Part 3 of 3 Evidence For the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Posted by: henkf <henkf@...>
Part 3 of 3
Evidence For the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (The Resurrection Changed Their Lives)
INTRO:
I. Did the Apostles Lie?
A. The testimony of the greatest legal minds of the world demands that the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened.
1. Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853), the famous Professor of Law at Harvard University, wrote a volume called An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. This work, written in 1846, is still considered the greatest single authority on evidence in the entire literature of legal procedure. Here is an excerpt on his assessment of the testimony of the Apostles concerning the resurrection---
“It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact. If it were morally possible for them to have been deceived in this matter, every human motive operated to lead them to discover and avow their error. To have persisted in so gross a falsehood, after it was known to them, was not only to encounter, for life, all the evils which man could inflict from without, but to endure also the pangs of inward and conscience guilt; with no hope of future peace, no testimony of a good conscience, no expectation of honor or esteem among men, no hope of happiness in this life, or in the world to come” (Simon Greenleaf, pp. 29-30; quoted from McDowell, pp. 191-192).
2. See Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, pp. 189-194.
B. Impossible that the Apostles were lying.
1. If the apostles had actually stolen the body (which was itself an impossibility), then they preached all over the world that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, even giving their lives for their cause. Impossible!
2. They did not invent the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
a. The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are too vivid and real to have been invented.
b. Maybe the New Testament writers were “tragically misled,” but “they were definitely not deliberately misleading” (Stott, Mere Christianity, p. 56).
3. They did not hallucinate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
a. Disbelief was rampant at first.
1) The apostles did not believe at first when they heard about Jesus’ resurrection (Luke 24.11f).
2) Thomas did not believe when the Apostles told Him about Jesus’ resurrection (John 20.24-29).
b. It is impossible to dismiss these revelations of the divine Lord as hallucinations of deranged minds (Stott, pp. 57, 58).
C. They were eye-witnesses.
1. Peter and the Apostles affirmed the resurrection of Jesus on the Day of Pentecost. “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2.32).
2. The Apostles “did not follow cleverly devised tales” (2 Pet. 1.16-19). a. Peter alludes to the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17.1-8 = Mark 9.2-8 = Luke 9.28-36).
II. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ Changed the Lives of His Disciples.
I. The Apostles, Before the Resurrection.
A. Character flaws.
1. Proud (Mark 9.33-37).
2. Lacked faith (Matt. 8.23-27).
a. Jesus is asleep in the bottom of the boat while there is a terrible storm going on!
b. But Jesus had faith, i.e., He knew it was not His time. The apostles, however, lacked their Lord’s faith.
3. Limited in understanding.
a. Their hearts were hardened (Mark 6.52; Mark 8.17-21).
1) The hardness of their hearts was rooted in their lack of faith in the power of Jesus.
b. They were spiritually immature (John 16.12, 13).
B. They all fled.
1. Before, they all talked a big talk (cf. John 11.16), especially Peter.
a. Peter refused to accept that Jesus had to die (Matt 16.21-23).
b. Peter ardently refused to accept that he would deny his Lord (Matt 26.31-35).
2. At the betrayal (Matt. 26.47-56).
a. Peter alone physically defended Jesus against the Roman cohort (Matt. 26.51; see John 18.10). Simon Peter therefore having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus (John 18.10).
1) The Roman cohort probably consisted of about 200 men.
2) The odds were slightly in their favor, not Peter’s (12 to 200).
b. Peter did not understand Jesus’ intentions (Matt. 26.52-54).
1) Peter had physically defended Jesus, even though He did not want any protection whatsoever (Matt. 26.52).
2) Jesus is God. He possesses the power of God (Matt. 26.53).
3) They would not have taken Him unless He was willing to be taken. But, “it must happen this way” in order to fulfill Scripture (Matt. 26.54; cf. Acts 2.23; Gen. 3.15).
c. They ran away, deserting their Lord (Matt. 26.56b).
C. But they changed.
1. Jesus spent His ministry not just healing and teaching others, but especially to prepare His apostles to teach all the world (see John 13-16).
a) They were to preach the Gospel to the entire world as His witnesses (Acts 1.8).”but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1.8).
b) According to tradition, they all gave their lives for the cause of Christ.
2. The resurrection solidified the loyalty of His disciples to Him.
II. Specific examples.
A. Thomas (called “Didymus” or “the Twin”).
1. Thomas was willing to die for Jesus (John 11.16), if necessary.
2. Even after the Apostles affirmed that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, Thomas refused to believe (John 20.19-29).
a. Jesus appeared to the disciples (John 20.19-23).
b. But Thomas was not there and refused to believe, despite his fellows’ testimony (John 20.24-25). c. Seeing is believing, for Thomas (John 20.26-29).
3. Tradition informs us that Thomas labored in Parthia, Persia and India.
B. James, the brother of our Lord.
1. The siblings of Jesus.
a. Jesus did in fact have half-brothers and half-sisters (Matt. 13.55 = Mark 6.3).
b. James, after Jesus, was probably the oldest of the children.
2. At first James was a non-believer in His half-brother (John 7.1-5).
a. They ridiculed Jesus, prodding Him to go to the Feast of Booths and “show Yourself to the world” (John 7.4).
b. He perhaps led them in their disbelief in Him as God (John 7.5).For not even His brothers were believing in Him (John 7.5).
The turning-point.
a. The post-resurrection appearance (1 Cor. 15.7). then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles (1 Cor. 15.7).
b. According to Hegesippus (c. A.D. 180), James’s faithful adherence to the Jewish law and his austere lifestyle led to the designation “the just” (Dictionary, pp. 493, 494).
c. Obviously, however, James became a Christian, very possibly as a result of seeing his brother alive after He had been dead.
3. James’ influence on the Church.
a. James’ work in Jerusalem.
1) After Peter left Jerusalem to begin his ministry in Rome, the shift in leadership went from Peter to James.
2) According to tradition, James was appointed the first bishop of Jerusalem by the apostles themselves (see Acts 12.17; 21.18; Gal. 2.9).
3) At the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), James obviously presides in a position of authority, at least extrinsicly.
a) James seems to be a moderator of sorts. Following much debate (v. 7), Peter (vv. 7-11) was allowed to speak. Then Paul and Barnabas gave account of their missionary work among Gentiles, too (v. 12).
b) Then James put forward the decree, saying, “it is my judgment ...” (vv. 19, 20).
c) This decree was agreed upon by the entire church, seemingly without any conflict. Nobody said something like, “Who gives James the right ...?”
d) This decree (see Acts 15.23-29) was then delivered to the Gentiles by Paul and Silas on their Second Missionary Journey (see Acts 16.4).
b. The Epistle of James.
1) James makes no appeal to His special relationship with Jesus, merely identifying himself as “a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1.1).
2) There is much similarity between the epistle of James and the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).
a) Matt. 5.12 with James 1.2.
b) Matt. 7.24-27 with James 1.22.
c) Matt. 7.16f with James 2.18.
d) Matt. 7.1f with James 4.11, 12.
e) Matt. 6.19f with James 5.1f.
f) Matt. 5.34-37 with James 5.12.
3) Devoid of all apology, its 108 verses contain fifty-four commands (Master Study Bible, p. 1264).
1) Whoever wrote this epistle had to be well respected by its recipients.
2) Otherwise, it would not have any influence on its readers.
C. Paul.
1. A persecutor of the church.
a) Saul of Tarsus was in hearty agreement with those who stoned Stephen (Acts 7.58, 8.1a).
b) Saul set out to destroy the church.
1) He sought out those who were “belonging to the Way, both men and women, [so that] he might bring them bound to Jerusalem” (Acts 9.2).
2) Paul received permission from the Sanhedrin Council, having “received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished” (Acts 22.5).
3) It wasn’t just a slap on the wrist. The Christians Paul was bringing back bound were killed as a result of their faith. “And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them” (Acts 26.10).
4) Certainly the blood of those Christians haunted him for the rest of his life.
a) At first, no-one would believe that Saul of Tarsus was now a Christian (Acts 9.13-14, 26-27).
b) No wonder Paul identified himself as “the very least of all saints” (Eph. 3.8) or “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners---of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1.15).
2. Jesus appears to Paul.
a. Jesus had big plans for Paul (Acts 9.15, 16).
b. Paul completely turns his life around.
1) Everything for which Saul of Tarsus had worked for all his life was suddenly demolished while on his way to Damascus.
2) The day Christ appeared to him, Saul of Tarsus “died” and Paul the Apostle came alive (cf. Gal. 2.20).
3) Everything was rubbish (lit., dung) to him so that he could obtain Christ (Phil. 3.4-11). a) Saul had everything going for him (Phil 3.4-6).
b) Turns his back on Judaism (Phil. 3.7).
c) But he threw it all away for Christ (Phil 3.8f).
D. Peter.
1. Earlier in his life, Peter was very impetuous.
a) Impetuousness got him in constant trouble.
1) A stumbling block to Jesus (Matt. 16.23 = Mark 8.33).
2) On the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17.4 = Mark 9.5 = Luke 9.33).
3) Denied Jesus three times (Matt 26.69-75 = Mark 14.66-72 = Luke 22.55-62 = John 18.16-18, 25-27).
b) Yet, his impetuousness was a tremendous asset, too.
1) “You are the Christ” (Matt. 16.13-16 = Mark 8.27-29 = Luke 9:18-20).
2) “Lord, to whom shall we go?” (John 6.66-69).
2. The turning-point.
a. The resurrection (1 Cor. 15.5). He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve (1 Cor. 15.5).
b. Jesus forgives Peter.
1) Peter and six other Apostles went fishing (John 21.1-3).
2) Jesus appears to them (John 21.4-14).
a) At first, they did not recognize Jesus.
b) He then performs the exact miracle that He had performed when first commissioning Peter, Andrew, James and John (Luke 5.1-11).
c) Then, after the miracle (John 21.11), they knew it was the Lord (John 21.12).
3) The love motivation (John 21.15-17).
a) Apparently this is a private conversation between Jesus and Peter while they are walking along the seashore (see John 21.20).
b) Jesus is gently reminding Peter that he had denied Him three times. It’s as if with each confession Peter is taking back a denial.
c) Peter is going to die for the cause of Christ (John 21.18, 19; cf. 2 Pet. 1.14).
3. The reflection of the Epistles.
a. The Epistles are not written by an impetuous man, but rather by a wise elder of the church who is pasturing the flock with wise words.
4. What changed Peter?
a. He was a diamond in the rough (cf. Luke 5.1-11).
b. But Jesus Christ changed him (cf. John 21).
III. Christ Can Change You.
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