Easter 2003
Tom Shrader walks through the crucifixion and resurrection narrative in John 19–20, using the Iraq War concept of an 'embedded reporter' to frame the Apostle John as an eyewitness whose firsthand account is historically reliable. He surveys the physical details of Christ's death and burial, the empty tomb, and the post-resurrection appearances to the disciples and five hundred witnesses, arguing that the evidence is indisputable by standard historical criteria. Drawing on 1 Corinthians 15 and quotes from historians, he calls listeners—especially skeptics and unbelievers in the Easter congregation—to acknowledge their sinfulness, trust the Gospel, and receive Christ as the One who died and rose to give them eternal life.
“The only reason that you would conclude anything other than a risen Christ is because you came to this not to explore it in some scientific or historical way — you came to it with a preconceived notion.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Easter
Recorded: 2003 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 56 min
Themes: resurrection, easter, salvation, evidence for faith, eternal life, eyewitness, sin, hope, skeptic, unbeliever, seeker, questioning faith, first-time churchgoer, new believer, someone facing death, spiritually lost
Scripture: 1 John 1:1-3, John 19:1, John 19:19-30, John 20:1, John 20:4-8, John 14:1-6, John 20:24-28, 1 Corinthians 15:3-6
Theological Themes: resurrection of christ, soteriology, historical reliability of scripture, atonement, justification, bodily resurrection, gospel, biblical eyewitness testimony
Full Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
It is a very special day, and if you did not have a calendar or know anything about it, if you simply came and looked at the platform, you would know it is special. I had several ladies come up and say, "You don't know anything until you've worn pantyhose." Now you know how special it is. I said we are not going to be doing that — maybe at Christmas, but not for Easter.
We also know that we have visitors here — people who have been invited by neighbors, family members, and friends, and they got you here. Maybe it was under duress. Maybe you really would have loved to stay at home, but you do not quite have the authority yet to do that. Or maybe you were lured here with the promise of a buffet or a luncheon, and that was going to bring you here. Whatever the case, they got you here. As I said earlier, we have been praying for weeks for you and for this moment, knowing that you may be skeptical, unbelieving, or even antagonistic. We are glad you are here, and we pray that God uses this time to touch your heart.
The Embedded Reporter
There are two phrases I want to use today that I frankly had never heard of until about six or seven weeks ago, and now everybody knows them — they have become part of our universal vocabulary. If you watch CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, or any of the news stations, they all now have somebody on the scene in Iraq giving a firsthand account of what is happening there. The term is this: an embedded reporter.
I had never heard of that before. Apparently this is a very valuable commodity — someone who is there on the front line. You and I may get an account through the Pentagon, and it may be tilted one way, or the gentleman from Baghdad may give an opinion tilted the other way. But if we have that embedded reporter — the person on the scene, standing on the tank, there in the sandstorm, there as the bombs and missiles are bursting around him — there is something very valuable about that. It is a firsthand, unobstructed account of the facts taking place at a moment in time.
I have an embedded reporter I want you to hear from today. His name is John. Here is what John writes in 1 John chapter 1: *"We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He was Jesus Christ, the Word of life, and we are telling you about what we ourselves have actually seen and actually heard."* This is not speculation. This is not a secondhand account. This is what we saw, John said. This is what we heard. This is what we touched.
John was part of a group — not just the multitudes that followed Jesus, and not even just the broader circle of disciples. John was one of the apostles, one of the twelve selected to travel with Him, essentially with Him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. And of those apostles, there were three — James, Peter, and this one, our embedded reporter, John.
John writes a gospel and provides a full disclosure within it. He says: I am writing to you this account, the gospel that bears his name. I have recorded many of the signs that Jesus did. I selected them carefully. I left out certain miracles and included others. The reason I constructed this gospel with the content I included and the things I left out is that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by believing in Him, you might have eternal life. So if you are here today and you are skeptical, an unbeliever, or antagonistic, I would ask you to read that gospel. At least be open to looking at the facts. Look at what our embedded reporter writes.
The Skeptic on C-SPAN
I was watching C-SPAN yesterday — let's see if any of you were with me, popping a little popcorn. There was a gentleman who had written a book on the discovery of DNA. I dozed off at one point, and when I woke up — God's perfect timing — I came to just as someone in the Q&A asked him: "Are you a religious man? Do you have religious beliefs?" He said, "No, no, no. Heavens no." I thought that was an interesting term — heavens no. He continued: "I don't have any religious beliefs. In fact, my father gave me one of the greatest gifts a father can give his son — my father was irreligious and saw to it that I had no religious training at all." He was not interested in religion or the Bible. As far as he was concerned, the Bible being the Word of God and being true was contradicted by science.
Now I want you to understand something. This man was smart — far smarter than I am. But here is what I sensed: he had not spent a fraction of the time studying the historical account of the resurrection of Christ that he had spent studying DNA. John's gospel is the best kind of testimony you can get — in a court of law or anywhere else. It is the witness of someone who was there.
The Crucifixion: The Scourging
John writes his gospel, and I want to draw our attention to chapter 19 as we look at the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. John writes this: *"Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him."* That term "scourge" may be new to you, or you may have only an abstract idea of what it means. Let me tell you exactly what it meant. The Romans were expert at this. They would take a victim, strip him naked, and attach him to a post.
The Scourging and Crucifixion
Some designated men — it may have been two, three, or four — would alternate blows to ensure maximum efficiency and accuracy. They would take a wooden stick about 18 inches long, with strips of leather attached, and pieces of metal and bone attached to that leather. They would take a running start and bring that whip into the body, let it dig in, and then rip it through. The metal and bone would not just tear the skin, but would tear the veins and the muscle and lay the body open to the bone. You could even begin to see the organs of that person, and frequently, someone would die from the scourging alone.
Pilate faced a problem. He had listened to the facts and concluded that Jesus was innocent, that He had committed no crime. But he needed to do something to satisfy the anger of the Jews and the crowds who were chanting, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." He figured that if he scourged Jesus and the people saw this pitiful sight — a man with a crown of thorns on his head, probably date palm thorns that could be as long as 12 inches, fashioned into a crown and pressed into His head, wearing a robe of purple, the color of royalty, mocking His claim to be King of the Jews — perhaps the crowd would have sympathy on Him. But they didn't. They continued to chant, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."
So finally, Pilate arrived at the only politically expedient conclusion he could, even understanding that he was wrong, and he decided to have Jesus crucified.
Carrying the Cross
Jesus went out bearing His own cross. What He was probably carrying was not the full cross, as depicted in some portrayals, but the crossbar. They would take Him out to the place of execution, throw Him to the ground, and nail His hands to that crossbar. Then they would hoist Him up onto an upright post that was already there.
There would be a platform for His feet and one for Him to sit on and rest. They would nail His feet to the cross, so His body would likely be somewhat twisted. As the body grew tired, it would begin to slump forward, and that weight would compress the lungs, making breathing very difficult. To get relief, He would push up off that platform, and that would allow some relief to breathe. They crucified Jesus in that fashion, and then two other men were crucified with Him, one on either side.
"It Is Finished"
Our embedded reporter tells us what occurs once Jesus is on the cross. You can read about it beginning in verse 19 through verse 29, and in verse 30, our man on the scene reports this: that Jesus, having received the sour wine, said, "It is finished," and He bowed His head, and He gave up His spirit.
Jesus cries out, "It is finished." There is a sense of completion there. In the vernacular we would understand, the phrase means mission accomplished. What was His mission? The angel told Joseph, "Name Him Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin." That was His mission, and it was done. In that sacred transaction that we cannot fully understand exactly how it took place, yet with full confidence we know that it did take place, He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf. It was not that Jesus sinned — He was treated as though He were guilty. That is what we are told.
"It is finished" — those are sweet words to our ears, because they mean that at that point in time, Jesus Christ paid the price for the sin of His people. Our sin has separated us from God, and the wage of sin is death, and we owe a debt to God that we could never repay.
Religion Versus Relationship
Many of you try to operate in some sort of religious economy, especially those of you who are perhaps skeptical or unbelieving. Even your presence here today would indicate that. You would be more than willing to say, "Listen, I'm alright with God. I can come into His place once in a while, and I'm alright with that. I endured — not just enjoyed — the singing, I endured the message, and as I was leaving, I put money in that box. And I'm not talking about change. I'm talking about five, ten dollars. Some serious money. So if anybody is ever going to be saved, it would seem to me it would be me."
That is what religion looks like. And I am not saved by religion — I am condemned by religion. I am saved by an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
He Gave Up His Spirit
He died. He gave up His Spirit. Again, no one took it from Him — He gave it up.
John continues, and here is what he tells us. As the soldiers move along, they come to Jesus and already see that He is dead, so they do not break His legs as they had broken the legs of the other prisoners. When we think of crucifixion, we tend to think of Jesus' crucifixion, which lasted roughly three hours, and that may be the image we have. But those who were crucified could, if the executioners chose to provide nourishment — liquid, food — live on that cross for days or even weeks. There are stories of birds of prey coming and beginning to pick at the body as it rotted, while the person still hung there alive on the cross.
When the soldiers broke the legs of the other prisoners, the body instantly slumped forward with no way to push up, and suffocation would take place within a matter of minutes. They came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead. These were professionals — this is what they did for a living.
The Death and Burial of Jesus
God, in His great providence, allows something to take place. One of the soldiers has a spear, takes it, and shoves it into Jesus' side, probably up into His chest cavity, perhaps even into His heart. Out comes blood and water, which would signify that indeed Jesus was dead. There is no question about it. Everybody who was standing at that crucifixion site knew they saw it.
Here is our firsthand reporter — the embedded reporter, the one who was there in the scene — and he said, "Here is what I saw." That is indisputable testimony. Jesus is dead.
What did they do with Him? They did with Him what they do with dead people. They buried Him. They took Him to a tomb. The tomb would be carved out of solid rock, with an entrance of four to four and a half feet. You would go in, and once inside you could stand up, and there would be places to lay the dead bodies. That is what they did with Jesus.
They took Him to that tomb, placed Him in that tomb, and rolled a stone over the front of it. That stone would weigh somewhere between a thousand and two thousand pounds.
The Seal and the Guard
And then again, God — God is so good in His providence. He supplies the seal of Rome. That tomb was closed and then sealed with the stamp of Rome, which meant if anyone tampered with it, they would be subject to the authority of Rome and executed immediately. Not only that, Roman soldiers were present, awake, guarding twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week — the elite of the Roman soldiers, rangers, special operations forces, there to guard the tomb.
Jesus Christ is dead. He is buried. He is in that tomb behind a thousand or two-thousand-pound stone, sealed with the stamp of Rome, with Roman guards standing in front of it. Nobody is going to get into that tomb.
And indeed, nobody did. He got out.
Shock and Awe
There is another term from those embedded reporter days. If you read U.S. News, Time, and Newsweek, or watched the news channels as we were building up to what would ultimately be the attack on Iraq, there was a phrase — one I had never heard before — that became part of our vocabulary. The phrase was this: shock and awe. When the bombing started, it was going to be described as shock and awe.
Remember that first night when they thought they knew where Saddam was and sent a missile into that residence? They asked Secretary Rumsfeld, "Is this the beginning of the shock and awe phase?" And he said, "Listen, when this starts, you are not going to have to ask if it has begun."
Our embedded reporter gives us something that is truly shocking and that is awesome in the proper use of the word. The idea of awe is to have a sense of reverential stun, honor, worship. Here is what our reporter tells us, chapter 20, verse 1: *"Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb."*
She comes to the tomb, the stone is gone, discovers that the tomb is empty, and she runs to Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. You know who that is — John. Good old John. This is not speculation or secondhand information. God in His good providence has him there at this point in time, and he gives us the firsthand account.
The Empty Tomb
John and Peter race to the tomb to see what happened. John beats Peter there, but out of respect he does not go in. He stoops and looks in, and what he sees are the linen wrappings lying there. They are not in disarray. They have not been torn as though someone came in rapidly, under time pressure, and began tearing the wrappings to get the body out. There was no sign of struggle. It is as though the body had been wrapped in these linens — and then it is simply gone.
That is what our reporter tells us.
Thomas and the Risen Christ
What happened to the body? Our reporter gives us firsthand information. He tells us that a little while later the ten apostles were gathered — Judas is gone, and Thomas is gone — and Jesus appears to them. Thomas comes back and they say, "Jesus appeared to us." Thomas says, "Gentlemen, I do not believe that, and I am not going to believe it unless I can put my finger in the hole the nails made and put my hand in His side."
What a great precaution and provision God has made for us by having Thomas absent from that first encounter. Thomas has already played an important role in the Gospel of John. In chapter 14, Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for them, that He would come and get them, and that they knew the way. Thomas said, "I do not have a clue what you are talking about. I do not know the way." And Jesus said, *"I am the way, and the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Me."* Thomas plays a very important role there, and he plays a very important role here.
A week later the apostles gather again, and this time Thomas is present. As Jesus enters the room, He says to Thomas, "Thomas, stretch out your hand. Here are the marks of the nails. Put your hand on my side." And Thomas says, "My Lord and my God."
Eyewitness Testimony After the Resurrection
Our embedded reporter continues to give us information. He tells us that they moved with Jesus, traveled with Jesus, ate with Jesus, and spoke with Him, and that He made other appearances. Paul the Apostle also gives us firsthand testimony. He says this: Jesus was raised on the third day according to the Scripture, and then He appeared to Peter, and then to the twelve, and then in one instance He appeared to about as many as you —
The Witnesses Who Never Changed Their Testimony
He said if you want to find out if that is true or not, most of those people are still alive — go and ask them. And when you do that, here is what you are going to discover. Nowhere in history did any of those witnesses change their testimony. At no point did they say, "I just made that up," or "I was hallucinating." That never comes up.
These Apostles, who were petrified and scared to death after the crucifixion, died. Ten of the eleven suffered agonizing martyrs' deaths; the eleventh, John, was boiled in oil but survived. They never changed their testimony. They were not going to die for a lie. They saw the risen Christ, and that is their testimony.
What Historians Conclude
Here is the testimony of historians. Paul Meyer writes: "While 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 empty on the morning of the first Easter, and no shred of evidence has yet been discovered that would disprove this statement." So if you take all the basic principles we use in establishing a historical fact and apply them to that first Easter morning, there is only one conclusion: the tomb is empty.
Brooke Westcott writes: "Taking all 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. Nothing but an antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it." In other words, the only reason you would conclude anything other than a risen Christ is because you came to this not to explore it in a scientific or historical way, but with a preconceived notion.
Professor Thomas Arnold writes: "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." It is an indisputable fact. If you will not believe it, it is not because of a shortage of evidence.
The Gospel and the Question of Sin
Here is the Gospel, from 1 Corinthians 15: "For I delivered to you of importance what I received, that Christ died for our sin, according to the Scripture, that He was buried and raised again on the third day." That is the Gospel. I don't know anyone who would deny the historical existence of Christ — it seems to me that is universally accepted at this point. There was a man named Jesus Christ, He lived, and virtually everyone would acknowledge that He died, most acknowledging He died on the cross exactly in the way we describe.
What the Bible tells us that no history book would is that He died for our sin. As I talk to skeptics and unbelievers — even those who are antagonistic — they will acknowledge Jesus lived, even that He died, and some will even begin to yield to the idea of a resurrection. What they stumble on is the idea of their own sinfulness.
A Picture of Sin
We live in a day, an age, a culture, a time when we have lost all sense of our sinfulness. Any of you know who Jack Swilling is? He is one of a handful of men who founded a little desert town called Phoenix, Arizona. Through the years, he has deliberately been cut out of the history of Phoenix, and one of his descendants has been on something of a crusade to have proper attention drawn to Jack Swilling.
In her defense of him, this is what she said: "I don't understand why people don't want to talk about him just because he died in jail, was a morphine addict, had a bullet in his back, was a bigamist, and had some illegitimate children." Then comes a fascinating sentence: "He's certainly no worse than anybody else."
Now, we might look at that and say, "Wait a minute — he is way worse than I am." But theologically speaking, that is exactly right. He is the same as you and the same as me. He needs a Savior, and you need a Savior. What a perfect picture of sin.
Amazing Grace — Without the Wretch
I was in a church not long ago, and when it came time to sing, they said turn to hymn 57 and started the music. I thought, "I don't need to turn there, I know this one." Amazing Grace — how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. But that is not what they sang. They sang, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a soul like mine." They were not going to use a word like "wretch." They were afraid of robbing people of their self-esteem.
But unless you understand that you are a needy wretch, you are never going to come for a Savior. Those of you who are here suspicious, unbelieving, antagonistic — in the quiet of your heart, you would acknowledge there is something missing in your life, wouldn't you? You don't have to acknowledge it to me or to those who brought you. I am simply saying that to yourself, you would acknowledge something is wrong. You have tried to satisfy it. You have tried to live a fulfilled life and fill it with people, and you cannot. And you are miserable to this day.
The Gospel and Its Indisputable Facts
No matter what you do, there is still this yearning. There is still something missing. There is still this guilt. What great lines we sang: *No guilt in life, no fear in death.* There is no guilt anymore. I am forgiven through Christ and Christ alone.
This brings us back to the gospel. He died for our sin, according to the Scripture. Why did He die? To take your place and mine on that cross. We can have eternal life because of His death.
These are not things that are part of a religious, mythical belief. This is historic fact. This is what the embedded reporter saw and heard and touched and felt. If you will not believe him, it is because you will not believe him — because the facts are there, and they, my friend, are indisputable.
And here is what we say to you: He is risen. He is risen indeed.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for this marvelous truth. Thank You for the fact that Your Son, Jesus Christ, lived a sinless life and died on a cross so that we could have eternal life.
God, I pray for those that are here today — the skeptics, the unbelievers, those that are perhaps antagonistic. God, I pray that You would allow them to continue to be miserable in their sin, to have a sense of guilt, and to reach a point where they talk to the person who invited them here today — somebody who loved them enough to reach out, maybe even risking a relationship, because they want this person to hear the gospel and believe this gospel.
God, it is our prayer that You would save them today, that You would touch their heart, that they would speak with someone who would share this gospel, or that they would pick up that Bible and open to the Gospel of John and read that embedded reporter's firsthand account of the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Father, we pray in His name. Amen.