April 10, 2022

THE RESURRECTION EVIDENCE

   April 10, 2022

  Dr. Gary Habermas

 

Have you ever been called for “jury duty”? It’s a rather daunting feeling, knowing that you may be making a decision that will determine the freedom of someone. Can you share?

As we welcome Dr. Gary Habermas today, we prepare our hearts to listen to the truth that the Messiah had indeed come to the people of Israel, testifying that He and the Father are one. For those who believed in Him, His death was perplexing and seemingly the end of His ministry. The certainty of His death was recorded not only by those who followed Him but also by secular historians of the day. Three days later, the morning of the first day of the week dawned, and there was no question the tomb was empty. Over the next forty days, over five hundred people saw Jesus alive in the flesh, with the scars in His hands and feet. His disciples ultimately saw Him go up into the sky, then out of sight, as He returned to Heaven. His deity, His death, and His resurrection are the basis of the truth of the Christian faith.

Focal Passages: 1 Corinthians 15

The Deity of Jesus Christ

  • Read Isaiah 53:1-3, Daniel 9:25-26, and Micah 5:1-2. What do these passages have in common? About how many years before Christ was born were these prophecies spoken? Read Isa. 7:14, Matt. 1:21, Luke 1:30-32, and John 1:14. What do these verses promise? Were the New Testament verses speaking of an event that would soon come to pass?
  • Read Gen. 1:26, Psa. 2:7, John 1:1-3, 10:30, 17:11, 21, and 1 John 5:7. What is the message that each writer was making clear? Read Mark 3:21. What did Nazareth believe of Jesus? Why do you believe Jesus when He claimed equity with God?
  • Read John 1:19-28. What was John’s testimony? Read John 1:32-34 and Matt. 17:5. What was the testimony of God the Father and the Holy Spirit?
  • Luke 1:39-45. What was Elizabeth’s testimony? Only Mary and Joseph knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. What was their testimony?
  • Only Christianity believes Jesus is God’s only Son, who came in the flesh, and the only way to the Father. Why is this the foundation of our faith?

The Death of Jesus Christ

  • Read Isa. 50:6 and 52:14. How would you describe the beating that Christ endured to pay for our sins? What can you envision from His crown of thorns, and from the exhaustion and loss of blood that caused Him to be unable to carry the cross?
  • Read Matt. 27:50. Remind yourself how the Bible came into existence (2 Tim. 3:16). Would God lie in this verse, but the rest of Scripture be true?
  • There is no documentation ever known to be in existence that states any man ever lived through a Roman crucifixion. The Journal of the American Medical Association made a scientific study of the torture Christ endured on the cross and wrote: “Clearly the weight of the evidence indicates that Jesus was dead even before the wound to His side was inflicted.” Atheist Gerd Ludeman said, “Historically, it’s indisputable that Jesus was dead.” Many secular historians mentioned the death of Jesus. Do you think anyone would have gone to such lengths for a farce? Why or why not?
  • Read Luke 24:46. Jesus Himself stated He had had to suffer and be dead. Would He lie?
  • What conclusion can you come to other than that His death was the absence of life?

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

  • Read Deut. 19:15 and 1 Tim. 5:19. What is the point of these passages to determine someone’s quilt? Read Matt. 28:5-6, 8, 16 and Luke 24:36-39. How many witnesses to His being alive after the resurrection did Jesus have?
  • In his book, The Case for Christ, former Atheist Lee Strobel found nine ancient sources other than the Bible that record twelve separate occasions when people saw Jesus alive and well after the cross. He also appeared to a crowd of over 500. Why is it unthinkable that those who were martyred for their faith would die for a lie?

So, What Do We Do?

  • Be Steadfast: We must recognize that we are living in a world that is changing by the minute. Our faith is going to be challenged, and we will be persecuted. Hang in there!
  • Know your labor is not in vain: rewards will be given in Heaven. Read Matt. 10:42. Even a cup of cold water given in the name of Jesus will be rewarded.
  • Death is conquered: God has promised that those who believe and commit their lives to Jesus Christ will close their eyes in death and open them in the presence of Jesus!

Close

Do you ever examine the faith you have in your relationship with Jesus Christ? You are staking your entire future on the Bible being true, on it being God’s words to us, and on its truth that Jesus Christ died for your sins. Many people think you are crazy, don’t they? Do you believe it enough to tell others, so that they don’t have to spend eternity in hell? Are there some that you don’t share your faith with because you really don’t care where they spend eternity? Those are hard questions, aren’t they?

We believe the Bible contains God’s letters to us, without error in the original scrolls, infallible, and every book included is inspired by Him—or “God-breathed.” It is everything we need to live in peace and righteousness. It is meant for our instruction, reproof, correction, and training.

To believe that Jesus is God is to believe what He has said about Himself. To believe that He died

on the cross is to believe that He said He had come to earth to die. And to believe that He rose to life again is to believe His “only sign, the sign of the prophet Jonah, who was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.” He is good, He does not lie, and He loves us. Putting our life into His hands is not taking a chance—it is accepting by faith that He will take care of us, just as He promised. And one day—maybe soon—”He will come back to receive us unto Himself, that where He is, there we may be also.”

So, be steadfast, always abounding in the work of the Lord, know your labor is not in vain, because He keeps a record of all you do and say as unto the Lord, and know death is conquered and you will win!

 

References:

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ: a Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998.

 

 

 

 

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