First explanation
There
have been many who have sought to supply other explanations of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Of course, the first explanation that was given is found in
Matthew’s gospel where it records that the religious leaders paid the guards to
say that while they were asleep the disciples came and stole the body.
Why
would the disciples have done that? Why would these men, who only a few days
earlier had fled for their lives in terror, steal the dead body of Jesus and
then begin to boldly proclaim a lie — that Jesus had risen from the dead and
was the true Messiah. These men who had feared for their own lives not only
began to proclaim this, but were thrown into jail, beaten and began to suffer
for doing this. It simply doesn’t make sense to me. Why would these men suffer
and die for a lie? They were scared to death before He died while He was still
with them. What would change them like that? No, they didn’t steal the body.
Second explanation
Another
explanation is that the Jews or the Romans stole the body of Jesus. That
doesn’t make sense either. Because neither the Jews nor the Romans wanted any
of these Christians to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. The Romans
didn’t want a disturbance. They put Jesus to death to keep a disturbance down.
The Jews were threatened by Jesus Christ. Why would they steal His body and
then let the Christians go around claiming that He had risen from the dead?
They would have been the first ones to drag Jesus’ dead body out and parade it
through the streets if they had it. That would have ended any claim for the
resurrection. The reason they didn’t do it, however, is because they didn’t
have His body. No one had it. It wasn’t there.
Third explanation
Some
people say, "Oh the women imagined it. They wanted so badly for Jesus not
to be dead. When they came to the tomb, they went to the wrong one and imagined
that Jesus had risen from the dead." That is not convincing either. When
they went and told Peter and John, who were skeptical,
they would have gone down and shown them the right tomb. Surely Joseph of Arimathea would have known where he had his own tomb. I’m
sure the Romans and the Jews would have been quick to point it out as well. No,
the women didn’t imagine that Jesus rose from the dead.
Fourth explanation
Some
people say that Jesus swooned on the Cross. They say He passed out and people
only thought He was dead, so they took Him down and buried Him. They claim that
in the cool and damp of the tomb He refreshed Himself and regained His strength
and got up and pushed the stone away and He walked out. Now that’s a late
invention from about the 18th century. People forget the severity of
crucifixion when they talk like that. Here was a man who was beaten, bruised, bloody, beyond recognition. Here was a man who was beaten
until His flesh was ripped from His bones. His body was literally pulverized
before it ever made it to the Cross. He didn’t even have enough strength to
carry the Cross up the hill to the place called
What
is described by all accounts is one of the most horrible agonizing deaths a man
can endure. His brow was pierced with thorns. His lungs were filling up with
fluid. A spear was thrust into His side. Then He was taken down. He was
embalmed with thick spices and was wrapped tightly in a linen shroud and placed
in an airless tomb for three days without water or food. And He revived? Had He
then the strength to push the stone away? And then what would He do after He
came out? Would He then be able to convince His disciples that He was the Lord
of Glory? Hardly! He didn’t swoon, He died a real death.
The only explanation
You
see the best and only explanation that the evidence brings is that Jesus Christ
rose from the dead. The empty tomb stands as stark and irrefutable proof that
the resurrection of Jesus Christ did in fact occur. If Jesus rose from the
dead, the Christians’ faith is not vain. But, do you know what else it proves
beyond a shadow of a doubt? That what Jesus said was true in every respect.
Whenever He said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me" that
is the truth. To ignore this is to put your soul in spiritual jeopardy.
Jesus
rose from the dead. You can go and visit Confucius’ tomb. You can go and visit
Buddha’s tomb. You can go and visit Mohammed’s tomb. You can go visit Abraham’s
tomb. They are still there. Their dead bodies remain in their tombs, but Jesus
isn’t there. He is risen. He is not there. That empty
tomb proves that Jesus is indeed the way. No, it wasn’t a hallucination. Jesus
appeared on ten different occasions, once to 500 people. You don’t have mass
hallucinations with 500 people seeing the same thing. He appeared to His
disciples. You had Thomas among them saying that "I’m not going to believe
this resurrection stuff until I see it with my own eyes." These were not
people who were deluded. These were people who were convinced by the evidence.
These were people who saw the Risen Lord and believed because it was true. How
else do you describe the change in them?
Phillip
Schaff said of Jesus "This Jesus of