“You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away.’” (Matthew 28:13)
As we move through Holy Week, I am presenting three facts that are agreed on by most scholars and historians on both sides of the debate about the historical truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These three facts do not leave any room for unbelievers to object, “You’re just saying that because it’s in the Bible, and I don’t believe the Bible is true!” On Monday we looked at the “embarrassing evidence” of the testimony of the women regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Today and Friday we will examine “enemy evidence” for the resurrection that comes from those who hated Jesus.
The Religious Leaders
Everyone on both sides of the resurrection debate agrees that enemy attestation is a powerful proposition regarding the proof of the Resurrection. The enemies of Jesus hated and feared Him and schemed to have Him put to death. The Jewish Sanhedrin and the Roman government had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose by making any statement that would corroborate the Resurrection. Now, in order to have a resurrection, you must have an empty tomb. Do you know who were the first people to testify to the unbelieving world that the tomb of Jesus was empty? (Hint: It wasn’t His followers!)
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. (Matthew 28:11-15)
It is important to understand that the tomb location was known; this is called the “Jerusalem Factor.” Jesus was publicly executed and put into a tomb that was known to belong to Joseph of Arimathea. Two known Pharisees buried Jesus: Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. There could have been no confusing the precise location. Moreover, if the tomb was not empty, the religious leaders would have quickly produced the deceased, decaying body of Jesus and paraded Him around Jerusalem for all the world to see. The reason they could not produce His body from a tomb that was widely known was because Jesus was no longer in that tomb. He rose bodily from the grave, just as He had said He would.
Consider this: If someone has a strong bias against someone else, what would be the reason for that person saying anything positive or helpful about the other person? There would be no reason, except for the fact that it must be true. The only story the enemies of Jesus could come up with for the tomb being empty was to say that the disciples stole the body. And we recognize how absurd that claim is when we understand that most of the disciples died for their faith in a risen Jesus.
Let’s you and I suspend belief for just a moment and assume that Jesus’ ragtag group of disciples, untrained civilians who had two swords between them (Luke 22:38) and had all fled in terror when Jesus was arrested (Matthew 25:56), somehow rediscovered their courage and carried out a daring, commando-style raid, overpowering the trained, heavily armed soldiers guarding the tomb, and making off with the body of Jesus. If you can actually get past that preposterous notion, what about this one? Can you convince your self that not one of those disciples ever admitted that was what happened?
I have said from the pulpit on more than one occasion that people have died for a lie in the past . . . but not for something they knew to be a lie. Deceived people certainly have died for a lie, such as the horrific mass suicides that took place in Jonestown in 1978 or the “Heaven’s Gate” cult suicides in 1997. But it strains credulity to the breaking point to think that the disciples of Christ died horrific deaths for their faith in Christ when they could have escaped those deaths simply by testifying to stealing Jesus’ body out of the tomb. None of them ever did.
Charles (“Chuck”) Colson, Prison Fellowship’s founder, came to faith in Christ at age 42. Prior to his conversion, Colson was known as President Richard Nixon’s “hatchet man,” who once famously boasted that he would “run over my own grandmother” to help the president. Colson pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice as part of the so-called Watergate scandal and served seven months in federal prison. It was during this time that Chuck Colson placed his trust in Jesus Christ. The old Colson died, and he was Born Again (the title of his most famous book). Colson spoke of how the Resurrection profoundly affected his thinking:
I know the Resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because twelve men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled twelve of the most powerful men in the world—and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me twelve apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.
The fact that the religious leaders, who hated and feared Jesus Christ, went to such ludicrous lengths to put together such an implausible narrative provides compelling “enemy evidence” for the truth of the resurrection of our Lord.
On Friday, we will look at more “enemy evidence”–that of Saul, the bitter enemy of the Savior.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 