Who Rose from the Dead

Tom Shrader presents compelling historical evidence for Jesus' resurrection, citing archaeologists and historians who affirm the reliability of the Gospel accounts. He addresses three groups in his Easter audience - regular attenders, occasional visitors, and skeptics - challenging all to consider the overwhelming proof that Christ rose from the dead. Shrader argues that the resurrection is the epicenter of history and that Jesus offers hope and eternal life to those who recognize their need for Him.

“If you come, as you would in a court of law, and you say, listen, I'll look at the facts, and nothing but the facts, and wherever the facts takes me, that's where I'll go, that's the conclusion, that's the verdict that I'll render.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Who is This?

Recorded: 2012

Duration: 19 min

Themes: resurrection, hope, evidence, faith, salvation, eternal life, truth, evangelism, skeptic, doubting faith, new believer, occasional church attender, searching for truth, questioning christianity, easter visitor, seeking hope

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:3-6, 1 Corinthians 15:14, 1 Corinthians 15:20

Theological Themes: resurrection theology, historical jesus, gospel accounts, biblical reliability, christology, apologetics, soteriology, eschatology

Full Transcript

Thank you so much for being here today. One of the things that I try to do in preparation for a day like this is just acknowledge that honesty is pretty good. There are basically three types of groups here today.

There are those of you that we see almost every Sunday. Virtually every Sunday of the year you're spending it here on our campus. We're glad you're here. We hope that we can encourage you today. Then there are some of you who would call Redemption Church home, but the reality is we don't see you terribly often. Maybe we can motivate you today. Then there's always a big group that we see a couple times a year on special occasions. You got here somehow, either you brought yourself out of some sort of sense of obligation, or somebody got you here with the promise of ham. It's amazing what you'll do for food.

I want you to get this. We're really happy you're here. We thank you for coming. This may strike you as really odd, but you've been prayed for for literally months now for this moment in this place. We pray that we would challenge you here today. That what you see would be so different than what you see in the regular world. That there would be something that would be attractive to you. That at least you'd want to go, what is the difference? What do I see here? To all of you, we want to give hope.

Starting with the End

Today in a sense is the first of the series in your bulletins. We actually list the titles of the series. It'll be technically six weeks, but four more weeks. By the way, the study guides for the next series are done. I just got mine. So they just came in. You can go into the bookstore and grab them afterwards. Also, you can download them online. You can do that free. So you take whatever one works best for you.

I'm going to guess most of you have seen a movie or a television show or been to a play or read a book where you start with the final scene and then you work back through and the author explains to you how we got to that point. That's what we're doing. If you look at these titles, what we're starting with is who is this? Who is Jesus?

In all four of the Gospels, we see times where people, and it's a variety of people. It's the Pharisees. It's the disciples themselves. It's the people in general who stop and Jesus does something. Maybe it's a miracle. Maybe it's teaching, calms the world, whatever it is. He does something and then here's what they say. Who is this? Who is this guy? So we start today with the fact that who is this that rose from the dead? Then we're going to look back at how this resurrection became important and Jesus' death became important, significant, in fact, essential for our eternal life.

The Evidence for the Resurrection

I think some of you might be surprised by the massive, even overwhelming evidence that supports the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ. When you stop and look at the evidence, I understand that in the culture, it's kind of fashionable, perhaps, to mock or to question, but when you look at the evidence, the evidence will lead you, I think, to one inevitable conclusion and that's that Jesus rose from the dead and this is really important, and He's alive today.

William Ramsey is considered by many to be one of the greatest archaeologists in history. He set out, like many have done, to undermine the Gospels and disprove and discredit the New Testament. After 30 years of study, Sir William Ramsey wrote this: "Luke is a historian of first rank. Not merely are his statements facts of trustworthiness, this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians." That's what you read over and over again.

Professor of Classics at Auckland University, Ian Blakelock, writes this: "I claim to be a historian and my approach to classics is historical, and I tell you that the evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most facts in ancient history." F.F. Bruce from Manchester University writes: "If the New Testament were a collection of secular writings their authenticity would be generally regarded as beyond all doubt."

Clark Pennick writes: "Skepticism regarding the historical credentials of Christianity," listen to this now, "is based on irrational bias." What he's saying is if you come, as you would in a court of law, and you say, listen, I'll look at the facts, and nothing but the facts, and wherever the facts takes me, that's where I'll go, that's the conclusion, that's the verdict that I'll render. What Pennick is saying, if you do that, you look at these, and the facts are overwhelming.

Yet another historian writes and challenges us, and he said, Roman historians for a long time have taken for granted the accuracy, historical accuracy of the New Testament documents.

The Physical Evidence

In the old days, what we would do is go through a process now of the evidence, and you know them, some of you, others of you, this would be like brand new stuff, but one of the things that they did when they buried people in that day, especially at Jesus' tomb, is they put a stone in front of the grave. It was a solid stone grave. It was hollowed out of that. A stone would be rolled in front of it. It would be a stone that would weigh somewhere between one and a half and two tons. It would take not just several men, but kind of an intricate kind of system of pulleys to move that stone, so when they came that first day, that stone was gone.

The Roman guard that was left there, these were the elite guards. These were the highest trained. They were the most disciplined of all the guards. They were the ones who would guard that tomb, and they knew that if that tomb were to be empty, they would be tortured and humiliated. The seal of Rome was on the tomb that said if anybody messed with this tomb, they would be executed, and the tomb was empty on that day. There were all sorts of people alive at that time who knew that, and all they wanted to

All they had to do to disprove this was to produce the body or go to a tomb and say Jesus was there. His body wrappings were there. If somebody was going to steal the body, they would steal the wrappings too, but it's as though He evaporated. He rose.

There were eyewitnesses for dozens of years afterwards, and the empty tomb's not enough. There was an empty tomb, but then there was a risen Christ. There were people on many occasions who saw Jesus. There's the transformed life of the disciples themselves. Remember, Peter, just a few days before, was intimidated by a little servant girl and said I didn't know this guy, and now this Peter stands with the courage to take on literally all the power, not just of the Roman Empire, but all the power that the Jewish leaders could bring against Him.

The Evidence Is Overwhelming

So here's what I suggest, and like I said, we don't need to do it anymore. The evidence is so overwhelming and so out there, so available. Go home if you're wondering and Google resurrection facts. Like I said, you may be surprised, and I think if you pursue these facts with an open mind, you might quickly become convinced not just of the resurrection, but of the reality of who Jesus was.

That's why we sang that first song, the greatest day in history. If you take the events of Friday night, the crucifixion, and you couple it with today, the resurrection, if you take the fact that on Friday night, Jesus said it is finished, and today, in a sense, God is saying amen as God raises Jesus from the dead. It's the epicenter of history. Everything prior to this moment looks to it. Everything subsequent looks back to it.

Why Did He Rise?

Here's the question, though, not did Jesus rise, but why did He rise, and why did He die? Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he writes this, he said the first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me. Listen to this now. That the Messiah died for our sins according to what the scripture tells us, and He was buried and raised on the third day. Again, exactly as the scripture says, and He presented Himself alive to Peter, and then to His closest followers, and then at one time to a group of 500 people.

Let me talk to that. I said there's three groups of people here. Let me talk to that last group, those that may be here today, and you're doubters. Maybe stronger than that, maybe you're skeptics, maybe you're antagonistic. Let me challenge you for a second to just be honest.

When you look at the world, you got to conclude it's messed up, right? And when you look at the people around you, I didn't even get to finish that. Here's where it gets a little painful. And when you look at yourself, you are at best less than perfect, and my guess is in your own heart at times, you realize that you're a mess.

The Reality of Our Condition

Here's some words that I wrote to describe me before I knew Christ. Unhappy, afraid, worried, is that you? Restless. There's a yearning. There's a hopelessness. Isn't that the world around us?

We heard a presentation of an artist the other day, and he was suggesting that in the tsunami that came into Japan on 3-11-11, there were 20,000 people killed. But listen to this. From 3-11-11 to 3-11-12, in that next year, 50,000 Japanese committed suicide. 20,000 were swept away in the tsunami. 50,000 voluntarily said, life's not worth living. There's something missing. Something's wrong.

Think of this song you just sang. Everyone needs compassion. That's you. Everyone needs a love that's a perfect love. We need love desperately from one another, but that's always imperfect love. We need a love that never fails. We need forgiveness. That's our ultimate problem, is our sin. And we can explain it away, or pretend it doesn't exist, or pretend to be a victim rather than a villain. But you sang it. Jesus, He's the author of salvation. He rose and He conquered the grave.

Take Me as You Find Me

I went through the words, and I just found myself putting a big circle. So you can say this today. Every one of you, but maybe some of you with this thought for the very first time. Take me as you find me. All my fears, all my failures. Fill my life. I give my life to you. How amazing is that? To be able to say, I don't need to pretend.

That's what we feel, and that's what religion says, is you get good enough, and then God will accept you. But what Christ says is, you'll never be good enough. That's why Jesus died. Jesus died for our sin. That's what the Bible tells us. That He died, to me, is just that historic fact. But why, for you, for me, for us, the wage of sin is death. That when we sin, we separated ourselves from God, and it was Christ who died on the cross to do what you couldn't do.

The Resurrection Changes Everything

Paul's really honest. In 1 Corinthians 15, it's the resurrection chapter. He talks about the things that we looked at, why Christ died, and then He died. But then he writes this. If there's no resurrection, there's no living Christ. And face it, if there's no resurrection for Christ, everything we told you, 1 Corinthians 15, 14, is smoke and mirrors. And everything you've staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, we will be guilty of telling a string of bold-faced lies about God.

This is so cool, 1 Corinthians 15, 20. But the truth is, Christ has been raised. The first in a long legacy of those who were going to leave the cemeteries. But we have to wait our turn, Christ first, and then those who are coming with Him. He's saying the words, oh death, where's your victory? Oh death, where's your sting? The sting of death is sin, but the power of sin is in the law. Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through death.

Here's what the Bible teaches, that those of us who know Christ, and it's not just the sweet by and by, I got that. But He's saying life was richer here, life is fuller here. Because all of a sudden, you become the person you were created to be. There's something wrong, and you get that. But then He says it's life after death.

The Hope We Need

It occurred to me that this is Susan's first Easter with Jesus. Remember last year was a big deal that she got here. She hadn't been to church in a long time and she really wanted to be here. Today, as much as she wanted to be here, she's in a really better place now. You and I will be too, one day. It's a promise to those of us who know Christ.

I think a lot about life, and it strikes me that what's missing in so many people's life is hope. Tim Keller writes, human beings are hope-shaped creatures. We need it to survive. Victor Frankl, writing in Man's Search for Meaning, writes, hope is just as important to survival as air and water.

Let me tell you where we find hope. You find hope in Jesus Christ, and no one or no place else. What we want to do over the next five weeks is answer that question, who's Jesus? Help you in a sense to encounter Jesus.

Three Types of People

Like I said when we began, there's some of you that we see every week. What we hope to do is to be able to say thank you to you and to remind you that you have followed Christ. Although life doesn't necessarily mean it's easy, it's worth it.

There's some of you that we see casually. We hope we motivate you, not just to see us more regularly, but I assume that's an indication of a life with Christ that fluctuates up and down. We want to motivate you and to give you hope that you can be like Jesus.

Then to that group of you who are here today, who would say, "You know what, I don't really care that much about this. I came for a friend or a family member." We'd really challenge you to take a serious look at life. You know, you can fool others, but you can't fool yourself, and you ultimately can't fool God.

What's Really Missing

I can tell you this: your life is missing something. Your natural flinch is to assume that it's a financial need or an educational need. If I just get that degree or I get that job or I get that person. If I get her to go out with me or him to marry me. If I get that scholarship or if I get to the finish line, I retire. Now I can polish rocks forever. There's always something.

You know, there's something missing, so there's something you want. Let me tell you what's missing. What's missing is Jesus.

God's Message to You

I want to be very bold here. I'm going to suggest that God brought you here today for a reason. I'm going to boldly suggest it was not just to hear a message from me, but to hear a message from God. The message is that He loves you and that He sent His son to die so that you could have eternal life, and eternal life begins today.

I would challenge you, invite you, plead with you to join us the next six weeks as we look at this whole idea in our life of what's missing, what's wrong, what's sin, and who is this Jesus? Why did He die? What was behind all of that stuff? It's okay to acknowledge, "I'm not sure I understand all that." When He died, what was accomplished? How can we find life, real life? How can we find meaning in this world?

Someone Loves You

If you're here today because somebody invited you, I want to tell you a little secret. Somebody invited you because they love you. They might have even risked a relationship thinking that if they reach out and invite you to this, that you might think they were nuts, or you might push them away, but they love you and they care for you so much so that they want you to know Christ.

As I said, we've prayed and prayed and prayed for today and prepared for the next five weeks, and we invite you to join us for that. It'll be a special time, and we continue to pray that God will speak to you and through His word and apply the Spirit to your life.

The Heart of the Message

That's the message: that Jesus came and lived and died so that we could have eternal life, and eternal life begins today. Again, to those of you who are saying, "There's something missing," I know there is. It's Jesus. Join us, will you, next week? We'd love to see you then.

Let me pray as the guys come back and continue to lead us in song here this morning. Father, thank you for this amazing time. Thank you that Jesus rose from the dead. God, thank you that it's a historical fact and that you gave us all of this evidence so that we can live with a level of certainty. For those that are here this morning who might be doubters or skeptics, that this might be a day that you take that uncertainty and you just wipe it away. I pray that you would bring exactly who you want back here next week. Father, thank you for your word that records the truth. Thank you for loving us when we are not lovable. God, more than anything, thank you for Jesus, for His life, for His death. We pray to you now in His name. Amen.