¶ The Omission of the Resurrection
I think probably one of the biggest errors ever made when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel is the omission of the resurrection . I mean , it's so common that I'm not surprised by it anymore and I always wonder , why is that ? And I think it's mainly because it's been often de-emphasized .
You know we focus on it during Easter time , but people focus on the cross , across the death of Christ , but without the resurrection the death really means nothing , because it would have demonstrated the fact that he wasn't who he said he was . He wasn't truly the propitiation for the sins of mankind . But that's a part of the gospel .
1 Corinthians 15 makes it very clear that he died according to the Scripture and that he was raised at their date .
According to the Scriptures and even the disciples were often baffled by that He'd talk about , you know , tear down this temple in three days , all right , raise it again , and they just they didn't get it , you know , and it's like after he died and rose again , ah , then they remembered , you know , kind of click .
But man , the resurrection , that is the true hope of the Christian . I have a little shadow that goes in and out of me and what can be the use of him is more than I can see . He is very , very like me from the heels up to the head , and I see him jump before me when I jump into my bed .
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow not at all like proper children , which is always very slow , for he sometimes shoots up taller like an India rubber ball and he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all . Poem by Robert Lewis Stevenson . Oh , really , yeah , and that cool right , that's a big deal .
Yeah yeah , shadow is a real anatomy . It's just strange .
Do you guys remember Shadow , shadow , yeah , I know . Do you guys remember as kids like really being fascinated by your shadow ?
I could imagine you beating it up .
I tried . Get out of here you stupid shadow . Yeah , Mark's in love with the shadow .
I remember as a little boy walking along and seeing the shadow and trying to step on the cement before my shadow did . Did it work ? Never , ten , always , same time . I never had a shadow .
Vampire .
Wait , was it vampires ? I'm sorry , they remember reflection .
Oscar lives in darkness .
Oh man , that reminds me . Have you guys ever seen that a ? It's that hidden camera thing where they'll have like a mirror up in a bathroom and then it'll be twins on either side but the person has like a mirror for themselves , but it looks like , and then one walks away and the other's still there .
Then there's no , there's like oh , I've seen those , yeah , yeah .
Have you seen the one where parents trick their kids into thinking they've disappeared ? No , there's . It's like a spoof .
Yeah , you put a blanket over them .
Yeah , you put a five or six year old under a blanket and then you , you pretend like you cast a magic spell on them . And when you , take the blanket off everybody in the room pretends like they can't see them . Oh , the worst though the kids get scared , they start crying Like they're , they think they've got them for a long .
Absolutely does , which is why we should do it . I'm going to try that on Rachel tonight .
You should .
Ray , were you excited when you saw your shadow lengthen ?
Finally .
It happened in winter . It really worked well .
Yeah , all right
¶ What Is the Gospel, Continued
. Friends , here's a comment . This is from Adrian Joy , encouraging . I've been listening to this podcast and watching Living Waters videos since I was 15 . And this podcast has been a continual encouragement .
How old is the person now 99 .
Continual encouragement for me to share my faith and to grow closer to the Lord through reading his word . I'm so thankful for this ministry and love being able to hear such great godly wisdom . That is very . That is in every episode , Wow . That's really sweet Thank you .
Got a right podcast .
You sure ? Yeah , guys , seriously . Every time I hear of a teenager listening to this podcast , that's wonderful . Following the ministry , it's just a joy , especially when you think of the investment you know as they grow and get older and are used by the .
Lord . It's pretty amazing that the ministry has been around so long , that we're meeting people who are adults , who are parents , who started watching Wave the Master following the ministry when they themselves were children . The Last Ambassadors Academy we had a guy in his 30s who had kids at home who has been watching since he was a kid .
He had one of the original evidence Bibles with him .
Yeah , it's amazing .
The Abomination version .
Yeah , oh , no , don't even mention that one . Mark . Isn't it crazy , though , to think that pretty much all of our kids would not remember hardly us not working at Living Waters .
Yeah , I think they only would I mean how long have we been here since 2001 ?
I'm about to hit 21 years , yeah , so my oldest was born in the year 2000 .
Boy , so you'd have a great memory if you remember me working 21 years .
I better get you a gold watch off the Walmart .
To be clear , we stopped paying him five years ago .
I'm homeless , I'm not going anywhere , yeah .
All right , friends . This podcast is brought to you by World Religions from a nutcase . That's true , yeah . World Religions in a Nutshell , by Ray Comfort Ray . This is a book that keeps on giving , in the sense that people keep growing from learning about other religions through it .
And there's a lot of religions that keep on growing too . Yeah , unfortunately that's why we wrote the book .
We we I'm going to say we about everything you've done for now .
Well , not everything . Yeah , I was just going to say that we did not put a hole in our bed . You were one day yeah .
All right , friends . World Religions in a .
Nutshell , living Waters , mug , devon and Study Bible all at Living Waters . God come , mark , can you try ?
that All at Living .
Waters . I can't go high pitch like that to save my life .
Yeah , Ray , whistle it All at Living .
Waters , that was good .
No , I stopped as soon as I got there . No , I started smiling and lost it . I know .
Do it again ? No , I can't . It's a whole cracker thing .
Whistle with crackers in your mouth .
No , you can't do it . All right , friends , we are , yes , continuing the what is the Gospel series . Who says you ?
can't do that .
The what Whistle with crackers in your mouth .
You can't right . I could .
You challenged . Except , right , I dare you , I can Do it while making a leather jacket . I mean , you can't With .
Marmite in there , or climbing an escalator that's going Backwards .
Yes , with Marmite in there .
This guy killed me .
Yeah , anyway , friends , this is the seventh in the series . You've heard . Who is God ? The fall of man , jesus of Nazareth . Grace alone , faith alone , what is repentance ? And today , ooh , the resurrection . How could we talk enough about the glorious resurrection of Christ ? Amen , wish I could have been there .
All right , friends , without any further ado , here is the resurrected Savior .
Welcome back , guys . This is part seven of what is the Gospel , and today we are talking about the resurrection , and I am really excited to be back with you guys . With me is Easy Ray , Mark and myself , Oscar Navarro . Good afternoon , gentlemen , Good afternoon .
Oscar Buenos dias . No , that's good morning Marhaba . Hello , that is nothing , are you ?
doing here ? Yeah , got I .
¶ The Importance of Jesus' Physical Resurrection
So let's dive in right to the first question why does it matter that Jesus rose from the dead ?
Well , we'd have nothing to talk about in this session if he didn't . Everything would be just like a bucket of melted snow . All our theology , all our thoughts of the cross , of sin , of judgment of God .
And of all men we'd be most miserable because of the fact that we still have a knowledge of sin and that God is holy and that he requires an account , and we've got no means of justification , and so we couldn't even enjoy the pleasures of sin because of the knowledge we have . So we'd be , of all men , most miserable .
Yeah , I mean , paul summed it up , didn't he ? First Corinthians , 5 , 12 to 17 . Now , if Christ is preached that he has been raised from the dead , how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead ? But if there is no resurrection of the dead , then Christ is not risen .
And if Christ is not risen , then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty . Yes , and we are found false witnesses of God , because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ , whom he did not raise up if , in fact , the dead do not rise .
For if the dead do not rise and Christ is not risen , and if Christ is not risen , your faith is futile . You are still in your sins . Now , this is the Paul who encountered the resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus , and I think about that often . You know here he was a persecutor of Christians , a hater of the gospel and an enemy of Christ .
And then he encounters a resurrected Christ on that road and of course we know he was forever changed . And the resurrection has so many far-reaching implications for the world , for the Christian , for our eternal state , than anything could ever describe .
You know , in 1 Corinthians 15 , the NIV words that just caught my attention today as I was looking over it and said if Christ has not been raised , our preaching is useless and so is your faith . Your faith is useless if Christ has not risen from the dead .
I mean , yeah , absolutely . In addition to that , I think his resurrection is where all of our hope comes in . At right , like at his death on the cross , there was defeat , and you see that in his apostles they go away defeated , hiding , thinking that it's all over and done . Then three days later he resurrects himself .
It's this active , also symbolic , measure of death being conquered , of life after death , of hope when all things seem hopeless . So , exactly as you said , if he's not raised from the dead , then what are we doing ?
Right . I think MacArthur put it well . He said the truth of the resurrection gives life to every other area of the gospel . The resurrection is the pivot on which all of Christianity turns and without which none of the other truths would much matter .
Without the resurrection , christianity would be so much wishful thinking , taking its place alongside all other human philosophy and religious speculation .
Oxygen of our face .
Hmm , that's a good word . You know , there's no other world religion that can boast of a resurrected savior . Only Christianity can do that . I often stayed inside my gospel proclamations . When I'm dealing with the resurrection I say you know , christianity is the only true story where the hero dies for the villain .
That's remarkable , because we can have many stories and we see it where a hero can die for his fellow friends , can die for his family , but how about within Christianity ? While we were at sinners , christ died for us , right . So Christianity the only true story where the hero dies for the villain . And Jesus said I'm the resurrection and the life .
He who believes in me , though he may die , he shall live .
And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die , and that's the importance of the resurrection to our salvation . When we talk about things like being in Christ , we're referencing the resurrection . His resurrection is our resurrection . It's his promise to us that we will have eternal life after death .
Yeah , and you know , I think probably one of the biggest errors ever made when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel is the omission of the resurrection . I mean , it's so common that I'm not surprised by it anymore and I always wonder , why is that ? And I think it's mainly because it's been often de-emphasized .
You know , we focus on it during Easter time , but people focus on the cross across the death of Christ , but without the resurrection the death really means nothing , because it would have demonstrated the fact that he wasn't who he said he was . He wasn't truly the propitiation for the sins of mankind . But that's a part of the gospel .
First Corinthians 15 makes it very clear that he died according to the scripture and that he was raised at their date according to the scriptures and even the disciples were often baffled by that . He'd talk about , you know , tear down this temple in three days , all right , raise it again .
They just they didn't get it , you know , and it's like after he died and rose again , ah , then they remembered , you know , kind of click . But man , the resurrection , that is the true hope of the Christian .
It also demonstrates how non-manmade Christianity really is , because who would throw within the mix of a religion a resurrected being ? I mean , how are you gonna fake that , right ?
I mean , you could throw in all kinds of things that man might be able to try to fake his way through , but don't throw in a resurrection , right , and we're gonna discuss some of the ideas behind it . But the resurrection signifies Christ's conquering the power of sin and death by his atoning sacrifice .
The resurrection was the final seal upon the final trumpet act that Christ did when he died on that Roman gibbon .
You know , I heard it summed up this way Mark the four things that the resurrection demonstrates . It's the seal of a finished work , it's the sign of a glorious triumph , it's the pledge of a coming resurrection and it's the certainty of a future judgment . That's great , that's a great word . I said that right ? Oh yeah , of course , scotty O'Nilvodiel .
I got 89 quotes from Charles Spurgeon on this . That's a great start Charles who .
Spurgeon . Next question for us guys that the Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus rose spiritually from the dead . Why is it important that Jesus rose physically from the dead ?
Yeah , you know , I've always been baffled by how tenacious Jehovah's Witnesses are about that , and right in the face of scripture too . And I think it's because and Jehovah's Witnesses do this . You know we love Jehovah's Witnesses , by the way . But right , ray , didn't you knock on a door one day and say something about not being a ?
Jehovah's Witness . Who was that ?
By the way , I'm not a Jehovah's Witness .
You said well , I am .
I am .
Did she shut the door on you ? That's the last time I've been door knocking .
What a way to start .
It's my life .
But yeah , you know Jehovah's Witnesses do stuff like that . You know , like they'll take the verse in the Old Testament about , you know , eating blood or drinking blood and they'll apply that to blood transfusions , like are you serious ? You know it's so clear on what that's talking about , but they'll do that as well .
Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God . So nope , jesus didn't write come on , this is a resurrected glorified body . You know .
It wasn't dead if he died just spiritually .
Right . So , and again , like I said , it's in the face of scripture . I mean , you think of Luke 24 , beginning of verse 36 . Now , as they said these things , jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them peace to you . But they were terrified and frightened and supposedly , and suppose , they had seen the spirit .
And he said to them why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts ? Behold my hands and my feet , that it is I myself . Handle me and see , for a spirit does not have flesh and bones , as you see , I have , and it's like man . What you have to do to scripture to twist that up , he had the appearance of a physical body .
What are you talking ?
about . He was touched , he was handled , he had a body . In fact , he even ate with his disciples' fish on the shore and the food would have fallen on the floor if he had been possessed .
You know , it is a very gnostic view to consider the resurrection spiritual , and I think it's important to stop and recognize that the gnostic view of the resurrection is not exclusive to Jobas witnesses .
Many , even well-intended Christians , will have elements of gnosticism in their communication Anytime we hear somebody say something like just burn it up and let's all get out of here , god's destroying it all . That's gnosticism permeating through what they believe .
The whole story of salvation starts in a garden on earth and it ends in a city on earth , and in the middle of the story of salvation is an incarnate Jesus who is resurrected in body and spiritually and then ascends .
And so what it shows us is that , unlike the gnostics , which teach us that the physical is bad and the spiritual is good so let's get out of the physical what the gospel teaches us is that both matter , that both are valuable , that Adam , before the fall , was both man in spirit and body , and that Jesus reigns both in man and in spirit and in body , and
that heaven is both spirit and body .
You know that's so true . You know the resurrection accounts are not presented in parabolic or symbolic language but as hard fact . In looking at this teaching here today , I was reminded of John 20 , it's full of what Greek grammarians call vivid historical present tenses to stress the historical reliability of the gospel accounts . Ray said that .
Good job , ray , thank you . But we have to look at scripture and look at it at face value . You know , if something is symbolic , it'll state that it's symbolic . It'll say it is like so and so and so . We can easily dissect a text based upon the text and comparing it to other texts . But when it comes to the resurrection it's very straightforward .
You really have to dance around the text to come up with what you wanted to say . If you wanted to say something spiritual as opposed to physical , you really have to ice-sigeat that . There's no way you're going to pull that from the text . You have to get that from some sort of strange commentary , as you say , some gnostic input that nobody else has .
But I have it . Follow me .
No , the
¶ The Importance of the Resurrection
resurrection of Jesus is . We can't underestimate or overestimate . It's important . You look at the Old Testament . There's , I think there's three accounts of , or many more of , people being resurrected .
You've got Elijah resurrecting the little kid and Elisha doing the same , and then I think it's the Marlbites throw a dead body on the bones of Elisha and it bounces back to life . But there's like hundreds of thousands of Old Testament resurrections , if you take into account the vision that God gave Ezekiel of a whole army , a multitude being resurrected .
That's the Old Testament , new Testament . You've got Lazarus , you've got the woman whose son was woman of name is it whose son was raised , plus other instances .
And there was also a mass or stack of people that rose from the dead , the saints that rose from the dead when Jesus cried with a loud shout , as though his voice couldn't help but raise the dead , because this is the voice of the Son of God , marvul , not at this one . Our ungrateful , our all the non-racial hearer's voice .
Well , these people heard his voice and up they came . Perhaps that's the reason , I don't know , but the resurrection of Jesus was utterly unique . All those weren't unique , they weren't special . Jesus said Marvul , not at this , don't Marvul , all the non-racial hearer's voice .
Paul says to a gripper don't think it's such a big thing that God raises for the dead , because with God nothing is impossible . But the resurrection of Jesus was utterly unique because it wasn't a demonstration of God's power , it was a demonstration of his approval . He was saying yes to the words of Jesus on the cross . It is finished . The law has no demand .
Death has no sting because of that heartbeat that came into that body . So the resurrection is everything , as I said , is the oxygen for the Christian , because our faith is in that . So you can't overemphasize that resurrection .
That's such a good word . Also , you begin to think if Jesus just rose spiritually , why was the stone removed ? Da Carson , and commenting on that , he said the stone was not removed to let Jesus out , but to let the world in . I mean , it really is a good thought .
A physical body did disappear from the tomb , and if it was only a spiritual resurrection , well then , what happened to the body ? So history shows that there was a body , it was there and it disappeared .
The enemies of Christ were never able to produce a physical body and they would be the first ones to desire to present a physical body , but they never did it . Why ?
Because he rose physically very important , and it's important to remember too , what Peter says first , peter 1.3 says bless to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ , who , according to His abundant mercy , has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead .
The resurrection is a foundation and the basis for our regeneration . We're born again through that living hope and he's a first fruit right . So Christ paved the way for our future resurrection . You know , ray , when he resurrects he's gonna get a new body , six foot six with a hairy chest .
Absolutely what are ?
you laughing at this is no joke it's gonna be bigger than everybody else's , it's just gonna be weak and it's gonna come up . The thing he doesn't realize is everyone's gonna be 14 feet tall .
No , no , I've already got it in . It's an inch taller than everybody's .
Oh , you ordered it .
All things , what's every hour , can be prepared to believe and you shall receive Named it and claimed it . It's hanging on a hanger made for you . Oh boy , yeah , Guys , what we're talking about is the resurrection of the Savior , the glorious hope we have . How can we not shout this from the house tops ?
What an obligation that we have to tell people about heaven and what an obligation we have to warn people about hell . I'm gonna share something with you now that I hope I don't crack up . If I do , easy , ready to take over , you get the Kleenex .
This morning I was driving my car and the car pulled out of one of my neighbor's house about half a mile from my house . It was a black car and it pulled out really quickly and then I saw a little kitten jumping and playing on the lawn .
It was just leaping about and about three seconds later I realized it wasn't leaping about , it had been run over by the car and it was just death row . So it just jumped up and up and then just , and I just drove after that car to tell that he got away .
I couldn't warn him and anyway , about half an hour later I was telling Sue and I just broke down in tears and what grieves me is that I weep at the death of a kitten , but my eyes are dry when I pray for the ungodly . My eyes are dry when I preach to the ungodly .
I was just looking at statistics that someone sent me this morning , george Barnas statistics about evangelism . And evangelism is it's all time low . So few Christians are actually going to the marketplace and sharing the gospel . They say our hope is in children coming to Christ . That's where the hope is .
Because we're not going into all the world and preaching the gospel every Christian . My heart breaks that I'm not compassionate enough , others having compassion pulling them from the fire . And it was interesting that's what I was meditating on this morning that necessary virtue of compassion to pull people from the fire . The scriptures use that in Jude .
So we just got to stir the church up . We got to stir ourselves up .
Well , you know , the previous statistic you often quoted , ray , was that 2% one and it's gone down from there . That's pretty tragic . I was thinking as we were talking just a minute ago , mark , you may remember Don Francisco . Oh yeah , he has that song . He's alive and I'm good and it Christianity goes , he's alive .
As you said , Ray , we should shout it from the rooftops Every time . It gets to that point of the song and he's building up about the running of the tomb , and then he's alive , you know , and it's like , ah , that's the fear and the whole thought .
because he lives , I can face tomorrow , because he lives , all fear is gone , that other beautiful him .
So we got to run to the ungodly . The next question for us is in history , was Jesus the only one that rose from the dead , and we'll set aside other resurrections in scripture and talk extra biblical . Is Jesus the only one that rose from the dead ?
Well , I think Ray covered that pretty well , you know . If we look at Matthew 27 , the text says and behold , the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split .
The tombs also were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the whole city and they appeared to many , and not to my recollection can I remember this account in any of the other gospel accounts . I think this is only mentioned in Matthew .
Maybe you guys can correct me in the midst of that . And I can't fully explain or even understand the purpose behind these other saints rising again from the dead . Did they ? Was it a spiritual body ? I don't think so . Was it a physical , glorious body ? I do , I do think that . But now , what happened to those bodies ?
Did they appear just for a little bit and then were they taken away ? Were they part of Jesus's entourage when Jesus ascended later on ?
And did they get their money back from the undertaker ?
Did they get their . You know ? So , sam's , what's the recent value of a grave saint , sam Storms ? I love his writings , I love what he has to say . He said this .
¶ Exploring Resurrections and Mythology
He said most likely these saints were raised with glorified and supernatural bodies identical to the body of Jesus . If so , they were either translated to heaven very soon after their resurrection or possibly constituted a glorious entourage for Jesus at his ascension some 40 days later .
And then , adding commentary to the text that I just read , he adds there in a parenthetical form , he says and behold , the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom , the earth shook , the rocks split , the tombs were also opened . And then he adds on good Friday , immediately after Jesus died . So he's given chronologically the timing behind this .
And then the text that I read . It goes on . It says and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised . And then he adds , parenthetically , here , on Easter Sunday morning , immediately after Jesus was raised . Back to the text , and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection , they went into the holy city and they appeared too many .
So simply put right to the question in history , was Jesus the only one that rose from the dead biblically speaking ? No , he was not . There were other saints according to Matthew's text , and there's no reason why we should not think that that's not canonical .
We should include that within the sacred text , and Ray pulled out all kinds of examples just now from the olden Within the sets apart .
Jesus' resurrection from the others is two things that I can think of , at least One . Jesus is the only one that raised himself from the dead . Destroy this temple and I will raise it . Raise it up , right . Everyone else was raised up by the power of God through Christ , right ?
Jesus raised himself from the dead , and the other element of it is what got him to the grave in the first place . He was there for us , right ? That's the thing that separates him , and I love Church history and plain language . It was one of my favorite books . You guys have heard me talk about it before . I read it a second time this year .
It opens one of the best starting lines of any book I've ever read and it says Christianity is the only religion where , at its center , God dies , referring to Jesus on the cross . So what gets him into the grave is that he dies . For us , the difference of the resurrection is that he resurrects himself .
for us , you know , I was just thinking how the resurrection is again such a powerful sign , especially in connection with Old Testament prophecy , validating who Jesus is , but it's a reminder at the same time that the resurrection itself as a factual historical event is not what's gonna regenerate someone Like knowing that and even acknowledging that won't do it .
Think of the soldiers that guarded the tomb . They knew Christ rose from the dead and they were paid off and went along with it . And so I just tie that to the fact that people are always saying show me a sign , give me a sign .
What greater sign do you want than the Son of God who walked this earth and made the proclamations he made , rising from the dead , and those who saw it and witnessed it still being bought off with money ? You know so .
Well , there were others who weren't bought off , who recognized his resurrection but still did not consider themselves Christ followers . They still didn't believe the text , right ? There are hundreds that saw him resurrected and did not , did not deny his resurrection , agreed to the resurrection and still were not followers of Christ . Yeah right .
That's such a good point , izzy . One thing that just thrills my heart . In fact there's a million of them in Scripture . One thing that does particularly is Mary Magdalene , who's in the garden . She said three days of uttered darkness and despair beyond words . All hope has gone , despair , darkness .
And she's talking to the one she thinks is the gardener and suddenly he says one word that convinces her of his resurrection , that takes her out of blackness into that glorious light Mary . And so I'm a Christian because God said my name in 1972 , april the 24th . He personalized himself to me through Christ and I was taken out of darkness and delight .
So I believe Jesus rose from the dead 180% , not because there were 500 witnesses , not because anyone's intellectually talked me into it , but because I'm a new creature in Christ . I've been translated out of darkness into light , out of death into life . I've got a new heart with new desires .
I want to serve the God I didn't think about for five seconds in my non-Christian life with all the energy I've got , because he's given me a new heart .
And so we're going to be very careful that we don't talk people into salvation by intellectually convincing them that Jesus rose from the dead , but that we proclaim the gospel , that is , the power of God to salvation , sin , righteousness and judgment , so they're regenerated , and then believing Jesus rose from the dead is just like icing on the cake .
That's so poetic , ray , what you said about Mary , and it reminds me of what Jesus said you know , my sheep hear my voice and I know them . And the second she heard him say her name , as he had said it no doubt countless times before . It was like my shepherd it's you , you know .
No convincing needed . Well , can you think about what a moment that was . Talk about ? Sorrow turned to joy , mourning to dancing in a split second .
The next question for us . Some say Jesus rising from the dead was stolen from Greek mythology . Is that true ?
Well , it makes me think of Napoleon's words and I hope you said this because I've quoted him so many times man will believe anything as long as it's not in the Bible , and it's just crazy that people hold on to Greek mythology to try and disprove what Scripture says .
Well , it amazes me , you know , when you see things that are done around the world , it's amazing how , instead of it being a validation of the historic Christian faith , it's always used to try to discredit it , like , as an example , all of the different flood stories that are in multiple cultures all around the world . Oh , see , look , christianity .
No , that's a validation that this was a real event . And , you know , over time , people have , you know , created their own versions of it . But , you know , or they'll find different pagan tribes that bow down and worship a great spirit , or what have you ? Well , look at this they're doing . Well , yeah , that's an indicator that man was created to worship .
Or they'll point out you know , different pagan religions that had a maybe Trinitarian concept , though of course , not truly Trinitarian . Well , look there .
Look , satan is a counterfeiter , not a good one , but and all of these things validate the truth that men aren't searching after God . They love the darkness and hate the light , and they just want to justify their own sinful hearts .
Yeah , you know , the gospel is the greatest story ever told , and any good element of any other story is only good because it's a reflection of the gospel story . And so it should be no surprise that when man makes up stories of lowercase gods and heroes , that elements of the gospel start to reverberate , start to permeate through those stories .
Right yeah , cs Lewis flipped this around . He used that to his element . He said that any good story is a story that points back to the gospel , and so he used these vibrations , these elements of the gospel , to tell great stories . But it definitely should not be a surprise , since God has written the truth in all of our hearts .
Even when we're rebelling against them and we try to make up our own story , we're going to bring with us truthiness . And so , wow , truthiness , that's a good word , right Truthiness . And so is there stories of the resurrection in Greek mythology ? Yeah , sure there are , but they're only there because God has put that truth in our hearts .
The resurrection , however , is exclusive only to Jesus , in the form of the gospel . That's goodiness .
That's goodiness , that's goodiness .
Now . So the claim is the most popular claim is with Horus that he was crucified between two thieves , he was buried for three days in a tomb and then he was resurrected .
And you will get students that will regurgitate this because they read it on Reddit or Richard Dawkins' website and when challenging them at their foundation , have you ever read about this yourself ? The answer is no . They've never read about this whatsoever . And the truth is , horus was not even reported to have died at all .
In the vast majority of Egyptian narratives , there's no crucifixion story . Instead , Horus is usually described as eventually merging with Ra , the sun god , and then , when the sun rises , he's resurrecting in some way every day . So it's like he dies when the sun goes down and he comes back up when the sun comes up the next day .
There is no parallelism in the midst of this , but let's also take note of this . If this was actually reported within Greek mythology mythology , it's a myth . It tells you nothing about Christianity .
Just because there possibly might be some parallels concerning other things , that doesn't negate that there is still truth within Christianity and you can't know truth outside of Christianity . So , though there might be some parallels , it means nothing . Though there's not . It would mean nothing to Christianity and where man stands before his maker .
Oris Katrite , wasn't it ? Oris Katrite ? Oris Katrite .
I don't know if you guys have noticed , but it's interesting how oftentimes these critics , who will bring up stories like the Horus story , will be in such denial of historical Christianity that they'll even deny the existence of Jesus , they'll deny the time frames in which we know certain books of the Bible were written .
But as soon as they find something like that right , they're immediately quick to in essence and in a way validate it as being historical , as being written in the time period it was . Why wasn't it written after Christ ? Then you know , it's like they don't question that .
There's no special criticism attached to that angle , as long as they can use it to try to discredit Christianity , and it's just , it's a futile attempt .
Our next question , guys is it possible Jesus' body was stolen by his disciples and then they faked his resurrection ?
Yeah , you don't do that sort of thing when , in the final analysis , you chose death over the denial of that type of thing having been done . And you just think of all that the apostles went through for the sake of Christ , just about all of them , with the exception of John , I believe Men will die for a lie , but not knowing that it's a lie .
Many men have died for a lie , not knowing that it's a lie . Many people will die sincerely believing that what they believe is true , though it's not true . Why would the disciples , knowing that it's a lie , be willing to die for something that they know is a lie ? He makes no sense . Every single one of them .
Yeah , well , you think about it . If the early believers and the apostles made up the resurrection story , then they had to have a motive for making it up . Obviously , the motive would have been to gain a following , to gain power , to gain possessions . What have you ? Which means what ?
They love life , they want to stay alive , they want to milk the sink for as long as they can . Why then would they give up that life ? Knowing they made up that lie , they'd say , okay , okay , christianity's gained so much power . Now they're telling us to deny it and we'll let you go . You'll be fine , all right . Yeah , we made it up .
Go and pull another scam on people .
Yeah , paul's a prime example . Right , the guy was respected , affluent , financially set . He experiences , meets the resurrected Jesus
¶ The Resurrection
and he gives all that up . He suffers persecution , imprisonment , torture . He loses it all . When he dies , he dies with a broken body with no money in his pocket . Right , you don't do that for a lie that you gain nothing from .
You know , the Jews are not gonna touch a dead body outside of preparation . It was not just unclean , it was such a taboo thing to do . Bear that in mind . With this , if they stole the body , they stole a naked body , because the scriptures tell us that the linens were folded up and placed inside the tomb .
So not only are they committing an unclean act like this , but we have to look at a couple different things here the probability of who could and who would steal the body . Would the Romans ? Would the Romans do that ? Well , there's a guard there .
They would have to seal the tomb , they had to protect it against theft , and the religious leaders had provided their own refutation against such a theory . How about the women ? If the women would do it ? Well , they couldn't remove the stone . They're not strong enough to be able to do such a thing .
And remember that they went early on Sunday morning to finish the burial preparations and they said who's going to remove ? Who's going to do this act ? So it wouldn't be the women . And then we have the disciples . The disciples would not , because they were perplexed and they were scattered , huddled together in hidden rooms .
Two had even left town , headed to Emmaus to get out of there . We have one going back to his own lifestyle and becoming a fisherman again . It makes absolutely no sense . And then , finally , we have the Jewish crowd .
The Jewish crowd would not , and had they actually requested a Roman guard to protect the tomb , had they jumped in there and grabbed ahold of the body , then they're risking being put to death themselves .
Remember , they're the ones , the Jewish people , are the ones who had the idea of putting a Roman guard there , to put the seal there , to make sure that no one goes in there . Because , as the text says up here in Matthew 28 , tell them that the disciples came in and stole the body . This is how it says .
It says you're to say his disciples came by night , stole him away while they were asleep , and if this should come to the governor's ears , we will win him over and keep you out of trouble . And then they took the money and they did just as they had been instructed . And this story was widely spread among the Jews as it is to this day .
As to this day yeah , even to this day people are coming up with ridiculous ideas and claims . What happened to Jesus ? Perhaps he was stolen ? He wasn't stolen . Remember , somebody's willing to die for a lie only if they think it's true , not on the other way around .
I think it's also important to realize his last 40 days , including the three days prior with his death on the cross , was a very public incident . This was not done in a back room where no one was watching . He dragged across through the busiest city during the busiest time .
He died in a public display with an audience and when he resurrected , over 500 people saw him . Some of them became Christians , others did not , but none of them denied it . This was public . If it wasn't true , another grand narrative would have come out of that , because no one wanted it to be true , the like you pointed out .
The Jews did not want it to be true , the Romans did not want it to be true . But what is true is what is true and it was publicly recognized and true , which is why you saw this great movement of believers at that time .
Going back to the question for me , when someone asks me that if they're asking from a place of honesty , I'm okay with that , but honest skepticism is gonna quickly lead you away from that hypothesis . There's just not enough evidence for you to build something on that hypothesis .
The thing is , why would the disciples do such a thing ? When you look at scripture , why would they perpetuate a rumor that he had risen from the dead , when they themselves didn't believe he was gonna rise from the dead ? They were shocked when he rose from the dead . No , they were expecting .
Yeah , yeah . And you know , look , as both Ray and , I believe , mark , intimated , we have to be careful in that . Salvation is of the Lord , right , and I've often heard it said if you can talk someone into Christianity , you can talk them out of it . So you have to remember that salvation is a work of the spirit .
But we also do have to remember that , as you alluded to Oscar , God gave evidence and , additionally , christ's resurrection was prophesied in advance . So we have to recognize it . While we may , as Christians , refrain from using evidence per se in times when someone is being antagonistic right toward God , the fact of the matter is .
Any honest skeptic who really does honest research is gonna come to the conclusion that this is a historical fact by all the criteria that determines historical events . I think of Simon Greenleaf . Simon Greenleaf was the foremost authority back in the 1800s on the validation of historical events .
One day he was mocking the resurrection of Christ in his classroom and one of his students stood up and challenged him Professor Greenleaf , have you yourself examined the resurrection of Jesus Christ according to what is considered to be historical ? And he was humbled , humiliated , silenced , because he hadn't . And the student kind of called his bluff .
So he took up that challenge and he did that and Simon Greenleaf ended up becoming a believer . He wrote a book on the subject , the Testimony of the Evangelist , and there was a college in his name , in fact , there in Orange County , right off of Orange Storpe Simon Greenleaf University .
And he became a radical follower of Christ who said , hey , based on all the criteria that determines historical events , this is historical , and so we have to remember we're not talking about some kind of created thing . I love what Peter said . These are not cleverly devised tales , but we were eyewitnesses .
We heard the majestic voice of God this is my beloved son , whom I'm well pleased you know and so we have to understand that Christianity is historical , it's factual , and people yet will still deny that , which is evident .
You can handle intellectual investigation , which is wonderful .
Yeah , absolutely . You know we've been answering that question and along with that question are others as well , like maybe he was just impersonated and it all kind of comes back to the same thing . That hypothesis dies very quickly when you honestly review the evidence . The next question we have is maybe Jesus only suffered but didn't really die , as some teach .
How would you respond to that ? He pretended , he pretended , he faked it .
The Swoon theory . Yes , right , the famous Swoon theory . That's just stupid . I mean it doesn't even deserve true commentary , because you just have to go through all that Christ endured on that cross and then to be able to get up after that .
Right , nails pierced through his hands , through his feet , his side pierced , his back lashed with the catanine , tails filleted , open , crown of Thorns , and then he gets up and he looks normal . Hey , everybody , you know , props himself up .
It'd be really hard to act when a sort of thrust through your side and blood and water come out . So I'm just freaking this .
Right Well , and the Romans were perfectionists at crucifying people , and crucification always ended in death .
It was an art form .
It was an art form . And three days later he rose from the dead and a glorified body . Holes in his hands , but a glorified body . You don't wake up three days later from a crucifixion and go running around claiming the gospel like he did . That's my reading Eating .
Yeah , exactly .
To sum up , the resurrection is often overlooked when we talk about Jesus and the cross , and I think it's important to recognize that he is resurrected and he is enthroned as our heavenly King .
We ought to remember that Jesus is presently reigning as King and he remains active in our life and we have to live boldly , confidently , strategically , as servants of an exalted , resurrected King . And then we also recognize that we should take heart , because Jesus suffered but he overcame suffering , amen .
And we have to remember too that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection . That means he's our forerunner , and the ramifications of that reality that he rose from the dead is that we're gonna rise as well and receive those glorified bodies . I love what Henry Vaughn said . He said death and darkness get you packing . Nothing now to man is lacking .
All your triumphs now are ended and what Adam marred is mended . And Benjamin Franklin wasn't a believer but I think , based on his own notions of God and the resurrection , whatever . He said . Something really interesting . This was actually he penned his own epitaph .
He said the body of B Franklin , printer , like the cover of an old book , its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding , lies here , food for worms . But the work shall not be wholly lost , for it will , as he believed , appear once more in a new and more perfect edition , corrected and amended by the author . I love that .
For the true believer , that is really our end , you know .
You know , here's a Charles Spurgeon quote Just to be honest , I'm so worried .
I'm taking the gift of the Spurgeon .
Dwell with your hearts very much upon Christ crucified , but indulge yourselves full often with the sight of Christ glorified . Amen . And you know I do that when I think of that scripture . It was not possible that death could hold him . That rills my heart . I get heartburn thinking of that , Amen .
And just one final quote . This was by Charles Spurgeon . The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the best attested facts on record . There were so many witnesses to behold it that if we do in the least degree receive the credibility of men's testimonies , we cannot and we dare not doubt that Jesus rose from the dead .
I just wanted to quote Spurgeon and one more final quote from Spurgeon .
He said the resurrection was the death blow to death . He didn't say that , I just said it . Did you make that up ? I made it up .
Ooh , another quote from Spurgeon I'm hungry . I'm sure he said it , I'm sure he said that one . Guys , thank you so much . This is a tremendous blessing to me . I know from hearing from our partners that it's a tremendous blessing to them and soon this will go online next year on our new website and it'll be a tremendous blessing to the rest of the world .
So thank you for that To our partners . You guys are an incredible blessing to our ministry , not only financially , but through your prayers you're a huge encouragement to all of us . So thank you . We hope this blesses you , inspires and equips you Until next time .
Mark , would you not say that ? Sure , I would Say it . Then it Ah very good when you say that , of all the events you could have witnessed in human history , this would have been close to the top of your list . To have watched Jesus actually resurrect , yeah , nothing compares to it , right ?
I mean , what am I supposed to say , actually ?
Yeah , yeah , do that question . Yeah , mark .
No action . I would have liked to have been there when Spurgeon was turning 13 , almost that great birthday . Yeah , nothing compares to the resurrection of Christ . Right Through the resurrection , jesus demonstrated that he does not stand in a long line of contemporaries right , buddha , confucius , even Charlton Heston .
They do not deserve to be in the same sentence with Jesus because of the resurrection . If Jesus didn't rise from the dead , our faith is in vain .
Yeah , so Spurgeon turned 13 ? Teenager . Yes , I wish I'd been there .
Yeah , imagine Spurgeon , every conversation just eloquence .
Yes , he cried as a baby , in eloquence Wee , wee wee , wee , wee , wee , wee , wee , wee what .
That's actually really good Sound like someone had their foot on a duck , yeah , something like that .
All right , friends , there you have it Sorry to degenerate it this after the resurrection , but you know what Expect ?
nothing else .
Yeah , don't forget world religions . In a nutshell , I'm sure you'll get some great stuff about the resurrection in there . The Living Waters Mug , devenin's Study Bible , altlivingwaterscom . And please comment . We want your comments . We really do enjoy reading them , so send them in to podcastatlivingwaterscom .
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