Which statement would you trust more? Why?
1. Ralph’s mother says, “Ralph is the best candidate for President of the United States.”
2. Ralph says, “I am the best candidate for President of the United States.”
3. The head of Ralph’s political party says, “Ralph is the best candidate for President of the United States.”
4. The other candidate says, “Ralph is the best candidate for President of the United States.”
Describe Saul before becoming a Christian based on the following Bible passages.
Acts 7:59-8:3
Luke records that Saul approved and sought the persecution, arrest and stoning of Christians. He wanted to destroy the Christian church.
1 Corinthians 15:9
Paul writes about himself that he persecuted the church.
Galatians 1:13-14
Paul writes that he tried to destroy the church of God.
Acts 9:1-2
He went to other cities to arrest Christians.
Acts 22:1-5
Luke records Paul as saying that he put Christians to death, arresting both men and women.
How did Saul the persecutor of Christians become a Christian himself? See Acts 9:1-22.
Jesus appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus. Saul saw and heard from the risen Christ. He knew that Jesus had been crucified and now he knew that Jesus was alive. He was converted by the word of God, just as people are today.
Paul went on to be an apostle and missionary to much of Asia Minor, Greece and Italy. He wrote many of the books of the New Testament. He was not willing to deny Christ for anything and for that he suffered much.
Read 2 Corinthians 11:24-26. What was Paul willing to endure as a Christian?
5 times whipped, 3 times beaten with rods, stoned, 3 times shipwrecked, and in danger all the time. He suffered much for being a Christian and going on his mission journeys.
Why was Paul willing to put up with so much abuse?
He was convinced that Jesus was alive and had appeared to him and sent him on these journeys.
What makes Paul’s conversion different than a Jew converting to Christianity today?
Paul was converted by a direct revelation of the risen Jesus. A Jew who converts today is by the Holy Spirit working through the word of God. It is basically the difference between believing based on primary sources or secondary sources.
Fact: The Tomb was Empty
If I put my briefcase down in my office tonight and come back the next morning to find it gone, what are the possible explanations?
I put it somewhere else. Someone took it. It got thrown away. It vanished into thin air.
Read the account of Jesus’ resurrection in John 20:1-9.
How do we know that the tomb was empty?
Mary Magdalene, Peter and John all saw the empty tomb. Peter and John saw the linens lying there that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body.
Christianity began in Jerusalem. Christ taught there and was crucified there, was buried there, and was seen alive again there. The disciples stayed in Jerusalem for years after the resurrection. If Jesus did not really rise from the dead, what could his enemies have done to prove it in Jerusalem?
They could have taken his body out of the tomb and shown people that Jesus was dead.
Some unbelievers will say that Jesus’ enemies did not produce his body from the tomb because it was already decayed too much. However, the climate in Jerusalem is not too much different from southern Nevada. It is very dry. The body would not have decayed beyond recognition. Jesus’ enemies did not produce his dead body because there was no dead body to produce.
Imagine you are playing softball. Your team is losing by one run with two outs in the last inning. You hit one down the line and it lands very close to the foul line. A foul ball is an out and the game is over, but if it is fair your team wins. There are no umpires. It is up to the left fielder, who has been talking trash the whole game, to make the call. Do you believe him if he says the ball was foul? Do you believe him if he says the ball was fair? Why?
If he says it is fair, we would believe him because he only gains (his team wins) if the ball is foul. We might question him if he calls it foul because that benefits his team.
Read Matthew 28:2-4, 11-15
What do the guards witness?
An earthquake, an angel of the Lord, the tomb opened by the angel. The guards were scared to death.
What do they report to the Jewish leaders?
They report “everything that had happened.”
What story do they come up with to explain away the facts?
The chief priests make up the story that the disciples stole the body.
How does their story help to prove the empty tomb?
If the body was still there, they would not have had to make up a story at all. The guards could have pushed the stone back and acted like nothing happened. But Jesus really came out of that tomb and it was empty.
Read Mark 16:1-11
Who were the first witnesses of the empty tomb?
Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome
Who did Jesus appear to first?
Mary Magdalene
In the Roman and Jewish culture, women were not treated as they are in American culture. In an American courtroom, a woman’s testimony is as valid as a man’s but not in Roman and Jewish courts.
Any evidence which a woman [gives] is not valid….This is equivalent to saying that one who is Rabbinically accounted a robber is qualified to give the same evidence as a woman. (Talmud, Rosh Hashannah 1.8—as quoted in Habermas/Licona, 72)
If you were making up a story in first century Jerusalem and wanted to present compelling evidence for your point of view, who would you have as primary witnesses?
Men of high standing in the community.
The four Gospel accounts of the resurrection have women as the primary witnesses. What does that show us about these accounts of the resurrection of Jesus?
The accounts are not made up stories with false witnesses. The women were reporting what they actually saw and heard.
Did the empty tomb convince the women or the disciples that Jesus rose from the dead? If not, what did? See Mark 16:9-14
No, they did not believe until they saw Jesus themselves. Jesus rebukes them for not believing until they saw him alive.
Modern Skeptics
Skeptics who are still skeptics have come up with lots of theories to explain away the resurrection of Jesus. Using the four facts we have covered, show that the following theories fail to explain away Christ’s resurrection.
First of all, what are the four facts we have discussed so far?
1. Jesus died by crucifixion
2. The disciples believed that Jesus rose and appeared to them
3. The church persecutor Paul was converted
4. The tomb was empty
Skeptic Theory #1—The disciples lied about Jesus rising from the dead and stole the body to cover their lie. Why does this theory fail?
1. This does not account for the fact of Paul’s conversion.
2. It does not account for their willingness to suffer for what they would have known to be a lie.
Skeptic Theory #2—The women and disciples went to the wrong tomb. Why does this theory fail?
1. This does not account for the fact that the disciples believed that Jesus appeared to them alive.
2. It does not account for the conversion of Paul.
3. It does not make sense either. The women went to the tomb once already.
4. All the opponents of Christ would have to do is take the women and disciples to the right tomb to prove that Jesus was still buried.
Skeptic Theory #3—Jesus just passed out on the cross and recovered in the tomb. Why does this theory fail?
1. This does not account for the fact that the disciples believed Jesus appeared to them alive.
2. This does not account for the conversion of Paul.
3. This does not account for the fact that Jesus died by crucifixion—His legs were not broken because he was not pushing up to exhale anymore, he would have been a sorry sight if he had just passed out and tried to walk on nail pierced feet with a hole in his side.
Skeptic Theory #4—The disciples really wanted Jesus back and being in a confused state of mind, they hallucinated that Jesus appeared to them. Why does this theory fail?
1. This does not account for the conversion of Paul.
2. This does not account for the empty tomb.
3. This does not account for the facts about hallucinations. Hallucinations are individual. Groups do not hallucinate the same thing.
Skeptic Theory #5—The authors of the Bible were writing in a genre similar to fables. They did not mean that Jesus really rose from the dead. They were just teaching us something. Why does this theory fail?
1. This does not account for the fact that the disciples believed the same Jesus who died by crucifixion had appeared to them alive.
2. This does not account for the conversion of Paul.
3. This does not account for the empty tomb.
4. There is no indication from the context that they are writing ‘fables’. Every indication is that they were writing historical facts.