Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
The Doctrine of Resurrection.
The Doctrine of the Proofs of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Faith is believing
in something or someone
on the basis of evidence.
In verse 3,
“many convincing proofs” is the Greek “polloís tekmeeríois”.
“pollois” translated “many”
tekmh/rion tekmerion = a token (as defining a fact), i.e. criterion of certainty:
(from tekmai/rw to show or prove by sure signs);
tekmh/rion tekmerion = from Aeschylus and Herodotus down, that from which something is surely and plainly known; an indubitable evidence, a proof
“Evidence that Demands A Verdict”
by Josh McDowell
The body of evidence can be grouped
into 14! categories
of proof.
The Bible says that Jesus was a man, PHI 2:7-8.
Jesus Christ predicted it would happen.
He really died and was buried in a known, accessible tomb.
The Empty Tomb and the grave clothes.
The post-Resurrection appearances of Christ to people.
The recognition of the fact by His enemies
The records of secular historians.
The character of the witnesses to the Resurrection.
The dramatic change in the disciples after the Resurrection.
The disciples’ experience of divine power in the post-Resurrection period.
The evidence of the Day of Pentecost.
The Church custom of observing the first day of the week.
The origin and perpetuation of the Christian Church.
The persecution of the disciples.
No recanting by any of them, most of whom died violent deaths alone, separated from all of the others.
Point 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ predicted the Resurrection ahead of time.
Luke 9:22 saying, ” The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
The chief priests and Pharisees knew that Jesus had claimed that He would die violently at their hands and then three days later He would rise from the dead.
So He predicts the Resurrection Himself beforehand. Then He is resurrected, and thereafter He appears to these same disciples with the proof of His resurrection.
Point 2. He really died, and was buried in a known, accessible tomb.
He was put to death by professional executioners.
Their job was to make sure He was dead.
The blood and the water are blood clots and serum. This was another indication that Jesus had died, and probably indicates that the cause of physical death was a ruptured heart.
This is evidence of massive clotting of the blood in the main arteries, and is exceptionally strong medical proof of death.
Joseph and Nicodemus were convinced He was dead, and that is why they placed him in the tomb and then handled His body according to the burial custom of the Jews.
The coroner,
as it were, pronounced Jesus
as dead.
His name was Joseph and he hailed from Arimathea, a city of the Jews. He was a member of the Jewish establishment.
Our Lord’s death was very public. There were many eyewitnesses of His death. There were many people who wanted Him dead.
Matt 27:57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
None of the soldiers who executed Him had any doubt that he was dead.
None of the people who took His body down off the cross, embalmed the body, wrapped it, and placed in the tomb, had the slightest suspicion that He was still alive.
Matthew tells us that it was Joseph of Arimathea’s own tomb (Matt 27:59-60).
It had been hewn out in the rock
(MAR 15:46), and no one had ever been buried there before (LUK 23:53).
It was located in the garden on the spot He was crucified (JOH 19:41).
Women who had followed Jesus knew exactly where the tomb was, because they visited the tomb again early on the first day of the week. (MAT 28:1, Mark 16:2; LUK 24:1).
We know more about the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ than we know of the burial of any other single character in ancient history.
The body was wound tightly in strips of cloth, and covered with spices.
The stone which covered the opening to Jesus’ tomb was enormous.
It required several men to remove it.
Matt 27:66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.
The seal consisted of a cord that stretched across the stone, and was fastened at either end to the rock by sealing clay.
So He was dead.
He was therefore buried.
This was a guard of at least four Roman soldiers who would seal this tomb with the Imperial Seals of Rome, affixing in wax the official stamp of the procurator, which it would be a high crime merely to deface.
The priests needed permission from Pilate to deploy the guard.
When they failed, the soldiers needed to be protected from Pilate.
The Jewish temple guard would not have had jurisdiction outside the temple area.
The guard ensured that neither the friends nor the enemies of Christ could disturb the tomb, at least not without a fight.
If they would not fight for Him while He was alive, why would they fight for Him now that He was dead?
The disciples knew He was dead, and they did not expect Him to rise from the dead.
2 Cor 13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.
The empty tomb
is a dramatic witness to the
bodily Resurrection of Christ.
This account bears all of the markings of an eyewitness account: the personal touches, careful observation, and specific details.
These are the wrappings that Joseph and Nicodemus had applied to His body three days earlier.
He saw
the face-cloth which had been on the Lord’s head.
e)ntuli/ssw entulisso =
to entwine, i.e. wind up in
The head cloth was lying as it had been “rolled” round His head, an evidence, to those who looked into the tomb, of the fact of His resurrection without any disturbance of the wrappings either by friend or foe or when the change took place.
Jesus’ resurrected body simply passed through His grave clothes.
The condition of the grave clothes also indicates that the body had not been stolen by thieves or taken by the disciples.
It would have taken considerable time to have removed the linens and placed them neatly in the tomb.
They would have wanted to hide the body again as soon as possible while giving the body of their Lord full honor.
The guard who was stationed at the tomb that morning also reluctantly reported that it was empty.
If the enemies of Christ had taken the body, it would have been in their interest to have produced it to discredit the accounts that the apostles were giving.
Everyone, friend and enemy, knew that it was empty, and what that empty tomb proved.
What city, on the day of Pentecost, would have been (1) the most hostile to the Gospel message; and (2) the most able to disprove the facts of the Resurrection?
The apostles from the very outset made many believers out of Jews in Jerusalem, hostile as it was, by proclaiming the bodily resurrection of Christ – and they did it just a short stroll away from the tomb.
Why didn’t any of the enemies of Christ ever protest? Why didn’t the Jewish leaders simple prove the Resurrection had not taken place by producing the body of Christ?
The most powerful evidence an attorney can ever use is evidence produced by the opponent!
The reference to the empty tomb is a mortal blow to so many of the alternative hypotheses, and therefore tends to be studiously avoided by the skeptics.
Point 4. The Post-Resurrection Appearances of Christ.
The Bible says that Jesus was a man, PHI 2:7-8.
The Bible says that Jesus was a man, PHI 2:7-8.
The Bible says that Jesus was a man, PHI 2:7-8.
Jesus Christ called Himself a man, John 8:40.
Without the Resurrection, we would lack the declaration of His deity, ROM 1:4.
Without the Resurrection, we would lack the basis for our justification.
Without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we would have no hope for our own life beyond the grave.
Without the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we would lack the basis for believing that our sins have been judged.
Christ arose to be the first-fruits of resurrection.
Christ arose to be head of the Church, EPH 1:20-23.
Christ rose from the dead to be the giver of resurrection life, EPH 2:6.
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is proof positive of the person of Christ, His Deity, Messiah status, and His power to save from sin.
Point 1. Definition.
HEB 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Point 3. The Empty Tomb and the Grave Clothes.