Historical authenticity of Jesus’ death and resurrection

Transcript

So on Monday night, our Ecclesia, the Boston Ecclesia had its semi-annual business meeting. And when we do that, we most commonly open, not only with a word of prayer, but we open with a reading of some sort of the other or other. And whether it's an AB meeting or a business meeting, we will always try to open with some meditative thoughts of reading from scripture. But this time it was a little bit different and it was really interesting for me. So Brother Mark Hampton is the guy that usually selects the reading. And on Monday night, instead of reading from the scriptures, he asked that we read a hymn, a hymn from our hymn book. And I thought it was really lovely. I don't use that word very much, but it seems appropriate, lovely. We read together hymn 418. And so I'd sort of like to pick up where Mark left off and begin our Bible class tonight by considering the words of another hymn. This is a hymn that's found in our green hymn book it's hymn 223. And I'm just gonna read the first stanza. And I'm reading it because it uses an expression that would have been completely foreign to those that lived during the days of Jesus. And it's the expression that we see in the very first sentence of this hymn. The hymn begins, when I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and poor contempt on all my pride. See from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love mingled down. Did air such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose such rich a crown? Were the whole realm of nature mine that were an offering far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. And the expression you probably caught it there right at the beginning was when I survey the wondrous cross.

For the people who lived in Jesus' day, there was no such thing as a wonder to the cross. It was a symbol of fear and depression. It was something that the Roman overlords used

to intimidate and antagonize

and threaten their occupied territories, if you will. And here's what happened. I want to begin by taking a look in Acts chapter five

and it's here in Acts chapter five where we read about Gamaliel trying to persuade

those who were so opposed to the teachings of the early disciples, the followers of Jesus. He's trying to persuade them to sort of like back down, back off a little bit. And the argument that he used was that these sorts of revolts are not unknown, are not uncommon. We've seen these sorts of things before. So let's just take a look at Acts chapter five and I'm gonna ask you to pick up in the 29th verse. This of course is that passage that we learned as Sunday school students because it's this passage where Peter is being threatened to obey man even though the commandment of man is opposed to what God is asking them to do. And we learn this as religious conscientious objectors. We must obey God rather than man. This is what Peter said. And that's what we read here in Acts chapter five. So I wanted to pick up there and let's follow the context through. So Peter and the other apostles, we could start in the 27th verse. Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. So the high priest says to them in this verse, verse 28, we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, he said, yet you filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than man. The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead. This is what we're talking about tonight, brothers and sisters, right? The resurrection of the dead. So from the very earliest of the teachings of the apostles, this was a core component of their teaching. And so he says, the God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree and God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We're witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. And when they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. Verse 34, but a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered the men be put outside for a little while. And then he addressed them. So here's the context, right? Peter is teaching about the resurrection of Jesus. He's explaining to everyone that these leaders, these religious authorities are the ones that put this man to death, handed him over to the Romans. They're incensed by this. And Gamaliel, the great teacher of the law, you know, the mentor to Saul, later Paul, tries to calm everybody down. And he has Peter go out and he begins to speak to the people. And he says, some time ago in verse 36, Thaddeus appeared claiming to be somebody. I'm reading from the NIV, brothers and sisters. So this man Thaddeus appeared claiming to be somebody, about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed and what happened? All his followers dispersed and it all came to nothing. Verse 27, after him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed and all his followers were scattered. Therefore in the present case, this is Gamaliel's argument. He says, therefore in the present case, I advise you leave these men alone, let them go for if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail, just like Thaddeus and just like Judas the Galilean. But if it's from God, you'll not be able to stop these men. You'll only find yourselves fighting against God. So wise words and we know the rest of the story. It was not stopped. It grew because of God's blessing. And today, all these years later, here are 37 of us on Zoom learning and reading about these things because we too, like Peter, believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now, I wanted to come to this passage in Acts 5 and I wanted us to focus our attention on not Thaddeus

but the other revolter, this man, Judas of Galilee. Now we know that Jesus came from the, you know, Jesus lived and ministered in the region of Galilee. And what we find in Acts chapter 5 in verse 37 was that Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census. This was the very census that was recorded during the early years of Jesus' birth, the early days of his life. This is the very census that they're talking about. And apparently what the historians tell us, what Josephus tells us is that this man, Judas the Galilean, was opposed, not only of course to the census, but to the raising of taxes, which was the reason for the census. And so he was encouraging the people in the region of Galilee not to go and agree to, you know, be counted in the census. And more than that, he was, according to the historians, he was telling them not to pay these taxes to the Romans. So this is historians now. Josephus in his book Antiquities

talks about this very man, Judas the Galilean. And Josephus suggests that this man, Judas the Galilean, along with Zadok, the Pharisee, were the two individuals who founded the Zealot group. We know about the Pharisees, we know about the Sadducees. Well, another group, of course, were the Zealots. These the ones that were most opposed to anything that had to do with Rome, anything that had to do with Roman taxes. And it was Judas the Galilean, along with this Pharisee who formed the Zealot group. So how did Rome respond?

Well, we're told here by, in Acts chapter five, when Gamaliel says that after Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt, he was killed and all his followers were scattered. And I think that is probably a pretty great understatement when it says they were scattered. Because the history books tell us that in the town of Sepphoris, where Judas of Galilee was from,

there were 2,000 public executions of the men who were caught up in that revolt. Let that sink in. Not three men on a hill. There were 2,000 men

who were put on Roman execution stakes

that lined the roads that led to and from the city of Sepphoris.

History also tells us that this city of Sepphoris was a monied city. There was a lot of wealth there.

Perhaps that's why they didn't want to pay taxes. And so when Jesus and his family came back from exile in Egypt, they would have been returning to a place that just years before had been overrun by the Romans where in a great public way, they had executed so many of the fathers and brothers and uncles of all of the residents and the inhabitants of that area. So I don't know if you've heard of this town of Sepphoris before, but if you look on a map, you'll find that it is only four and a half miles

from Nazareth.

Four and a half miles from Nazareth. The city was burned. Many of the people were killed and this was intended to send a message to the people in the area, don't mess with Rome. Now imagine the young boy Jesus

growing up in that environment. Imagine what this boy went through

as he and his neighbors dealt with the trauma, the psychological trauma of having viewed their loved ones

hanging in such a brutally, in such a brutal way, dying in such a brutal way. Jesus as a carpenter's son,

we can only imagine that being four and a half miles from this place, that Jesus would have spent his days there

working in the trade, perhaps six days a week, going into the very city that had been burned or the city that had been destroyed and traumatized.

And I suggest to you, brothers and sisters, this was probably a moment that was, you know, an experience that was seared in the minds and in the hearts of the people that lived there and probably in Jesus' mind and heart too.

While he might not have seen those executions or been there to see them, he would have experienced the aftermath of all of those things. You know, whether Jesus was there six days a week or not, you know, four and a half miles is still, you know, not a long walk. I don't know. I mean, it's conjecture on my part for sure, David, but I would venture to guess that there was certainly, you know, this was a well-known thing that occurred in the area. And this was something that would have impacted the people in a very deep way. I think of what it was like, you know, in this area after 9-11. Or you think of how, you know, certain things that we witness, you know, awful things that we witness can really be alarming. Jim Sullivan. Yeah, I was just going to say, Steve, that your suggestion that that's where Jesus worked as a child is also Brother Lee Ripmeyer's suggestion as well, that he feels the same way. All right, thanks, Jim. Okay, so Josephus says that this guy, Judas the Galilean and Zadok the Pharisee start the group called the Zealots.

As a result of this, Sepphoris or Sepphora is pretty much eliminated by the Romans. And we can imagine all of the trauma that went along with that. And then from an early age now, Jesus, the boy, who is about his father's business, who is going to the, you know, on these festival days is heading down to Jerusalem to go to the big city to go into the temple on these festivals. He's meeting with the teachers of the law there and he's reading the Jewish scriptures and he's beginning to understand that as the Messiah, he is going to have to die a very public and gruesome death. This is something that he knew and this is something that he prophesied during his ministry. So, you know, we're familiar with John chapter three, verse 16, for God so loved the world. Our friend Bob Eagles is always emphasizing the importance of reading that particular verse in the context. And so I ask you to consider that passage,

but start not in verse 16, but in verse 14. So John three, verse 14 says this,

just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the soul, the son of man must be lifted up. Jesus knew early on that he was going to be lifted up on a stake. Says in verse 15, why? So that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. So Jesus, I think, knew that he would be lifted up. Later on in the same book, John chapter 12, I'll just flip over a few pages, we'll look at the 27th verse

and John chapter 12, verse 27, I mean, this is where Jesus is predicting his death. He's telling his disciples, he's telling his friends, not only is he going to die, but he tells them how he's gonna die. Verse 27, now my heart is troubled. And what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then in a voice from heaven, I have glorified it and will glorify it again. And the crowd was there and heard it and it thundered and others said an angel had spoken to him. And Jesus said, the voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out, but I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. And again, I think what Jesus is doing here is he is alluding to the type of death that he's going to die. He's going to be lifted up on a Roman execution stake, just like all of those 2,000 men in his home area were all those years before. All four gospel records record Jesus dying in the way that he predicted. He died by way of crucifixion.

And Jesus, according to Mark, breathed out his last. He died on the cross that day. We know that, this is what the Bible records. But as soon as Jesus died, no sooner did his followers begin to say that they had seen him alive again, right? I mean, they began to claim that this man who the Romans had executed was alive. And as soon as they said it, rumors began to circulate that it was a hoax. And those rumors have continued to this day, of course. So we'll just take a look, and I know this is familiar territory for us, but sometimes when things are as familiar as they are, we tend not to read them anymore, right? So let's make sure we hit all these important passages. Matthew chapter 28, this is the resurrection, of course. We're going to look at the 11th verse to start. And it says, while the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, you are to say his disciples came during the night and stole them away while we were asleep. And if this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day. So you can imagine, it's normal to hear a word of some miraculous event, that a person who had been dead and buried has been raised to life again. And it's only natural that people would doubt that. And I think this is why the early Christians focused so much of their teaching on the resurrection. They didn't want it to be dismissed as, yeah, it's like a fable. It was the core teaching of the early Christian community. So much so, and we'll look at three passages. The first passage indicates that belief in the resurrection was required, required for salvation. Romans chapter 10, we'll read verses nine through 13. This is the passage that says, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. So, I mean, I think that gives us an idea as to the importance that the early disciples were placing on the resurrection. First Corinthians chapter 15, if Christ be not raised, we are without hope. This again shows that if it didn't happen, if the resurrection didn't occur, we're all lost. And then in first Peter chapter one, we read about the resurrection as securing our inheritance. So I wanted to bring all of those things up because it's only normal for people to doubt. And in the 1700s, there was a German scholar who proposed that Jesus didn't really die,

that he merely fainted or passed, not fainted, but that he did not in fact die on the cross, but that he sort of was in a coma and was later revived while in the tomb. And this was a theory, they call it the swoon theory. Perhaps you've heard about it or read about it.

They think that his proposal was that his friend, Luke, who was what, a physician, Luke the physician gave Jesus some sort of medication that made it appear as though he was dead when in fact he was not. So this was the swoon theory that sort of spread throughout the world in the 1700s, the 1800s.

It gained some traction. It sort of led to other sort of guesses as to the idea or theories that Jesus really wasn't dead. Today, most scholars reject the theory outright,

primarily because of what science teaches

about the effects of crucifixion and scourging on the body. I'm gonna share my screen for a moment. And what we're gonna see here is,

you can see that, right? So this is a page that I've pulled from a book which I would recommend we give to our Sunday school students that you might read yourself. It's a book that was written by an investigative reporter from the Midwest, his name was Lee Strobel. You guys remember investigative reporters, right? These are the guys that would be working for your local news channel and they would go out and surprise somebody and they would investigate. The investigators, I think it was on channel four in Boston. Well, this guy was an investigative reporter and he set out to sort of disprove the resurrection. And in doing so, he became a believer in Jesus and the resurrection and he wrote a book about it. The book is called The Case for Christ. It's back in the 1980s, it was published. And here's some of what he wrote. He said, even before he dies,

the hypovolemic shock would cause a sustained rapid heart rate that would have contributed to heart failure resulting in the collection of fluid in the membrane around the heart called the pericardial effusion

as well as around the lungs, which is called a plural effusion. This is an illustration from a medical journal and it shows this, I don't know if you can see it there, but is a lighter colored sack that's filled with fluid. And when the heart and the lungs are in distress, it's not uncommon for the body to experience what Lee Strobel writes about as either a pericardial effusion or a plural effusion. This is again, a way of protecting the components of our body. And in this book, he goes on and he says, it's significant the fact that there are these effusions because the New Testament records the Roman soldier driving a spear into Jesus' side. Apparently right through the lung and into the heart resulting in the outpouring of blood and water. This flow of blood and water would have actually been the pericardial effusion and the plural effusion. And he goes on and he says, the New Testament writer would have had no idea why he saw both blood and a clear fluid come out, yet his description of the events is consistent with modern medical knowledge. So the Bible doesn't go into detail saying, the effusion ruptured and it says blood and water came out. That's what it looked like to the ancients. But modern medicine teaches us that what likely, the most likely explanation was that it was not water, but it was the clear effusion like liquid that was designed to protect the heart under such circumstances. Interesting. The next thing I wanted to pull up is an article from the Journal of American Medical, the JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association. In 1986, they dedicated an entire issue to the effects of torture on the human body. And one of the articles in this whole issue about torture was about the torture of Jesus of Nazareth. It says, Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripe-like lacerations and appreciable blood loss. And it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar. The major patho-psychologic effect of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly, death resulted primarily from hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Jesus' death was ensured by the thrust of a soldier's spear into his side. Modern medical interpretation of the historical evidence indicate that Jesus was dead when taken down from the cross. So, brothers and sisters, we share that because it really identifies that some of these theories that have been proposed as explaining the resurrection are not consistent with modern medicine. And I just thought that that might be helpful to understand. Any comments or questions? Okay. So the next thing I wanna do when we think about the resurrection is I want you to think about tall tales that you might have heard as a child. Davy Crockett, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan. There are a number of tall tales that once began with historical individuals, likely. And over a period of generations, the accomplishments that they experienced in life began to be elaborated on. And sometimes people will suggest that what we see and read in the scripture is just that. It's a tall tale. It's something that began, but it was really just a fabrication. Claims like the resurrection of the dead would be normally dismissed as a legend or a story that's been passed down from generation to generation. And with each retelling of the story, the facts get embellished.

But the claims of Jesus' followers that he was alive began almost immediately, certainly within a few years of his resurrection, these things were recorded for us. So there was never the time for these legend tales to grow over generations. I'm gonna read to you a thing that I had read. There was an Oxford professor

who wrote about ancient history. And he said two generations are too short a span to allow the mythical tendency to prevail over hard historical core and oral tradition. So oral tradition is something that, is how history has been passed down for millennia. And what this historian was saying is that, if you've got less than two generations, you can count it on as fact and not as exaggeration and tall tales. So scholars agree that the teaching of Jesus' resurrection was recorded very early on. The timing between Jesus' death and resurrection and the writing of the gospels is really just too short for legend status to have developed. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I wanna go there.

It's in this chapter where we have that passage, if Christ has not been raised, then we are without hope. Chapter 15, verse 15 says, more than that, we're found to be false witnesses about God who've testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But if he did not raise him from the dead, and the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. So clearly early on, this is the thing that they were teaching. But I wanted to focus our attention on the third verse. And it's here where the apostle Paul is explaining that the things that he's teaching are the very things that he himself had heard. So there wasn't, again, this long period of time before the resurrection was being taught. He says, what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the 12. And after that, he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living. I mean, this is really important stuff, brothers and sisters, because when Paul is writing this to the Corinthians, it's a short period of time after the death and resurrection of Jesus. And Paul is saying, the things that I'm teaching you, the things that I'm writing to you now are the very things that I heard when I converted from Judaism, from being a Pharisee and a persecutor of the early church to becoming a full-fledged follower of Jesus. These are the very things that I heard, and I'm teaching them to you. The point is, it didn't have time to develop. The legend didn't have time to develop. It was there from the beginning. So we might wonder, how did Paul hear these things? Who explained to Paul that Jesus' death and resurrection was predicted in the scriptures? And I think the answer is explained in another one of Paul's letters, and it's in the letter to the Galatians.

And I wanna ask you to turn here, and I really think this is an important section of passages, because it shows us really the short period of time, again, when Paul heard about the resurrection of Jesus and began teaching it. So you can imagine Paul with the thoughts that went through his mind after his experience on the road to Damascus.

Like, he's thinking, did I experience some sort of hallucination? What really happened to me that caused me to go blind? I mean, is this like some figment of my imagination? Is this some sort of trauma that's causing me to think that I actually heard the risen Lord? Like, what's actually going on? And he's trying to figure it out, because he's at this stage of his life where he's at a pivot point, right? He's gonna decide what he's gonna do with the rest of his life. Is he gonna go all in and follow this man, the Lord Jesus, or is he gonna continue, and in doing so, is he gonna give up everything he had worked for all his life as a Pharisee of Pharisees and all the things that went along with that? Is he gonna give that up? And if he does, he wants to make sure. So how does he make sure? He goes and he checks with the eyewitnesses. Let's take a look at it. So we're in Galatians chapter one. Gonna look at the 18th verse. Says in verse 13, verse 11, he says, "'I want you to know, brothers, "'that the gospel I preached is not something "'that man made up. "'I did not receive it from any man, "'nor was I taught it. "'Rather, I received it by revelation "'from Jesus Christ himself.'"

And in his own mind, he's gotta realize, he's gotta decide, was this really something that happened to me? Or was this a figment of my imagination? Received this revelation from Jesus. So he says, and then he goes on and explains about his previous way of life, but look at what it says here in verse, we'll pick it up in the 15th verse, but when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus. So he sort of goes off on his own, in private. Perhaps he's being taught by the Lord Jesus himself, I don't know. The angels there, I don't know.

Verse 18 says, "'Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem.'" Why? Why? To get acquainted with Peter. I stayed with him 15 days. I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. Now think about this, brothers and sisters. Remember when we were in 1 Corinthians 15? 1 Corinthians 15 tells us about those who saw the risen link. And two of the individuals that were identified in that passage were Peter and James. And so it seems only natural to me that what we're seeing here is we're seeing Paul, Saul, to become Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, takes on the name Paul. We're seeing him just confirm that, yeah, Jesus was raised. He went and spoke to people. I can only imagine what that conversation was like. Did you really see Jesus alive? I did. Yeah. You can imagine Peter saying, I doubted him, I denied him. And then the Lord appeared to me. Can imagine what that conversation must've been like. Same conversation with James. Did you see him alive? I did. No, it wasn't a figment of your imagination, Saul. This really did appear to you. This did happen to you. And the reason I wanna come here is because again, this shows you how soon after the resurrection, Saul became convinced. It was within a period of years. It was never time for legend status to grow. This fact-finding trip of Paul's took place within three, maybe five years after our Lord's crucifixion. And it's likely that the source of this doctrine of first importance, which he shared with the Corinthians. He wanted to corroborate his experience with eyewitness testimony. And he was able to confidently assert later on that if Christ is not raised, our preaching is useless. And so is your faith. This was the confidence that Paul had after having met these eyewitnesses. And so eyewitness testimony is something that we have to really appreciate. Paul sought out Peter and James to hear their eyewitness testimony before fully committing his life to preaching the gospel. They were not only eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection. The Bible records, they weren't the only ones to witness Jesus' resurrection. The Bible records hundreds who saw the risen Lord. And at one point Paul says, most of whom are still alive, as though to infer, look, don't believe me, go ask them. This was not a bluff. He was saying, go ask them, really. Become convinced as I became convinced after hearing eyewitness testimony myself. And so we know that Jesus appeared, he was seen by Mary Magdalene, the women returning from the tomb. He was seen by Peter. He was seen by the two men on the road to Emmaus. He was seen by the disciples on multiple occasions. Jesus was not seen once, but many times. He was not seen by one person, but by several. He was not seen by only individuals, but he was seen by groups of people. He wasn't seen in just one location. He was seen in many locations. And importantly, he wasn't seen just by believers. He was seen by skeptics and unbelievers as well. And I think that's really an important thing to remember. You know, it wasn't just the believers who saw him.

Saul was an ardent opponent of the way, and he was convinced. It was no figment of their imagination. You know, I don't know how many of you get Jim Boyko's emails. Jim Boyko sent an email out this morning. See if I can find it.

His email was entitled, he is risen. And Jim wrote, he says, "'I went to a psychologist friend and said, "'if 500 people claimed to see Jesus after he died, "'it was just a hallucination.'" I guess Jim isn't writing, this is what somebody wrote. So he's saying, you know, 500 claimed to see Jesus after he died, it was just a hallucination. And the psychologist said, hallucinations are an individual event. If 500 people have the same hallucination at the same time, that's a bigger miracle than the resurrection, right? In other words, you know, 500 people aren't gonna hallucinate. If there are 500 people that saw it, it actually happened. I find that convincing. Thoughts or comments? All right, we're gonna finish up with one more. And to me, this is, you know, this is critical. Think about the lives of those early believers. Think about the men who committed their lives to following Jesus during his ministry, working with Jesus during his ministry. They were his friends. They were his co-workers. They sat at his feet and heard the things that he said. They didn't have perfect understanding. And they were afraid because they thought that Jesus was going to become the reigning King then and there. You know, when Jesus saw that the crowd was intended to make him King by force, he sent his disciples away. Remember that in John 6? Like he wanted to make sure that the disciples weren't tempted to force Jesus to become King then because it wasn't his time. And so when the Romans began to close in on Jesus, these men were fearful. Take a look at, let's see, I wanna go over to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew chapter 26 describes this and we'll start in verse 55. This is after Jesus has been arrested. It says in verse 55, Matthew 26 verse 55, at that time, Jesus said to the crowd, am I leading a rebellion that you have to come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching and you didn't arrest me then, but this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. And then almost parenthetically, the last verse, the last sentence of that passage says, then all the disciples deserted him and fled. Why? Because they were afraid for their lives. They thought if we get caught up with this man, not only will he be hanging on the cross like all of those men in Sepphoris all those years before, we will too. And so they fled. Look at verse 74. Here's Peter. He began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, I don't know the man. And immediately a rooster crowed and Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken. Before the rooster crows, you'll disown me three times. Peter was afraid. He was afraid for his life and denied the one he promised he wouldn't deny. I'll even go to the death with you, Jesus. That's how fearful he was.

John chapter 20. Let's look there. This is after the crucifixion. You can imagine how disheartened Jesus believers, his disciples were at seeing the man they had committed their lives to following, how disheartened it must have been after they saw him crucified. John chapter 20, we'll look at the 19th verse. On the evening of the first day of the week when the disciples were together, look what it says next. With the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, shalom, peace. They were so fearful that they would be caught, that they would be rounded up and executed just as Jesus was three days earlier. And what do we see after the resurrection? After these men witness and touch Jesus and see Jesus have a meal with them and the food remains. It was not a vision, it actually happened. And of course, what we see, brothers and sisters, are changed lives.

These men were no longer fearful. These men would go and put in the same circumstance, if given a second chance, they would proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, not to be fearful because they knew that if they were put to death, just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so too would they be raised from the dead. And they were therefore able to live lives of courage. They were able to live lives without fear of death because they knew that God raised Jesus from the dead and he will raise me too. And so they were able to conclude it is true, the Lord is risen.