” There was no debate about the reality and the certainty of Jesus’ death. Jesus didn’t swoon; he didn’t go into a coma from which He was eventually revived. He was certainly certifiably dead. What that means then is when afterwards He appeared to many, it was clear that He had what? Actually risen from the dead.

There is a fourth reason we believe in the reality of the Resurrection and that is the confidence of the disciples. It is clear whether you believe in the Resurrection or not, that Jesus’ disciples believed He had been raised from the dead. We can see this in a couple of ways. First of all, they believed and proclaimed that Jesus had been raised from the dead and had appeared to them. Clearly, again and again, they make this claim. Let me show you these because this is what our faith is staked on—the eyewitnesses Jesus Himself chose. Look at Acts 2, verse 24: Peter says, “God raised Him up again”—on the day of Pentecost, verse 32: “This Jesus God raised up again”—now watch this—“to which we are all witnesses.” Clearly the disciples believed that He had been raised from the dead. Chapter 3, verse 15: Peter’s second sermon in the book of Acts, he says, “[You] put to death the Prince of life, the one who God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man.” In verse 26 of that same chapter, “For you first, God raised up His Servant.” Chapter 4 verse 10: “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” Chapter 5 verse 30: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things.” Turn over to chapter 10, Peter in sharing the gospel with Cornelius and his household, says in Chapter 10 verse 40:

God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, [we could see Him] not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.

Look at Paul’s ministry in Acts chapter 13 verse 30. I just want you to see how dominant this theme is. They believed this; they taught this. Acts chapter 13 verse 30: “God raised Him from the dead; and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers.” In verse 33, Paul comes to that same passage in Psalm 16. As for the fact that He raised Him up from the dead, no longer to turn to decay, He spoke about what He was going to do in the Psalms. “For David,” verse 36, “after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; but He whom God raised did not undergo decay. Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,”—I love this—“and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.” Chapter 17 verse 31, on Mars Hill, Paul finishes his sermon with the Resurrection: “He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” You can look at the other passages there in Acts, but I want you to turn over with me to 1 Corinthians 15. First Corinthians 15 and notice verse 11. He has talked up in verse 4 about the gospel including the Resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures, and in verse 11, he says, “Whether then it was I or they,”—that is the apostles—"so we preach and so you believed.” This was their ministry. Understand the disciples were fully confident that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They were so confident that we can add that they died for their testimony that Jesus had been raised from the dead and had appeared to them. Joseph Smith was willing to die to confirm his testimony but as you know from the record of Mormonism, many of those who claimed to have witnessed it with him, were not willing to do so and fled. But it wasn’t true of the disciples. Let me remind you of how they died. Peter was crucified upside down. This is what tradition says about how the apostles died and some of these are fairly certain. Others of them aren’t quite as certain, but you will get the picture. Peter crucified upside down in Rome about AD 66. James beheaded by Herod Agrippa in AD 44. John was banished to Patmos, died a natural death at Ephesus. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross. Philip died a martyr. Bartholomew was flayed to death. Thomas was martyred, perhaps speared to death near Madras in India. Matthew martyred in Ethiopia. James the son of Alphaeus preached in Egypt and was eventually crucified there. Thaddeus preached in Syria, Persia, and eventually martyred. Simon the Zealot was crucified. Paul was beheaded. Now look at that list. The death of the twelve original apostles plus Paul, there was one suicide by a man who wasn’t a true believer in Jesus Christ—Judas. There was one natural death, that is, John the apostle and eleven martyrs. Of the eleven martyrs, four were crucified, one was beheaded, one was flayed, and when you think about what they suffered, they obviously believed in the Resurrection. They went from hiding in a locked room from the Roman authorities, to being a force that turned the world upside down and who all gave their lives for Jesus Christ. What changed them? It was the reality of the Resurrection. They believed in the reality of the crucified and resurrected Christ.

There is a fifth reason we believe in the Resurrection and that is, the post-resurrection appearances. One of the ways God chose to establish the reality of the event of the Resurrection was through at least thirteen different post-resurrection appearances. And let me give you the overview: these appearances were to more than five hundred people; they occurred in at least ten different locations. The first of these post-resurrection appearances was on the morning of the Resurrection to Mary Magdalene. It is a remarkable story, but you can read about it in John chapter 20. I am not going to turn to these texts. I just want to list these for you. Secondly, you have to the other women on that same morning—the other women who had come to the tomb. Later that same day, to Peter and then to the two disciples on the Emmaus Road. The fifth appearance was also on that same first Resurrection Sunday, that evening, to ten apostles without Judas and Thomas. Judas obviously had already taken his life. Thomas for whatever reason wasn’t there. All five of those appearances occur on that first Sunday. The next appearance was eight days later on Sunday evening one week after the Resurrection, and that time Thomas was with them. So, He appears to Thomas and to the other apostles. The seventh Resurrection appearance of Christ was to seven apostles in Galilee—it’s recorded by John in John 21. And then Jesus, according to 1 Corinthians 15:7, appeared to James, His half-brother. Matthew 28 tells us He appeared to all the apostles in Galilee. Now that is possibly the same event there at the Great Commission, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, when He gives them the Great Commission, that is possibly the event when He appeared to the five hundred, I personally believe it was. They all gathered in Galilee, all of the apostles as well as the rest of His followers, some five hundred believers gathered. And many of them were still living when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 15. What He implies is “Listen, you can go talk to them. Go visit with them.” This was the mid-50’s AD. He said, “Some of them have died.” It’s twenty-five years later, and he says, “Go talk to them. They saw Him.”

A tenth appearance was to all the apostles at the Ascension and then in Acts 7 to Stephen at his martyrdom. In Acts 9 to Paul and then to John on the isle of Patmos. Those are the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ. John Walvoord in his excellent book on Jesus Christ says, “Taken as a whole, the appearances are of such various character and to so many people under so many different circumstances, that proof of the Resurrection of Christ is as solid as any historical fact that could be cited in the first century. What else would God have to do to show that Jesus was truly raised from the dead?

There is a sixth reason we believe in the Resurrection and that is, the conversion of the persecutor Paul. I don’t know if you have ever thought about this or not, but this is a powerful apologetic for the Resurrection. Turn to Acts chapter 7. Let’s look at Paul pre-conversion: Acts chapter 7 verse 57. When Stephen finished his sermon, “They cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.” It is unclear whether he was merely approving, he was approving, but it is unclear whether he was merely approving, and he was just keeping their coats or whether he was giving them permission, it was under his authority this was being carried out. We really don’t know and can’t know for sure. There are people on both sides of that argument. “They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’” Verse 1 of chapter 8, “Saul was in hearty agreement.” He cast his vote with putting him to death. “And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered”—everywhere; they had to leave their homes, except for the apostles. They buried Stephen but verse 3, “But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women,”—both—“and he would put them in prison.”

But that is not all he did. I want you to turn over to Acts chapter 22 and verse 3. He gives his testimony here; he says he was zealous for God, verse 4, “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons.” And he was heading off to Damascus, he noticed, verse 5, “I [also] received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.” Turn over to chapter 26 verse 9: “So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when there were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues,”—we are talking about beating here—“I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.” This was the apostle Paul. This is who he was before his conversion. But notice what happens to him after his conversion. Galatians 1:22: “I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, ‘He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.’” Romans 1:1: I am a slave of Messiah, Jesus, “called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Second Corinthians 4:5: I do not preach myself but Messiah “Jesus as Lord.”

Now here’s the key question. What could possibly have produced such a radical change in this man? Both Luke’s testimony in the book of Acts and Paul’s own testimony identify the foundation of this change, and that is, that he firmly believed that he had encountered the risen Jesus of Nazareth. That is the only explanation. His conversion is recorded in Acts 9, but his own explanation of the event is interesting. Look at Acts 22, verse 12. After he describes what happened on the Damascus Road, he said, “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and . . . [he said] ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. And he said, [watch this] ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.’” Here’s what revolutionized this persecuting zealous Pharisee from an ultimate enemy who was torturing Christians, killing them, casting his vote at their death, imprisoning both men and women for their faith, our brothers and sisters. And he becomes one of us. Why was that? First Corinthians 9:1: “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” First Corinthians 15:8, Jesus appeared “last of all [to me] as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” Only the reality of Jesus’ Resurrection can explain the radical and sudden change in a man who arrested, tortured and voted for the death of Christians. Sudden radical change and his explanation was “I saw the risen Christ.”

The seventh reason we believe in the Resurrection is because of the conversion of the skeptics James and Jude. In Mark chapter 6, before the Resurrection, this is what we read: Mark chapter 6 verse 3. They are talking about Jesus’ family, “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at Him.” Four brothers are here listed and “sisters” plural, so Jesus grew up, as I’ve explained to you before, in a family of at least seven and perhaps more if He had more than two sisters. It just says “sisters” plural, could be more than two sisters. If Joseph had died after Jesus’ visit to the Temple when He was twelve but before Jesus’ ministry began as it appears in the gospel record, then it would have fallen to Jesus as the oldest man in the home to teach His younger siblings the Scripture. He was the man of the home after Joseph’s death. It was His responsibility to carry out Deuteronomy 6. No family ever had a better teacher, a more consistent example, a more perfect model of God the Father than they did. But whenever it was that Jesus’ siblings, His four brothers and His sisters, became aware that their older brother claimed to be more than simply the son of Joseph and Mary, whenever they came to understand that they all refused to believe in Him. In fact, they thought He was crazy. In Mark chapter 3 verse 21, it says, they thought He had taken leave of “His senses.” And they go to Capernaum to bring Him back to Nazareth. Literally to take control of Him, to arrest Him and bring Him back to Nazareth. That’s how bad it was. Their attitude toward Jesus became even clearer in a later incident in John chapter 7, just six months before Jesus’ Crucifixion. John 7:5 says, “For not even His brothers were believing in Him.”

That’s before the Resurrection. Let’s consider after the Resurrection. Take James for example. First Corinthians 15:7 says, that after His Resurrection, Jesus “appeared to James.” Shortly thereafter, Jesus’ disciples gather in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and guess who we find there? Acts 1:14, they were all there together with Mary “and with His brothers.” The next time we meet James is in Acts 15 and he is the leader of the Jerusalem church, a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. In Galatians 1, he’s called an “apostle”—the Lord’s brother. Listen to James’ own testimony of his faith, James chapter 1 verse 1. He wrote the book of James. He calls himself “James, a [slave] of God and [a slave] of the Lord Jesus [Messiah].” When was the last time your sibling referred to you that way? What happened? He saw the resurrected Christ. So, James became a follower of His own older brother. He believed that He was the Messiah. He acknowledged Him as Lord, as his Sovereign and as his God. His confidence in Christ and His Resurrection was so strong that James died as a martyr. It is a fact attested by both Christian and non-Christian sources.

What about Jude? He gave us the book that has his name, bears his name in the New Testament. Listen to how he begins after the Resurrection, he who before did not believe in Him—thought He was crazy, Jude 1: “Jude, a [slave] of Jesus [the Messiah], and brother of James.” He doesn’t even mention that he’s related. In Jude 4, he says, there are “certain persons have crept” into the church who “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus [Messiah].” This is amazing. In both James and Jude, we have the ultimate skeptics. These two men grew up in the same home as Jesus. He was their father for all practical purposes. For thirty-three years of His life, they rejected His claims and even believed that He was nuts! So, what produced the change? It was the Resurrection.

There is an eighth reason that we believe in the Resurrection and it’s the empty tomb. I will just hurry through this. We dealt with this the last time. The tomb of Jesus of Nazareth was and still is clearly empty. From the first Easter Romans, Jews, Jewish leaders, Jesus’ friends, and even Jesus’ enemies all agreed on this: the tomb was empty. I wish I had time to walk you through John 20. I would encourage you to read it. It’s a fascinating picture. There were multiple witnesses on that first day to the empty tomb: there were the two angels; there were the Roman soldiers guarding the grave; there was Mary Magdalene; there were at least three other women; there was Peter and there was John—they all saw the empty tomb. Even Jesus’ enemies admitted that the grave was empty, and His body was gone. According to Matthew, the Jewish leaders bribed the Roman guard to say that the disciples had stolen the body. Why? Because the tomb was empty! There was no body! Neither the Romans nor Jewish leaders ever furnished a body to silence the apostles’ claims. The famous liberal theologian by the name of Kirsopp Lake came to the ludicrous theory that the women went to the wrong tomb on that Sunday morning and when they asked the gardener where Jesus was the gardener responded, “He is not here.” And the women ran off to tell everyone Christ had been raised from the dead before the gardener could say, “He’s not here. He’s over there!” These women had seen, remember, where Jesus’ body had been laid and it wasn’t an easy tomb to miss. It was a large, exclusive tomb in a garden near the site of the Crucifixion. It had a massive round stone across its entrance which only a handful of tombs in first century Jerusalem had. If they got the wrong tomb, how do you explain the appearances of Christ and the fact that His enemies never pointed out the right tomb? Wouldn’t you think that would have been a pretty easy error to confront? There is no question from the historical record of the New Testament that Jesus’ grave was empty.

There is one final argument and that is the inadequacy of the other explanations. You know, there are many other theories for the Resurrection but none of them satisfy all the facts. Here are a couple of the common ones: Jesus never really died. We have already looked at that one. It’s ludicrous! The soldier’s spear forever answered that question. The Resurrection was a group hallucination. Hallucinations are not collective experiences. In addition, hallucinations cannot count for the empty tomb! Hallucinations can’t account for conversion of Paul and James and Jude. A third idea is that the story of Jesus just kind of grew into a legend as time passed. Initially, nobody believed He was resurrected but eventually that’s what was taught. The problem with this view is that the original story told by the apostles themselves as I have shown you was belief in the Resurrection and the documents, the New Testament documents go back within 25 years of the life of the apostles. Not time for a legend to develop. The accounts of Paul and James and Jude happened very early in the first century without sufficient time for a legend to grow. A fifth idea is that the Resurrection was a fraud. Somebody stole the body. Joseph of Arimathea took the body one theory says. The Roman and Jewish authorities took the body. The disciples stole the body. The problem with all of the fraud theories is they don’t account for the fact that the disciples really believed they had seen the risen Christ and gave their lives for that. Moreover, this kind of fraud would never have convinced Paul and James and Jude.

The other common explanation is that the women and the other witnesses went to the wrong tomb as I mentioned. This doesn’t account for the appearances to the disciples and to Paul and James. Clearly the enemies would have pointed to the right tomb. And Joseph of Arimathea, forgot about him? He knew which tomb he had buried Jesus in. No other explanation but the literal physical Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead can adequately explain all the data. It’s really amazing what God did in His Providence to confirm then and to us the reality of the Resurrection. Listen believer, it really happened. God has given you every piece of evidence you need. You were not there but there were countless witnesses who were. And we have it recorded for us here in a historically reliable document, an inspired document that has piece of evidence after piece of evidence for us. Be settled in your faith.

For those of you who may not be in Christ, and I am confident in a room with a crowd this size there are people who are not in Christ, you have never repented of your sins and believed in Christ. Listen, Jesus died, and He was raised again, and His Resurrection is God’s proof to you that one day you will stand before Jesus Christ at the judgment. You will either confess Him as Lord now and enjoy forgiveness of sins and eternal joy in His presence or you will confess Him then and be ushered into eternal hell but confess Him you will. The Resurrection is God’s proof to you. You will either accept that proof or you will reject it and you will be rejected. Let’s pray together.

Our Father, we thank you for the amazing proof that you have given us, the evidence You have given us, for the Resurrection. It is so central to what we believe as Christians. It proves Jesus is everything He claimed. It is the foundation of everything He taught. Father, thank you. Help us to leave this place confident in the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.