by James Thomas Lee, Jr. 11/06/96 Copyrighted 1995 by James Thomas Lee, Jr. Copyright Number: TXu 704-227
Chapter 18. Witnesses to the Historic Event {312 words}
a. Two Eye Witnesses {83 words}
b. On The Road To Emmaus {387 words}
c. Many Other Encounters {327 words}
d. A Problem With These Eyewitnesses {232 words}
e. Looking to the Secular Historians {303 words}
f. More Secular Evidence {176 words}
g. Inadvertent Assent by Secular Historians {213 words}
h. Little Opposition to the Resurrection {239 words}
i. Accepted Resurrection Facts {63 words}
j. Thorough Research Supports The Resurrection {446 words}
Chapter 18. Witnesses to the Historic Event {312 words}
To see some of the accounts of the many who claimed to have seen the risen Christ, we start with the Bible because that book offers numerous eyewitness accounts. First, as is shared below from the Book of Matthew, is the instance of the two Marys. After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. [1]"
In Chapter Twenty, we will discuss in some detail the awful ordeal of death by crucifixion. For now, just realize that it was a cruel, gruesome, very difficult way to die! The Bible records that Jesus arose from that manner of death, returned to life, and was seen by others. The above account was His first human contact after arising, and both Marys could see that He definitely was alive!
The Bible records another case, this one where Jesus joined up with two men who were walking to a nearby village. Of this encounter, the Physician and Historian Luke writes:
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. . . . As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight [2].
One should note three interesting physical characteristics from this incident. First, Jesus had the ability to conceal His identity. I do not know how He disguised Himself, but the words of Luke are clear in reporting that these men did not immediately recognize Him. The second point is that He had some normal human faculties. For instance, He could walk, and He could communicate. Not only that, but the impression is given here and again in John 21:15 that He might also have been able to eat.
This and the other accounts are definitely not about ghosts and goblins or smoke and mirrors! These people were really talking and interacting with someone whom they believed to be just like them. The third point gleaned from this passage pertains to the Lord's ability to quickly disappear, suggesting that He might have just vanished right before their eyes. These men had been walking and talking with the resurrected Christ, and before He left, they knew it was He. Such a undertaking is not bad for One who had just been scourged and crucified three days earlier!
The final account given here from the Bible summarizes many of the encounters which others had had with the risen Lord. The Apostle Paul wrote: For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that 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 Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born [3].
The above passage mentions several separate incidences where the risen Christ was seen and recognized by others! All of the Apostles saw Him. Of course, during the brief time that He walked the earth after His Resurrection, they saw Him more than just once or twice. They actually were in His presence on numerous occasions. The Apostle Peter saw Him. So did James. Most remarkable, though, is that five hundred of the brothers saw Him at one time, and each knew that it was He. This fact is incredible! But much more than the incredibleness of all those sightings is the fact that all of this evidence put together clearly shows that Christ interacted freely with many after He arose from is death.
Each of the above accounts is clear concerning the literal Resurrection of Christ, and the Bible records even more. But there is a problem with all these examples which cannot be overlooked! Each of the above instances of the Lord's appearing to others after His death has come from the Bible. Therefore, none of them is admissible at this time. The reason for this rejection is simple! One cannot assume to be true that which one is trying to show as true. The Bible cannot be used as evidence even to verify the Resurrection of Jesus because the validity of the Bible, itself, has not yet been established. Once the Bible is validated, though, then each and every one of these eyewitness accounts will be credible and acceptable, and they will add even more credence to an already incredible event!
For the present time, another method will have to be employed to show that Jesus really did rise again. For this other method, we now turn to the secular historians. Even if one cannot yet rely on Scriptures, the accuracy and commitment to truth by secular historians should be accepted without question. After all, none of those non-Christian writers of history would have had any reason to lie or exaggerate about Christ or about His Resurrection, unless of course they were attempting to refute the event.
With their credibility somewhat established, the first such secular, non-Christian reference comes from the well-known, Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus. In his work, The Antiquities of the Jews, written about 93 or 94 A.D., he made it clear that those inside as well as those outside of Christianity all knew about Christ and the Resurrection. He shared that many Gentiles and Jews had followed Jesus and that Jesus, in turn, had appeared to those followers on the third day after His death on the cross [4]. Thus, this author, for one, acknowledged and seemed to accept the fact of Christ's Resurrection.
In speaking about the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Josephus also verified the truthfulness of the Lord's second credential, that is of the credential which concerned the fulfilled prophesy in His life. Recall that this credential was cited earlier by Mr. McDowell! Josephus wrote about Christ's manner of death and about His glorious victory over that death. Then, he shared that both of those events had been prophesied by the "divine prophets," thus demonstrating the validity of that earlier credential.
An additional observation made by Josephus is that the things of God were surviving, a point which takes us back to the first criterion for showing God's existence in a current setting. The author indicated that in the time of his writing, which was the late First Century, that the Christian movement was still around. It had not been stopped or destroyed! The whole movement, in fact, had been growing immensely. Therefore, from his perspective, the Church and Christianity, in general, had survived for about sixty years, and he thought even at that time that such a statistic was worthy of mention. Just imagine what he would say if he could see how long this whole thing has lasted!
In another secular work, The Outline of History by Mr. Wells, this historian also treated the Resurrection as a historical fact. In his writing and handling of this miraculous event, he does not express any doubt whatsoever about the Lord's rising from death [5]. He talks about the initial distress felt among the disciples immediately after Jesus had died. He mentions how they were uplifted by the word of the empty tomb and how they had encouraged one another because of is appearing to so many. Suddenly, as he described it, the disciples went from being desperate, defeated, and fearful to being victorious and ready to overcome. Their transition was not only remarkable, but from this historian's point of view, worth recording for all time. This whole episode over that three day period, from Crucifixion to Resurrection, was so significant that even secular historians could not totally ignore it!
While openly acknowledging the historical fact of the Resurrection, these and other secular historians have also inadvertently made and recorded another significant observation concerning that event. Probably without even intending to, they have shown the Roman Empire's direct assent to the fact of the Resurrection.
According to Mr. E. Hermitage Day, in On the Evidence for the Resurrection, the lack of opposition from Roman officials also adds important credibility to the actual occurrence of the Resurrection [6]. Make no mistake! Rome did oppose Christianity. Yet, they did not deny or directly oppose the Resurrection! They persecuted all who refused to bow to Roman idols and in the process made martyrs of many from the early Christian Church. But nowhere in the records of that period is there any evidence to suggest that they did not believe the literal Resurrection to actually be true. One can read through Mr. Gibbon's work on the history of Rome, yet this author did not record any Roman opposition to the Resurrection. The Government persecuted Christians and tried to destroy the Church, but they did not refute the validity or the actual historical accuracy of the Resurrection, even though as Mr. Gibbons also points out, the early Christians did accept it as true.
As Mr. Day indicated, this lack of direct opposition to the Resurrection is significant. The author went on to say that the whole Church, hence Christianity in its entirety, could have been quickly destroyed from the start if only someone had been able to successfully argue against Christ's victory over death. But no one could! With the exception of a bogus theory about the Lord's body having been stolen, no one in those early days even tried to challenge the authenticity of Christ's Resurrection, obviously because they must have all believed it to be true. By contrast, just a short while after the development of the Big Bang theory, we already have a book, entitled The Big Bang Never Happened by Mr. Eric Lerner, and that text does a good job of highlighting various flaws in that relatively young and unproved scientific theory.
No such texts were produced at the time of Christ's death on the cross, and nothing from those early days has been found which seriously challenges or contradicts the authenticity of the Lord's Resurrection. This lack of direct opposition during those days forms an even stronger basis for all generations to have complete confidence in the historical fact of Christ's Resurrection.
Based on the easily understood significance of the Resurrection, plus the writings of secular and non-secular historians and other analysts, Dr. Habermas compiled a list of Resurrection facts which are accepted by nearly everyone [7]. In paraphrased form, these facts are listed in Table 10.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 10. The Ten Widely Accepted Resurrection Facts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(***) 1. Jesus died as a result of Roman Crucifixion.
2. He was buried.
3. His disciples became very discouraged and withdrawn following His
death. They believed that His ministry was ended.
(***) 4. Jesus' tomb was found empty shortly after His burial.
(***) 5. The disciples truly believed that they saw Him after it was claimed
that He had arisen.
(***) 6. Because they believed that they had seen their risen Lord, the
lives of all of the disciples were dramatically and forever changed.
Not only that, but following the Resurrection, the disciples
were willing to and did die a martyr's death for Jesus.
7. Initially, the disciples remained in Jerusalem and preached
concerning Christ's Resurrection.
8. The Christian Church or New Testament Church began after
Christ's Resurrection.
9. The Church, which was made up of many Jews, began worship on
Sunday. This fact is noteworthy because that day of the week had
not been the traditional Jewish Sabbath! For those religious Jews
to have begun such a practice was almost heresy for them.
10. Saul of Tarsus, a man who at one time had persecuted Christians on
behalf of the Roman Empire, became a Christian, himself, after
what he thought was a life-changing experience in his own life
with Christ.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interestingly enough, most critics, even those who do not profess a belief in Christ as Lord, accept the ten points just listed as historical fact. In considering that common acceptance by so many as his foundational argument, Dr. Habermas says that the historical fact of the Resurrection can be proven if one accepts only Facts One, Four, Five, and Six. This does not mean, of course, that all or even any of those listed occurrences actually happened, but one must realize that the research of so many Christian and non-Christian scholars, alike, does suggest that they probably did. Even the most devoted, most stubborn nonbeliever must, at some point, acknowledge that the case for the actual occurrence of the Resurrection is pretty strong.
1. Matthew 28:1-10.
2. Luke 24:13-16,28-31.
3. I Corinthians 15:3-8.
4. Flavius Josephus, "The Antiquities of the Jews," Book 18, Chapter 3, Section 3, Josephus' Complete Works (London: Pickering & Inglis td., 1960), page 379.
5. Wells, page 429.
6. E. Hermitage Day, On The Evidence For The Resurrection (London: Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1906), pages 33-35. [Note that this reference was taken from Evidence That Demands A Verdict, volume I, page 225.]
7. Habermas, pages 24-26.
Chapter 19. Objections to the Resurrection
Send email to: tlee6040@aol.com