What History says about the Resurrection April 2000
1 Corinthians 15:16-19 - For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied or are most miserable)
By Pastor Rick MacDonald
From The Message
1 Corinthians 15:16-20 - If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ wasn’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.
With the risk of being miserable, why would a group of intelligent, rational individuals ever believe in the resurrection? In fact the guys the were responsible for having Jesus crucified, did so to quiet Him on a number of issues, one of which the resurrection from the dead! But the truth is, as hard as I’ve tried I can’t disprove the resurrection. In fact it is much easier to prove than to disprove.
First, we have first had historical accounts of the resurrection - But I don’t believe in the Bible.
I’m not talking about historians who didn’t follow after Jesus:
Adolf Harnack, a German historian, who rejects the resurrection says,
“The firm confidence of the disciples in Jesus was rooted in the belief that Jesus did not abide in death, but was raised by God. That Christ was risen, was, in virtue of what they had experienced in Him, certainly only after they had seen Him, just as sure as the fact of His death, and became the main article of their preaching about Him.”
Jospephus, a Jewish historian, writing at the end of the first century A.D. wrote this:
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call Him man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to Him many Jews, and also many of the Greeks. this man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned Him to the cross, upon His impeachment by the principal man among us, those who had loved him from the first did not forsake Him, for He appeared to them alive on the third day, the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about Him. And even now, the race of Christians, so named from Him, has not died out.”
Other religions:
The world today is hungry for spiritual understanding., but all but four of the world’s religions are based on philosophical beliefs. Of the four based on personalities, only Christianity claims an empty tomb.
Judaism
Abraham, father of Judaism died about 1900 B.C., but no resurrection was claimed for him.
Buddhism
Buddhism is on the rise. But let me read to you what the Mahaparainibbana Sutta, the earliest account of history recorded about Buddha - “ . . . when he died, it was with that utter passing away in which nothing whatever remains behind.” Buddha and Buddhists never have or will believe that Buddha was resurrected from the dead - he just died like any other ordinary human.
Muhammadanism
Sakya Muni, was the founder of Muhammadanism. The scriptures of the Muhammadans called the Pali, never claimed that Sakya Muni would be resurrected. In fact the Pali says that on June 8, 632 A.D., as the age of sixty-one, at Medina, where his tomb is annually visited by thousands of millions of Muhammadans, Sakya died.
Christianity
Without the resurrection, Christianity cannot exist. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. To better understand this, let’s go back to Friday, the day Jesus was crucified.
1. When Jesus was arrested, all the disciples ran away, except Peter who followed behind at a great distance.
Matthew 26:56 - “But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.
2. When Peter was confronted about his association with Christ, he denied it so strongly, that he even cussed out a young girl who asked it he was with Jesus.
a. When Jesus was led out from His trial, He simply looked at Peter, and Peter ran and hid and wept bitterly.
3. A few hours later, Jesus was crucified. At the cross was his mother and one disciple, John. All the other disciples, except Judas who has killed himself, we off hiding out of fear.
4. Then Mary Magdalene, the woman who had 7 demons, went to the tomb, and listen to what John wrote about the account:
John 20:1-2 - Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came* early to the tomb, while it was* still dark, and saw* the stone already taken away from the tomb. 2So she ran* and came* to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said* to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”
5. The empty tomb did not bring them any comfort. In fact, Mary thought someone had stolen the body.
a. There are plenty of empty tombs around the world even today. If we were simply placing our belief in an empty tomb, them we are not only miserable, but we are stupid!
1 Corinthians 15:3-7 - For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
6. What prompted Peter’s turn-around on the day of Pentecost. The one who denied Jesus to a little Jewish servant girl, is now standing on a balcony, preaching to all of Jerusalem!
Acts 2:14 - But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.
Conclusion
Peter had seen the resurrected Lord, and his life was never the same. He new that because Jesus had fulfilled his promise to resurrect Himself from the grave after three day, then all His promises were true! So now Peter and the rest had no reason to fear death, because the new there was a resurrection for them as believers in Christ. In fact listen to what historians, not the Bible, say about the apostles:
• James was martyred by being burned to the stake as a torch for nighttime chariot races.
• Peter was crucified in Rome, head downward?
• Simon the Zealot was sawn in pieces
• Jude preached in Assyria and Persia and died a martyr in Persia?
• Andrew, originally a disciple of John the Baptist, was crucified on an X-shaped cross?
• Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, by being stoned.
• Bartholomew was flayed to death?
• James the less pushed from a summit of the temple, then beaten to death?
• Simon the Zealot was executed by being sawn in pieces?
• Paul was beheaded.
• Of all the apostles, the only one who died a natural death was John, but it wasn’t because they didn’t try to kill him. They even boiled him in oil, and when he wouldn’t die, they exiled him to an island of lepers, where he received the Revelation, and eventually died of old age.
