Text: 1 Corinthians 15:17
Title: Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus.
Introduction
Dr. Greenleaf, the Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, was one of the greatest legal minds that ever lived. He wrote the famous legal volume entitled, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, considered by many the greatest legal volume ever written. Greenleaf believed the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was a hoax. And he determined, once and for all, to expose the "myth" of the Resurrection. After thoroughly examining the evidence for the resurrection — Dr. Greenleaf came to the exact opposite conclusion! He wrote a book entitled, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. In which he emphatically stated: "it was IMPOSSIBLE that the apostles could have persisted in affirming the truths they had narrated, had not JESUS CHRIST ACTUALLY RISEN FROM THE DEAD, . . ." Simon Greenleaf, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice, p.29).
1. Greenleaf concluded that according to the jurisdiction of legal evidence the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the best supported event in all of history.
2. Greenleaf was so convinced by the overwhelming evidence, he committed his life to Jesus Christ.
WHY IS THE EVIDENCE SO COMPELLING?
I. THE EVIDENCE OF EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY.
1. The many post-resurrection appearances of Jesus are an undisputed historical, biblical fact.
Luke said that Jesus “shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” (Acts 1:3).
Henry Morris said,
“Not only was the tomb empty, but the disciples actually saw their resurrected Lord on at least ten separate occasions after He left the tomb. These appearances were probably as follows:
1. To Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18; Mark 16:9)
2. To the other women (Matthew 28:8-10)
3. To Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5)
4. To the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35; Mark 16:12)
5. To ten of the disciples (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-24)
6. To all eleven disciples, eight days later (John 20:24-29)
7. To seven disciples by the sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-23)
8. To five hundred followers (1 Corinthians 15:6)
9. To James (1 Corinthians 15:7)
10. To the eleven, at the ascension (Acts 1:3-12).”
2. The post-resurrection appearance of Jesus before the discouraged doubting Thomas transformed this skeptic into a passionate believer in the divinity of Jesus (See John 20:24-29).
Attorney John Warrick Montgomery tells us that eyewitness testimony remains the cornerstone of legal evidence. Concerning Thomas’ testimony Montgomery says,
“Disciples like Thomas provide ‘unimpeached eyewitness identification’ of the resurrected Jesus with whom they had had the most intimate acquaintance for the immediately preceding three-year period. No advocate’s ‘power of persuasion’ is going to make a difference to that kind of identification evidence.”
Former legal editor of the, Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel, says that the amount of testimony and corroboration of our Lord’s post-resurrection appearances is astounding. According to Strobel, if we were to call every eyewitness to be cross-examined for just fifteen minutes each, and you interviewed them around the clock without a break, it would take you from breakfast on Monday until dinner on Friday to hear them all. “Having listened to 129 hours of straight eyewitness testimony, who could walk away unconvinced of the resurrection of Jesus?”
II. THE EVIDENCE OF THE DISCIPLES.
1. When Christ died on the cross “the Jesus movement” all but ceased to exist.
The downtrodden disciples were discouraged to the point they disbanded and went their separate ways (Matthew 26:56). Their Lord had been crucified, defeated and was dead. However, when Jesus arose from the dead and He physically reappeared to the eleven they became willing to die for their faith (John 20:19-29). Boa and Bowman said,
“All of the Church’s founding apostles except John were martyred. Their willingness to die for their faith is difficult to explain unless they were very sure that Jesus had risen from the dead.”
In light of the hope of the resurrection, the apostles regrouped and reclaimed their position as sent ones {Apostles}. Armed with the Corinthian Creed, they began to boldly proclaim the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). While facing threats, persecution and imprisonment the apostles remained undaunted at the task of heralding the good news of the gospel (Acts 5:17-42).
One must conclude that when Jesus arose from the dead and appeared to the disciples that this historical event restored their faith in the fact He was God and because of this they were more than willing to jeopardize their lives for Him.
III. THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH.
1. The message that gave birth to the New Testament church is that Jesus died, was buried, and on the third day He arose from the grave.
One cannot read the passionate sermons in the book of Acts without noticing the core message of the early church was the resurrection of our living Lord (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15, 26; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 33-34, 37; 17:31; 26:23). Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli even go a step further with this bold observation:
“Every sermon preached by every Christian in the New Testament centers on the resurrection. The gospel or good news means essentially the news of Christ’s resurrection. The message that flashed across the ancient world, set hearts on fire, changed lives and turned the world upside down was not ‘love your neighbor.’ Every morally sane person already knew that; it was not news. The news was that a man who claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of theworld had risen from the dead.”
2. The main content of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, when the church was born, was the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:21-36).
Josh McDowell said, “The church is a fact of history. The explanation for the existence of the church is its faith in the resurrection.”
The great doctrinal truth of Jesus’ resurrection was more than a dogma taught in a discipleship class in the early church. Rather, it was the very foundational truth that gave cohesiveness to the body of Christ. The resurrection of Jesus was the link that interconnected believers everywhere to each other within the early church, even though they may have lived in different cities.
How can one explain the astounding growth of the early church apart from the resurrection of Jesus? Beginning in Jerusalem with three thousand conversions (Acts 2:41), even while persecution increased, they saw yet another five thousand men saved (Acts 4:4). While thousands were saved on these two occasions, Luke is quick to point out that souls were being added to the church every day (Acts 2:47). The total number of disciples began to quickly multiply (Acts 6:1, 7) in Jerusalem, even a polus {great} host of Jewish priests became followers of Jesus. As persecution continued to increase, the message of the resurrection extended into Samaria through the revival preaching of Philip (Acts 8:4-5). It continued into the Damascus area with the conversion of one named Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9). The ministry of Peter to the house of Cornelius, a gentile centurion, brought the good news to Caesarea (Acts 10), and at the same time the message progressed into the city of Antioch. The explosive growth of the early church is infallible and unimpeachable evidence that the apostles were convinced that Jesus had risen from the dead and that they had committed their lives to proclaiming this good news around the world.
Conclusion:
When confronted with the massive quantity of evidence one must conclude that the resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact. The eyewitness accounts corroborate beyond reasonable doubt. The commitment of the convinced apostles and their willingness to die for their faith is unimpeachable evidence. The very origin and explosive growth of the early church is irrefutable. In fact, Lewis Memorial Baptist Church exists because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
