The Resurrection

Lesson 2:  He Is Risen…Indeed!

By John Orlando

The Event

I.  The Suffering Servant

            A. Scourging (Jn 19:1)

                        1. The Whip: Several strips of leather with embedded pieces of bone and lead. 

                        2. Pre-death death  “muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim were exposed.” (Eusebius)

            B. Death by Crucifixion: excruciating “The most cruel and hideous of tortures.” (Cicero)

                        1. Large 7-inch spikes driven through hands and heels of feet (ossuary of Jehohanan).

                        2. Death by Asphyxiation: “demonstrated by 20^th Cent. medical research.” (Hanegraaff)

                        3. Spear: Confirmed death (Jn 19:33-35). Pericardium (sac around heart)/heart pierced

II.  The Tomb

            A. Jewish Burial: Embalmed in at least 75 pounds of wrappings/ointments (Jn 19:38-40)

B. The Security Precautions

                        1. Stone: large disc-shaped stone rolled along a groove in a sloped channel. (Mk 16:3)

                                    a. “A stone which 20 men could not roll away.” (Bezae MS. of Mk 16:4)

                                    b. Georgia Tech Engineers: stone had to weigh 2 tons to cover 5 ft. doorway

2. Roman Seal: Cord stretched across the tomb fastened by sealing clay w/Roman signet

a. Public testimony that Jesus’ Body was in the tomb. Prevented tampering.

b. Breaking the seal incurred wrath of Rome (crucifixion upside down).

3. Roman Guard (Mt27:62-66): 4–16 man security force. Death penalty for dereliction.

III. Resurrection: Raised Bodily by power of God. Presented Himself alive/infallible proofs (Ac 1:3)

IV.  The Critics: Naturalistic Theories

A.  Stolen Body Theory: The Disciples or someone else stole the Body (Mt 28:13). 

            B.  Swoon Theory: Jesus didn’t actually die, but merely fainted and was later revived.

            C.  Wrong Tomb Theory: The women and others went to the wrong tomb (Mt 27:61).  

            D.  Hallucination Theory: Disciples suffered from a collective hallucination due to their grief.

            E.  Legend/Myth Theory: Fabrication evolved over period of time to vindicate Christianity. 

The Evidence

I. Jesus Died

            A. The Cross and Spear: Brutality and Lethality of the Cross/The confirmation of the Spear

            B. The Witnesses

                        1. The Romans: The guards (Lk 23:47; Mt 27:66); Pilate (Mk 15:44)

                        2. The Hostile Jews: The crowd (Lk 23:48); The religious leaders (Mt 27:62-66)

                        3. The Followers of Jesus: friends/women (Lk 23:49); Joseph/Nicodemus (Jn 19:38-40)

II. The Empty Tomb: All naturalistic theories fail.  The only valid conclusion is Resurrection!

            A. The Security Precautions Overcome:  How?                         

            B. The Folding of the Grave Clothes (Jn 20:7):  Why?

            C. Testimony of Women: “Gospel writers faithfully recorded facts, even if embarrassing.” (Strobel)

D. Post-Death Appearances: Not isolated - different times/different people/different locations

III. The Transformed Lives of Eyewitness

            A. From cowards to conquerors (Ac 2:14,22-24)

            B. From Saul to Paul (He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead - Ac 17:31)

            C. From the old you to the new you (1 Pet 1:8-9, 4:3-4; 2 Cor 5:19)!

IV.  The Credibility of the New Testament

A.  Manuscript Authority

            1. Bibliographic Test: Credibility of manuscripts is based on the total number of manuscripts we have, and the time interval from the date of the manuscript to the original.

* Includes just Greek manuscripts.  Add over 10,000 Latin Vulgate and 9,300 other early versions, and we have more than 25,000 manuscript copies of portions of the NT, far greater than other works from antiquity.

                        2. Internal Test: Was it written by authoritative writers? Does it contain inconsistencies?

                                    a. Eyewitness (Lk 1:1-4; 2 Pt 1:16; 1 Jn 1:1-3)

b. Errors/contradictions: Dr. Gleason Archer, Biblical manuscript expert, "…My

confidence in the trustworthiness of Scripture has been repeatedly verified…by the discovery that almost every problem in Scripture that has ever been discovered…has been dealt with in a completely satisfactory manner..."

3. Early Church Fathers (Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, etc).  Bruce Metzger states,

“Even if we lost all the Greek manuscripts and early translations, we could still reproduce the contents of the N..T  from the…quotations in commentaries, sermons, letters, and so forth from the early church fathers.”

            B.  Archaeology: This is an External Test: Does archaeological data confirm or deny the internal testimony provided by the documents themselves.

                        1.  OT Example:

a. The Charge: Hittites a mythological civilization mentioned only in the Bible. 

b. Archaeological Find: A Hittite library discovered in Turkey. 

c. Other Finds: Sodom & Gomorrah; Jericho; Inscription of King David’s name.

            2.  NT Example:

                                    a.  The Charge: No evidence for the census/Quirinius mentioned in Lk 2:1-3.

b.  Archaeological Find(s): 1. Romans had a regular enrollment of taxpayers.

2. Inscription found in Antioch: man named Quirinius, Governor of Syria, 7 BC (Christ born  7-4 BC.).

c. Other Key Finds:  The Pavement (the court where Jesus was tried by Pilate);

The Pilate Inscription (“Tiberium Pontius Pilate Prefect of Judea”); Ossuary of James.

3.  Historical accuracy within the text:

                                    a. Sir William Ramsey, famous historian/archaeologist, set out to refute the historical accuracy of the Bible, in particular, the Book of Acts.  His findings compelled him to a complete reversal of his beliefs.  He writes, "Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements of fact trustworthy, he is possessed of the true historic sense...in short, this author should be placed along with the greatest of historians."

                                    b. Roman historian A.N. Sherwin-White, "For [the Book of] Acts the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming…Any attempt to reject its basic historicity must now appear absurd.  Roman historians have long taken it for granted..."

For more information consult: http://christiananswers.net/archaeology/; http://www.bib-arch.org/

C. Predictive Prophecy: The Bible is the only body of literature containing precise predictions

of future events that could not possibly be known or predicted by employing logic or chance.

7 Messianic Prophecies and Their Fulfillment:

            D. Statistical Probability: The above list contains just 7 of the over 300 messianic prophecies fulfilled by Christ! The probability that 1 person could fulfill just 7 prophecies is 1 in 10¹⁷.

V. Uniqueness of the Bible: The Bible is the only Book that was written:

A. Over a span of 1,600 yrs

B. By 40 different authors from every walk of life: kings, herdsmen, fishermen, scholars.

C. In different places: Moses in the wilderness, Jeremiah in a dungeon, Luke while traveling.

D. On 3 continents: Asia, Africa, Europe

E. In 3 languages:  Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek

F. In a wide variety of literary styles:  poetry, prophecy, parable, historical narrative, epistle

All of this, yet the Bible is internally consistent with a single unfolding story: God’s redemption of His people.  The central character is the One True and Living God made known through Christ:

A. In the OT: The Law: The Foundation for Christ; The Historical Books: Preparation

for Christ; The Poetical Books: Yearning for Christ; The Prophetic Books: Expectancy of Christ.

B. In the NT:  The Gospels: The Manifestation of Christ; The Acts: The Propagation

of Christ; The Epistles: The Interpretation of Christ; The Revelation: Consummation in Christ.

VI.  The Divine Inspiration of the Bible:  Testimony of Jesus

            A. Jesus claimed Divine authorship of the Scriptures, Jesus rose from the dead, therefore the Scriptures are Divinely inspired.

            B. Not circular: We have demonstrated the historicity and trustworthiness of the text.  Now, we are simply pointing out what Jesus, who is mentioned in this trustworthy text, says about the text itself.

            C.  The Closing Argument:

1. The Bible is a proven reliable source in all that it reports concerning persons, places and events.

2. The Bible reports the life, ministry, and miracles of Jesus of Nazareth.

3. Jesus claimed to be God and rose from the dead validating His message.

4. Therefore, all that Jesus said and taught was true.

5. Jesus taught that the Bible was the Word of God.

6. Therefore, the Bible is the Word of God and true in all that it reports.

The conclusion of the matter:  Jesus Is Risen…Indeed!

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