A. In Romans 1:4, the Bible states that Jesus "was
declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." Indeed, His resurrection is the sign for all
times that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Christ, the Son of God, and the coming
Judge of the world (Acts 17:30-31).
B. For this reason, the enemies of Christ often target
His resurrection in order to discredit Him.
1.
If Christ's
resurrection can be proved to be a fraud, then Christ also is a fraud and
Christianity is a lie. Truly, His resurrection
is the key to the Christian faith (1Cor. 15:12-19).
2.
Therefore,
opponents of Christianity seek to advance theories to disprove His
resurrection.
C. Believers in Christ need to be prepared to defend the
truth of Christ's resurrection against the theories of man (1Pet. 3:15). This defense is the goal of this lesson.
II. ANSWERING THE THEORIES OF MAN ABOUT CHRIST'S
RESURRECTION
A. One theory supposes that the disciples of Christ stole
His body from the tomb. This theory
fails for several reasons.
1.
Roman soldiers
were posted at Christ's tomb to prevent this possibility.
a. The chief priest and Pharisees anticipated such an
event and requested that Pilate assign soldiers to the grave, which they also
sealed (Matt. 27:62-66).
b. These soldiers actually witnessed the angel who rolled
away the stone from the opening of the tomb and "became like dead men" (Matt.
28:2-4). When they reported these events
to the chief priests, the Jewish leaders gave them a large sum of money and ordered
them to say, "His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were
asleep." The Jewish leaders also
promised to keep the soldiers from any trouble with Pilate (Matt. 28:11-15).
c.
If the soldiers were
asleep, then they did not witness the disciples stealing the body and their
testimony was invalid. If they were
awake, then they would have prevented the theft. Either way, the theory of theft fails.
2.
The disciples of
Jesus were incapable of stealing His body from the tomb.
a. At the time of the resurrection, the disciples were
utterly despondent. Their expectations
concerning Jesus had been disappointed, and such a bold and daring act as
stealing the body of Jesus was beyond their capacity.
b. The disciples would not have conceived a plot to steal
Christ's body because they would not have believed a resurrection hoax
themselves. Even when they received true
reports of Christ's resurrection from trustworthy sources and saw Him
themselves, they had difficulty believing it and were doubtful (Matt. 28:17;
Mark 16:11-14; Luke 24:11, 33-39; John 20:24-25).
3.
If the disciples
had stolen the body, then they would have known Christ's resurrection was a
fraud, and they would not have been willing to suffer as they did.
a. The apostles of Jesus and other witnesses of His
resurrection did not become rich for their testimony, but rather they received
persecution and even death (Acts 4:1-22; 5:17-42; 7:54-8:3; 12:1-4; etc.).
b. A self-invented fraud would not have given them
courage and conviction to falsely proclaim the resurrection of Jesus at the
peril of their own lives and for no benefit to themselves (see 1Cor. 15:13-19).
B. Another theory asserts Christ did not die on the cross
but merely swooned. This theory also
fails.
1.
It is an
impossibility that Jesus could have revived by any natural means.
a. His wounds were terminal, and the disciples were
completely convinced that He was dead (John 20:25).
b. Some would point to Pilate's apparent surprise that
Jesus died so quickly as evidence that He still could have been alive (Mark
15:44-45). However, the centurion
verified that Jesus was indeed dead, and the soldiers even pierced His side
with a spear, which was a terminal would itself (John 19:31-34).
c.
His body was prepared,
wrapped, and laid in the tomb by Joseph and Nicodems (Matt. 27:59-60; Mark
15:46; Luke 23:50-53; John 19:38-40).
They certainly knew He was dead and would not have buried Him if He were
still alive.
d. Even if Jesus somehow survived, it is impossible by
any natural means for a severely wounded man to spend thirty-six to forty hours
in a sealed tomb, rouse himself, free himself from the burial wrappings, and
remove the heavy stone to escape from the tomb.
e.
The abundant
evidence of Christ's wounds and the witnesses of His death make it logically
impossible that He could have survived His crucifixion naturally.
2.
The disciples of
Jesus would not have been emboldened by a wounded and sickly Lord who would
eventually die a natural death and be buried a final time.
a. The idea that Jesus did not die on the cross would
mean that He survived as a badly injured man.
His weak appearance would hardly inspire such a response as was given by
Thomas, who said, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).
b. The Scripture describes the resurrected Jesus as being
in normal health and moving about with ease, although He bore the wounds in His
body. This is not the image of a man who
had barely survived such a brutal torture as crucifixion.
c.
If Jesus had
naturally survived the crucifixion, then He would have later died a natural
death. This would mean that the basis of
Christianity was a hoax, and as noted before the disciples would not have been
motivated to suffer as they did for a fraud they invented.
C. A third theory describes the resurrection of Christ as
a mass hallucination. Again, this theory
fails.
1.
Before answering
this theory, let us consider it more closely.
a. The idea of this theory is that visions of Jesus after
His burial were in the imaginations of despondent, self-deluded disciples. By this theory, these disciples were not
lying about what they had imagined, but they were misinterpreting their
imaginations for reality.
b. Advocates of this theory point to Paul's vision of
Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-7) and claim that it and other visions
of the disciples were no different than later visions that were claimed by such
persons as Mohammed or Theresa of Calcutta.
2.
This theory is
easily dismissed by the empty tomb of Jesus.
a. If the disciples of Jesus had merely imagined that
Jesus lived after His crucifixion, then their enemies could have easily refuted
them by the presence of His body in the tomb.
b. However, the body was gone. We already considered the problems with the
notion that the disciples stole the body, and if their enemies had taken it,
then they would have produced it as evidence to stop the rise of Christianity.
3.
If visions of
Christ's resurrection were hallucinations, then there is no explanation for why
they would have ceased after forty days.
a. According to the Acts 1:3, Jesus appeared to the
apostles for forty days and then no more.
The only other similar appearance of Jesus was to Saul of Tarsus, which
he described as the last of these appearances (1Cor. 15:8). If these were random, deluded hallucinations,
then they would not have suddenly ceased altogether.
b. If the disciples were only imagining visions of Jesus,
then it seems likely that they would have seen Him again on the Day of
Pentecost. Instead, they received the
Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised them (Acts 2:1-4).
4.
Such mass
hallucinations are simply impossible and unbelievable.
a. This theory requires for many people individually and
collectively to have had the same imagined vision repeatedly from Jerusalem to
Damascus. This simply could not happen.
b. Consider the list of witnesses to Christ's
resurrection in 1Corinthians 15:3-8.
i.
Would Peter
imagine that which he did not expect (Matt. 16:21-22)?
ii.
Would the
apostles imagine that which they did not believe (Mark 16:11, 13)?
iii. Could five-hundred people all have the same deluded
vision at the same time?
iv. Could Saul of Tarsus, who was the most violent
opponent of Christianity, have such a convincingly powerful vision of Jesus
that he would completely turn to the other side and give up everything that was
precious to him (Phil. 3:1-11)?
III. CONCLUSION
A. As these theories of man concerning Christ's resurrection
fail, the word of God succeeds.
1.
The resurrection
of Jesus was a real, miraculous, historical event that changed the world.
2.
The proof of His
resurrection crushes all theories raised up against it (2Cor. 10:3-6).
B. As the truth of Christ's resurrection stands, the
salvation He brings continues to spread to every soul who believes in Him.
