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Seven Reasons Why I Believe in |
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WStS Note: This etext was typed and reformatted by Tom and Katie Stewart from a reprint (1971-- uncopyrighted) of the original edition. The use of the letter "s" instead of "z" was correct at the time of publishing.
CHRISTIANITY IS FOUNDED on "the empty tomb." Its throbbing
vitality is the fact that the Christ who bled and suffered on the Cross is gloriously
risen from the dead and is alive for evermore. The Church's only justification for
its origin and doctrine is that Christ is risen from Joseph's tomb. The vacated sepulchre
alone vindicates the Church's existence. The gospel stakes all on the actuality that
the Lord Jesus rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
The Resurrection is essential to Christianity, for by it alone can Christianity be
confirmed. The Resurrection is the great corroborator of the Christian gospel. Remove
this keystone and the goodly temple crashes into ruin. As life is essential to living
so the Resurrection is essential to a living Christianity. Take away the Resurrection
and Christianity becomes a dead letter, but another contribution to the world's Pantheon.
The Resurrection is the Essential of the essentials of the Christian faith. Because
of this it is the most important fact in history, for thereupon hangs eternal destiny.
Not only is it the most important fact but it is the best attested fact in history.
The foundation of God standeth sure.
Those who glibly deny the bodily resurrection of Christ never honestly faced the
evidence which supports this, the mighty foundation stone of the Gospel. The evidence
is most convincing and conclusive.
The account of the conversion of two of the most notable sceptics of the eighteenth
century is a good illustration of just how convincing and conclusive is this evidence.
These two men, Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton, ranked among the most brilliant intellectuals
of their day. After many clever sallies against Biblical Christianity they decided
that if two great fundamentals of the Gospel were overthrown, Christianity would
crumble into ruin. These fundamentals were, the Resurrection of Christ and the Conversion
of St. Paul. So West undertook to write a treatise on the Resurrection proving it
to be a fabrication, and Lyttleton vowed to produce a treatise demonstrating that
St. Paul was not miraculously converted on the Damascus Road. They therefore started
to sift the evidence which they believed was pure fabrication and which they were
determined to expose and explode. From time to time they met in conference and then
one day West said to Lyttleton,
"I have something very important to relate. You know, Lyttleton, how keen I was to expose as pure fabrication the Resurrection of Christ. I therefore determined to thoroughly sift the evidence and in doing so I had to be honest, I had to be sincere, I had to be honourable and I had to forsake my prejudice and act on strict legal principle. Having pursued this line I have been forced to the conclusion that Jesus Christ really rose from the dead. Now, you may laugh at me if you like, Lyttleton, but I got down on my knees and asked the risen Saviour to save me and He has done it."
Lyttleton replied,
"Strange to relate, I have had a similar experience. I, too, sifted the evidence, sincerely, candidly and honestly, and the more I weighed the evidence the more I was forced to the conclusion that St. Paul was really remarkably converted on the Damascus Road. That being so, West, as an honest person I could do no other but fall on my knees and ask the same Christ to save me and He has done it."
In the course of time the treatises of West and Lyttleton appeared.
West's treatise vindicated the Resurrection and Lyttleton's the Conversion of St.
Paul. Both these treatises can be found in our libraries to-day. To them unbelief
has never been able to fabricate an answer. They stand as monuments to the fact that
if the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ is sifted and weighed honestly, it
will be found to be convincing and conclusive.
Let us then survey some of this evidence.
FIRST REASON: THE BODILY RESURRECTION WAS
PROPHETICALLY ANTICIPATED BY CHRIST HIMSELF
"But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," Matthew 12:39, 40.
"And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again," Matthew 20:17-19.
"And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead," Mark 9:9.
"But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee," Mark 14:28.
"Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day," Luke 9:22.
"Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said," John 2:18-22.
The great sign of His Messiahship was the Resurrection. That Christ
was not referring to a mere resurrection of spirit is clear from His speech to the
unbelieving Jews concerning the destruction and resurrection of the temple of His
body. The Bible knows no other resurrection than that of the body for the Scriptures
teach implicitly that the spirit never dies but at death is in a state of separation
from the body.
All the prophecies which Christ made, have, when the time for the fulfillment came,
been completely vindicated. Their absolute truthfulness has been vividly displayed
in the course of time. History has been their great corroborator.
The destruction of Jerusalem, the Coming of the Holy Spirit, the Building of the
Church, the Rise of false prophets and false christs and the Division of households
through Christianity -- these and many more happenings all carefully predicted by
Christ have been fulfilled to the last letter. Fulfilled prophecy is a witness to
the truthfulness of Christ which cannot be silenced. No honest person dare reject
this prophetic phenomenon. Now this being so by what law can we reject Christ's prophecy
concerning His own resurrection as untrue?
We have already discovered that, tested by every known law, Christ stands forth as
the One who has completely established all His claims and fulfilled all His promises.
This being so, His prophecy concerning this most important event of all, must be
true. To accept that Christ's prophecy concerning His betrayal, delivery into the
hands of the Gentiles, and crucifixion was true, but to reject the climax of it all,
His Bodily Resurrection, is to act dishonestly and only demonstrates prejudice against
the supernatural.
The Resurrection, the climax of Christ's Life and absolutely unparalleled in itself
and in its circumstances, is to be taken in connection with the whole course of Christ's
Life and with the sum of the great miraculous demonstrations which from time to time
He made manifest with overwhelming power. When viewed in this light, we could only
accept that the climax of His miraculous Life would be the Miracle of miracles itself.
To this supreme miracle Christ prophetically pointed as the great sign that He was
the Christ, the Chosen of God.
The argument that Christ predicted His death by a deduction from antagonistic circumstances
cannot stand. His prophecy in John chapter two came early on in His ministry, long
before the religious leaders organised themselves against Him. Again, Peter and the
other disciples were ever alarmists, and yet when Christ spoke of His death they
repudiated it as impossible. "From that
time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem,
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him,
saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and
said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men," Matthew 16:21-23.
As the prophetic accuracy of the Lord Jesus is a well attested fact, I believe in
the Bodily Resurrection because it was anticipated by Himself.
SECOND REASON: THE BODILY RESURRECTION IS
PERFECTLY SUBSTANTIATED BY THE GOSPEL NARRATIVES
The combined testimony of the Evangelists witnesses that the tomb is empty. A resurrected
Christ is the climax of their gospels. In perfect harmony they declare that Christ
is risen from the dead.
Matthew
Matthew records two appearances of the Risen Christ.
Mark
Mark records three appearances.
Luke
Luke records four appearances.
John
John records four appearances.
Of these narratives, Professor F. Godet states:
"Let us note in these evangelic records two characteristics: the variations in the details, the agreement in the substance of the story. The substance is the fact of the resurrection. On this the accounts are unanimous. The diversity in the details is the consequence of that between the witnesses who communicated the facts to the writers, or who themselves drew up these records. It proves that no previous agreement, no ingenious calculation, guided them in drawing them up.
"On looking back upon the whole, we easily perceive how wonderfully the several fragments of the picture fit into each other. But the records themselves give not the slightest hint respecting this mutual interconnection and this natural progress of the advancing steps of the story. 'What a proof is this of the perfect faithfulness, as well as intrinsic truthfulness, of these primitive records!'"
These gospel records are further corroborated by Paul. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And
that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above
five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present,
but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time," 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.
Now the truthfulness of the Gospel narratives is self-evident. A study of the intimate
details recorded by the Evangelists demonstrates their veracity. "But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he
goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you,"
Mark 16:7.
Notice the emphasis "and Peter." Peter was surely one of the disciples, why then this special addition?
Peter's conduct is undoubtedly in mind. He denied his Lord with oaths and cursing
and by this time concluded that he was no longer reckoned a disciple. If the message
had named only the disciples, Peter would have excluded himself. Here, however, we
have a real portrayal of Christ. He remembered Peter, and in order to show His infinite
compassion He adds in wondrous grace the words "and
Peter." No artful contriver would have thought of
such an addition. This is no invention. It is something reported by an eyewitness
of the very event.
Again, take the narratives of the vision of angels. Minute details are given of their
positions in the tomb, their dress, their number, and the very degrees of light which
radiated from their apparel. We read in Mark that the "young
man" was seated on the right side of the tomb, and was
clad in a "long white raiment." Matthew records that the angel's raiment was "white
like snow." Luke records that the angels appeared in "shining garments." John
speaks of them as being in "white."
Why such minute description? Without doubt the angels' raiment is recorded as was
seen by the eyewitnesses. The narratives are authentic accounts and not manufactured
novels. The details display undesigned veracity.
Because of the self-evident truthfulness of the Gospel records I therefore believe
in the Bodily Resurrection of Christ which these records perfectly substantiate.
THIRD REASON: THE BODILY RESURRECTION IS
PRACTICALLY DEMONSTRATED BY THE APOSTLES' TRANSFORMATION
The great contrast between the disposition of the apostles at the time of Christ's
death and their disposition as portrayed in the Acts of the Apostles can not be satisfactorily
explained apart from the Resurrection. Their Messianic expectation of Christ reigning
at Jerusalem with them as His princely courtiers had been rudely dashed by Christ's
apprehension and subsequent crucifixion. The dark treason of Judas, the blasphemous
denial of Peter, their own cowardice at the hour of crisis, the base victory of the
Sanhedrin, the wild infuriation of the people and the awful crucifixion and sad burial
of their Master had left them hopeless and heartless, a byword and a contempt in
the eyes of their enemies.
We realise something of their state in the pathetic exclamation concerning Christ,
of the two who travelled to Emmaus, "But
we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all
this, to day is the third day since these things were done,"
Luke 24:21.
After the third day, however, a unique moral transformation takes place. Their fears
are exchanged for a rugged fearlessness, their hopelessness for a transforming hope,
their cowardice for an unflinching courage and their backwardness for a triumphant
boldness. In the power of that transformation they issued forth recklessly regardless
of persecution and martyrdom, to proclaim in the face of an antagonistic world the
fact of Christ's Resurrection from the dead.
Dr. Philip Schaff comments in his valuable "Apostolic Christianity":
"This revolution was not isolated, but general among them; it was not the result of any easy credulity, but brought about in spite of doubt and hesitation; it was not superficial and monetary, but radical and lasting; it affected not only the apostles, but the whole history of the world. It reached even the leaders of the persecution, Saul of Tarsus, one of the clearest and strongest intellects, and converted him into the most devoted and faithful champion of this very gospel to the hour of his martyrdom.
"This is a fact patent to every reader of the closing chapters of the Gospels, and is freely admitted even by the most advanced sceptics."
Contrast, for example, Peter and John at the trial of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, and Peter and John defying the very same hierarchy and proclaiming:
"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard," Acts 4:19, 20.
"We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him," Acts 5:29-32.
Well may Bishop Westcott ask:
"If the crucified Lord did rise again, we can point to effects which answer completely to what we may suppose to have been the working of the stupendous miracle on those who were the first witnesses of it: if He did not, to what must we look for an explanation of phenomena for which the Resurrection is no more than an adequate cause?"
There is only one answer to this stupendous transformation in the
apostles, and that is that they were eyewitnesses of the bodily presence of their
once crucified but now risen Lord.
Therefore I believe in the Bodily Resurrection of Christ because it is practically
demonstrated by the Apostles' Transformation.
FOURTH REASON: BECAUSE THE BODILY RESURRECTION
IS POWERFULLY VINDICATED BY CHRISTIANITY'S HISTORY
If the Resurrection is not a fact then Christianity is inexplicable. The Resurrection
is the foundation of Christianity but if this foundation does not exist whence then
Christianity? Dr. Philip Schaff comments:
"The Christian Church rests on the resurrection of its Founder. Without this fact the church could never have been born, or if born, it would soon have died a natural death. The miracle of the resurrection and the existence of Christianity are so closely connected that they must stand or fall together. If Christ was raised from the dead, then all his other miracles are sure, and our faith is impregnable; if he was not raised, he died in vain, and our faith is vain. It was only his resurrection that made his death available for our atonement, justification and salvation; without the resurrection, his death would be the grave of our hopes; we should be still unredeemed and under the power of our sins. A gospel of a dead Saviour would be a contradiction and wretched delusion. This is the reasoning of St. Paul, and its force irresistible."
Beyond question, the Resurrection was the foundation truth of the
apostolic gospel. The primitive church is best described in the words of Luke. "And with great power gave the apostles witness of
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all," Acts 4:33.
If the Resurrection of Christ was not an incontrovertible fact how dare the disciples
proclaim it in the very place where it happened? Is it likely, if it were a fraud,
that the people would have tolerated, let alone believed, the apostolic gospel?
The empty tomb was an objective fact open for their investigation. If the tomb had
not been emptied of its precious contents by the miracle of Resurrection, then the
production of Christ's body would soon have exposed the fraud. Is it credible to
suppose that if the disciples stole away the body, as the Jews in their dilemma lyingly
suggested, that they would have been prepared to be martyred for their deception?
That the main emphasis of the apostles was on the actuality of the Resurrection is
further illustrated by the source from which their main opposition came. In that
invaluable book "Undesigned Coincidences," Dr. J. J. Blunt points out:
"There is a difference in the quarter from which opposition to the Gospel of Christ proceeded, as represented in the Gospels and in the Acts, most characteristic of truth, though most unobtrusive in itself. Indeed, these two portions of the New Testament might be read many times over without the feature I allude to happening to present itself.
"Throughout the Gospels, the hostility to the Christian cause manifested itself almost exclusively from the Pharisees. Jesus evidently considers them as a sect systematically adverse to it. 'Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! .... Ye are the children of them which killed the prophets .... Fill ye up the measure of your fathers.' And before Jesus came up to the last Passover, 'the chief priests and Pharisees,' we read, 'gave commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.' And when Judas proposed to betray Him, 'he received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees.' On the other hand, throughout the Acts, the like hostility is discovered to proceed from the Sadducees. Thus, 'And as they' (Peter and John) 'spake thus unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them.' And again, on another occasion, 'the high priest rose up, and all that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation and laid their hands on the Apostles, and put them in the common prison.' And again, in a still more remarkable case: when Paul was maltreated before Ananias, and there was danger perhaps to his life, he, 'perceiving,' we read, 'that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee:' evidently considering the Pharisees now to be the friendly faction, and soliciting their support against the Sadducees, whom he equally regarded as a hostile one; nor was he disappointed in his appeal.
"Whence then, this extraordinary change in the relations of these parties respectively to the Christians? No doubt, because the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which, before Christ's own resurrection, i.e., during the period comprised in the Gospels, had been so far from dispersed by the disciples, that they scarcely knew what it meant (Mark 9:10), had now become a leading doctrine with them."
Of all people, the Sadducees would have exposed Christ's Resurrection
as a deception if they had been able to do so. It was the incontrovertible actuality
of the empty tomb and Resurrected Christ, and the consequent refutation of their
own doctrine of no resurrection, which goaded them on to such acts of violence against
the early church.
Bishop Westcott in "The Gospel of the Resurrection" says:
"From the time of the first preaching of the Apostles, Christianity has been a power in the world acting upon society and acted upon by it. It conquered the Roman Empire, and remained unshaken by its fall. It sustained the shock of the northern nations, and in turn civilised them. It suffered persecution and it wielded sovereignty. It preserved the treasures of ancient thought and turned them to new uses. It inspired science, while it cherished mysteries with which science could not deal. It assumed the most varied forms and it molded the most discordant characters. And all this was done and borne in virtue of its historic foundation. For its strength lay not in the zeal of a hierarchy who were the depositaries of hidden doctrines, but in the open proclamation of a Divine Saviour."
Now the whole history of the triumph of Christianity is a powerful
vindication of the Risen Christ. In fact, the whole history of the last 2,000 years
is the guarantee of the reality that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. The spiritual
force of Christianity is inexplicable, apart from the doctrine of the Bodily Resurrection.
So I believe in the Bodily Resurrection of Christ because it is powerfully vindicated
by Christianity's History.
FIFTH REASON: THE BODILY RESURRECTION IS
PERPETUALLY COMMEMORATED BY THE LORD'S DAY
How did the seventh day cease so suddenly to the early Jewish christians to be their
day for worship? Why the change to the first day of the week? There is only one explanation,
the Resurrection of Christ. John Bunyan said of the Lord's Day, the Lord Himself
began it, the Holy Spirit seconded it (Pentecost was on the first day of the week,
see Leviticus 23:16) and the Apostolic Church practised it. Its basis was the Resurrection
of Christ.
The first day of the week is the only day mentioned in the New Testament as a special
day. It was on the first day our Lord arose; that He appeared to Mary, and to the
disciples on the Emmaus Road, to Peter and to all the disciples apart from Thomas.
It was on the first day again He appeared to the disciples, Thomas being with them.
Paul waited for that day in Troas, and when it came remembered his Lord in the breaking
of bread and preached to the assembled disciples. Again, it was on the first day
of the week that Paul commanded the Galatian and Corinthian Christians to give their
offerings to the Lord's work. In Revelation it was on the Lord's Day that John was
granted his stupendous apocalyptic vision.
The assertion of the Seventh Day Adventists that the Pope and the Church of Rome
changed the day under Constantine is a pure fallacy, a sectarian invention with no
historical foundation whatever. Dr. Schaff, the great authority in Church History,
states:
"The universal and uncontradicted Sunday observance in the second century can only be explained by the fact that it had its roots in apostolic practice. Such observance is the more to be appreciated as it has no support in civil legislation before the age of Constantine, and must have been connected with many inconveniences, considering the lowly social condition of the majority of Christians and their dependence upon their heathen masters and employers. Sunday thus became, by an easy and natural transformation, the Christian Sabbath or weekly day of rest, at once answering the typical import of the eternal rest of the people of God in the heavenly Canaan."
Now the Lord's day had its own prophetic anticipation. Over in Leviticus we have its type in the feast of the Firstfruits. "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it," Leviticus 23:10, 11. Notice the time of this feast, "the day after the Sabbath." Now this day was the third day after the passover lamb was slain, so at the very time when in the temple the priests were preparing the wave offering, Christ arose. Adolph Saphir says:
"Exactly as the type had prefigured it, so was He offered up unto God. And on the morrow after the Sabbath He came forth the Sheaf, the Branch out of the earth ... Suffering and death were behind Him. He had died once unto sin, but now He lived unto God."
It was of this feast of the first-fruits that Paul was thinking when he wrote:
"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept," 1 Corinthians 15:20.
In Psalm 118 we have a direct prophecy concerning the Lord's day.
"The stone which the builders refused
is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous
in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and
be glad in it," Psalm 118:22-24. We have the fulfillment
of this prophecy mentioned by Peter to the Sanhedrin: "Be
it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him
doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought
of you builders, which is become the head of the corner,"
Acts 4:10, 11.
The day was not of man's making, it was the day which the Lord made, by the Resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Resurrection is the only warrant for our keeping the
first day of the week sanctified to the Lord.
Blest morning, whose first dawning rays
Beheld the Son of God
Arise triumphant from the grave,
And leave His dark abode!
Wrapt in the silence of the tomb
The great Redeemer lay.
Till the revolving skies had brought
The third, the appointed day.
Hell and the grace combined their force
To hold our Lord in vain;
Sudden the Conqueror arose,
And burst their feeble chain.
To thy great name, Almighty Lord,
We sacred honours pay,
And loud hosannas shall proclaim
The triumphs of the day.
Hence I believe in the Bodily Resurrection of Christ because it
is perpetually commemorated by the Lord's Day.
SIXTH REASON: THE BODILY RESURRECTION IS
PLAINLY INDICATED BY THE IMPOSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES
When one places the onus of the proof on those who deny the Bodily Resurrection,
the reality of the Resurrection is confirmed rather than refuted. Three possible
theories have been advanced down through the centuries to prove that Christ did not
rise from the dead. These theories have been put forward at different times in different
ways, but their substance has ever been the same.
The Fraud Theory
The invention of the Jewish leaders is put forth as the real truth. The disciples
stole the body of Jesus from Joseph's tomb, while the guards slept, and have concealed
it, deceived the world. This theory carries its own refutation, for if the guards
were sleeping how did they know it was the disciples who stole the body, and if they
were not sleeping then they would have prevented the crime. Again, if they really
slept at the post of duty, as Romans they would never have confessed such an awful
crime. As for the disciples, they were too cowardly at this time to do such a daring
act and too honest to connive to cheat the whole world. How could such a fraud have
nerved its perpetrators with such Christian patience and fortitude? It is clear that
the fraud theory is a fraud and is rightly described as "a wicked absurdity."
The Swoon Theory
This theory holds that Jesus did not really die on the cross but that He merely swooned
from loss of blood. Nicodemus and Joseph discovered this and with the help of others,
by careful medical attention, restored Christ to life. Later He died a natural death.
Others have even absurdly stated that He recovered from the swoon of the cross in
the cold tomb and by His own medical attention recovered and somehow or other got
out of the sepulchre. Besides insurmountable physical difficulties this theory could
never account for the marvellous transformation of the apostles. The experience of
a weary, wounded sickly Jesus hiding away from His enemies and eventually succumbing
to death, would have overwhelmed the disciples completely in utter despair.
The Vision Theory
The exponents of this theory have adopted all sorts of ingenuous methods to dispose
of the fact of the empty tomb. Some say Mary and the disciples visited another tomb
which was not occupied. Others say the body was taken away by the enemies of Christ.
Another theory held by "Jehovah Witnesses" that the body dissolved into
gases has recently been advocated by no less a person than an ex-President of the
Methodist Church, Dr. Leslie Weatherford. In a recent essay on the subject he states:
"It would not be wise to suppose that Christ walked out of the tomb in the same
physical body that died on the Cross, for that only postpones the question 'What
then finally happened to His body?' Perhaps it completely dematerialised, that is,
became nothingness, so far as matter is concerned. It is easier to suppose that through
the speeding up of molecular movement, it became gaseous and escaped through chinks
in the cave, not, of course, made airtight by the rough circular stone, and that
either
(1) those particles were used by Him to materialise again outside the tomb, or
(2) -- the hypothesis I prefer -- that a spiritual or etheric existence, which had the same effect on human senses as a physical one, was the means of the post-Resurrection appearance."
This theory goes on to state as Dr. Weatherhead does, that the
Resurrection appearances were merely visions of one kind or another. Dr. Weatherhead
finds the best explanation is spiritism. The insurmountable arguments against this
theory are many.
What of the tomb? Are we to believe that the majestic discourses attributed to the
Risen Christ proceeded from "dreamy and self-deluded enthusiasts and crazy fanatics"?
Are we to accept these appearances as ghost stories? Why did these visions suddenly
end on the fortieth day? Why did they not continue? Dr. Schaff says:
"The chief objection to the vision-hypothesis is its intrinsic impossibility. It makes the most exorbitant claim upon our credulity. It requires us to believe that many persons, singly and collectively, at different times, and in different places, from Jerusalem to Damascus, had the same vision and dreamed the same dream; that the women at the open sepulchre early in the morning, Peter and John soon afterwards, the two disciples journeying to Emmaus on the afternoon of the resurrection day, the assembled apostles on the evening in the absence of Thomas, and again on the Lord's Day in the presence of the sceptical Thomas, seven apostles at the lake of Tiberias, on one occasion five hundred brethren at once most of whom were still alive when Paul reported the fact, then James, the brother of the Lord, who formerly did not believe in him, again all the apostles on Mount Olivet at the ascension, and at last the clear-headed, strong-minded persecutor on the way to Damascus -- that all these men and women on these different occasions vainly imagined they saw and heard the self-same Jesus in bodily shape and form; and that they were by this baseless vision raised all at once from the deepest gloom in which the crucifixion of their Lord had left them, to the boldest faith and strongest hope which impelled them to proclaim the gospel of the resurrection from Jerusalem to Rome to the end of their lives!
"The vision-hypothesis, instead of getting rid of the miracle, only shifts it from the fact to fiction; it makes an empty delusion more powerful than the truth, or turns all history itself at last into a delusion. Before we can reason the resurrection of Christ out of history we must reason the apostles and Christianity itself out of existence. We must either admit the miracle, or frankly confess that we stand here before an inexplicable mystery."
All these impossible alternatives plainly indicate the fact of the Resurrection. The enemies of the Risen Christ cannot prove He did not triumphantly vacate the tomb. That rugged empty tomb smashes all opposition.
Death could not keep its prey,
Jesus, my Saviour!
He tore the bars away,
Jesus, my Lord!
Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o'er His foes.
He arose a Victor o'er the dark domain,
And He lives for ever with His saints to reign!
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Hence I believe in the Bodily Resurrection of Christ because it
is plainly indicated by the impossible alternatives.
SEVENTH REASON: THE BODILY RESURRECTION
IS PERSONALLY CORROBORATED BY THE BELIEVER'S EXPERIENCE
Joseph's tomb is not only emptied of Christ's body but it is emptied of our curse.
Christ was delivered because of our offences, He was raised because of our justification.
His death discharged our awful debt, His resurrection is the great receipt that the
full price has been paid.
Jesus, once numbered with the dead,
Unseals His eyes to sleep no more,
And ever lives their cause to plead,
For whom the pains of death He bore.
Our Surety freed declares us free,
For whose offences He was seized;
In His release our own we see,
And shout to view Jehovah pleased.
This experience of justification in the heart of the believer is
a personal corroboration that Christ is risen from the dead, In the joy of this experience
the believer can say with Job, "For I
know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another;
though my reins be consumed within me," Job 19:25-27.
Thus the evidence of faith confirms the fact of the Resurrection. Of the empty tomb
Professor Godet writes:
"Let us often visit this spot; it is not necessary for this end to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem; the entrance into the holy sepulchre opens in the depths of the heart of each one of us. Let us descend into it, to find there the pledges of our adoption, the shreds of the letter of acknowledgement of debt, which bore witness against us, and which the hand of our Heavenly Creditor has torn up, the fragments of the sceptre of Death, which the foot of our deliverer has broken to pieces; and lastly, the helmet of hope, which His hand has deposited there in order that each believer may go thither to put it on his head. Ah! what good such a visit does to the overwhelmed soul! She returns out of it as John came out of the sepulchre after seeing in it the linen clothes wrapped together, and the napkin folded and laid by in a place by itself. 'He saw and believed,' he tells us himself; summing up in these two words the deepest experience of his life. Let us believe in the testimony of those who saw, in that which authenticates itself to our hearts as holy, and therefore true, and then we too shall see; we shall behold, even here on earth, the glory of God."
I believe in the Bodily Resurrection of Christ, because my experience of the Saviour tells me it is so.
The day of resurrection!
Earth, tell it out abroad;
The passover of gladness,
The passover of God!
From death to life eternal,
From earth unto the sky,
Our Christ hath brought us over
With hymns of victory.
Now let the heavens be joyful;
Let earth her song begin;
Let the round world keep triumph,
And all that is therein;
Invisible and visible,
Their notes let all things blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen,
Our joy that hath no end.
"Wylie's 'The History of Protestantism'
is the best history extant.
I welcome its republishing. Read it. Study it. Circulate it.
And by so doing you will help to dispel the dark cloud
of priestly superstition, popish idolatry and papal tyranny
encircling our land." --Ian Paisley
"The History of Protestantism"
(3 volumes, 1878) by J. A. Wylie ---New Window
This art print, "No Greater Love" by Robert
Grace is provided courtesy of Christ-Centered Art ---New Window.
What
the Bible Says About
Why Did Jesus Have to Suffer? ---New
Window
by Tom Stewart
"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the
Just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God,
being put to Death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit"
(1Peter 3:18).
"The Natural Love that we have for ourselves is a Universal
Truth, for 'no man ever yet hated his own flesh'
(Ephesians 5:29); and,
Jesus the Son of Man was no different. 'For we have
not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but
was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Hebrews 4:15). He had no special enjoyment
of suffering, just as we do not enjoy suffering. 'Wherefore
in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be
a Merciful and Faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make Reconciliation
for the sins of the people' (Hebrews 2:17). It is difficult for the Righteous to watch the Guiltless and Innocent
suffer, because their suffering is our suffering. 'Remember
them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being
yourselves also in the body' (Hebrews 13:3). Further, we have been advised by the Scriptures to remain
'simple' concerning the specifics
of the sufferings that evil men inflict. 'For your Obedience
is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would
have you wise unto that which is good, and simple [Greek,
akeraion, harmless] concerning evil' (Romans 16:19). It was only the Providence
of God that allowed the human mother of Jesus to be at the scene of Christ's Crucifixion,
and one can only imagine the impression upon Mary as she beheld the Agony of her
Son upon the Cross! Perhaps it was at that moment that Mary recalled the prophetic
words of Simeon from the dedication of Jesus. '34 And Simeon blessed them,
and said unto Mary His mother, Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising
again of many in Israel; and for a Sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce
through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed' (Luke 2:34-35). For those we love, suffering and even death for ourselves would
be more desirable than to watch them suffer. But, Jesus willingly set His
face like flint to suffer the Cruel Death of the Cross for friend and foe
alike, e.g., the Roman centurion in charge of His Crucifixion exclaimed about the
events and manner of Christ's Death on the Cross, 'Truly
this was the Son of God' (Matthew 27:54)."
The
Majesty of the Atonement of Jesus Christ ---New Window
Or, Christ's Humanity Provided an Atoning Sacrifice for the Sins of Mankind
by Tom Stewart
"And not only so, but we also joy in God through
our LORD Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement" (Romans 5:11).
"At this moment, only a short time before the 'glorious
appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ'
(Titus 2:13), it is a retrospective of awe and wonder that we would consider again
the central, fundamental, and timeless theme of the atoning self-sacrifice of the
Creator for the well-being of rebellious and sinful man... he most majestic act of
God towards us was the Atonement of Jesus Christ on the Cross for all mankind. So
marvelous was this act of atonement, that the angels were quite eager to see how
the LORD would handle it. 'Unto whom it was revealed,
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now
reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost
sent down from Heaven; which things the angels desire to look into'
(1Peter 1:12). Eternity cannot exhaust our study of the love of God that was manifested
in His atonement for us."
The
Amazing Humanity of Jesus Christ ---New
Window
Or, The Benefit of Christ's Birth
by Tom Stewart
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,) full
of Grace and Truth"
(John 1:14).
"The Old Testament of the Scriptures is replete with clues of God's purpose
to redeem and govern mankind through the human advent of the Divine Son of God. '6 For unto us a Child is born, unto us
a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince
of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and
peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order
it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this'
(Isaiah 9:6-7).
What astounds us is that the Son of God condescended to become a man-- to suffer
all the difficulties of the flesh and the human condition, 'yet
without sin' (Hebrews
4:15). Heaven will surely be filled with the Saints'
praise and admiration for so bold an act of love that the Son of Man would become
human flesh and then 'lay
down His life for His friends' (John 15:13).
'Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you' (15:14)."
His Resurrection
Is The Highest Proof That Jesus Is The Messiah ---New Window
by Tom Stewart
"What evidence should satisfy the most inquisitive mind that Jesus is the Messiah?
All of humanity must be born into this world, and it will be by the hand of the Almighty
that He will take us out of this world, i.e., 'And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this The Judgment' (Hebrews
9:27), so birth and death are common to man. However, who but God Alone has
the Power to resurrect from the dead? 'God hath spoken once;
twice have I heard this; that Power belongeth unto God' (Psalm
62:11). Even if a questioning mind could not settle whether Jesus resurrected
by His own Power or whether it was the Power of the Almighty to resurrect Jesus from
the dead, Why would Jehovah resurrect Jesus and thereby vindicate the claims of Jesus
of Nazareth that He would Rise again after three days, unless Jesus is
the Messiah? '3 Concerning
His Son Jesus Christ our LORD, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh; 4 and declared to be the
Son of God with Power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the Resurrection from
the dead' (Romans 1:3-4)."
What Happened
in Gethsemane? ---New Window
by Tom Stewart
"The Garden of Gethsemane is best known to us for the scene of the betrayal
of the LORD into the hands of the 'chief priests and elders
of the people' (Matthew 26:47). Of the events prior
to His betrayal that night in Gethsemane, we are called upon to consider the nature
of Jesus' agony when He prayed, 'Father, if Thou be willing,
remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done' (Luke 22:42)."
Without Jesus,
My Wage is Death ---New Window
by Katie Stewart
"Without Jesus, as my very 'Life',
no amassed regretting, no mustered repenting, no aggregate of tears-- NOTHING I could
ever do-- could EVER change the wage I had earned for the sin I had committed against
God's Holy Law. 'Against Thee, Thee only, have
I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight: that Thou mightest be Justified when Thou
speakest, and be Clear when Thou judgest' (Luke 20:21). My wage was rightfully--
Death. 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die' (Ezekiel 18:20). A Death which would forever separate me from the Creator of my
soul. 'Commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well
doing, as unto a Faithful Creator' (1Peter 4:19)... Without Jesus Christ,
we will pay our own sin debt, 'for the wages of sin
is Death' (Romans 6:23).
With the Atoning Work of the Cross that the LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered,
our debt of Death has been paid in full. He did that for us! As 'The
Gift of God' (6:23),
the Father has given Jesus Christ, His Son, to us. He is our
'Eternal Life' (6:23).
And, dear reader, if you receive Him, this 'Life' begins in you NOW. You will live victoriously-- without sin-- ONLY
if you live 'through Jesus Christ' (6:23).
'In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God sent His Only
Begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him'
(1John 4:9)."
What
the Bible Says About Temptation ---New Window
by Tom and Katie Stewart
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil" (Matthew
6:13).
"This is a study about understanding temptation, not simply
because the Master enjoined, 'Pray that ye enter not
into temptation' (Luke 22:40),
but because we also desire to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in doing all
that is humanly possible to prevent temptation from turning into sin. '10 With
my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy Commandments...
133 Order my steps in
Thy Word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me'
(Psalm 119:10, 133).
From the first temptation of Eve in the Garden when the Serpent succeeded in causing
our First Parents to doubt the love of God, to the final 'Hour
of Temptation' (Revelation 3:10) of the Apocalypse, mankind has struggled, and will struggle, with
the necessity to overcome temptation. Our present unwillingness to enter into temptation
is the same unwillingness to enter into the 'Hour of
Temptation' (3:10) soon prophesied to come upon this world. 'Because
thou hast kept the Word of My Patience, I also will keep thee from the Hour of Temptation,
which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the Earth' (3:10).
But, since 'all the Promises of God in
[Christ] are Yea, and in Him Amen' (2Corinthians 1:20), we can lay hold
of the Master's instruction to 'pray that ye enter not
into temptation' (Luke 22:40),
with the bold assurance that, indeed, 'sin shall not
have dominion over [us]'
(Romans 6:14)!"
Other sermons in this series:
From the book CHRISTIAN FOUNDATIONS
by Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley
Seven Reasons Why I Believe
THE
BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD ---New Window
by Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley
"The more I study the calamity which follows the rejection
of the Bible the more I am convinced that the Bible is the inbreathed Word of God.
In view of this impregnable fact, surely we need to get back to the Bible, back to
Bible preaching, back to Bible praying and back to Bible practicing. A revival of
Bible Christianity alone can save the situation. A rediscovery of the Word of God
brought about the glorious Reformation of four-hundred years ago and thank God the
Bible dynamite is just as potent today. Let us then let the Bible rule our hearts
and homes and refuse to support those who dare to trifle with it in the pulpit. Above
all things, let us seize the unfailing promises of the Book and never rest night
nor day from prayer until the God of the Bible visits us with a gracious revival."
and
Seven Reasons Why I Believe in
THE
VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST
---New Window
by Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley
"When human impotence bows to that answer of divine
omnipotence the Miracle of the Virgin Birth can be whole-heartedly accepted. He who
questions the Virgin Birth challenges the almightiness of God. To discredit the Virgin
Birth is not only to strike at the nature of Christ but at the very power of God."
and
Seven Reasons Why I Believe in
THE
FULL DIVINITY OF CHRIST
---New Window
by Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley
"Our Lord Jesus Christ is God manifest in the
flesh. God tabernacling in human form. When I say I believe in the full deity of
Christ, that is what I affirm. At His birth our Lord Jesu Christ did not begin to
exist. He was before all worlds Very God of Very God. Neither did He cease to be
God, He was, is and always shall be the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity. At the
incarnation God the Son took on another mode of existence by taking into union with
Himself an impeccable human nature."
and
Seven Reasons Why I Believe in
THE
ATONING BLOOD OF CHRIST
---New Window
by Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley
"This vital consideration brings us to the
fulcrum of the great operation of the Divine Revelation, to the centre of the vast
circumference of Divine Redemption and to the very heart of the throbbing purpose
of Divine Reconciliation. We come from the shallows of human speculation to the depths
of divine revelation when we come to the Blood. We step at this juncture from the
shadows of Old Testament typology to the blazing sunshine of New Testament theology.
It is here we launch our souls from the shores of man's estimate into the boundless,
tideless, endless sea of God's ultimate."
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