Chapter 5: The Resurrection: The Event That Changed Everything
The Event that Changed Everything
The evidence for the resurrection is better than for claimed miracles in any other religion. It’s outstandingly different in quality and quantity.1
—ANTONY FLEW, FAMED ATHEIST TURNED BELIEVER IN GOD
A PHILOSOPHER OF SCIENCE, KARL POPPER, PROPOSED a definitive way to determine whether something could be considered scientifically credible. Rather than trying to establish conclusively what is true, he instead proposed that the key test was whether something could be proven false.2 This standard of testing has become a part of the scientific and philosophical vocabulary and has been deemed a corollary of the scientific method that is universally acknowledged.
In light of the vast ocean of information that surrounds us, where verifying the credibility of claims or verification of identity is vital, we must have a set of rules to help eliminate the false and fraudulent. Such criteria help to expose posers and imposters. In addition, we must remember that the existence of counterfeits does not mean that something real does not exist.
Some assume that religious or metaphysical claims are automatically eliminated based on Popper’s criterion. The typical retort is that religious claims cannot be verified. Therefore, they should stay out of any discussion that is attempting to discover the answer to ultimate questions. Many are shocked to realize that not all religious claims are excluded when this restriction is applied.
What stands out is the unequivocal distinction of the Christian faith. It is the only religion whose central tenet of faith is able to be tested in this manner. That claim is that Jesus Christ was bodily resurrected three days after His crucifixion. This was the primary message of His disciples that turned the world upside down. The apostle Paul would write to the Corinthians: “If Christ has not been raised . . . your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14 ESV).
Let me say it again as clearly and succinctly as possible. Christianity stands or falls on a singular event: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. It not only is the foundation for a credible faith, but it is a realistic hope from the suffocating uncertainty of what lies beyond the grave.
Other religions, such as Islam, offer subjective tests to validate their claims. For instance, the Koran states that the reader should ask if anyone could write a book like the Koran (Sura 10:37–38). But how could such a claim be disproven? After all, one could just as easily ask if anyone could write a book like the Iliad or Moby Dick?
Hinduism makes no attempt to verify itself. The stories about the gods are simply told and the weight of centuries of cultural momentum carry it forward. In other words, if the stories are told long enough, they become a part of the cultural narrative. There is no evangelistic mandate to send Hindu missionaries with any kind of message for others to believe. If there are millions of gods, as they believe, then convincing people to add one more would be needless.
Buddhism doesn’t depend on whether Buddha was a real person and certainly not on a claim on his part or his followers that he was God or a representative of God. Buddhism at its core requires an adherence to a set of philosophical commitments to right thinking and right living. As William Lane Craig and Sean McDowell comment:
Buddha reportedly said, “By this you shall know that a man is not my disciple that he tries to work a miracle” (Huston Smith, The World’s Religions, 1991, p. 97). Jesus said and did just the exact opposite! Jesus did miracles so that people would know he was God’s Son (e.g., Mark 2:1–10). Unlike Buddha, Jesus gave evidence so people would have a confident faith in him.3
But the message of Jesus Christ is for all peoples and all nations. One of the many distinctions was that no command existed to export a specific culture (such as Jewish culture). Instead, the commission was given to spread the message that Jesus had been raised from the dead to all peoples and to allow His Spirit to guide them. God is not interested in eliminating the culture of any nation. He is interested in transforming hearts and minds. When this happens, the culture will experience a rebirth of its best parts and purposes. The distinctive of every people group and ethnicity point to the diversity and creativity of God in creating such a wide variety of people. As the apostle Paul would say, “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth . . . so that they should seek the Lord” (Acts 17:26–27 NKJV).
THE BEST EXPLANATION OF THE MINIMAL FACTS
In chapter 2, we examined the minimal facts surrounding the death of Jesus accepted by most scholars, even skeptical ones. Again, these are facts that even skeptical scholars accept as true. Let’s quickly review the primary ones:
• Jesus was crucified by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.
• Three days later the tomb was found empty by a few of His female followers.
• His disciples believed Jesus appeared to them following His death.
• The message of His resurrection was proclaimed immediately after this reappearance to the disciples.
• Saul of Tarsus, the chief persecutor of His followers, became a believer.
Because these facts are accepted as part of the historical bedrock, we can use them to demonstrate that the only plausible explanation for the events at the end of His ministry is that Jesus actually rose from the dead. N. T. Wright, one of the foremost experts on the resurrection, agreed that an actual resurrection was the best explanation of the facts. “The only possible reason why early Christianity began and took the shape it did is that the tomb really was empty and that people really did meet Jesus, alive again, and . . . though admitting it involves accepting a challenge at the level of worldview itself, the best historical explanation for all these phenomena is that Jesus was indeed bodily raised from the dead.”4
The implications of even skeptics accepting the minimal facts cannot be overstated. For decades, radical skeptics have tried to suggest that there was very little we could know outside the New Testament about Jesus. Understanding how erroneous this claim is gives a glimpse into the desperate efforts to dismiss the real historical evidence for Jesus Christ. On top of that, we have seen how equally dismissive they have been about the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. These are reliable historical documents as well and should be included in the quest for the historical Jesus. The reality is that skeptics indeed use the New Testament, cherry-picking what they like and throwing out what they don’t like based on presuppositions and biases, as we discussed in chapter 3. However, anyone who examines the evidence fairly will inevitably come to the conclusion that the resurrection happened.
As theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg said, “As long as historiography does not begin dogmatically with a narrow concept of reality according to which ‘dead men do not rise,’ it is not clear why historiography should not in principle be able to speak about Jesus’ resurrection as the explanation that is best established of such events as the disciples’ experiences of the appearances and the discovery of the empty tomb.”5
THE FAILURE OF NATURALISTIC THEORIES
Based on the minimal facts, one might naturally ask if Christians have proven the resurrection. The answer depends on what one assumes the meaning of proven to be and on what one believes is possible. For the Christian, the evidence points unequivocally to Jesus’ having been raised from the dead. However, skeptics assume from the beginning that all supernatural claims are false, for nothing exists outside of nature. As such, people simply do not rise from the dead. Therefore, any explanation in their minds, no matter how seemingly improbable, is preferable to believing the resurrection actually happened.
The most popular skeptical alternative today is the hallucination theory. It acknowledges that the disciples believed that they encountered the risen Jesus, but their experience was simply a hallucination driven by grief and disillusionment. This theory is primarily promoted by nonmedical writers without any real knowledge of the subject. Competent medical professionals have pointed out that such vivid hallucinations would never take place in groups or with so many individuals at different times (e.g., Paul and James) in different locations. In addition, such vivid hallucinations would have required the disciples to have expected the appearances. Yet the disciples clearly had no such expectation since they fled the scene. Other witnesses, such as James the brother of Jesus, were in a completely normal state of mind, so nothing would have produced any sort of vision or perceived encounter. Nor would this theory account for the empty tomb. As physician Joseph W. Bergeron and Habermas wrote, “In sum, psychiatric hypotheses offer no acceptable explanations for the individual or simultaneous group encounters of the disciples with the resurrected Jesus.”6
Another common theory is that the resurrection claims are primarily legends, made up decades after the events. This theory requires virtually all of the key historical evidence to be completely ignored. As mentioned, the proclamation of the resurrection took place very shortly after the events by key church leaders. Paul himself wrote about his own resurrection encounter. The empty tomb is on a solid historical foundation. And only the extreme fringe of biblical scholarship would deny the reality of the disciples’ transformation. In short, claiming that the resurrection is a legend is much like attempting to claim that the assassination of Caesar or the majority of the military exploits of Alexander the Great are legendary fabrications.
Another classic explanation was that Jesus recovered from His injuries, and He then walked to the location where His disciples were hiding. Very few today accept this scenario since almost no one ever survived Roman crucifixion. If the commissioned soldiers failed to kill the condemned, they would be executed in the prisoner’s place. Even more problematic, if Jesus had stumbled into the presence of the disciples, they would immediately have concluded that He miraculously survived His ordeal, not that He was the risen Savior of the world, with a glorified body. The possibility of His resurrection would never have crossed their minds.
Several other pieces of evidence also make the “swoon theory” completely untenable.7 The medical reasons are summarized by Dr. Alexander Metherell in an interview conducted by Lee Strobel:
Appealing to history and medicine, to archaeology and even Roman military rules, Metherell had closed every loophole: Jesus could not have come down from the cross alive. But still, I pushed him further. “Is there any possible way—any possible way—that Jesus could have survived this?”
Metherell shook his head and pointed his finger at me for emphasis. “Absolutely not,” he said. “Remember that he was already in hypovolemic shock from the massive blood loss even before the crucifixion started. He couldn’t possibly have faked his death, because you can’t fake the inability to breathe for long. Besides, the spear thrust into his heart would have settled the issue once and for all. And the Romans weren’t about to risk their own death by allowing him to walk away alive.”8
A few other theories are less frequently presented. The oldest is that the disciples stole the body. It originated with the Jewish chief priests immediately after the resurrection (Matthew 28:13). However, virtually no competent scholar has defended it in the past two hundred years since it only explains the empty tomb. One of the more fantastic claims is that Jesus had an unknown identical twin. But even skeptical scholars give this view no credence. The problems of all alternative explanations have been recognized by even some of the most ardent skeptics. For instance, Bart Ehrman comments:
Apologists typically have a field day with such explanations. Anyone who says that the disciples stole the body is attacked for thinking that such moral men who firmly believed what they did could never have done such a thing. Anyone who says that the Romans moved the body is shouted down with claims that they would have produced the body if it had been theirs to produce. Anyone who says that the tomb was empty because the women went to the wrong tomb is maligned for not realizing that it might occur to someone else—for example, an unbeliever—to go to the right tomb and reveal the body. Anyone who claims that Jesus never really died but simply went into a coma and eventually awoke and left the tomb is mocked for thinking that a man who was tortured to within an inch of his life could roll away the stone and appear to his disciples as the Lord of Life, when in fact he would have looked like death warmed over.9
HIS RESURRECTION FORETOLD
He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
—Mark 8:31
The resurrection was foretold by the prophets as well as by Jesus Himself. His death was no accident or murder to be solved. In fact, as the Scriptures foretold, He had to suffer and rise again. He spoke of this event in various settings and through many creative and even shocking ways. For instance, He foretold the destruction of the Jewish temple (which happened in AD 70), and then said He would raise it back up in three days, now referring to this body. “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ [The Jews] replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2:19–22).
Probably one of the most unusual and controversial stories in all of the Bible is the one mentioned in the previous chapter about the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a sea creature and then spent three days inside of it. Jesus pointed to this story as a sign of His death and resurrection:
He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:39–40)
The prophets spoke of this resurrection in the Old Testament scriptures, and these prophecies were referenced by the apostles in their preaching:
“But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him:
“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
“Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.” (Acts 2:24–31)
The resurrection provides the prophetic and historical foundation for a firm and solid faith. When this is missing, catastrophic consequences can result.
THE RESURRECTION IS THE FOUNDATION OF OUR FAITH
Skeptics, such Bart Erhman and Michael Shermer, tell similar stories of once being fundamentalist Christians who actually went door-to-door doing personal evangelism. They tell how their journey to unbelief began when they questioned the absolute inerrancy of Scripture. They were told that this high view of Scripture was the true foundation of faith. As much as I believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, the ultimate foundation of the faith doesn’t rest on that claim. In a conversation with New Testament scholar Dan Wallace, he concurred that many times skeptics who were once fundamentalist Christians merely exchange one form of dogmatism for another.
Jesus’ resurrection is the ultimate test for the truth of the Christian faith. The resurrection then supports the Scripture’s divine inspiration and reliability, not the other way around. I have seen people thrown into a faith crisis if they discover a difficulty in Scripture that they can’t explain. The list of difficulties critics can produce is quite long. While the majority of them can be worked out by patiently and objectively applying the law of noncontradiction or simply the law of common sense, our faith isn’t on hold until those kinds of problems are resolved.
Christianity grew because the apostles preached that Christ had been raised from the dead in fulfillment of the Hebrew prophets. His death satisfied the claims of justice for breaking God’s law, and His perfect life qualified Jesus to be the Lamb of God, the sacrifice without spot or blemish. The New Testament Gospels and letters of Paul would not be written down for almost two decades, yet the church grew dramatically and quickly in that time. The central core of their message was the reality of the resurrection. While it is a necessary and noble task to defend the authority of Scripture, we must not go beyond what Scripture itself says about the content of the central gospel presentation.
The stories I have heard about how the resurrection saved people’s faith from skepticism are many. At nineteen Dr. George Wood was struggling with this very dilemma of wanting to believe that his faith was credible but having difficulty in finding the solid footing he needed. It was when he heard a lecture on the historicity of the resurrection that he found that unshakable foundation. “I now realized that I could trust the words of Jesus because He had been raised from the dead in history.”10 Today he leads the Assemblies of God, a group of some three hundred thousand churches in more than two hundred nations.
HOW THE RESURRECTION AFFECTS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE GOSPELS
Historians would never question the reliability of the Gospels if they consistently applied the same standards to them as with other ancient texts. The main reason they deny their reliability is that they reject any claim of the supernatural, particularly Jesus’ rising from the dead. Then they must believe that the disciples were so confused about the actual events that delusional fables quickly spread in the early church. However, if Jesus actually rose from the dead, He truly represented God’s presence on earth, and the disciples’ reports were accurate.
Much follows from this realization. First, Jesus would have anticipated His death and resurrection, so He would have adequately prepared His disciples to accurately pass on His teaching to future generations. In addition, the future authors and collectors of scripture would have been guided by the Holy Spirit to ensure the information was faithfully preserved. One could hardly imagine God passively watching in heaven as Jesus’ message was progressively corrupted. Particularly when Jesus Himself promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would remind them of all He taught, and He would teach them whatever else they needed to understand (John 14:26).
Jesus commissioned His disciples to spread His message to all nations, and He promised He would remain with them until the end (Matthew 28:18–20). Therefore, we can confidently know that they faithfully taught His message and recounted His ministry continuously for decades. They also trained future leaders to pass on that information to the next generation. And those leaders passed the tradition on to the next generation. This process continued well after the Gospels were written and copied throughout the known world. Clement, successor of Peter in Rome, wrote:
The Apostles received the gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ; and Jesus Christ was sent from God. Christ, therefore, is from God, and the Apostles are from Christ. Both of these orderly arrangements, then, are by God’s will. Receiving their instructions and being full of confidence on account of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and confirmed in faith by the word of God, they went forth in the complete assurance of the Holy Spirit, preaching the good news that the Kingdom of God is coming. Through countryside and city they preached; and they appointed their earliest converts, testing them by the Spirit, to be the bishops and deacons of future believers.11
NOT A CIRCULAR ARGUMENT
A common accusation of skeptics is that Christians believe in the resurrection simply because the Bible says it happened. If that claim were true, the logic would then follow like this:
—The Bible is God’s Word.
—The Bible says Jesus was raised from the dead.
—Therefore, Jesus was raised from the dead because the Bible says it.
Such an argument would be circular reasoning and logically invalid.
Actually, the argument being made doesn’t begin and end with the claim that the Bible is true. It states:
—Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead in history.
—His resurrection validated His identity as the Son of God.
—The New Testament writings are historically reliable and further testify to these facts.
—Therefore, both history and Scripture confirm that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was raised from the dead, three days after His crucifixion.
This is a linear argument, not circular. The beginning premise is that Jesus existed and that His crucifixion by the Roman leader Pontius Pilate is part of the historical record. Therefore, His resurrection is the best explanation of the historical facts that even skeptics recognize as true. The New Testament writings are reliable historical documents and further confirm the crucifixion and the resurrection as real events. They also explain that this supernatural event points to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. The conclusion, therefore, flows from a historical event, not just a random assertion in a religious book, as skeptics like to portray.
Dr. Gary Habermas illustrates the significance of this distinction when giving his talks on the reality of the resurrection. He holds up a Bible and says, “If this Bible is the inerrant, infallible Word of God, Jesus is raised from the dead. If this Bible is not inerrant but still reliable, Jesus is raised from the dead. But what if the Bible is neither reliable nor inerrant? Jesus is still raised from the dead.”12 This is a vital truth to hold on to as you face the skeptical barrage that awaits the believer in Jesus in today’s society.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION
Before we close this important chapter, let’s look at an overview of the significance of the resurrection—in other words, what is the impact of this event? History can point to the resurrection as the best explanation of the facts, but it can’t tell us fully what they meant. By looking at the Scripture, we gain valuable wisdom into what it really means.
Jesus’ Identity Verified
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
—Romans 1:1–4
The resurrection verified that Jesus indeed was the Son of God. With so many making claims about speaking for God or even being the Messiah, we vitally need our certainty of Christ’s identity to be attested to by God.
This fact reminds me of the importance of identity verification. Who we are must be established beyond our own testimony. We do not show up at the airport and expect to be allowed into a secure area without confirmation of who we are. The resurrection verified who He is. In a world of identity theft and deception, we can have confidence in placing our trust in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we can trust that His words were true and trustworthy—the very Word of God.
Proof of Life After Death
As I pass through the checkout line at the grocery, I’m amused at the headlines with sensational titles like “New Proof of Life After Death.” Near death experiences are a fascinating field of study and have yielded testimony that cannot be dismissed as mere hallucination or a product of an altered mental state. Yet the resurrection of Jesus is unlike any of these claims. After being scourged and tortured, Christ was crucified and buried. After three days, He came back to life as He foretold.
This event gives overwhelming evidence that there is life after death. As Jesus said to His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2 NKJV). The fact that heaven exists is based on the testimony of the Son of God. We can have genuine hope and comfort in the fact that our existence does not end with physical death. As the apostle Paul wrote:
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55)
We Are Raised Up Spiritually—Given New Birth
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
—Ephesians 2:4–6
Jesus told a religious leader named Nicodemus that he must be born again (John 3:3). Paul promised that if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This statement means that we are transformed from within. The resurrection provides the power to raise us up into this new life. We are no longer bound to the dictates of fleshly desires or proclivities. Because the power of the resurrection is available to us, we can live a life that honors and pleases God.
Resurrection Proves the Judgment to Come
Having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness . . . having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.
—Acts 17:30–31 NASB
The resurrection of Jesus is the proof that He is the Son of God and the ultimate Judge, whom we will face at the end of the world. To many, the concept of judgment is too frightening to consider, but ignoring this topic does not dismiss it or make it disappear.
God promised to judge the world through Christ. The fact that there is a day coming when we all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of our life bolsters our spiritual immune system to resist evil and choose righteousness.
As we look at the New Testament, this message of the coming judgment was an integral part of the presentation of the early church. While we are called to be merciful and not judgmental of others, we are nevertheless headed for the day of standing before the Lord in eternity. This anticipation should inspire us to give our all to the service of Christ and the work of advancing the gospel.
RESURRECTION WAS THE CENTRAL MESSAGE OF THE EARLY CHURCH
The resurrection was the core of the message that birthed the church in the midst of a hostile culture. There are at least ten significant incidents that incited speeches centering on the resurrection in the book of Acts. These messages were presented in different countries, often to prominent leaders—both religious and secular. Here is an overview:
1. At the Day of Pentecost, Fifty Days After Christ’s Crucifixion
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” (Acts 2:22–24)
2. To the Crowds of People Astonished at the Healing of a Lame Man
“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.” (Acts 3:13–15)
3. When Speaking to the Authorities After the Same Healing
“Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.” (Acts 4:10)
4. After They Were Threatened by Religious Leaders for Continuing to Speak About Jesus
“The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. (Acts 5:30–33)
5. When the Gospel Came to the Gentiles
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and . . . he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:38–43)
6. In a Jewish Synagogue
“The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
“We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“ ‘You are my son;
today I have become your Father.’
“God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said,
“ ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’
“So it is also stated elsewhere:
“ ‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’
“Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.” (Acts 13:27–37)
7. Introducing the Gospel in the City of Thessalonica
As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. (Acts 17:2–4)
8. In Athens Among the Intellectual Elite
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” (Acts 17:30–32)
9. Before a Governor
“When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in. When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.” (Acts 25:17–19)
10. Before a King
“But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:22–23)
As the book of Acts ends, Paul is in Rome, waiting to stand before Caesar. Looking at the clear pattern of what he said to those he spoke to, there is little doubt that he would have told him that Christ had been raised from the dead, making Him the supreme authority in the earth.
In the West, the predominant message is God’s grace and love. It was certainly God’s love that motivated His sending Jesus to rescue humanity. However, it was His death and resurrection that accomplished this mission. The resurrection, therefore, was the overwhelming theme in the preaching of the apostles, not the love of God. In no way am I trying to marginalize this great love or grace—I’m just trying to show what message caused the church to emerge against all odds in the midst of a hostile Roman empire and a resistant religious system. If we want the results the early church had, we must preach the message they preached.
SUMMARY
This chapter is at the heart of the argument that the Jesus of history is the Christ of faith. Christ’s resurrection sets Him apart from all other religious leaders and sets Christianity apart from all other religions. The Scripture offers this as the event that verifies the identity of Jesus and the truth of His words. Conversely, if one could show that Christ was not raised, then the Christian faith would be proven false.
The best explanation of the facts of Jesus’ crucifixion, empty tomb, appearances to His disciples after His death, and the sudden emergence of the Christian faith is that Jesus was raised bodily from the dead. This event was at the core of the message that the early disciples preached and spread to the nations of the world. Its truth and power compelled them out into a hostile Roman empire to declare that Jesus was Lord. It was a message that they would be willing to give their lives for and one that would give life to those who heard and believed.