If Christ has not been raised…

John Farley
Pastor-Teacher
Sunday,
April 1, 2018

He is Risen!

If Christ has not been raised…

JOH 20:1-20

1CO 15:12-14

The body of evidence can be grouped
into 14 categories
of proof.

 

Jesus Christ predicted it would happen.

He really died and was buried in a known, accessible tomb.

 

The Empty Tomb and the grave clothes.

The post-Resurrection appearances of Christ .

 

The origin and perpetuation of the Christian church.

The recognition of the fact by His enemies.

 

The character of the witnesses to the Resurrection.

The records of secular historians.

 

 

The dramatic change in the disciples after the Resurrection.

The disciples’ experience of divine power in the post-Resurrection period.

 

The evidence of the Day of Pentecost.

The Church custom of observing the first day of the week.

 

The persecution of the disciples.

No recanting by any of them, most of whom died violent deaths, separated from all of the others.

• The empty tomb.
• The appearances of Jesus to His disciples.
• The origin of the Christian faith.

The empty tomb

JOH 19:30-42

His name was Joseph and he hailed from Arimathea. He was a member of the Jewish establishment.

Our Lord’s death was very public.
There were many eyewitnesses of His death.

Matthew tells us that it was Joseph of Arimathea’s own tomb (MAT 27:59-60).

It had been hewn out in the rock
(MAR 15:46), and no one had ever been buried there before (LUK 23:53).

It was located in a garden near the spot where Christ was crucified (JOH 19:41).

Women who had followed Jesus watched while His body was embalmed and wrapped and placed in that tomb.

So they knew exactly where the tomb was, and visited it again early on the first day of the week. (MAT 28:1, MAR 16:2;
LUK 24:1)

The body was wound tightly in strips of cloth, and covered with spices.

The stone that covered the opening to Jesus’ tomb was enormous, MAR 16:3-4.

It required several men to remove it.

MAT 27:66 And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

MAT 27:62-66

The empty tomb is a dramatic witness to the bodily Resurrection of Christ.

JOH 20:1-9

This account bears all the markings of a first-hand experience: personal touches, careful observation, details.

These were the wrappings that Joseph and Nicodemus had applied to His body three days earlier.

He saw the face-cloth which had been on the Lord’s head.

“to wrap up, roll around, or about”

Jesus’ resurrected body simply passed through His grave clothes.

The condition of the grave clothes indicates that the body had not been taken by thieves or by the disciples.

The guard who was stationed at the tomb that morning also reluctantly reported that it was empty.
 

MAT 28:11-15

If the enemies of Christ had taken the body, they would have produced it to discredit the apostles.

Everyone, friend and enemy, knew that it was empty - and what that empty tomb proved.

What city would have been (1) most hostile to th gospel and (2) most able to disprove the resurrection? 

Jerusalem! And yet what did Jesus specifically require His disciples to do first?

Luke 24:46-47

The most powerful testimony an attorney can present is that given by the opponent.

The empty tomb rests as a silent yet profound witness to the fact of the resurrection of Christ.

1CO 15:3-9

JOH 20:24-29
JOH 3:16