(Link to full talk)
1. All History, not just Christian History, but all human History even your own History, hangs on the answer to this question: did Jesus rise from the dead? I have been using Luke [I refer people to Talk 1 for why we use the Gospels as History] in the last few weeks to show that the most reasonable and plausible explanation of the witnessed events is that Jesus truly lived, truly died as God’s Messiah (the Christ) and that He truly rose in history. And this History has personal, relational, spiritual and universal consequences. Christianity depends on Truth, if it was shown that Jesus did not Rise from the dead then there is no Christian answer to anything anymore, there is no Messiah, there is no answer to Sin and Death, there is no sign of a living God acting in History, there is no hope: we have been duped, and we are worse off than unbelievers because we have been sold a false Gospel. But that is NOT the case. The Resurrection of Jesus is another externally, verifiable truth which has stood the test of time and much opposition and still stands today. He rose and that means for us who have been convinced, God’s Messiah - His chosen and anointed King - lives, that He is Lord of all History and Humanity, that He has defeated Sin and Death our last enemies and that we will Rise just as He has Risen. Do you see the importance of this question: Did Jesus Rise?
We have here many facts presented to us by Luke the Historian/Doctor that combine up into an whole account of Jesus’ Resurrection. Firstly we know for sure that Jesus died. The Centurion (Luke 23:47) was with other soldiers (23:26) made sure of that [...] He was DEAD.
But just as we are sure that Jesus was dead, we can be sure that the Tomb was empty on the Sunday morning and that Jesus met His disciples firstly around Jerusalem and later Galilee and again in Jerusalem: this happened over a period of 40 days, inclusively. Because, secondly, we have witnesses of the women disciples. I think it’s a wonderful thing and one that smacks of Truth: that we trust in the eye-witness confessions of humble women, among whom included the ex-prostitute Mary Magdalene [Matt 28:1] and Jesus’ own mother, both of whom were grieved to the core because of Jesus’ life with them. Why is it wonderful truth? Because women were the lower, second-rate class of the day but Christians uphold their testimony as trustworthy and equal in standing with other accounts; in fact they were the first-ones to find the tomb empty, the stone rolled away, it was to them that the angel reminded and reaffirmed what Jesus had promised to him: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again” [Luke 24:6-7]. It was to women, the lowly and despised, that God chose to announce that: “Jesus is Risen, He is not [laying dead in the tomb]!” Even the Eleven did not believe them [Luke 24:9]. But the women knew what they saw. This is embarrassing literature, embarrassing admission and an inconvenient truth because people didn’t trust women in those days! Yet because it’s embarrassing it’s therefore True. There is no way the disciples would have preferred it - it’d been nicer if Peter got to the tomb before they did [Luke 24:12], or if not Peter, then John, who was close to Jesus’ Crucifix at Mary’s side [John 19:26] but for sake of truth-keeping and honest recollection, we have women, the first witnesses of Jesus’ Resurrection, starting with the empty tomb.
Thirdly, there were multiple attestations of Jesus’ physical bodily Resurrection at various times, places and to different people [...] Similarly there’re multiple attestations to Jesus’ Resurrection, so good, so many, so closely documented in time in relation to Historical events that we have more evidence for this than any other figure in ancient history? For most of you, if you disappeared from the face of the earth today, there won’t be as good proof of who you are, what you do, where you live, what you are like or what you said compared with that of Jesus and His life, death and resurrection. None of us will have a biography written about ourselves and our highlights in life, let alone four?! [...]
Jesus then dined with the Eleven along with other disciples (Luke 24:36-44). He showed them and they touched him on His hands, feet and side [...] These witnesses were unsuspecting witnesses, they did not have in their hearts and minds to expect and let alone create a risen Jesus from their imagination. For a long time they were frightened, then amazed, then realised and finally became joyful (Luke 24:41) because of Jesus’ resurrection. You would have been too, if you were there, at the time.
Fourthly, there are silent witnesses in Luke’s account, that negatively support the Empty Tomb of Jesus and His Resurrection. These weren’t believers, they were equally afraid, stunned, but they didn’t have joy with their knowledge. These were the Roman authorities and the Jewish Leaders. There were guards at Jesus’ tomb, they’re silent. Why? Matthew does give an account that Jewish leaders bribed the Roman authorities to say that the disciples stole the body (Matt 28:11-15). Which means at least there was an empty tomb. The opponents are silent on why the tomb was empty, in that they don’t have an alternate, plausible explanation. Also, if there was a body, why couldn’t they just show it, why not contest, why not gather all the Jerusalem disciples and show them, I mean that’s where they were, why not stop another potential trouble right where it started? But History tell us, they were silent, they couldn’t overcome the witnesses and News of Jesus’ Resurrection, His appearances and as a result the early Church rose, just as Jesus rose.
The fifth and biggest fact which subsequently supports the Resurrection of Jesus is the Rise of the early Church. Luke gives an explanation (Luke24:44-49):
44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
You see, these people were once frightened, hopeless and lost. They had lost the one person whom they thought had brought God’s new age or His Kingdom that much closer. They had hoped in the rescue by God for them and others, in their personal, spiritual, moral and social lives. They were longing for a time where God who again be their God and they would be His own people. They wanted salvation in every sense of the word. They wanted a king who would lead them and teach them form God and lead them to God. But this person on whom all their hopes had laid was crucified and laid in a tomb himself. What good is a dead Saviour, what good is a cursed corpse, what good is a Messiah who was dead? Yet for some reason, some gaping event in history they were changed, literally over a short space of time, something like 40 days and nights. They were empowered (Luke 24:49). They began to call Jesus their Lord again. They had renew trust in Jesus as the Messiah. They started to worship this Jesus as God. They then called others from the outside in, so that they may know the Jesus they know, and preached repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name. A small group, but convinced group of several hundred, slowly and steadily, overcame the Roman empire with their message, that Jesus is the Resurrected Messiah. What could cause this? A lie? A hoax? A mass common delusion? What else can explain the conviction of enemies of Jesus, Paul, unbelieving brother of Jesus, James, such that they would become leaders, teachers and martyrs for the fact of Jesus’ Life, Death and Resurrection. Only the Resurrection can explain this.
SO important was this Resurrection, it became part of an oral Creed that circulated within years of the event in 30AD, that Paul could refer to, as you and I would refer to a pop-song, say Viva La Vida by Coldplay, or Teenage Dream by Katy Perry [try to sing these, Will]. Paul wasn’t even arguing the case but simply referring to something COMMONLY known, held to heart and publicly proclaimed, 1Corinthians 15:3-8:
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas,
and then to the Twelve.
6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born...
To put simply, nothing explains all these things from these witnesses, unless Jesus Rose, physically, bodily from the Dead. You need more blind scepticism to believe any other explanation. There is no better alternative explanation [I’ll leave your questions to Q&A time]. Jesus simply Rose for all to see and hear. And now we must ask...
2. Did the Messiah (aka the Christ) have to rise from the dead? Jesus referred Himself as the Messiah, or more correctly, the Messiah portraits or predictions from the Old Testament fit Jesus perfect, especially in hindsight, especially after Jesus’ resurrection. [Again, I refer people to Jesus’ life, his teachings, his miracles, his explanations of the OT teachings in Talk 1] I can’t have created these, neither could Jesus, or the New Testament witnesses because the predictions were in the Old Testament, written before 400BC. If you know that God is an all powerful agent in History, who acts, saves, speaks to and changes people in History, then it isn’t a surprise that Jesus came with an introduction and explanation, from God Himself. Look with me through Luke 24:25-27:
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the
prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then
enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to
them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
[...]
Simply, the Old Testament Law, Prophets and Psalms - “all Scripture” - portrayed a Messiah who had to suffer all that Jesus did, die, be buried, and then raised on the third day and enter into “glory” as the Resurrected Messiah. And Jesus is the one who lived proclaiming the Good News as the Messiah, died for our sins as the Messiah and Rose from the dead as the glorious King-Messiah, in accordance with all Scripture.
Isaiah 53 [remember it’s written in 700BC, by a prophet, seeing the picture of a Suffering Servant, who looks remarkably like Jesus at the Cross] is useful once again, this time we’ll look at the second half in detail, we know that Jesus the Messiah, died on the Cross in our place for our sins to take away the death penalty deserved for us so that we don’t die and we don’t pay and we don’t receive God’s judgment in order that we may have forgiveness of sins (Isaiah 53:7-12):
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Verse 11 in particular says that after the Servant Messiah suffers, “He will see the light of life and be satisfied; and by His knowledge [the] righteous servant will justify [make right in God’s sight] many, [because] He will bear their iniquities [or sins].” After suffering for sins of the world, our sins, your sin my sin, the Messiah will rise and see life and the joy of life, forever. Isn’t this Jesus who was crucified, cursed by God for sin, buried, and rose on the 3rd day? ...
Why is it so important that Jesus is the Resurrected Messiah? It’s because only then is Jesus truly the Messiah and that the Messiah has truly come. You don’t know what I’m saying, I probably don’t grasp the entirety of the HUGENESS of this Good News either. But if Jesus is that Resurrected Messiah, then it means that God’s Kingdom has come, it means that today is the day of Salvation [Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19], when you hear Jesus and see Him and trust in Him and turn around to follow Him, you are personally saved and belong to God and are made His daughter or son, that not only you but the whole world can be reconciled to God the Father through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus! and it also means that...
3. The Resurrection put an end to our last enemy: Death and Sin, its sting. Death has died, because sins have been paid for and death’s no longer an eternal Enemy or Tormentor of Life for those whom Jesus has died and rose. Jesus’ own Resurrection, vindicates Him as the Lord who is at God’s [the LORD’s] right hand, the position of triumph, power, victory and majestic rule, look at Psalm 110’s opening with me:
1 The LORD says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”
2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
3 Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb.
How are you to interpret the Resurrection of Jesus if you believe in God’s word in the Old Testament? Use this Psalm [most quoted Psalm in NT, Peter, Paul, writer of Hebrews, all use to to point to the Resurrected Jesus]. Jesus used this to point to Himself even before His death and Resurrection. It’s because the suffering, substitutionary and dying Messiah was TO BE the mighty, ruling and glorious Messiah. That’s what it means that He had to suffer these things and enter into His Glory. [...] He has defeated the Greatest Enemy of All: Sin and Death - that ugly, two-headed rabid beast that will consume and feast on you if you are not under this glorious Messiah.
Verse 1 of Psalm 110 declares that all enemies, including Sin and Death and all its vile consequences, are under Jesus’ feet. His enemies are DEAD. There is going to be no evil in God’s kingdom come, no injustice, no disease, no miscarriage, no abuse, no hurtful lies, no life-destroying habits or fatal mistakes, there is no inner failure and outward wasting, there is
NO Enemy left against God, Jesus the Messiah or the new Humanity His own Creation and Children on whom His Spirit rests. There will be no Eternal Death. There will only be Life as Jesus knows it best. Life as we have longed for all our lives but can’t attain no matter how technologically-advanced, culturally-savvy, spiritually-enlightened, morally-upright, relationally-successful or materially-rich we have become because all that doesn’t compare to God’s Resurrected Life. It stinks in comparison. The joy is so miniscule. The life is so flakey. It’s cheaper than 1980’s Chinese imitations of real Western goods. But Jesus has risen and His enemies are now pronounced dead: Sin, its effects, its curse, its limitations on life as we all know it and Death that drives us all in fear, frustration and grumbling - Sin and Death are Dead if Jesus is the Resurrected Messiah. He Lives, He Rules, He calls us now to enjoy and to follow and He will return to realise all the promises of History, God’s history as we have heard it in the OT and NT.
4. So, which side of Jesus’ Resurrection do you stand on?
First, let’s take the “No” side. What does saying “No” to the Resurrection mean? If you are saying no because you are seeking and you want to be more convinced, then great, because the disciples, witnesses, even Christians today, have found Jesus’ life death and resurrection hard-going. But may I encourage you that you don’t need to know everything in order to know something sure? If you know Jesus’ Resurrection, it’s a start, a great start and all that you need to start with. Turn, repent from sins, trust in Him and receive forgiveness, life and relationship with God the Father.
But, beware of being a silent witness, one who knows enough of the facts but is not changed or moved by it in anyway. Your silence in witness, will condemn you in the face of God. We are the same as the Roman and Jewish authorities, who for more convenient reasons of security, power, comfort ignore the Resurrection. It may well be more convenient for you to let this slip under the table, let this knowledge go by. The Romans and that old way of life, were gone, they have past. The Jewish leaders still to this day seek a different Messiah. I’m not sure who they’ll find. Jesus’ Resurrection though True, was not functionally or significantly true for them, so they have all come, lived, and died under Sin, Death and Judgement, probably worse off than they were if they’d never heard the eye-witnesses. The same warning goes for anyone, if convinced of the little that I’ve shown from Luke today, then don’t go back. Christianity is either Truth, the whole truth and everyone’s Truth or nothing at all. [...]
And more importantly, I don’t want anyone of you to miss out... [on the things below]
So, let’s take the other side. What if you believe in the Resurrection in head, heart and will? What does that mean for you? At least it means that though you die once, you will rise just as Jesus has to a glorious new life, with glorious bodies and all that, for the enjoyment of God, HImself, His Creation and all His goodness in the company of many witnesses and believers in a glorious party. It means you will see Him just as He is because you have united yourself with the Suffering and Rising Messiah, His own Son and Lord of all. It means you have hope, that you didn’t have before and not many friends have found and will ever find. Treasure this, my brother and sister, make it your heart’s delight, make it your turkish delight, your teenage dream, your viva la vida, your revolution, your purpose, your POWER in life because Jesus has died, suffered and risen in Truth, in History and in God’s Reality.
Where then, may I ask, is the sign of the Resurrected power in your life, if you claim to know this truth in Head and Heart? Where’s the “proof” of a sure win and defeat of Life’s greatest enemies in your life? [...] When you and I go through disease, separation, failure, physical torment {hopefully not torture, but even then] may be know the power of Jesus’ Resurrected life, so that our hope and joy shines out. I’ve seen it. I know it in part, for I am a pigmy when it comes to suffering. But that was what got the first Christians off the ground, through the Roman Empire and the rest of the known world: they could be sawed, chained, have homes confiscated, and still they remained as loving, as forgiving, as energetic as we are after a European vacation.
Sometimes our “joylessness” or “lifelessness” isn’t true, or not based on reality, but on lies. Lies can recreate a false joy, or it can snuffle true joy; lies can cover up emptiness with an imitation - very good imitations, almost as good as the real thing, or lies can smother true Life that we already have an enjoy. [...] If you like, good food, good friends, good relationships, good marriages, good businesses, and good world-changing accomplishments are shadows, shadows of a greater reality, and markers of greater longings, which are only met and now freely OFFERED to us, in the Resurrection of Jesus. Why is Heaven likened to a banquet? To a great city? To a Marriage between God and His people? Why do inhabitants of the new Jerusalem sing and dance with celebration and energy? Why is Life on that side of Jesus’ Resurrection one of joy and hope and perfection? Well, because, it is: it’s the nature of the things to come, to be fully realised when the Resurrected Jesus comes back to bring God’s kingdom on this world with full force. LG: Life’s good, JC: Resurrected Life is even better. Don’t buy the lie of life now, without Jesus, because the life without Resurrection is a phoney, it’s a sham, it’s an imitation, in the it’s DEATH without the Resurrected Jesus. But the truth is that Jesus Has Risen, He showed the witnesses and now to us a glimpse of GLORY of Resurrection. [...]
Jesus’ Resurrection is POWER. It means we all are freed from sin and death, yes there are still cobwebs, a few tangles, a few knots, but the process of radical transformation, of a new life has started and will continue. Just as surely Jesus has Risen in Glory so will some of you one day. May that be your driving motivation, your pillar of strength, may it be what frees you to live by God’s Spirit in ways which are shocking to the world, but natural to your new Life. Have you considered giving? Giving lots of money? Away? To other people? For their good? Have you considered missing out on the best that this world has to offer so that at least others can have the best that God has to offer? I have, the disciples have, Paul has, but have you? I can’t drag you, you must be compelled by the Truth of His Resurrection. What has St Basil’s got to give to people in Artarmon? Something that they want, or something that they need and are looking for, they just haven’t found it, or Him. Offer them the Resurrected Jesus, who is Historically true, externally verifiable, and whose Rising changes the History of our world and everyone’s personal history as well.
