WHAT WE WILL COVER

• A brief outline of events as described in the Gospels

• Examine four fields of evidence• Discuss possible explanations of evidence• Draw a conclusion from the evidence covered

A BRIEF OUTLINE OF EVENTS

• Jesus preached for 3 years• Was crucified on the cross• Jesus’ body laid in the tomb of Joseph of

Arimathea• On the third day the body of Jesus was discovered

to be missing from the tomb• Jesus appears to many of his followers• Jesus’ followers begin to preach the good news that

Jesus had risen from the grave

FOUR FIELDS OF EXAMINATION

1. That Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea

2. That on the third day the tomb was found empty3. Jesus’ appeared to many people after the

resurrection4. The changed lives and teaching of Jesus’ followers

1. The Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea

I. Burial site known to Jew and ChristianII. 1 Cor. 15:3-7 mention that he was buriedIII. Verified by Mark’s GospelIV. Joseph of Arimathea not legendaryV. No competing burial stories

1. The Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea

“We know more about the burial of the Lord Jesus than we know of the burial of any single character in all of ancient history…we know the very tomb in which this body was placed, the name of the man who owned it, Joseph, of a town known as Arimathea. We know even where this tomb was located, in a garden nigh to the place where He was crucified, outside the city walls.”

- Smith, Wilbur M. Therefore Stand: Christian Apologetics, pg 370,371

2. The Tomb was Found Empty

I. Was part of early source material for Mark’s Gospel dating to possibly as early as A.D. 37 – Classical Historian A.N. Sherwin concluded that not even two full generations was enough time for legend to develop

II. Empty tomb implied in 1 Cor. 15III. Women’s testimony embarrassing if fabricationIV. Earliest Jewish teaching taught an empty tomb

2. The Tomb was Found Empty

“In Jerusalem, the place of Jesus’ execution and grave, it was proclaimed not long after his death that he had been raised. The situation demands that within the circle of the first community one had a reliable testimony for the fact that the grave had been found empty. The resurrection proclamation could have not been maintained in Jerusalem for single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned.”

- Pannenburg, Wolfhart, Jesus - God and Man, pg. 100

3. Jesus’ Appearances After Resurrection

I. Jesus appear to many different groupsII. List of eyewitnesses given in 1 Cor. 15 – the

teaching in 1 Cor. 15:3-7 can be dated from between 2 – 8 years after the resurrection

III. Many passages have multiple attetestations so highly likely to be credible accounts

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-7

3. Jesus’ Appearances After Resurrection

“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.” Acts 2:32

“…And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.”

Acts 3:15

3. Jesus’ Appearances After Resurrection

“But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto many people.”

Acts 13:30,31

3. Jesus’ Appearances After Resurrection

“Note that when the disciples of Jesus proclaimed the resurrection, they did so as eyewitnesses and they did so while people were still alive who had had contact with the events they spoke of. In 56 A.D. Paul wrote that over 500 people had seen the risen Jesus and that most of them were still alive (I Cor. 15:6). It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.”

- Montgomery, John Warwick, History and Christianity, pg.

78

4. The Changed Lives of Jesus’ Followers

I. The Law of Moses said “he that is hanged (on a tree) is accursed of God”

II. Jewish belief had no expectation of anyone rising from the dead before the resurrection

III. Suddenly disciples begin preaching that Jesus rose from the grave

IV. The disciples were convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead

4. The Changed Lives of Jesus’ Followers

“Think of the character of the witnesses, men and women who gave the world the highest ethical teaching it has ever known, and who even of the testimony of their enemies lived it out in their lives. Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence – and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication they were trying to foist upon the world. That simply wouldn’t make sense.”

- Anderson, J.N.D. “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ”, Christianity Today, pg. 6

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The most logical and satisfactory explanation we have is that God did in fact raise Jesus Christ from the dead