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phenomenal cause. The question persists: What else could have caused the commitment, perseverance, and rapid expansion of the early church to the present two billion people on earth who worship today other than His resurrection from death? There have been many disagreements among Christians on secondary matters of their faith throughout the history of the church. But on the primary issues related to Jesus, such as His bodily resurrection from death, there has always been consistent agreement.

*The is more than just yet another amazing historical fact. It has unprecedented, practical implications for our life both in this world and beyond our grave.

20 Proofs

of

Jesus'

Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus is the most known and celebrated miracle a prominent place, easy to find. Everyone would know which tomb in the history of the world. Jesus' resurrection is an Historical in which Jesus had been placed…it would have been very easy to Fact…that is why we have gathered today…to celebrate this fact. find.

Proof #1 Prophesies Fulfilled Proof #5 Public Appearances Roughly 700 years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah Following His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples who were prophesied that Jesus would be born into humble circumstances to certain that the tomb was empty, but uncertain if He had truly risen live a simple life, die a brutal death, and then rise to take away our from death physically. :36-43 records that Jesus was emphatic sin (:8-12). There are also over 80 additional prophecies about His bodily resurrection and went out of His way to prove it. that fulfilled. The probability for Him to even have fulfilled one prophecy is like 1 to the 17th power, much less over 80 of them Proof #6 Quickly Pronounced in Scripture perfectly! In :3-5, the apostle Paul states, "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was Proof #2 Jesus' Promise raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." This Jesus often promised that He would die and rise 3 days later. statement is widely accepted as the earliest church , which began :38-40; :31; 9:31; 10:33-34 & :18-22 are circulating as early as AD 30-36, shortly following Jesus' resurrection. just a few examples. Proof #7 Tomb Secured & Sealed Proof #3 Professionally Executed Jesus' tomb was as secure as a maximum-security prison! With After a sleepless night of trials and beatings, Jesus' scourging Roman guards stationed at the tomb and the seal of Rome, no one was so horrendous that many men would have died from it before dared mess with the stone, the guards or the seal! ever making it to their . Jesus was crucified and a professional executioner declared Him to be dead. A spear was The states, The next day…the chief priests and the then thrust into His side, puncturing His heart sack (Jn. 19:34-35). went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was His body was wrapped in roughly 100 pounds of linens and still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So spices; if He were able to somehow survive the beatings, give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. floggings, crucifixion, and a speared heart, the embalming process Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the would have killed him by asphyxiation. Even if Jesus somehow people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception survived all of this, which would in and of itself be a miracle, He will be worse than the first." "Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, could not have endured 3 days without food, water or medical make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made attention in a cold tomb carved out of rock. the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. (:64-66 NIV) Proof #4 A Rich Man's Tomb Some 700 years before Jesus was even born, God through Isaiah The seal could only be set on the stone in the presence of the promised that Jesus would be buried in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah Roman guard. The seal itself was 2 pieces of rawhide (leather), 53:9). Jesus was a very poor man on earth who could not have stretched diagonally to 4 separate clay packs. Once these leather afforded an expensive burial plot. But following Jesus' death, a cords were stretched across the tomb, the signet ring of the emperor wealthy man named , gifted his expensive of Rome was pressed into the center like a stamp, sealing the tomb tomb for the burial of Jesus. This tomb was not obscure, it was in by the authority & power of Rome. (A. T. Robertson in Word Paul Althaus states that the resurrection "could have not been Pictures in the (New York: R.R. Smith, Inc., 1931) maintained in for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all The Roman soldiers that stood guard at the tomb numbered concerned." anywhere from 4 to 20 as a guard unit. They slept in shifts, every 3 hours they would change shifts. In groups of 12…8 men slept Both Jewish and Roman sources and traditions admit an empty while 4 men stayed awake. In groups of 16…10 men slept while tomb. Those resources range from to a compilation of fifth- 6 stayed on guard. century Jewish writings called the "Toledoth Jeshu."

Roman guards were armed with 6 foot Pikes (long sticks w/spear Dr. Paul Maier calls this "positive evidence from a hostile source, heads on the end surrounded by smaller spear heads), they were which is the strongest kind of historical evidence. In essence, this also armed with 3 foot thrusting swords, daggers, and for protection, means that if a source admits a fact which is decidedly not in its a wooden or wicker shield covered with leather and metal work. favor, then that fact is genuine."

If any soldier standing guard fell asleep, the entire 12 or 16 man Gamaliel, who was a member of the Jewish high court, the team was executed. They were stripped of their clothes and burned , put forth the suggestion that the rise of the Christian in a fire started with their garments! movement was God's doing; he could not have done that if the tomb were still occupied, or if the Sanhedrin knew the whereabouts of Yet, knowing the consequences, the seal was broken, the guards Christ's body. became as dead men and Jesus was raised to life! Matthew describes what happened that night while the guard was on duty, It’s interesting to note that all the contemporary witnesses agree "... a severe earthquake had occurred, for an of on this fact. The disciples, the Jews, and the Romans all knew that descended from heaven…and his appearance was like lightning, the tomb was empty. It’s true that each group viewed that fact and his garment as white as snow; and the guards shook for fear differently but no one disputed the basic assertion that on of him, and became like dead men" (:2-4, NASB). Sunday morning Jesus was no longer in the tomb.

God demonstrated His power & His authority over the worlds No one has ever found the body of Jesus and no one ever will. The best! By breaking the seal & overthrowing the power of Rome, skeptics simply can’t answer the question, “What happened to his God teaches us that He is the ultimate power & ultimate authority. body?” It is the ultimate unanswered question. Where is the There is no power that can compare to His & there is no authority body of Jesus? that is higher than His! The Fact was that nothing was able to stop Jesus Christ from rising from the dead! The Jews never produced his body. If anyone—anyone at all— had produced the dead body of Jesus, the entire Christian movement Proof #8 Jesus' body was raised to life as well as his spirit. His would have gone the way of so many other short-lived religions whole person was raised to life & adapted to eternity by the power across the centuries. of God. Jesus' followers did not go off to Athens or Rome to preach that Christ was raised from the dead. Rather, they went The authorities hated and did everything in their right back to the city of Jerusalem, where, if what they were power to stop it from spreading. They arrested the apostles, teaching was false it would have been evident. threatened them and eventually killed some of them. None of that would have been necessary if they could have produced the body. Jesus' body, how could they have done that without the guards' The obvious reason why they did not is that they could not. The awareness? The stone was at least 2 tons! tomb was empty. The body was gone. Let's take another look at what Matthew wrote, "There was a Proof #9 The Stone Thrown violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven On that Sunday morning the first thing that impressed the and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His people who approached the tomb was the unusual position of appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. the at least two ton stone that had been lodged in front of the The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like doorway. All the writers mention it. dead men."

Those who observed the stone after the resurrection describe its Who rolled the stone away? The disciples? The Roman guards position as having been rolled up a slope away not just from the would have stopped them. The Jews? Same thing. The Romans? entrance of the tomb, but away from the tomb itself. It was in Not likely. They had no motivation. And who would risk death to such a position that it looked as if it had been picked up and do such a thing? Who rolled the stone away? God did, because he’s carried away. the one who raised Jesus from the dead.

Josh McDowell goes into this at some length. He states that the Proof #10 Post Resurrection Appearances stone itself was three to six feet in diameter and weighed two to After His resurrection, Jesus was seen by hundreds of people over five tons. It took several strong men to roll it into place. a 40 day period of time! What we must understand is that, when studying an event in history, it is important to know whether enough Matthew says the stone was rolled away, he uses the word people who were participants or eyewitnesses to the event were alive "kulio," which means to roll. Mark used the same root word with when the facts about the event were published. To know this is the preposition "ana," which means up or upward. It can only obviously helpful in finding out the accuracy of what had been mean that the stone was rolled up an incline or slope. There had reported. If the number of eyewitnesses is substantial, the event can to have been a slope there at the tomb. be regarded as fairly well established. For instance, if we all witness a murder, and a later police report turns out to be a fabrication of Luke, considered one of the most accurate historians, uses lies, we as eyewitnesses can refute it. "kulio" with the preposition "appo" which means away from in the sense of distance or separation. He states that the stone was Paul reminds his readers that the majority of the people whom the moved away not from just the entrance of the tomb, but from the risen Christ appeared to were still alive and were willing to be tomb itself. questioned as eyewitnesses! According to the various accounts he appeared to first of all, then to the other women John used the word "airo,"…which means to pick up something who were returning from the tomb, afterward to Peter, to the and carry it away…the angel picked up the stone and moved it up disciples, to the ten gathered in the upper room, then (a and away or maybe the angel picked up the stone and threw it up week later) to the eleven disciples including Thomas, to James, to and away! five hundred brethren at once (1 Cor. 15:6, perhaps on a mountainside in ), to a band of disciples who had been Now, I ask you, if the disciples had wanted to come in, tiptoe fishing on the lake of Galilee, to those who witnessed the ascension around the sleeping guards, and then roll the stone over and steal from the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, and last of all to Paul, who claimed to have seen Christ in his on the road to John, a of Jesus, looked over to the place where the body Damascus. of Jesus had lain, and there were the grave clothes, in the form of the body, slightly caved in and empty--like an empty caterpillar's During the days following the resurrection, all these persons cocoon. That's enough to make a believer out of anybody. John moved from despair to firm conviction and joy. Nothing accounts never did get over it. The first thing that stuck in the minds of the for that but the fact that they had indeed seen Jesus. When Jesus disciples was not the , but rather the empty grave appeared to Thomas a week after the resurrection he offered the clothes--undisturbed in form and position. ultimate proof. Spreading forth his hands, he said, “Touch my wounds. See for yourself.” When Thomas saw the wounds, he Every society has its distinct modes of burial, and that was true in knew at last that it must be true. ancient cultures as today. In bodies were embalmed. In Italy and Greece they were often cremated. In Palestine they were He ate with the disciples Luke 24:42, 43 tells us that Jesus ate wrapped in linen bands that enclosed dry spices and were placed face broiled fish in the presence of the disciples. A ghost doesn’t eat up without a coffin in tombs generally cut from the rock in the fish. Neither does a dead man. He stayed with them for 40 days Judean and Galilean hills. Many such Forty days is a long time. If Jesus had only appeared once or tombs still exist and can be seen by any twice, we might be tempted to discount it as a hopeful vision. visitor to Palestine. But Jesus “showed himself alive” according to :1-3 by “many infallible proofs.” He stayed long enough to convince Henry Latham, in his book, "The Risen Master," concludes that a all his followers that he had indeed come back from the dead. separate covering for the head and the body were used as a method of burial during the time of Christ. Luke tells us that when Jesus was Let's take the more than 500 witnesses who saw Jesus alive approaching the village of Nain earlier in his ministry, he met a after His death and burial, and place them in a courtroom. Do funeral leaving the city. The only son of a widow had you realize that if each of those 500 people were to testify for died. Luke says that when Jesus raised him from death two things only six minutes, including cross-examination, you would have happened. First, the young man sat up. And second, he at once an amazing 50 hours of firsthand testimony? Add to this the began to speak. Therefore, the grave clothes did not cover his face. testimony of many other eyewitnesses and you would well have Separate coverings for the head and body were also used in the the largest and most lopsided trial in history. burial of Lazarus (Jn. 11:44).

Christians believe that Jesus was bodily resurrected in time and It must have been in a similar manner that Joseph of Arimathea space by the supernatural power of God…which leads us to one of and buried Jesus Christ. The body of Jesus was removed the most amazing proofs of all! from the cross before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, was washed, and then was wrapped in linen bands. One hundred pounds Proof #11 Jesus' Grave Clothes of dry spices were carefully inserted into the folds of the linen. One Jesus grave clothes were left fully in tact, and the cloth covering of them, aloe, was a powdered wood like fine sawdust with an his face was neatly rolled up and set off by itself! How does aromatic fragrance; another, , was a fragrant gum that would someone's dead body wrapped in grave clothes like a mummy, get be carefully mixed with the powder. out of the grave clothes without one tiny tear in the grave clothes? The grave clothes were still in tact in the shape of Jesus' body!

Jesus' body was thus encased. His head, neck and upper shoulders unwrapped it and thrown the winding sheets to the side. No one were left slightly bare. A linen cloth was wrapped about the upper steals a body and then rewraps the grave-clothes. part of his head like a turban. The body was then placed within the tomb where it lay until sometime on Saturday night or Sunday I believe that when Jesus rose from the dead he literally passed morning. right through the grave-clothes leaving behind the linen wrappings just as John and Peter found them. That is exactly what John and What would we have seen had we been there at the moment at Peter saw when they entered the tomb, and the eyewitness account which Jesus was raised from the dead? Would we have seen him reveals it perfectly. John was the first at the tomb, and as he went stir, open his eyes, sit up, and begin to struggle out of the inside in the murky light of early dawn he saw the grave clothes bandages? Let's remember that it would have been difficult to lying there. escape from the bandages. Is that what we would have seen? Something about them attracted his attention. First, it was Not at all. That would have been a resuscitation, not a significant that they were lying there at all. John places the word for resurrection. It would have been the same as if he had recovered "lying" at an emphatic position in the Greek sentence. We might from fainting. Jesus would have been raised in a natural fleshly translate it, "He saw, lying there, the grave clothes" (Jn 20:5). body rather than an eternal spiritual body, and that was not what happened. If we had been present in the tomb at the moment of Further, the cloths were undisturbed. The word that John uses the resurrection, we would have noticed that all at once the body (keimena) is used in the Greek language of things that have been of Jesus seemed to disappear. John Stott says that the body was" carefully placed in order. Certainly John noticed that there had been 'vaporized,' being transmuted into something new and different no disturbance at the tomb. and wonderful." At that point Peter arrived and went into the tomb. Undoubtedly Henry Latham says that the body had been "exhaled," passing Peter saw what John saw, but in addition he was struck by something "into a phase of being like that of Moses and Elias on the Mount else. The cloth that had been around the head was not with the other of transfiguration." We would have seen only that it was gone. cloths. It was lying in a place by itself (Jn. 20:7). And what was more striking, it had retained a circular shape. John says that it was What would have happened then? The linen cloths would have "wrapped together" (KJV). We might say that it was "twirled about collapsed once the body was removed, because of the weight of itself." And there was a space between it and the cloths that had the spices, and would have been lying undisturbed where the body enveloped the body. of Jesus had been. The clothe which surrounded the head, without the weight of spices, might well have retained its concave shape says, "Then Simon Peter came, following him and went and have lain by itself separated from the other cloths by the into the tomb he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which space where the neck and shoulders of the Lord had been. had been on his head not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself." Finally John too entered the tomb and saw what Evidently the spices and resins had hardened into the shape of Peter saw. When he did, he believed. Jesus’ body, leaving the appearance of a cocoon after the butterfly has escaped. How do you explain that fact? Grave robbers would What did John believe? He might have explained it to Peter like have taken the body without unwrapping it or they would have this "Don't you see, Peter, that no one has moved the body or disturbed the grave clothes? They are lying exactly as Nicodemus Curiously, the disciples of Jesus did neither. They did not give up and Joseph of Arimathea left them the eve of the Sabbath. Yet hope that there was truly a real Messiah. Nor did they walk away the body is gone. It has not been stolen. It has not been moved. from their commitment to Jesus in search of another messiah after Clearly it must have passed through the clothes, leaving them His death—because He had risen. as we see them now. Jesus must be risen." They believed! Proof #16 The Disciple's Character Proof #12 Jesus' Family Worshiped Him as God. To claim that the disciples preached obvious lies and deluded James, Jesus' half-brother, was originally opposed to the claims people into dying for the world's greatest farce, one would first have of His brother (:5). But a transformation occurred in James to find credible evidence to challenge the character of the disciples. after he saw Hi brother resurrected from death (1 Corinthians Also, these men were devout Jews who knew that if they worshipped 15:7). James went on to pastor the church in Jerusalem and a false god, and also encouraged others to do the same, they would authored the New Testament epistle bearing his name (James 1:1). be sentenced by God to the fires of eternal hell for violating the first Jesus' mother Mary was part of the early church that prayed to and two commandments. worshiped her son as God (Acts 1:14), as was Jesus' other brother, Jude, who also wrote a book of the New Testament (Acts 1:14; Proof #17 Worship Changed Jude 1). Two of the Ten Commandments are that only the one true God is to be worshiped and that part of His worship includes honoring the Proof #13 Jesus' resurrection confirmed by His enemies. Saturday Sabbath. Yet, following Jesus' resurrection, He was Paul was a devout Jewish Pharisee (Philippians 3:4-6) who worshiped on Sunday because that was the day of His resurrection routinely persecuted and killed Christians (Acts 7:54-60). After (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2). an encounter with the risen Christ (Acts 9), Paul was converted and became the most dynamic defender and expander of the Proof #18 Theological Changes church. Baptism shows that Christians will be buried and raised, cleansed from sin by Jesus. Communion remembers the body of Jesus which Proof #14 Transformed Disciples died on the cross for our sins and rose from the grave for our Prior to the resurrection, the disciples were timid and fearful, salvation. even hiding when Jesus appeared to them (:19). But following the resurrection, they were all transformed into bold Proof #19 The Tomb was Not Enshrined. witnesses to what they had seen and heard, even to the point of It was common in Jesus' day for the tombs of holy men to be dying for their convictions. enshrined. In Palestine at that time, the tombs of at least fifty prophets or other religious figures were enshrined as places of Proof #15 The Disciples' Loyalty worship and veneration. Yet there was absolutely no trace of any Our culture is filled with various people who are proclaimed to veneration at Jesus' tomb because Jesus was not buried, but instead be, in varying degrees, a messiah. Such messiahs are surrounded resurrected. by passionate followers that make sacrifices to support their messiah. Yet once this messiah fails, their support base dwindles Proof #20 Growth of the Church. and people either give up hope or go searching for another There must be an explanation for the rapid growth and messiah in which to trust. extraordinary level of commitment of the early church. Every affect has a cause, and such a world-changing effect necessitates a