Matthew 28:1-10

The final words of Jesus on the cross anticipated what happened next.  Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.  The body that the Father had prepared for the Son was about to expire.  But the inner man, the soul will continue to exist.  And Jesus knows that the Father had promised to exalt Him, giving Him the throne of David and authority over the nations (Psalm 2:6-9).  Like Abraham, who knew that Isaac was the son of promise and that God could raise him from the dead if necessary (Heb. 11:19), so Jesus knew that He would not be forsaken in the grave (Ac. 2:25-31).  Jesus Christ is faithful unto death.  And three days later He was powerfully raised from the dead.  Remember that Jesus predicted this: that He would suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day (Matt. 16:21).

Having observed, through the Scriptures, the events of the suffering and death of Christ, now would be a good time to consider some of the lies that have been used to deny the resurrection of Christ as well as some of the many infallible proofs God has provided to affirm the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.  We will begin with the denials, many of which make little sense.  (Note: our booklet 30 Days at the Garden Tomb deals with the Biblical account of the resurrection of Christ, the OT prophecies and the resulting hope of Jesus’ resurrection.)

·        Swoon Theory.  This denial claims Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross before He died.  Primary arguments are the relatively short time Jesus was on the cross (6 hours) and the supposed lack of eyewitnesses.  Our own studies tell us that Jesus could not have survived crucifixion along with the assorted beatings and scourging He experienced.  We also noted how the women never let the body of Christ out of their sight, from the cross to the grave.  And two powerful eyewitnesses that He was dead were two members of the council: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.

·        Theft Theory.  This was the first attempted denial, that the disciples stole the body.  In Scripture it was acknowledged as a lie in that the soldiers had to be bribed to make this claim.  Further it is quite unlikely that the disciples could overpower the guards to accomplish this.  And they would not have left the undisturbed grave clothes; thieves are not neat, they are in a hurry. 

·        Hallucination Theory.  This denial claims that Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection were imagined by the disciples who were so strongly anticipating and desiring such an event.  This makes no sense.  He appeared often and to many people requiring repeated hallucinations, even of over 500 people at once.  Further, His disciples weren’t prepared for hallucinations; they did not understand and thus did not expect a resurrection.  And of course the answer to this all would have been for the Romans or Jews to produce the body.

We will continue tomorrow.  Christ IS risen from the dead! (1 Cor. 15:20).