Easter 2000
Tom Shrader addresses Easter skeptics and seekers by laying out the historical and biblical case for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, drawing on 1 Corinthians 15 and Acts 17. He argues that the evidence — Old Testament prophecy, eyewitness accounts, the secured tomb, and the Roman guard — points clearly to an empty tomb, and that a fair-minded inquiry leads to the conclusion that Jesus rose from the dead. He then presses beyond evidence to application, urging listeners to respond personally to the risen Christ as the only way to the Father and the only source of true life both now and eternally.
“Jesus said I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Easter
Recorded: 2000 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 26 min
Themes: resurrection, easter, evidence for faith, doubt, salvation, eternal life, seeking god, Jesus rose from the dead, skeptic, questioning faith, spiritual seeker, unchurched visitor, new believer, doubting resurrection, spouse dragged to church, searching for meaning
Scripture: Acts 17:31, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, John 14:6, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:18
Theological Themes: resurrection of christ, apologetics, historical jesus, soteriology, eyewitness testimony, empty tomb, prophecy fulfillment, exclusivity of christ
Full Transcript
Building on Acts 17
I want to build on the study that we have been in in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 17, Paul goes to the city of Athens and speaks to a group of leaders, philosophers, and politicians — the brightest the city had. He starts by complimenting them, and it is the same compliment we might extend to many of you today. He looks at them and says, "It is clear to me that you are religious people."
We live in a time where spirituality is very much in vogue. You can go into any bookstore — Borders, Bookstar, Barnes and Noble — and you will see an ever-expanding section on spirituality or religion. It is as though we live in a time filled with a sense of spirituality. Paul comes to Athens, sees that, and sees statues to different gods. One historian said it was easier to find a god in Athens than a man.
Then Paul finds a statue to the unknown god — the god that covered all the other bets. In case those other 30,000 gods had been missed, this unknown god was worshipped just to be safe. Paul says, "I am here to speak to you about that god whom you worship in ignorance. I want to proclaim Him to you." He then takes them through Christ and who He is.
The Definitive Proof
As Paul deals with these men, he says, "I know you are bright, but I want to give you definitive proof." Here it is, Acts chapter 17, verse 31: "God has given proof to all men by raising Jesus from the dead." You want evidence, you want proof — there it is.
The text then tells us there were three reactions to this message, and they are the same three reactions you get any time you hear that proclamation of truth. The first reaction was that some heard about the resurrection of the dead and they sneered. They mocked. They said, "You have got to be kidding me. You do not really believe this, do you?" The second group said, "We want to hear you again on this subject — get back to us." The third group, not many but a few, believed and followed.
Who Is in the Room Today
I want to speak this morning to the people in this room who are represented in those first two groups. There are those of you here who really do sneer at the resurrection. On the surface you may wonder, if I sneer and mock the resurrection, why would I be here? There are all sorts of reasons — all of them bad, but all sorts of reasons.
It could be that you came to throw a bone to your spouse. That spouse has been asking you all year, and you finally said fine. You are here, but in your heart you are still at home. Or maybe a neighbor or a friend has been driving you to distraction, and you finally said, "All right, I will go." Or maybe someone said, "We are having a great lunch — ham, deviled eggs, potato salad, all of it. Would you like to come?" You said yes, and then they said, "Meet us at church."
Maybe you are a high school or college student and the people who have leverage in your life said, "You are going to be here today." You are here, but in your heart you are defiant. I am genuinely glad you are here, because maybe today is the day God is going to break through that hard heart.
The second group said, "Get back to us." Those are the ones who joined us on Christmas Eve, enjoyed it, and when asked about next Sunday said, "I meant — oh, Easter. We will see you then." That is fine. We are glad you are back. It may mean God is working in your life. It is you two groups that I want to speak to briefly this morning.
Three Questions We Always Ask
Whenever we approach a topic at East Valley Bible Church, we ask three questions. Number one: what did he say? Number two: is it true? And then, really the most important of all: so what? That is what I want you to walk away understanding — the "so what" of today.
Here is the first question. What am I going to say to you today? It is the same thing Paul said to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15: Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised from the dead on the third day. Three points.
Number one, Christ died — and He died for a specific purpose, for our sins. The wages of sin is death, the Bible tells us. Every one of us has sinned, and the wages of that sin is death. That death has separated us from God, and we carry a debt we owe to God that we have no ability to pay. But Christ came and died for us, in our place, for our sin, just as the Scripture said.
Number two, they did with Jesus what they do with dead people — they buried Him. Number three, something very different happened: on the third day, He rose from the dead. There should be no question in your mind what we are saying to you this morning. Christ died for your sin, Christ was buried, and Christ rose again.
Is It True?
That brings us to the second question: is it true? That is an important question. Here is some evidence. Dr. Paul Meyer from Western Michigan University...
The Historical Case for the Resurrection
One historian writes this: "If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable according to the canons of historical research." Let us make sure we understand fully what he is saying. He is saying that if you take the laws we use in researching anything on a historical basis and apply them fairly to the resurrection — the same laws we would apply when researching Julius Caesar — the conclusion is clear. If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable according to the canons of historical research to conclude that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was actually emptied on the morning of the first Easter. No shred of evidence has yet been discovered that would disprove this statement. He says it is a fact.
The Bible provides us with all sorts of evidence. First, we have Old Testament prophecy. For thousands of years, the coming Messiah had been spoken of — not merely a joyful, triumphant Messiah, but a suffering Messiah who would die. He would be the Lamb of God within that ritualistic religion, where animal sacrifice was offered continually, always insufficient, never able to atone for sin. The only way to make atonement for sin was God come in the flesh, and that is exactly what the Bible spoke of.
Jesus Himself confirmed this. He said, "Tear down this temple, and in three days I will rebuild it." He spoke of His suffering, of having to go and to die. There are all sorts of factual accounts in Scripture, as you work your way through the Bible, from Matthew and Mark and Luke and John.
Beyond prophecy and the accounts of the Gospel writers, there are eyewitnesses — and eyewitness testimony is considered the strongest evidence in a court of law. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that if you want eyewitnesses, you have James, you have the apostles, and you have five hundred. He is essentially saying: five hundred people are right there in Jerusalem. Go and talk to them, and what you will discover is that Jesus rose from the dead.
Another historian writes: "Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ."
The Real Reason People Will Not Believe
If that is true, why won't people believe? Here is the answer that same line of thought leads to: "Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of a deficiency of proof of the resurrection." In other words, nothing but a prior condition of the mind explains the rejection. This is a big point for those two groups — those who mock and those who are skeptical. You will not believe because you will not believe. It is not a matter of evidence. There is evidence all over. The reoccurring theme is clear: if you fairly, honestly, and justly evaluate the evidence, everything points to the resurrection being true.
Security Measures That Confirm the Evidence
God provided certain security measures, certain precautions, that ensured we would have all the evidence we need. First, Christ was put to death by crucifixion. This was not merely an agonizing way to die — it inevitably led to death. These were professional executioners whose job was to kill people through crucifixion.
Some may think it obvious that He died, but many people do not believe that He did. About ten years ago, on a Good Friday, I was having lunch with some friends of my parents when two men came in and sat at the table next to us. They had little badges on — computer engineers. They sat down and began to chat, and I found myself more interested in their conversation than the one I was already in.
One said to the other, "What are you going to do this weekend?" The other replied, "I'm going to go to church." The first man asked him to repeat himself — twice — and then said, "Church? Are you kidding? Why would you do that?" The second man explained that he had become a Christian about thirty days ago, that it was Easter, and that Jesus rose from the dead. What followed was a demonstration of mocking, sneering, and a completely closed mind.
The first man said, "Are you kidding me? You believe that? Don't you understand what happened? Yes, Jesus was put on the cross, but He didn't die there. He lapsed into a coma. They took Him down, buried Him in a tomb, and then He resuscitated Himself." This is called the resuscitation theory, and it is popular among many people. The idea is that He simply woke Himself back up.
I have to say — I do not have that much faith. I will stay with the old Bible on this one, because when you look at all the precautions God put in place, the resuscitation theory falls apart completely. Jesus was killed and then stabbed, and blood and water came out separately — a sign, and evidence, that He was dead. He was then buried in a tomb cut out of solid rock with a single entrance, one you would have to stoop to enter. He was wrapped in spice and linen — one hundred pounds of it — securing Him in the grave. And once He was inside, a stone weighing approximately two tons was placed in front of the entrance. The idea that someone in that condition simply resuscitated himself and then lifted a two-ton stone requires far more faith than the resurrection account itself.
The last two points are especially important to understand, and because of the cultural distance between us and that world, we may have missed some of what they mean.
The Guards at the Tomb
There were security guards — a Roman security force charged with guarding the tomb. These were fighting machines, trained to defend against any enemy within nine square feet around them. There were 16 of them. We are so civilized today that I think we miss this. These were not 16 Gomer Piles wandering out saying "Shazam" and wondering where Goober was. These were 16 fighting machines who understood their job, and who understood the consequence if something happened to that tomb: they would be killed.
They worked in shifts, in pairs of fours. At night, when it was time to sleep, the 12 who were off duty would sleep in a semicircle around the opening of the tomb, while the other four stood guard. They understood that if something happened to that tomb, they were dead — and it didn't matter what the excuse might be.
There was also the seal of Rome on the tomb. Everyone understood that if you interfered with that tomb, the wrath of Rome would come down on you. Nobody was going to mess with this tomb.
The Only Explanation
So we have an empty tomb. Some wonder if the disciples took the body — but that is doubtful, since they were all locked away, scared to death. The Jews were determined the body would not be taken and would not rise. We have an empty tomb, and the only explanation is that Jesus had risen.
Thomas Arnold, the professor who wrote *The History of Rome*, says this: "I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding of a fair inquirer than the great sign which God has given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead." Here again is that idea of the fair inquirer. What Arnold is saying is this: Christ died, was buried, and rose again.
Is it true? We believe that if you come fair and open-minded and look at the facts, you will conclude that it is true. And that raises the question: so what? Why is this a big deal? Why is everyone so excited about this?
Why the Resurrection Changes Everything
If indeed Jesus rose from the dead, then He is the truth, what He says is the truth, and it must be believed. Now we are right at the heart of the issue. We talk about life in two areas: eternal life — that is, heaven or hell — and life here on this earth.
What did Jesus say about heaven or hell? Here is what Jesus said in John 14: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Me." Jesus said, "I am the truth" — not one of many truths. "I am the way" — not one of many ways. "I am the life."
If you are here today and say, "I am a spiritual person, and I am reaching God on my own terms," Jesus says you are wrong, because there is only one way, one truth, one life — Jesus Christ. John MacArthur offers this insight: "There are not many roads to heaven but one. There are not many good religions but one. Man cannot come to God in any of the ways that man himself devises, but only in the one way that God Himself provided."
The Negotiating Table
Here is what we do in life — we negotiate. Every adult in this room has done this, just as you would when selling a house. You bring in a realtor and ask, "What should we list it for?" The realtor gives you a number, an offer comes in lower, and then the negotiation begins. There is a counteroffer, a counter to the counter, and eventually a meeting of the minds. It is a deal, but a negotiated deal.
We live in a time when we think everything is up for negotiation. I was talking to a guy this week who had just started a new job. He was excited, laying out his compensation package, and he said, "I went in, they had this package, and I told them what I wanted, and we negotiated." That is how many of us live our lives — negotiating with spouses, negotiating with kids, constantly negotiating.
So we turn to God and say, "Okay, God, I want to negotiate. I want to come to You on my terms. Here is what I am willing to do: I will go to church some, I will give a little money, I will get involved in community service, I will quit swearing — except at golf, because that just seems to go hand in hand. God, let me net it out for You, because I know You are busy. Here is the deal: I will do the best I can, and You don't bug me, and I won't bug You." That is religion.
God Hates Religion
Let me help you out here: God hates religion. God cannot stand religion. By religion, I mean meaningless ritual — just going through the motions. Some of you think of denominations when I say that, but you can be a member of East Valley Bible Church and turn what we do here into ritual. Your personal study can become ritual.
God says, "Here is what I want — men and women, students, and children who will come to Me on My terms." And here are the terms: you come through Christ, or you do not come at all. What does it mean to come through Christ? It means to believe Jesus is who He said He was. It means to believe that Jesus will do what He said He would do.
Paul said it this way: if you confess Jesus as Lord — and that word confess means to agree with — if you agree that Jesus is God, and you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
The Problem Is the Heart
For some of you, that word *saved* is like fingers on a chalkboard — and it even gets drawn out into all those syllables: *say-yay-yaved*. Saved from what? You might think you are not risking anything. But what you are risking is eternal life. What happens when you die? You either go to a place called hell or a place called heaven, and what determines that is what you do with Jesus Christ. He said, "I am the way, the truth, the life. Nobody comes to the Father but through me."
Let me make this point, though: our faith in Christ is not about getting to heaven. It is about grabbing all that this life has. Maybe you came here today mocking the resurrection, or looking for more information, or maybe you came here hurting and not really sure of anything. Here is what you might think the problem is: you do not have enough money, you need to lose weight, you need to unload a difficult spouse or boss or teacher. We always say the problem is out there — it is circumstances.
Here is what God says the problem actually is: your heart. Your heart is hard because it is filled with sin, and you so resist the true God that you spend enormous energy creating a god made in your own image. Have you ever said, "If I were God, I would not do that"? What you are really saying is that you want to create a god who does what you would say. God says no — here is what you have. And what is ironic to me is that when I truly understand eternal life, all of a sudden this life makes sense.
Comfort One Another With These Words
Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians chapter four, addressing their confusion about the resurrection and end times — what will it be, how does it work, what about those who have already died? He tells them about Jesus coming again and how that takes place. Then he says something fascinating in verse 18: "Therefore, comfort one another with these words."
I believe he means more than just comfort in knowing we have heaven waiting. I ran into someone in the parking lot who had heard that their uncle had a heart attack. I asked how he was doing, and they said he had died the night before. I said I was sorry. They said, "He is in a better place than us." Is that just wishful thinking? No. They understand the facts. Jesus said to comfort one another with these words, and because of that, I can take whatever life brings me, knowing that Jesus is in control. I may not know what my future holds, but I know who holds the future.
There is a phenomenon that takes place as people age apart from Christ: they become very bitter, very afraid, very selfish, because they know death is coming and instinctively they know they are not ready.
The Final Answer
What Easter is about is Christ rising from the dead. And so what? It means that His life and His words were true. He came to redeem His people — to buy us back. We are no longer enslaved to sin. He came to save His people from eternal death and separation.
Someone once told me — and those of you new to the church would not know this — that I do not wear a tie very often. You either have to get married, get buried, or rise from the dead for me to put on a tie. Here is what we are saying to you today: Jesus rose from the dead, and that is our final answer. There is no way around it. And because that is true, and He is risen indeed, you can have eternal life.
What to Do Next
So what do you do? Most of you were invited by a friend — ask them what it means to know Christ, what it means to be a Christian. Maybe you came in thinking you were already a Christian, but something said today is making you reconsider. Ask the person who brought you. Maybe you simply drove past a church and felt you needed to be here — to me, that is even stronger evidence that God is working in your life. Talk to us. Give us a call at the church. We have people who are eager to talk with you about what it means to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Father, help us see the truth of this — that is our prayer this morning as we come to You. Thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that You have redeemed us, that You bought us out of the slavery of sin, that we do not have to live that way anymore. Thank You that there is hope, and that that hope is found in only one place: Christ and Christ alone. Thank You for the Savior who delivered us and saved us from our sin. Thank You that it is not just the power of positive thinking, not just wishful hoping, but that we know — those of us who confess Jesus as Lord and believe that You, Father, raised Him from the dead — that one day we will be in heaven. And until then, we are the only people who can experience life as You meant it to be. Thank You for Jesus, for His life and His death. We pray this in His name, amen.