FOUR FACTS
It’s Easter again, a time when we remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. It’s also a time when many people deny those events or at least disregard their significance. Perhaps it’s because, for many, the statements surrounding this time of year are like myths or simply stories that lack the meaning Christianity imparts to such events.
There may be a good reason for this because, in actuality, Easter (per se) has no connection whatsoever to Jesus. Easter is really a pagan celebration of Eoster, a goddess of fertility and spring whose feast varies with the spring Equinox. This was the occasion chosen by the church to commemorate the events around Christ’s death, whereas the actual events occurred around the Jewish feast of Passover which has a specific date each year.
It’s also very doubtful if He was even crucified on Friday. The Passover event referred to in the Bible was a fixed day but not the usual Saturday that we think of “…for that Sabbath was a high day…” (John 19:31). If that was the case, then Jesus may have been crucified on Thursday or even Wednesday instead of Friday and might have risen Saturday night for as the Bible says: “…on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark…” (John 20:1) and found Jesus already gone. After all, the statement of Jesus has to be considered:
A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,
and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
(Matthew 12:39-40)
When you look at the entire picture, it would appear that there have been many fallacies which have crept into the events surrounding Christ’s death; fallacies which may have caused confusion and disbelief. However, there are four facts which should always be remembered.
First, Jesus really was a living person. He walked, talked, taught, and ate just as everyone else. There is really no longer any doubt but that Jesus existed on this earth. All serious investigators agree on this as Dr. Bart Erhman, a non Christian states: “Jesus himself was not a myth. He really existed…[and] evidence matters…He did exist. There was a Jesus of Nazareth”*
Secondly, Jesus really was crucified. Some want to claim that He merely fainted and that He was spirited away before death to the tomb. But the evidence says otherwise. The fact is that the Roman soldiers, who guarded Jesus, were trained in crucifixions and their own lives depended on them keeping prisoners alive until crucifixion thus ensuring subsequent death on the cross. If He died before being crucified, the Roman soldiers guarding Him would themselves be put to death. Also, Christ had been so thoroughly scourged and beaten before the cross that some believe it a miracle that He survived long enough to get to Golgotha. Dr. Zugibe** is certainly of this opinion and, being a Forensic Pathologist, he would have enough experience in this regard.
Thirdly, Jesus was really resurrected. If the evidence is seriously looked at, the conclusion must be that proclaimed by Wilbur Smith - “Let it simply be said that we know more about the details of the hours immediately before and the actual death of Jesus, in and near Jerusalem, than we know about the death of any other one man in all the ancient world”*** Thomas Arnold put it this way: “I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence…and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort…than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.”****
Finally, Christ was seen and witnessed by many people after His resurrection. If one does not want to accept the word of the Bible, then they can accept the recorded recollections historians at the time. Josephus (37-100AD), in his Antiquities is reported to have said this:
Now three was about this time Jesus, a wise man,
if it be lawful to call him man, for he was a doer of wonderful works,
a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure…
this man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross…
those who had loved him from the first did not forsake him,
for he appeared to them alive on the third day,
the divine prophets having spoken these
and thousands of other wonderful things about him.*****
And Lord Darling, former Chief Justice of England is said to have stated that the evidence points unmistakably to the fact that on the third day Jesus rose. “In its favour as living truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true”******
Four facts which, in truth, encompass the whole of the Gospel. Paul said: “but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23) because “…Christ is now risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead” (1Corinthians 15:20-21).
The Bible states that “…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…” (and so it remains today) but to those who believe “…it is the power of God” (1Corinthians 1:18).
Four facts - do you believe in them? It’s something we all must face and think about.
*Did Jesus Exist pg 6,7 By Dr. Bart Ehrman, Professor, Religious Studies, Univ. North Carolina
**The Crucifixion of Jesus A Forensic Inquiry by Frederick T Zugibe, M.D. Ph.D. former Chief Medical Examiner, Rockland County, New York
*** The new Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell pg 211 a quote from Wilbur Smith former Professor Moody Bible Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
****ibid pg 216 a quote by Thomas Arnold Oxford University
***** from the Testimonium Flavianum by Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Book 18 Chapter 3
******The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell pg 219 a statement from Lord Darling, former Chief Justice of England
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