The Resurrection of Jesus - Part 5

So, here we are, with the fifth part of this series of posts dealing with the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus the Christ.  Can we summarise the positive evidence for this momentous event in the history of planet Earth?  I believe that we can.

First of all, as already mentioned, there is the fact that Jesus was dead!  It may seem that this is one of those self-evident statements that do not need to be made - but there are those who claim that it is not true.

However, let us consider, again, the purpose of crucifixion.  It was, simply and plainly, to kill the victim.  It was the execution of the death penalty.  The survival of someone who was crucified was as likely as the survival of someone strapped to the electric chair; placed in the gas chamber; hanged from a gallows; stood before a firing squad.  It simply didn't happen.  When the words of the Apostles' Creed state that "He was crucified, dead, and buried;" that is exactly what happened.

But there is specific evidence that He died!  John, who was an eye-witness of the terrible deed, recorded something that would not have had any particular meaning to a Galilean fisherman of some 2,000 years ago, but that God the Holy Spirit ensured that he wrote!  In John 19:34-35, he writes "... one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness - his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth - that you also may believe."  Now, medical experts assure us that, if Jesus had still been alive when the soldier pierced His side, then strong spurts of blood would have emerged with every heart-beat.  What John saw, however, was not even (as I used to think!) two separate spurts, side-by-side - a bit like dual flavoured ice-cream from a 'Softy' machine.  What he saw was the seeping out of a watery serum, containing semi-solid clots of blood.  This, to a modern pathologist, is clear evidence of massive clotting of the blood, and is exceptionally strong medical proof of death.  John, of course, would have had no idea of that significance to a modern medic.  That spear-thrust, and its outcome, is positive proof that Jesus had died.

The emptiness of the tomb has already been mentioned, and will be mentioned again.  But it, too, is rock-hard (no pun intended!) evidence that Jesus had risen from the dead.  For example, the seal was broken.  This was not, of course, some form of air-tight seal around the circumference of the stone disc. It was a legal seal, by which a cord would have been fastened across the stone, and sealed at each end by the "... the leading priests and Pharisees ..." (Matt.27:62; 65-66).  To have been caught breaking such a seal would have had dire consequences indeed!   The guard, too, was an attempt by the Jewish hierarchy to keep the Body of Jesus under their control!  But if death itself could not hold Him, what chance had a group of Temple soldiers?!

Even the stone bears witness to the resurrection.  Someone has said that it was removed, not to let Jesus out, but to allow the witnesses to go in!  However, the language used by the evangelists is of great interest.  Remembering that this 'stone' was not just some convenient, but large boulder, but a specially shaped stone disc, like a very large millstone (without the central hole, of course!). It would have been upright, in a groove that was slightly inclined, and a chock would have been used to keep it away from the entrance.  When the chock was removed, the stone rolled down in the groove, and at an angle against the rock-face.  Little wonder that the women were concerned about moving it!  When we check the original Greek text, we discover that prepositions are used that clearly indicate that the stone was separated from the tomb, at such a distance that it appeared to have been picked up, and carried away!

Finally (for this post) there are the post-resurrection appearances of the risen Lord.  These appearances were to individuals and small groups (e.g. Mary Magdalene, the two on the road to Emmaus), and to larger groups (e.g. the disciples, the group of more than five hundred of whom Paul speaks - I Cor.15:6).  These were people who had not expected the resurrection; yet who then went on to "... turn the world upside down ..." (Acts 17:6).

Evidence?  Many have been convicted in modern law-courts on evidence that is less compelling!  Until tomorrow!