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THE RESURRECTION PART #1

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

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• 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

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• The reason the resurrection is so important to Christianity is that it confirms the teachings of Jesus as having the authority of God.

• At stake is the ability is to know who Jesus was and thus, how we should respond to Him.

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WHAT ARE THE OTHER

OPTIONS?• Swoon theory• Twin theory• Stolen body• Hallucination• The wrong tomb• The alien theory• Legend• The Quran account• The Biblical account

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WHAT IS RESURRECTION?

• Resurrection is not resuscitation.– We are not talking about a

body brought back to its former life, needing food, able to get sick and age and even die again.

• A resurrection state is a body that is physical yet incorruptible. It cannot age, die, or become ill.

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JUST THE FACTS

• According to the Gospels, Jesus was;– Crucified– Died on the cross– Was buried in a tomb– 3 days later the tomb was found empty– Followers claimed to have seen His

physical body risen from the dead over a 40 day period.

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SWOON THEORY

• The swoon theory claims that Jesus only fainted on the cross and appeared to be dead. He then awoke and recuperated in the damp coolness of the tomb and fully recovered.

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• Before being crucified, Pontius Pilate ordered that Jesus be scourged.– The whip used was 8”

long with 12” to 24” long leather straps attached to one end. At the end of the straps were tied sharp pieces of metal, bone shards, broken glass, or sharp rock.

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• After the scourging Jesus was crucified.– In crucifixion the

victim was laid down with his arms perpendicular to the torso. Nails 5 to 9” long would be driven through both wrists, crushing the largest nerve going to the hand and creating extraordinary pain.

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• In the case of Jesus, the executioner was preparing to break His legs but Jesus was already dead. To make sure he took a spear and thrust it into Jesus side, piercing His heart. If Jesus had not already died He surely would have by this.

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• For the swoon theory to be true.– Jesus would have had to:

• Survived the spearing• Had control over the blood

flow out of the wound, so that it didn’t look like his heart was beating.

• Fooled a professional executioner.

• Healed from all of this in 36 hours or so in a damp cave.

• get up onto his feet which had been wounded

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• Jesus would have had to:– Put his shoulders

back into place.– Then with His

wounded hands, move the stone away from the cave.

– Upon exiting the tomb he would have had to overpower a number of Roman guards, with no weapons.

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• Jesus would have had to:– Walk unrecognized

through Jerusalem in broad daylight, with no clothes and wounds all over Him, and proceed to Emmaus.

– After an evening meal He would return to Jerusalem, find where the apostles were hiding and break in without them knowing how He did it.

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• Jesus would have had to:– Convince the

apostles that all was well, even though He looked like he had been thru a meat grinder.

– And to top it off, He then performed the illusion of vanishing into thin air.

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THE TWIN THEORY

• The Twin Theory suggests that Jesus had an identical twin brother nobody knew about who took Jesus’ place on the cross.

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• If Jesus’ twin was executed and buried, then what happened to the body?

• To shut up and discount the early Christians, all that they had to do was produce a body or prove it was stolen.

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THE STOLEN BODY THEORY• This theory says

that Jesus’ followers stole the body from the tomb.

• This is the only theory that dates from when the time the events took place.

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• Matthew 28:11-15 While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

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• It does not account for the behavior of the disciples.– They were not

expecting a bodily resurrection

– They denied Him at the crucifixion.

– They were mourning and weeping at His death.

– They refused to believe Mary’s story of His resurrection.

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– They were staying hidden because of fear of the Jews.

– When Jesus appeared to them they were terrified and not expectant.

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Then 50 days later

• They are:– Preaching and performing

miracles– Claiming the resurrection

• They were now preaching with such passion and commitment and it seems to grow as there lives unfolded.

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• JAMES (brother of John)– Was beheaded in

Jerusalem by Herod AD 44

• PHILIP– Crucified on an “X” shaped

cross in Greece AD 60

• MATTHEW– Pinned to the ground and

beheaded in Ethiopia AD 60

• PETER– Crucified upside down in

Rome AD 64

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• THOMAS– Executed with spears in

India

• BARTHOLOMEW (Nathaniel)– Flayed alive in Armenia

• MATHIAS (Judas Iscariot’s replacement)– Stoned and beheaded in

Jerusalem

• JUDAS (Thaddeus)– Crucified in Edessa, Greece

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• JAMES (brother of Jesus)– Thrown from the temple

tower in Jerusalem and then beaten until dead.

• APOSTLE PAUL– Beheaded by Nero in

Rome.

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THE HALLUCINATION

THEORY• This theory claims

that in the midst of their profound grief, the disciples and other followers of Jesus experienced hallucinations in which they saw Him raised from the dead.

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• HALLUCINATION

1 a: perception of objects with no reality usually arising from disorder of the nervous system or in response to drugs (as LSD)

2: an unfounded or mistaken impression or notion

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THE WRONG TOMB THEORY

• This theory states that the followers of Jesus discovered the tomb to be empty because they went to the wrong tomb.

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• Problems– Mary Magdalene and

the other Mary were at the tomb when Jesus was buried so they knew where it was.

– Pilate placed a number of Roman soldiers outside the tomb

– The oldest argument was that the body was stolen

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THE ALIEN THEORY

• This theory says that Jesus was an alien from another planet. And because of this He was very advanced in His knowledge of medicine and science. He also had very developed psychic abilities, and thus many things that were natural to Him would have seemed miraculous to 1st century people.

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NEXT TIME

• WE WILL CONTINUE WITH DIFFERENT RESURRECTION THEORIES.

• THE LEGEND THEORY• THE QURAN ACCOUNT• THE BIBLICAL ACCOUNT

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