Matt Colby – Reasons to Believe – Class 2 – The Empty Tomb

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Thanks for coming here this
morning.

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I’m really happy to be here with
you.

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All the four of the world’s
major religions are based on

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what we might call philosophical
propositions.

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So they have something to say,
you know, about morality and and

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maybe who we should be and how
we should act.

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But they don’t really make a
bolder claim about the state of

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things, about the state of the
world.

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But there are four of the
world’s major religions that do

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have something a little bit
bolder to say about God, about

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the universe, about what we
should believe in.

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And those four religions are
Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and

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Christianity.
And of those four religions that

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take a stronger stance, well,
within Judaism, somebody of the

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Judaistic faith today would tell
you that that their founding

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father, Abraham, is dead and
buried.

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And Buddhists would tell you
that Guatemala Buddha died and

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was buried and that was it.
And those of the Islamic faith

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would tell you that their
founder of the great Prophet

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Muhammad died and was buried.
And that’s the last we saw of

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him.
And of those four, perhaps of

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the most major world religions,
only Christianity makes a bolder

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claim, says something that seems
crazy, that seems unbelievable.

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It puts it right out there for
us to test the accuracy of it,

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because only Christianity claims
that at a point in history a man

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was raised from the dead.
And not only that, but that a

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lot of people saw it.
And it puts it out there so that

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we can examine it, look at the
evidence for or against it.

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And of course we know that man
was was our Lord Jesus the

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Christ.
And the fact that he really

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lived, that he was a real live
human being, is is really beyond

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dispute today.
And scholarly circles among

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historians, even among atheist
historians, everybody who knows

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anything who’s looked at the
facts would acknowledge that

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that as much as any historical
figure ever really lived and and

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was a true person, Jesus was.
And here’s a quote from from an

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atheist historian named Michael
Grant about Jesus.

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He says to sum up, modern
critical methods fail to support

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the Christ myth theory.
So as you may guess, the Christ

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myth theory says that Jesus is
just a made-up person.

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He wasn’t real at all.
Now this is an atheist historian

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who wrote this in his review of
the Gospels.

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He says it has again and again
been answered and annihilated by

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first ranked scholars.
In recent years no serious

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scholar has ventured to
postulate the non historicity of

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Jesus, or at any rate very few,
and they have not succeeded in

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disposing of the much stronger,
indeed very abundant, evidence

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to the contrary.
And at the end of our class last

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night we saw that debate, a part
of the debate where the well

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known atheist Richard Dawkins is
forced to admit that yes, Jesus

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really did live.
It’s a fact, It’s a historical

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fact as much as any other piece
of history that we know about.

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But he goes on to say, but if
you want to say that the

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miracles that he performed
really happened and that he

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really was raised from the dead,
he said all of that.

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I can’t believe it.
He says it defies logic.

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But come with me To 1st
Corinthians chapter 15.

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This is how important the
resurrection of Jesus is to the

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Christadelphian faith.
And when Paul’s writing here to

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the Corinthians, it would seem
that that in their ecclesia they

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had a problem.
The problem was some people were

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teaching that there’s no
resurrection of the dead and so

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Paul is is combating that idea.
Here I’m going to start reading

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to you in in verse 12 First
Corinthians chapter 15.

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And Paul says now if Christ is
proclaimed as raised from the

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dead, how can some of you say
that there is no resurrection of

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the dead?
But if there is no resurrection

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of the dead, then not even
Christ has been raised.

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And if Christ has not been
raised then our preaching is in

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vain and your faith is in vain.
We are even found to be

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misrepresenting God, because we
testified about God that he

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raised Christ, whom he did not
raise.

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If it is true that the dead are
not raised, for if the dead are

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not raised, not even Christ has
been raised, And if Christ has

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not been raised, your faith is
futile and you are still in your

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sins, then those also who have
fallen asleep in Christ have

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perished.
If in Christ we have hope in

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this life only, we are of all
people, most to be pity.

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But in fact Christ has been
raised from the dead, the first

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fruits of those who have fallen
asleep.

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And Paul says, look, if there’s
no resurrection of the dead,

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then Jesus wasn’t raised from
the dead.

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And if Jesus wasn’t raised from
the dead, then there’s no

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forgiveness of sins.
And if there’s no forgiveness of

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sins, then what are we doing
this for?

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All of our preaching, all of our
good works, all of it is for

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nothing because we’re just going
to be die, die, and that’s going

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to be it.
And the point is that the entire

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gospel message, in fact the
entirety of the Christian faith

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in the Bible, hangs in the
balance based on whether or not

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at a point in history a man
really was raised from the dead.

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Because if it’s not true, then
we might as well throw the rest

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of it out too.
But if it is true, well, then

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you’d want to give really
serious consideration to

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everything else that we read in
the word of God.

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So in this class we want to ask
that question.

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Do we think it’s true?
And why?

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Why do we think it’s true?
What’s the evidence for it?

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We want to look at the story of
the trial and the crucifixion

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and the resurrection of Jesus
with a critical eye.

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And I want you to come with me
to start to, to John Chapter 11.

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This was, if you will, sort of
as far as this story goes.

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It was the beginning of the end
in John Chapter 11.

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And towards the end of John
Chapter 11, the leaders of the

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Jews had a problem.
And the problem was that Jesus

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had performed a miracle that was
so impressive that even the

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skeptics had.
Now it seemed like gone and

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followed after Jesus.
Everybody who was on the fence

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about him was now in Jesus the
Jesus camp, because Jesus had

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raised Lazarus from the dead.
And so the leaders of the Jews

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have a problem and I’ll start
reading at verse 47 of John

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Chapter 11.
They they come together and they

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have a meeting to discuss what
they’re going to do about this

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problem.
Starting at verse 47 of John

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Chapter 11, it says So the chief
priests and the Pharisees

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gathered the council and said,
what are we to do?

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For this man performs many
signs.

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If we let him go on like this,
everyone will believe in him,

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and the Romans will come and
take away both our place and our

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nation.
But one of them, Caiaphas, who

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was high priest that year, said
to them, you know nothing at

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all, nor do you understand that
it is better for you that one

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man should die for the people
than that the whole nation

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should perish.
Now, the argument that Caiaphas

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used is a familiar one.
You see, what he was saying is

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this.
We’ve seen this before.

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There have been false messiahs
before that have led people away

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after them, and they’ve risen up
and revolt against the Roman

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Empire.
And every single time the Romans

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came down and crushed that
revolt.

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And now here is this Jesus, and
he’s got a larger following than

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anybody we’ve ever seen.
If he decides that he wants to

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start something, that he wants
to rise up and revolt against

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the Romans, the revolt is going
to be so big, and the Romans

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will be so angry that they’ll
come down with such force that

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they’ll not only will they
completely crush that revolt,

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but they’ll lose their patience
with us.

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Because the Romans had let the
Jews continue to govern

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themselves, continue to worship
as they as they please.

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But, he said, now that won’t be
the case.

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They’ll take all that away from
us.

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We won’t be able to to live the
way we’ve always lived.

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We won’t be able to worship the
God we’ve always worshipped.

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Our nation will be taken away if
we let this continue.

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So he says, for the good of our
nation, we’ve got to put a stop

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to it.
And yes, it might be wrong to

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murder a man, but don’t the
needs of the many outweigh the

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needs of the few?
Or in this case, the needs of

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the one isn’t the greater good
at stake.

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We’ve got to preserve our
nation.

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So we’ve got to do this thing,
as uncomfortable as it might

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make you feel, We’re going to
have to kill this man.

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And from this point on, the
Jewish leaders make it known

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that they’ll be very pleased if
anybody comes to them with any

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information that leads to the
rest of Jesus.

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Essentially, when we read into
it, they put a bounty on the

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head of Jesus.
If anybody can help us out, give

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us information that leads to the
rest of this man, we’ll be very

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happy with you and we’ll reward
you.

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But they had a problem.
They couldn’t just go and arrest

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him.
They had a lot of fears.

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Come back with me.
Just a few pages to John,

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Chapter 7.
They had sent their own Temple

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Guard, who was on their payroll
to go arrest Jesus, and those

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guards came back empty handed.
And that’s the context for when

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we start in verse 45 of John
Chapter 7.

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The officers then came to the
chief priests and Pharisees who

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said to them, Why did you not
bring him?

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The officers answered.
No one ever spoke like this man.

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The Pharisees answered them.
Have you also been deceived?

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Have any of the authorities or
the Pharisees believed in him?

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But this crowd that does not
know the law is accursed.

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Nicodemus, who had gone to him
before, and who was one of them,

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said to them, does our law judge
a man without first giving him a

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hearing and learning what he
does?

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They replied, Are you from
Galilee?

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Two search and see that no
prophet arises from Galilee.

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Now in their response to these
soldiers, they actually said two

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things that we know we’re wrong.
First, they they say to him,

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look, none of the leaders, none
of us has believed on him, and

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we’re the people who know
everything.

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Well, they were wrong, weren’t
they?

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Because the man who just spoke,
Nicodemus, we’re in on the

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secret at this point, although
they don’t know Nicodemus was

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one of them, and he was a secret
follower of Jesus.

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And we’ll find out later there
was another man, Joseph of

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Arimathea, in their midst.
They did have people who were

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perhaps secretly following
Jesus.

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And not only that, they say,
look, he comes from the filthy

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region of Galilee.
There’s never been a prophet

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that’s come from there.
But both Jonah and Nahum had

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come from the region of Galilee.
But the point is this.

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They had a problem.
They couldn’t even get their own

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soldiers to go and arrest this
man.

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So how were they going to be
able to do it successfully?

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They were afraid.
They were afraid that wherever

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they went to try to find him,
the people would be there to

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stop them.
And perhaps more than that, it’s

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not written in the New
Testament, but but it’s an

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assumption maybe we can make.
They might have been afraid of

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Jesus himself, because this man
had undeniably power of God.

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He had performed miracles.
Many of these leaders had

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watched it happen.
They’d seen it, and he’d never

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heard anybody before.
But who knew if when backed up

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against the corner, he might
lash out and what he could do

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and what he might be capable of.
So they needed somebody to

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deliver him, not only away from
the people when there were

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crowds around him that could
protect him, they needed

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somebody to deliver him when he
was in the right state of mind.

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Now we don’t have time to turn
to to every passage that we

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might normally end this story,
because we’re going to be

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looking at the events leading up
to the rest of Jesus, and then

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we’re going to be looking at his
trial.

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We know that Jesus was there in
the upper room with Judas, the

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man who would betray him, and I
want you to come with me now,

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back to Luke chapter 22.
I imagine that the Pharisees and

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00:13:22,720 –> 00:13:26,720
the leaders of the Jews and
their wildest dreams never

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00:13:26,720 –> 00:13:30,600
thought that they might actually
get an informant who was one of

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00:13:30,640 –> 00:13:33,080
Jesus’s inner circle of
disciples.

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00:13:33,480 –> 00:13:37,160
But that’ll be exactly what
happens when Judas hears about

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00:13:37,160 –> 00:13:38,960
the bounty that’s on the head of
Jesus.

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00:13:39,320 –> 00:13:42,080
I’m going to start reading at
verse three of Luke, chapter 22.

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00:13:42,680 –> 00:13:46,080
Then Satan entered into Judas
called Iscariot, who was of the

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00:13:46,080 –> 00:13:49,320
number of the 12.
He went away and conferred with

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00:13:49,320 –> 00:13:52,480
the chief priests and officers
how he might betray him to them.

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00:13:53,080 –> 00:13:55,440
And they were glad and agreed to
give him money.

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00:13:55,640 –> 00:13:59,120
So he consented and sought an
opportunity to betray him to

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00:13:59,120 –> 00:14:01,840
them.
In the absence of the crowd, you

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00:14:01,840 –> 00:14:03,560
see, that was important.
It had to be In the absence of

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00:14:03,560 –> 00:14:06,080
the crowd.
There couldn’t be people around

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00:14:06,080 –> 00:14:09,200
him when this happened.
So Judas goes away from that

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00:14:09,200 –> 00:14:11,880
meeting with them, looking for
the right opportunity.

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00:14:13,040 –> 00:14:17,080
And so Judas is sitting there
with Jesus in the upper room at

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00:14:17,080 –> 00:14:20,120
that Last Supper with the other
disciples.

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00:14:21,120 –> 00:14:23,640
And Jesus is talking about his
death.

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00:14:26,800 –> 00:14:29,280
And Judas realizes what’s going
to happen next.

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00:14:29,280 –> 00:14:30,640
He knows where they’re going to
go.

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00:14:31,520 –> 00:14:34,440
And Jesus turns to Judas, and he
says that what you’re about to

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00:14:34,440 –> 00:14:38,120
do, do it quickly.
You remember that and the other

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00:14:38,120 –> 00:14:40,520
disciples don’t understand what
Jesus means by that.

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00:14:40,520 –> 00:14:45,800
But Judas knows and he leaves.
He walks out into the night, and

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00:14:45,800 –> 00:14:47,520
at that point we lose track of
him.

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00:14:48,840 –> 00:14:53,720
What happened between when we
see him there and when we next

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00:14:53,720 –> 00:14:59,280
see him at the arrest of Jesus?
Because you would think Jesus

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00:14:59,280 –> 00:15:01,960
said what you’re about to do, do
it quickly.

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00:15:02,080 –> 00:15:04,360
You can imagine him running
through the streets of the city,

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00:15:04,600 –> 00:15:08,560
but it will be hours and hours
until the arrest party arrives

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00:15:08,560 –> 00:15:10,720
with Judas to actually arrest
Jesus.

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00:15:11,080 –> 00:15:13,640
If he was supposed to do it
quickly, how come it took so

250
00:15:13,640 –> 00:15:15,760
long?
How can we explain that?

251
00:15:15,760 –> 00:15:18,120
And we’re going to look at this
story now with more of a

252
00:15:18,120 –> 00:15:20,920
critical eye.
We’ve got to be able to explain

253
00:15:20,920 –> 00:15:24,600
these gaps that the Bible
doesn’t go to any lengths to

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00:15:24,600 –> 00:15:28,800
explain for us.
We know that it was late at

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00:15:28,800 –> 00:15:32,520
night by the time that Judas and
the arrest party came to to

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00:15:32,520 –> 00:15:35,920
arrest Jesus for a number of
reasons because the disciples

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00:15:35,920 –> 00:15:39,240
were exhausted.
Jesus went to the garden and was

258
00:15:39,240 –> 00:15:40,720
praying in the garden of
Gethsemane.

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00:15:40,720 –> 00:15:43,240
And there are three separate
occasions where he goes back and

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00:15:43,240 –> 00:15:45,960
finds the disciples sleep and he
says asleep.

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00:15:45,960 –> 00:15:48,440
And he says can you not wait
with me one hour?

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00:15:48,440 –> 00:15:51,480
And they say OK, OK And he goes
and they fall asleep again three

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00:15:51,480 –> 00:15:54,080
different times.
It was well past their bedtime,

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00:15:56,920 –> 00:15:59,400
and we know that it must have
been quite dark by the time they

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00:15:59,400 –> 00:16:04,280
got there, because Jesus can see
a little bit far away the

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00:16:04,280 –> 00:16:07,760
torches of the arrest party as
they come in the darkness of the

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00:16:07,760 –> 00:16:10,960
night.
And John chapter chapters

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00:16:10,960 –> 00:16:16,680
14/15/16 and 17 all take place
in the upper room after Judas

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00:16:16,680 –> 00:16:20,080
has left the room where Jesus
goes on to talk at length with

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00:16:20,080 –> 00:16:23,280
his disciples.
And then he gives this great,

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00:16:23,720 –> 00:16:26,440
powerful prayer with them.
And then they sing hymns before

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00:16:26,440 –> 00:16:28,920
they even leave the upper room
to go and walk out.

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00:16:28,920 –> 00:16:31,160
It would have taken them
probably 20 to 30 minutes to

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00:16:31,160 –> 00:16:33,080
walk out to the Garden of
Gethsemane.

275
00:16:33,400 –> 00:16:37,040
Hours and hours go by before
Judas actually comes back.

276
00:16:38,000 –> 00:16:42,080
How can we explain that?
So let’s just imagine for a

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00:16:42,080 –> 00:16:45,600
second what it might have been
like for Judas, what he would

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00:16:45,600 –> 00:16:47,840
have had to go through in order
to set this up.

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00:16:49,200 –> 00:16:50,840
So let’s say he walks out the
door.

280
00:16:50,840 –> 00:16:53,800
Jesus said what you’re about to
do, do quickly, and he’s running

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00:16:53,800 –> 00:16:57,720
through the streets of the city
to meet someone we don’t know.

282
00:16:58,000 –> 00:17:01,320
He must have had a contact.
He knocks on somebody’s door.

283
00:17:01,920 –> 00:17:05,520
This is at night and the door
opens.

284
00:17:06,760 –> 00:17:11,440
What must Judas have said to
whoever his contact was?

285
00:17:12,760 –> 00:17:16,280
He must have said something like
now is the time.

286
00:17:17,200 –> 00:17:19,599
I can tell you exactly where
he’s going to be tonight.

287
00:17:19,599 –> 00:17:22,560
It’s going to be in a place away
from the city, away from the

288
00:17:22,560 –> 00:17:26,200
crowds, and he is thinking and
talking about death.

289
00:17:26,520 –> 00:17:28,800
You’ll never find him in a
better state of mind.

290
00:17:29,520 –> 00:17:33,920
He is depressed.
This is what they were waiting

291
00:17:33,920 –> 00:17:37,560
for.
But now they had a problem.

292
00:17:37,560 –> 00:17:41,520
You see, they had no idea when
the moment was going to come.

293
00:17:41,520 –> 00:17:44,600
They had this man now on their
payroll, but they didn’t know

294
00:17:44,600 –> 00:17:46,800
when the moment was going to
because it had to be the perfect

295
00:17:46,800 –> 00:17:50,040
moment.
And all of a sudden he’s

296
00:17:50,040 –> 00:17:53,240
knocking on their door.
And the very next day the feast

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00:17:53,240 –> 00:17:56,200
is about to start.
The festive pilgrims, most of

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00:17:56,200 –> 00:17:57,640
them, have already arrived in
the city.

299
00:17:57,640 –> 00:18:00,160
The city would be busier at this
time of year than almost any

300
00:18:00,160 –> 00:18:02,720
other time of the year.
So they were afraid of the

301
00:18:02,720 –> 00:18:04,600
crowds.
But more than that, according to

302
00:18:04,600 –> 00:18:07,360
the law, they could not try a
man for this kind of a crime

303
00:18:07,360 –> 00:18:10,680
during the feast.
So they had to either convict

304
00:18:10,680 –> 00:18:15,200
him tonight where the moment
would be lost, it would be gone.

305
00:18:15,440 –> 00:18:17,320
They had to make a choice.
They had to make a decision.

306
00:18:17,720 –> 00:18:19,920
But if they were going to go
through with this, there were a

307
00:18:19,920 –> 00:18:22,400
lot of things they were going to
have to arrange very, very

308
00:18:22,400 –> 00:18:25,200
quickly because they were going
to do some things that were

309
00:18:25,200 –> 00:18:26,560
illegal.
We’re going to find they didn’t

310
00:18:26,560 –> 00:18:29,360
care if they had to break the
law to make this happen.

311
00:18:29,880 –> 00:18:31,880
They just didn’t want to anger
the people.

312
00:18:33,000 –> 00:18:35,840
They were willing to do whatever
it took to get rid of this man.

313
00:18:36,080 –> 00:18:38,280
There were a lot of things that
were illegal about what they’re

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00:18:38,280 –> 00:18:42,880
about to do.
For example, under Jewish law,

315
00:18:43,600 –> 00:18:48,640
it was illegal for the Temple
Guard to arrest somebody who was

316
00:18:48,640 –> 00:18:51,840
accused of a crime.
Under Jewish law is the

317
00:18:51,840 –> 00:18:55,320
responsibility of the person or
persons who witnessed the crime

318
00:18:55,480 –> 00:18:59,800
to go and and bring that person
to the Sanhedrin Council and to

319
00:18:59,800 –> 00:19:02,760
bring them before the judge.
It was illegal for them to just

320
00:19:02,760 –> 00:19:04,400
send the soldiers out to get
him.

321
00:19:04,720 –> 00:19:07,640
But when Judas arrives, John
chapter 18 and verse three tells

322
00:19:07,640 –> 00:19:09,920
us that the Temple guard is
there with him.

323
00:19:09,920 –> 00:19:13,480
That was against the law, but of
course the leaders of the Jews

324
00:19:13,480 –> 00:19:15,720
were going to take no chances.
This man had power.

325
00:19:15,720 –> 00:19:19,800
They wanted to make sure they
had the manpower to bring him

326
00:19:19,800 –> 00:19:23,280
back and to if his disciples
were there to to beat them back

327
00:19:23,480 –> 00:19:27,280
as well.
It was illegal under Jewish law

328
00:19:27,280 –> 00:19:29,600
to try a capital charge By
night.

329
00:19:30,120 –> 00:19:34,400
A capital charge is 1, which if
the person is is convicted, they

330
00:19:34,400 –> 00:19:37,240
would be put to death.
It’s illegal to do that.

331
00:19:37,240 –> 00:19:40,000
It was illegal to do that under
Jewish law at night.

332
00:19:40,000 –> 00:19:43,960
But they’re about to hold this
trial at night and it was

333
00:19:43,960 –> 00:19:49,880
illegal for the judges of the
trial to cross examine the

334
00:19:49,880 –> 00:19:54,160
prisoner after the testimony of
the witnesses had broken down.

335
00:19:55,000 –> 00:20:02,360
Come with me to mark chapter 14
and have a look at this.

336
00:20:02,360 –> 00:20:04,440
This is now we’re in the trial
of Jesus.

337
00:20:08,320 –> 00:20:11,520
And I’m going to start reading
to you from verse 55 of Mark

338
00:20:11,520 –> 00:20:18,240
chapter 14.
Now the chief priests and the

339
00:20:18,240 –> 00:20:22,160
whole council, we’re seeking
testimony against Jesus to put

340
00:20:22,160 –> 00:20:26,080
him to death.
But they found none, for many

341
00:20:26,120 –> 00:20:30,440
bore false witness against him,
but their testimony did not

342
00:20:30,440 –> 00:20:33,560
agree.
You see, here’s how it works.

343
00:20:34,120 –> 00:20:37,400
During a trial under Jewish law,
you’re probably familiar with

344
00:20:37,400 –> 00:20:40,520
the biblical law that somebody
could not be convicted if there

345
00:20:40,520 –> 00:20:43,080
was just one witness.
There had to be at least two and

346
00:20:43,080 –> 00:20:48,160
preferably 2 or more witnesses.
And so if they had more than one

347
00:20:48,160 –> 00:20:50,920
witness, those witnesses would
be, we call it, sequestered.

348
00:20:51,360 –> 00:20:53,680
They’d be kept somewhere in a
separate room, away from

349
00:20:53,680 –> 00:20:56,240
everybody else.
You didn’t want them talking to

350
00:20:56,240 –> 00:20:57,480
each other.
You wanted to make sure you were

351
00:20:57,480 –> 00:21:00,320
getting the truth of the matter.
No collaboration between the

352
00:21:00,320 –> 00:21:02,720
witnesses.
So the judges, which would be

353
00:21:02,720 –> 00:21:04,880
the members of the the
leadership council, the

354
00:21:04,880 –> 00:21:08,320
Sanhedrin Council of the Jews,
would call the first witness out

355
00:21:09,640 –> 00:21:12,960
and that witness would give his
testimony of what he had seen.

356
00:21:12,960 –> 00:21:15,200
It had to be, you know, of
something that was a criminal

357
00:21:15,200 –> 00:21:18,120
act.
And at this point there are

358
00:21:18,120 –> 00:21:21,360
three types of testimony under
Jewish law.

359
00:21:22,760 –> 00:21:25,200
And the first kind of testimony
is called a vain testimony.

360
00:21:25,200 –> 00:21:27,000
A vain testimony looks like
this.

361
00:21:27,200 –> 00:21:29,560
A single witness comes out and
they give their testimony.

362
00:21:29,560 –> 00:21:33,520
And for whatever the reason, the
judges throw that testimony out.

363
00:21:33,520 –> 00:21:35,800
They say no, that, you know, the
facts don’t line up.

364
00:21:35,960 –> 00:21:38,440
We don’t believe you.
We find this to be not a

365
00:21:38,440 –> 00:21:40,800
credible witness, a vain
testimony.

366
00:21:40,920 –> 00:21:44,080
That witness is dismissed and
they don’t accept his testimony.

367
00:21:45,120 –> 00:21:47,640
The second type of testimony
under under Jewish law is called

368
00:21:47,640 –> 00:21:50,800
a standing testimony.
So that means the first witness

369
00:21:50,800 –> 00:21:53,960
comes out, they testify as to
what they have seen.

370
00:21:54,720 –> 00:21:58,120
And the council says, OK, fair
enough, thank you very much.

371
00:21:58,120 –> 00:22:00,840
And they dismiss that witness
and call out the next one.

372
00:22:01,120 –> 00:22:04,920
His testimony stands, but it
remains for it to be confirmed

373
00:22:04,920 –> 00:22:07,680
by the other witnesses.
This is why the witnesses are

374
00:22:07,680 –> 00:22:10,160
kept sequestered, so they can’t
hear what the other one is

375
00:22:10,160 –> 00:22:14,480
saying when they’re testifying.
And what they want to ensure is

376
00:22:14,480 –> 00:22:16,920
that the testimony of all the
witnesses lines up.

377
00:22:17,120 –> 00:22:19,680
The judges were expected to be
very critical of the testimony

378
00:22:19,680 –> 00:22:21,920
of the witnesses and look at all
the facts and look for any

379
00:22:21,920 –> 00:22:25,560
inconsistencies in the story.
And if the testimony of the

380
00:22:25,560 –> 00:22:28,600
witnesses doesn’t line up, the
Jewish law says you’ve got to,

381
00:22:28,600 –> 00:22:31,520
you’ve got to throw out the case
and set the set the prisoner

382
00:22:31,520 –> 00:22:34,600
free.
But when all of the witnesses

383
00:22:34,600 –> 00:22:37,080
come and their stories are all
stand and they all agree

384
00:22:37,080 –> 00:22:39,680
together and the judges say,
yes, these are acceptable

385
00:22:39,680 –> 00:22:44,040
testimonies, he is guilty.
That’s what is referred to as an

386
00:22:44,040 –> 00:22:46,840
adequate testimony.
When the testimony under the

387
00:22:46,840 –> 00:22:49,560
Jewish law, they say it’s when
the testimony of the witnesses

388
00:22:49,560 –> 00:22:53,280
agrees together.
So did you notice?

389
00:22:53,800 –> 00:22:57,240
Have a look at this in verse 56
that I that we just read.

390
00:22:57,520 –> 00:23:02,920
Many bore false witness against
him, but their testimony did not

391
00:23:03,040 –> 00:23:08,280
agree.
So they had multiple witnesses,

392
00:23:08,280 –> 00:23:10,680
Lots of witnesses that came
forward, but their stories were

393
00:23:10,680 –> 00:23:13,440
contradictory.
Now remember at this point there

394
00:23:13,440 –> 00:23:16,120
were at least a couple members
on the Jewish Sanhedrin Council

395
00:23:16,120 –> 00:23:17,960
who were secret followers of
Jesus.

396
00:23:18,760 –> 00:23:21,080
So while the rest of them might
have been in on this, on this

397
00:23:21,080 –> 00:23:24,600
scheme to arrest and kill this
man, there were a few that were

398
00:23:24,600 –> 00:23:28,040
doing their job, truly doing
their job and and saying no,

399
00:23:28,040 –> 00:23:29,560
look look the facts don’t add
up.

400
00:23:29,560 –> 00:23:31,520
These witnesses don’t have their
story straight.

401
00:23:32,720 –> 00:23:36,360
And at this point, by law, they
were supposed to have thrown out

402
00:23:36,360 –> 00:23:39,920
the case, and it was illegal at
this point, when the testimony

403
00:23:39,920 –> 00:23:43,600
of the witnesses had broken
down, for any of the judges to

404
00:23:43,600 –> 00:23:49,800
cross examine the prisoner.
But that’s exactly what is about

405
00:23:49,800 –> 00:23:53,720
to happen.
Now, let me give you an example

406
00:23:53,720 –> 00:23:57,400
of what this might look like in
this specific trial in a case

407
00:23:57,400 –> 00:24:00,040
where the testimony of the
witnesses does not agree

408
00:24:00,040 –> 00:24:04,320
together.
So one of the things that Jesus

409
00:24:04,320 –> 00:24:07,120
will be charged with is that he
threatened to destroy the

410
00:24:07,120 –> 00:24:08,800
Temple.
This was sacrilege.

411
00:24:09,680 –> 00:24:12,480
It could be, under Jewish law,
punishable by death.

412
00:24:13,440 –> 00:24:16,600
Now these are three different
quotes from three different

413
00:24:16,600 –> 00:24:21,000
gospels of what Jesus said.
Two of them are from the trial

414
00:24:21,000 –> 00:24:24,880
of Jesus and the third one and
John is is the actual account of

415
00:24:24,880 –> 00:24:28,280
what Jesus said.
So in Mark chapter 14 and verse

416
00:24:28,280 –> 00:24:32,920
58 one of the witnesses said
Jesus said I will destroy this

417
00:24:32,920 –> 00:24:36,000
temple that is made with hands
and within three days I will

418
00:24:36,000 –> 00:24:37,960
build another made without
hands.

419
00:24:39,160 –> 00:24:43,240
OK, so that’s the kind of
testimony that might stand in a

420
00:24:43,240 –> 00:24:46,360
trial, he said I’m going to
destroy this Temple, says the

421
00:24:46,360 –> 00:24:48,880
witness.
But we look at a parallel

422
00:24:48,880 –> 00:24:51,280
account of the same story and
another witness says in

423
00:24:51,280 –> 00:24:56,720
Matthew’s account that Jesus
said I am able to destroy the

424
00:24:56,720 –> 00:24:59,280
temple of God and to build it in
three days.

425
00:24:59,720 –> 00:25:02,440
Now look at those two quotes and
are they the same?

426
00:25:03,320 –> 00:25:07,360
And they’re not, Because in the
first quote Jesus said I’m going

427
00:25:07,360 –> 00:25:09,200
to destroy this temple, said the
witness.

428
00:25:09,600 –> 00:25:12,920
But in the second one, the
witness says, he simply said I’m

429
00:25:12,920 –> 00:25:16,160
capable of destroying this
temple.

430
00:25:16,960 –> 00:25:21,800
Now the first one surely could
be construed as as as sacrilege,

431
00:25:22,400 –> 00:25:25,320
but the second one, he’s just
saying, you know, I could do it

432
00:25:25,320 –> 00:25:26,880
if I wanted.
I’ve got the power to do it.

433
00:25:26,880 –> 00:25:29,560
Now they might consider that to
be a pompous claim, but it’s

434
00:25:29,560 –> 00:25:32,880
certainly not breaking the law.
This is an example of where two

435
00:25:32,880 –> 00:25:35,920
witnesses would have a slight
detail that’s different in the

436
00:25:35,920 –> 00:25:38,160
telling of their stories that
the judges would be expected to

437
00:25:38,320 –> 00:25:42,720
to to compare and say no, these
testimonies don’t line line up.

438
00:25:43,840 –> 00:25:46,520
And what did Jesus actually say?
It’s recorded in John chapter 2,

439
00:25:46,520 –> 00:25:49,320
verse 19.
Jesus said destroy this temple,

440
00:25:49,320 –> 00:25:53,200
You destroy this temple.
And in three days I will raise

441
00:25:53,200 –> 00:25:55,520
it up.
And the record adds that that

442
00:25:55,600 –> 00:25:57,160
Jesus was speaking
metaphorically.

443
00:25:57,160 –> 00:25:58,880
He was talking about the temple
of his body.

444
00:25:58,880 –> 00:26:01,600
Who’s saying, you kill me and
I’ll be raised in three days.

445
00:26:02,240 –> 00:26:06,280
That’s what he actually said.
Did you notice one interesting

446
00:26:06,280 –> 00:26:08,400
thing that all three of these
accounts got right?

447
00:26:08,400 –> 00:26:11,840
Because consider this, If a
historian is looking at the

448
00:26:11,840 –> 00:26:13,840
gospel accounts, they’re
treating this like they treat

449
00:26:13,840 –> 00:26:17,240
any other historical record when
they’re trying to assess whether

450
00:26:17,240 –> 00:26:20,200
or not these are accurate.
Each one of these gospels are

451
00:26:20,200 –> 00:26:23,240
different ancient manuscripts
that were found written at

452
00:26:23,240 –> 00:26:24,920
different times by different
people.

453
00:26:24,920 –> 00:26:27,600
So they compare them to each
other to line up the facts.

454
00:26:28,040 –> 00:26:32,400
And in every single case, each
of the three writers got the

455
00:26:32,400 –> 00:26:36,960
same detail, the same they all
remembered were recorded, that

456
00:26:37,000 –> 00:26:39,760
Jesus said it was going to
happen in three days.

457
00:26:39,760 –> 00:26:42,320
Everybody remembers, Jesus said
before it ever happened.

458
00:26:42,320 –> 00:26:45,360
He said it’s going to be, it’s
going to be in three days that

459
00:26:45,360 –> 00:26:49,000
this will happen, isn’t that
interesting that that should all

460
00:26:49,000 –> 00:26:54,920
line up?
Now come with me to Matthew

461
00:26:54,920 –> 00:27:00,440
chapter 26 and have a look
towards the end of the chapter.

462
00:27:04,240 –> 00:27:15,920
At verse 63 the testimony of the
witnesses has broken down and

463
00:27:15,920 –> 00:27:19,120
the high priest is beside
himself because they put all

464
00:27:19,120 –> 00:27:21,480
this effort into convicting this
man and they’re going to have to

465
00:27:21,480 –> 00:27:24,160
throw out the trial.
He doesn’t know what else to do.

466
00:27:24,160 –> 00:27:27,960
And in verse 62 the high priest
stood up and said, have you no

467
00:27:27,960 –> 00:27:30,400
answer to make?
What is it that these men

468
00:27:30,400 –> 00:27:35,080
testify against you?
Now I mentioned it was against

469
00:27:35,080 –> 00:27:38,440
the law at this point for the
judges to cross examine the

470
00:27:38,440 –> 00:27:41,920
prisoner after the testimony of
the witnesses had broken down,

471
00:27:42,280 –> 00:27:44,440
and Caiaphas is breaking the
law.

472
00:27:44,440 –> 00:27:49,000
Now when he does that anyway,
verse 63.

473
00:27:49,000 –> 00:27:53,880
But Jesus remains silent, and
the high priest said to him, I

474
00:27:53,880 –> 00:27:58,200
adjure you by the living God,
tell us if you are the Christ,

475
00:27:58,520 –> 00:28:02,160
the Son of God.
Jesus said to him, You have said

476
00:28:02,160 –> 00:28:05,400
so, But I tell you, from now on
you will see the Son of Man

477
00:28:05,400 –> 00:28:09,560
seated at the right hand of
power and coming on the clouds

478
00:28:09,560 –> 00:28:14,080
of heaven.
Then the high priest tore his

479
00:28:14,080 –> 00:28:16,600
robes and said he has uttered
blasphemy.

480
00:28:16,880 –> 00:28:19,000
What further witnesses do we
need?

481
00:28:19,280 –> 00:28:22,680
You have heard his blasphemy.
What is your judgment?

482
00:28:22,680 –> 00:28:25,320
And they answered, he deserves
death.

483
00:28:26,320 –> 00:28:30,080
And at this point they had him.
They had him under Jewish law.

484
00:28:30,400 –> 00:28:33,640
But even more importantly for
them, they had him under Roman

485
00:28:33,640 –> 00:28:36,760
law.
Because a little bit later on,

486
00:28:37,400 –> 00:28:41,600
when Pontius Pilate is standing
in front of them, they’ve

487
00:28:41,600 –> 00:28:43,840
convicted him of death.
But now they need to convict him

488
00:28:43,840 –> 00:28:47,880
in a Roman court.
And Pilate says, what is this

489
00:28:47,880 –> 00:28:50,160
man done?
He should go free.

490
00:28:50,720 –> 00:28:53,480
Pilate wanted nothing to do with
the death of Jesus.

491
00:28:54,200 –> 00:28:57,160
And they said, this man has made
himself the Son of God.

492
00:28:58,880 –> 00:29:01,200
He’s impinging on the power of
Caesar.

493
00:29:01,440 –> 00:29:04,240
He’s claiming a power greater
than that of your sovereign

494
00:29:04,240 –> 00:29:07,600
leader.
You see, when they had Jesus on

495
00:29:07,600 –> 00:29:11,160
claiming to be the Son of God,
they had him not just under

496
00:29:11,160 –> 00:29:14,600
Jewish law, but Roman law.
And at that point, Pilate has

497
00:29:14,600 –> 00:29:18,400
nothing he can say.
He says, All right, turn him

498
00:29:18,400 –> 00:29:20,240
over to you.
It’s in your hands.

499
00:29:22,520 –> 00:29:24,640
He knew that they had him at
this point.

500
00:29:26,000 –> 00:29:33,840
And when he said what he said to
him, I adjure you by the living

501
00:29:33,840 –> 00:29:35,720
God to tell us if you are the
Christ.

502
00:29:35,920 –> 00:29:38,920
That’s what’s known under Jewish
law as the oath of the

503
00:29:38,920 –> 00:29:42,960
testimony.
Now we talked about the Talmud

504
00:29:42,960 –> 00:29:49,040
yesterday.
Here’s a quote from the Mishnah

505
00:29:51,360 –> 00:29:54,680
about the Oath of the Testimony.
This is what the law says.

506
00:29:55,560 –> 00:29:59,800
If one shall say, I adjure you
by the Almighty, by Sabaya, by

507
00:29:59,800 –> 00:30:02,480
the gracious and merciful, by
the long-suffering, by the

508
00:30:02,480 –> 00:30:07,600
Compassionate, or by any of the
Divine titles, behold, they are

509
00:30:07,600 –> 00:30:10,080
bound to answer.
This is what was known as the

510
00:30:10,080 –> 00:30:13,160
Oath of the Testimony.
If somebody invokes the any of

511
00:30:13,160 –> 00:30:17,480
the sacred titles of God to get
you to to answer a question

512
00:30:18,040 –> 00:30:20,520
according to Jewish law, you had
to answer.

513
00:30:21,280 –> 00:30:23,000
And that’s exactly what the high
priest had done.

514
00:30:23,000 –> 00:30:25,960
He was breaking the law and
cross examining the prisoner but

515
00:30:25,960 –> 00:30:28,680
demanding by the law that Jesus
answered the question.

516
00:30:28,840 –> 00:30:32,440
And the remarkable thing is,
even though his accusers and the

517
00:30:32,440 –> 00:30:35,120
leaders of the Jews were
breaking law after law and

518
00:30:35,120 –> 00:30:42,400
convicting him that night, Jesus
follows the law and he answers

519
00:30:42,400 –> 00:30:46,240
the question because at that
point, all he had to do was keep

520
00:30:46,240 –> 00:30:49,480
his mouth closed, and according
to the law, he could have been

521
00:30:49,480 –> 00:30:52,200
set free.
His fate was in his own hands,

522
00:30:52,440 –> 00:30:56,080
and he could choose not to be
crucified in that moment.

523
00:30:57,640 –> 00:31:00,520
But he follows their laws.
But more importantly, he follows

524
00:31:00,520 –> 00:31:04,000
the will of God, and they had
him.

525
00:31:07,480 –> 00:31:09,800
So let’s come back to our
original question that we asked

526
00:31:10,000 –> 00:31:11,840
before examining this part of
the story.

527
00:31:13,200 –> 00:31:18,000
Why did it take so long for
Judas and the arrest party to

528
00:31:18,000 –> 00:31:20,600
get to the garden, to arrest
Jesus?

529
00:31:20,880 –> 00:31:23,880
Why did it take hours and hours?
Why didn’t it happen right away?

530
00:31:24,800 –> 00:31:29,160
And the answer is, it had to.
The leaders of the Jews had to

531
00:31:29,160 –> 00:31:31,040
make a split decision.
This is the moment.

532
00:31:31,040 –> 00:31:33,760
But we’ve got to do it tonight.
We’re going to break all of

533
00:31:33,760 –> 00:31:35,280
these laws.
How are we going to do it and

534
00:31:35,280 –> 00:31:37,280
get away with it?
We need witnesses.

535
00:31:37,400 –> 00:31:39,240
They had to rustle up some
witnesses.

536
00:31:39,240 –> 00:31:42,360
They got a lot of witnesses.
But it would take time to do

537
00:31:42,360 –> 00:31:43,960
that.
They’d have to rouse people from

538
00:31:43,960 –> 00:31:46,280
their sleep that they knew would
help them out in the trial.

539
00:31:47,080 –> 00:31:49,520
But things were rushed, so by
the time the trial actually

540
00:31:49,520 –> 00:31:52,760
happens, they hadn’t had time to
properly prepare the witnesses.

541
00:31:53,720 –> 00:31:56,000
And so their stories are all
different and it doesn’t stand

542
00:31:56,000 –> 00:31:57,760
up.
Nevertheless, they had to make

543
00:31:57,760 –> 00:31:59,800
all these arrangements.
They had to get the trial set

544
00:31:59,800 –> 00:32:00,880
up.
They had to wake up all the

545
00:32:00,880 –> 00:32:02,200
members of the Sanhedrin
council.

546
00:32:02,360 –> 00:32:06,080
They had to get the Temple Guard
ready to go with Judas to arrest

547
00:32:06,080 –> 00:32:08,400
Jesus before they finally went
there.

548
00:32:08,720 –> 00:32:11,240
And we find that knowing
everything that had to take

549
00:32:11,240 –> 00:32:13,840
place and all the considerations
that would have been weighing

550
00:32:13,960 –> 00:32:18,160
down these Jewish leaders, it
only could have taken hours and

551
00:32:18,160 –> 00:32:21,960
hours.
If you were one of the writers

552
00:32:21,960 –> 00:32:25,840
of the gospels and you were
making up this store, but you

553
00:32:25,840 –> 00:32:28,160
wanted people to believe it, but
it was fictional.

554
00:32:29,400 –> 00:32:33,280
Don’t you think that you would
write it as if Judas left?

555
00:32:33,720 –> 00:32:35,560
Jesus said what you’re about to
do, do quickly.

556
00:32:35,560 –> 00:32:38,600
And then it did happen quickly.
Because when you don’t think

557
00:32:38,600 –> 00:32:41,080
through all the details and you
don’t examine Jewish law and

558
00:32:41,080 –> 00:32:44,440
Jewish culture and all the
things that had to happen, the

559
00:32:44,440 –> 00:32:47,280
casual reader would think, this
is strange.

560
00:32:47,280 –> 00:32:51,680
Why didn’t it happen right away?
But when we look at all the

561
00:32:51,680 –> 00:32:54,800
details and Jewish law and
Jewish culture and we realize

562
00:32:54,800 –> 00:32:57,840
what had to have happened, it
only makes sense.

563
00:32:58,360 –> 00:33:01,280
A detail like this one, that it
took hours and hours for them to

564
00:33:01,280 –> 00:33:04,080
get there just lines up
perfectly with real life.

565
00:33:05,000 –> 00:33:07,800
And the Bible doesn’t go to any
lengths to explain why it took

566
00:33:07,800 –> 00:33:11,680
so long, because the Bible isn’t
even trying to defend itself

567
00:33:11,680 –> 00:33:13,160
here.
It’s just telling an accurate

568
00:33:13,160 –> 00:33:17,160
account of how things happened.
Now let’s jump forward to the

569
00:33:17,160 –> 00:33:25,720
resurrection, because as we saw
last night, ancient historians

570
00:33:25,720 –> 00:33:28,440
and modern historians alike are
confronted with a problem.

571
00:33:28,440 –> 00:33:31,000
If they don’t believe that the
resurrection really happened,

572
00:33:31,000 –> 00:33:35,800
which many of them don’t,
because all accounts in our

573
00:33:35,800 –> 00:33:37,800
history points to the fact that
it did.

574
00:33:38,680 –> 00:33:40,400
And nothing has really come down
to us.

575
00:33:40,400 –> 00:33:42,880
Despite all of the chances that
people would have had and all

576
00:33:42,880 –> 00:33:46,320
the people that were opposed to
the Christian religion to say

577
00:33:46,320 –> 00:33:49,520
no, this didn’t really happen,
nothing has come down to us to

578
00:33:49,520 –> 00:33:54,280
say that that’s the case, that
the tomb wasn’t empty.

579
00:33:56,680 –> 00:33:59,520
And so there are a lot of
theories that go into explaining

580
00:34:00,280 –> 00:34:03,720
how this might have happened.
Why was it that the tomb of

581
00:34:03,840 –> 00:34:05,920
Jesus was empty?
Because it seems to be a

582
00:34:05,920 –> 00:34:09,480
historical fact that it was.
So I’m going to, I’m going to

583
00:34:09,480 –> 00:34:11,080
tell you about some of these
theories now.

584
00:34:11,800 –> 00:34:15,280
And the first four of them we’re
going to go through pretty

585
00:34:15,280 –> 00:34:17,840
quickly because I think we can
explain them away pretty

586
00:34:17,840 –> 00:34:19,280
quickly.
They’re not particularly

587
00:34:19,600 –> 00:34:21,080
believable.
And then we’ll spend some more

588
00:34:21,080 –> 00:34:24,480
time on the fifth one.
So the first theory is what’s

589
00:34:24,480 –> 00:34:29,159
known as the swoon theory.
This theory goes something like

590
00:34:29,159 –> 00:34:31,080
this.
Jesus didn’t actually die on the

591
00:34:31,080 –> 00:34:33,639
cross.
He did suffer crucifixion, but

592
00:34:33,639 –> 00:34:36,920
he just fainted at the end of
it, and the soldiers and

593
00:34:36,920 –> 00:34:39,480
everybody else thought he was
dead, took him down from the

594
00:34:39,480 –> 00:34:41,000
cross.
They wrapped him up, put him in

595
00:34:41,000 –> 00:34:44,520
the tomb, and then he woke up
and left.

596
00:34:46,400 –> 00:34:49,400
Now the incredible thing about
this theory is that if, if it

597
00:34:49,400 –> 00:34:54,520
were true, everybody mistook
Jesus for dead, he survives

598
00:34:54,520 –> 00:34:58,520
crucifixion.
He’s wrapped tightly up into the

599
00:34:58,520 –> 00:35:03,680
burial linens placed inside the
tomb and in his incredibly

600
00:35:03,680 –> 00:35:06,160
weakened condition.
In his emaciated state, having

601
00:35:06,160 –> 00:35:09,680
just survived crucifixion, he
wakes up, is able to somehow

602
00:35:09,680 –> 00:35:13,840
break free of the burial linens,
and then roll away the stone of

603
00:35:13,840 –> 00:35:17,200
the tomb, which weighed over a
ton and took a team of soldiers

604
00:35:17,200 –> 00:35:19,760
and horses with ropes and
pulleys to pull it into place.

605
00:35:20,240 –> 00:35:23,680
He’s able to push that away by
himself, just this regular guy,

606
00:35:24,240 –> 00:35:28,840
and I think we can dismiss the
swoon theory out of hand now.

607
00:35:28,840 –> 00:35:31,320
Another theory is is the theft
theory.

608
00:35:31,560 –> 00:35:35,880
The theft theory says either the
Jews like the Jewish leaders or

609
00:35:35,880 –> 00:35:40,880
the Romans stole the body of
Jesus, perhaps to keep it away

610
00:35:40,880 –> 00:35:44,840
from his disciples.
Maybe that could explain why the

611
00:35:44,840 –> 00:35:47,280
tomb was empty.
They themselves took the body.

612
00:35:48,320 –> 00:35:50,920
Now if that were true, you have
to ask yourself this question

613
00:35:52,200 –> 00:35:54,400
immediately.
The leaders of the Jews had a

614
00:35:54,400 –> 00:35:57,400
problem on their hands.
The tomb was empty.

615
00:35:57,680 –> 00:35:59,760
This was a big problem for them.
They didn’t like it.

616
00:36:01,200 –> 00:36:05,240
If they had stolen the body of
Jesus, it would be as simple as

617
00:36:05,240 –> 00:36:08,240
saying just several weeks after
the resurrection, when the

618
00:36:08,240 –> 00:36:12,400
apostles are saying he has been
raised, the Lord has risen, The

619
00:36:12,400 –> 00:36:14,880
Jewish leaders could have said
no, here’s his body, we’ve got

620
00:36:14,880 –> 00:36:17,120
it.
And Christianity would have died

621
00:36:17,120 –> 00:36:19,480
right there.
Don’t you think they would have

622
00:36:19,480 –> 00:36:22,240
done it now?
The same is true with the

623
00:36:22,240 –> 00:36:25,000
Romans.
It would take a few years for

624
00:36:25,000 –> 00:36:27,880
the Romans to really start to
hate Christianity, but they

625
00:36:27,880 –> 00:36:29,160
would.
We’re going to talk about that a

626
00:36:29,160 –> 00:36:31,240
lot in the last class tomorrow
morning.

627
00:36:31,240 –> 00:36:35,200
The rapid spread of Christianity
after just a few years went by.

628
00:36:35,200 –> 00:36:38,200
The Romans would really, really
like to be able to just kill

629
00:36:38,200 –> 00:36:41,600
Christianity.
Don’t you think If they had

630
00:36:41,600 –> 00:36:44,080
stolen the body of Jesus, they
would have just brought it out

631
00:36:45,280 –> 00:36:48,680
and Christianity would have died
right there and they never did.

632
00:36:49,640 –> 00:36:53,000
I don’t think the Jews or the
Romans stole the body of Jesus.

633
00:36:53,680 –> 00:36:56,400
Now there’s also the
hallucination theory, which says

634
00:36:56,400 –> 00:36:59,680
that the disciples of Jesus and
everybody else who saw the risen

635
00:36:59,680 –> 00:37:03,040
Lord Paul tells us that over 500
people saw him at one time.

636
00:37:03,040 –> 00:37:07,000
Everybody was hallucinating.
They all saw the same thing.

637
00:37:07,720 –> 00:37:10,440
Now, if you know anything about
hallucination, then you can

638
00:37:10,440 –> 00:37:13,880
probably understand why.
This is kind of an incredible

639
00:37:14,200 –> 00:37:16,680
theory.
Those who those people who are

640
00:37:16,680 –> 00:37:19,720
prone to hallucinations tend to
have certain characteristics.

641
00:37:19,720 –> 00:37:22,480
They tend to be high strung,
nervous, and have a

642
00:37:22,480 –> 00:37:24,560
predisposition towards what they
want to see.

643
00:37:24,760 –> 00:37:27,120
Now you can certainly say that
maybe about the disciples right

644
00:37:27,120 –> 00:37:29,640
after the death of Jesus, they
would really like to have seen

645
00:37:29,920 –> 00:37:33,840
the risen Lord, but what about
all the 500 people at once?

646
00:37:33,840 –> 00:37:38,240
You see, hallucinations tend to
happen in claustrophobic tight

647
00:37:38,240 –> 00:37:43,280
spaces inside, in the dark, not
in broad daylight outside.

648
00:37:44,920 –> 00:37:48,240
How can you explain all 12
disciples seeing the exact same

649
00:37:48,240 –> 00:37:51,680
hallucination at the same time?
Or even more than that?

650
00:37:51,800 –> 00:37:55,320
500 people at one time all
seeing the same thing at the

651
00:37:55,320 –> 00:37:57,040
same time, the same
hallucination?

652
00:37:57,040 –> 00:37:59,920
That’s not real.
And even if you’re willing to

653
00:37:59,920 –> 00:38:02,760
accept that, how do you explain
that all these people who

654
00:38:02,760 –> 00:38:06,480
continue to hallucinate and see
Jesus in various situations, all

655
00:38:06,480 –> 00:38:10,200
their hallucinations stopped at
exactly the same time?

656
00:38:11,520 –> 00:38:14,040
If you don’t believe in God and
miracles and Jesus being

657
00:38:14,040 –> 00:38:16,480
anything other than a regular
human being, how do you explain

658
00:38:16,480 –> 00:38:19,680
that and you can’t?
I don’t think we can give any

659
00:38:19,680 –> 00:38:21,560
credence to the hallucination
theory.

660
00:38:22,200 –> 00:38:25,880
There’s the wrong tomb theory
which says that when the women

661
00:38:25,880 –> 00:38:30,680
first found the empty tomb, you
know, they didn’t have GPS and

662
00:38:30,680 –> 00:38:31,960
they just were in the wrong
place.

663
00:38:31,960 –> 00:38:34,520
They went to the wrong tomb
which happened to be empty and

664
00:38:34,680 –> 00:38:38,680
it was just a geographical error
and and they never went to the

665
00:38:38,680 –> 00:38:42,040
real place.
But we know for sure that that

666
00:38:42,040 –> 00:38:44,160
there are a couple people who
knew exactly where the body of

667
00:38:44,160 –> 00:38:47,760
Jesus was.
One was Joseph of Arimathea.

668
00:38:47,760 –> 00:38:51,280
It was his tomb.
So don’t you think as soon as he

669
00:38:51,280 –> 00:38:55,080
heard the news that Jesus was
risen he’d he’d say, oh run back

670
00:38:55,080 –> 00:38:57,680
to his tomb and and the stone
would be rolled away.

671
00:38:57,880 –> 00:39:00,200
If it wasn’t.
If it was still there, the stone

672
00:39:00,200 –> 00:39:02,320
was still there.
Don’t you think he would have

673
00:39:02,320 –> 00:39:04,520
said no you guys are just at the
wrong tomb.

674
00:39:05,800 –> 00:39:09,320
And more than that, the record
tells us that the women who who

675
00:39:09,360 –> 00:39:13,520
found the tomb empty before
anybody else, when Jesus was

676
00:39:13,520 –> 00:39:18,040
taken down from the cross and he
was wrapped up and taken to his

677
00:39:18,040 –> 00:39:21,720
burial place, to the tomb, they
marked the place where he was

678
00:39:21,720 –> 00:39:23,520
laid.
That’s how they knew to come

679
00:39:23,520 –> 00:39:27,000
back to the right spot.
I don’t think we can give much

680
00:39:27,000 –> 00:39:29,280
credence to the wrong tomb
theory either.

681
00:39:29,840 –> 00:39:32,640
Which brings us to the most
credible theory of all to

682
00:39:32,640 –> 00:39:38,000
explain away why the tomb could
have been empty, which is the

683
00:39:38,000 –> 00:39:43,480
fraud theory, and this one
actually starts in the Bible.

684
00:39:44,680 –> 00:39:48,160
Fraud theory says the disciples
stole the body.

685
00:39:49,240 –> 00:39:57,720
Come with me to Matthew chapter
28 and the Roman soldiers who

686
00:39:57,720 –> 00:39:59,960
were guarding the tomb.
I’m sure many of you are aware

687
00:39:59,960 –> 00:40:02,600
of this.
They had a problem because they

688
00:40:02,600 –> 00:40:09,960
woke up and the tomb was empty.
And the penalty for failing

689
00:40:09,960 –> 00:40:13,120
guard duty in the Roman army was
death.

690
00:40:14,200 –> 00:40:17,920
If it became known to their
leaders, to their centurions

691
00:40:17,920 –> 00:40:22,800
that that their prisoner who was
dead had escaped, they would be

692
00:40:22,800 –> 00:40:25,040
put to death.
They know that.

693
00:40:25,200 –> 00:40:27,880
So they don’t go to their
leaders, They go to the Jewish

694
00:40:27,880 –> 00:40:30,280
leaders who had paid them to be
there in the 1st place.

695
00:40:30,520 –> 00:40:32,280
And they say help us out, help
us out.

696
00:40:32,280 –> 00:40:34,400
We don’t know what to do here.
Can you please help us?

697
00:40:37,840 –> 00:40:39,880
And this is what the leaders of
the Jews say to them.

698
00:40:39,880 –> 00:40:45,680
In verse 13 of Matthew chapter
28, the Jewish leader said to

699
00:40:45,680 –> 00:40:50,640
these soldiers tell people his
disciples came by night and

700
00:40:50,640 –> 00:40:53,160
stole him away while we were
asleep.

701
00:40:53,840 –> 00:40:57,040
And if this comes to the
governor’s ears, we will satisfy

702
00:40:57,040 –> 00:41:02,840
him and keep you out of trouble.
So they say, look, this is a

703
00:41:02,840 –> 00:41:05,600
problem for us too.
So here’s what we’ll do.

704
00:41:06,240 –> 00:41:08,520
You tell everybody that you fell
asleep on the job.

705
00:41:08,920 –> 00:41:11,960
Now, we know normally you’d be
put to death for that, but we

706
00:41:11,960 –> 00:41:14,840
bribed our leaders, so we’ll
make sure, because they’re on

707
00:41:14,840 –> 00:41:17,520
our payroll, that they won’t do
anything to you.

708
00:41:17,880 –> 00:41:21,080
And you just tell this story for
us and everything will be fine.

709
00:41:21,560 –> 00:41:23,320
And that’s the story that they
tell.

710
00:41:23,720 –> 00:41:25,920
And we’ll see in a minute.
That’s the story that the Jews

711
00:41:25,920 –> 00:41:29,800
would still be telling people
several 100 years later that the

712
00:41:29,800 –> 00:41:33,280
disciples stole the body.
Now the 1st and immediate

713
00:41:33,280 –> 00:41:36,200
question that I would ask in
this situation is if if

714
00:41:36,200 –> 00:41:38,600
somebody’s telling me that the
disciples stole the body of

715
00:41:38,720 –> 00:41:42,040
Jesus and perpetrated a lie on
the entire world to tell

716
00:41:42,040 –> 00:41:45,160
everybody he has risen and
started a new religion based on

717
00:41:45,160 –> 00:41:47,640
this lie that Jesus was
resurrected from the dead.

718
00:41:49,480 –> 00:41:54,320
I’d say if the soldiers never
actually fell asleep, they were

719
00:41:54,320 –> 00:41:57,320
awake, then why didn’t they stop
the disciples?

720
00:41:58,400 –> 00:42:02,280
And if they had fallen asleep at
the at their post, then how did

721
00:42:02,280 –> 00:42:05,680
they know it was the disciples?
You see, there’s a conundrum

722
00:42:05,680 –> 00:42:07,800
here.
Either way, their story doesn’t

723
00:42:07,800 –> 00:42:11,320
add up logically, but I’m going
to give you some more evidence I

724
00:42:11,320 –> 00:42:16,560
think of of why we we can’t
really trust in the fraud theory

725
00:42:16,560 –> 00:42:18,800
either way.
It doesn’t hold up some some

726
00:42:18,800 –> 00:42:22,040
additional evidence.
And the first one, the first

727
00:42:22,040 –> 00:42:25,840
piece of evidence I’ll submit
for you is is the life of the

728
00:42:25,840 –> 00:42:31,720
half brother of Jesus, James,
known by many at the time as

729
00:42:31,720 –> 00:42:35,680
James the Just.
He would eventually be the de

730
00:42:35,680 –> 00:42:38,720
facto leader of the largest
ecclesia in the world, the

731
00:42:38,720 –> 00:42:45,480
Jerusalem Ecclesia.
But while Jesus was alive and up

732
00:42:45,640 –> 00:42:49,840
until he was crucified, James
was not a believer.

733
00:42:49,840 –> 00:42:53,040
He was a skeptic.
You remember that story when

734
00:42:53,120 –> 00:42:57,240
Jesus was was preaching to a
crowd of people and his mother

735
00:42:57,240 –> 00:42:59,240
and his brothers try to get to
him.

736
00:43:00,040 –> 00:43:02,200
They want to give him a message.
And the message we presume they

737
00:43:02,200 –> 00:43:05,160
want to give to him is come down
from your soapbox and stop

738
00:43:05,160 –> 00:43:08,840
talking all this nonsense.
But they can’t get to him

739
00:43:09,440 –> 00:43:11,160
because the crowd is so tightly
packed.

740
00:43:11,160 –> 00:43:13,280
So they send a message up
through the crowd and the

741
00:43:13,280 –> 00:43:15,720
message gets to Jesus and the
message is your mother and your

742
00:43:15,720 –> 00:43:17,320
brethren are outside and they
want to speak to you.

743
00:43:17,320 –> 00:43:20,240
Do you remember what Jesus said?
The message that he said that

744
00:43:20,240 –> 00:43:23,440
went all the way back reached.
Reach them on the outside of the

745
00:43:23,440 –> 00:43:26,560
crowd, he said March, chapter 3,
verse 35.

746
00:43:27,000 –> 00:43:31,600
Whoever does the will of God is
my brother and sister and

747
00:43:31,600 –> 00:43:34,280
mother.
Now Can you imagine if you were

748
00:43:34,280 –> 00:43:37,040
the brother of Jesus and this is
the message you got?

749
00:43:39,600 –> 00:43:42,320
They’re not my true family.
If they’re not doing the will of

750
00:43:42,320 –> 00:43:45,600
God, how must that have made him
feel?

751
00:43:46,640 –> 00:43:50,440
And in Mark chapter 6 and verse
three and four, the people said

752
00:43:50,440 –> 00:43:52,880
this about Jesus.
Is not this the Carpenter, the

753
00:43:52,880 –> 00:43:56,480
son of Mary, the brother of
James and Joseph, and of Judah

754
00:43:56,480 –> 00:43:59,080
and Simon, and are not his
sisters here with us?

755
00:43:59,640 –> 00:44:03,760
And they were offended at him.
But Jesus said unto them, A

756
00:44:03,760 –> 00:44:07,480
prophet is not without honor,
but in his own country, and

757
00:44:07,480 –> 00:44:11,560
among his own kin and in his own
house.

758
00:44:12,040 –> 00:44:15,240
And Jesus could only say that
because his own family didn’t

759
00:44:15,240 –> 00:44:17,440
believe that he was truly the
Son of God.

760
00:44:18,640 –> 00:44:22,760
And if we doubt that at this
point, then the nail in the

761
00:44:22,760 –> 00:44:26,840
coffin is John Chapter 7 verse 5
which says simply neither did

762
00:44:26,840 –> 00:44:32,120
his brethren believe in him.
James did not believe that Jesus

763
00:44:32,120 –> 00:44:35,720
was who he said he was.
All throughout Jesus ministry

764
00:44:35,920 –> 00:44:41,040
James did not believe.
And then Jesus dies and people

765
00:44:41,040 –> 00:44:42,960
are saying he’s been resurrected
from the dead.

766
00:44:43,720 –> 00:44:46,960
And Paul records this and 1st
Corinthians chapter 15 and those

767
00:44:46,960 –> 00:44:49,280
famous verses, verses five to
seven.

768
00:44:49,280 –> 00:44:52,200
He says that Jesus was seen of
of Cephas who is Peter.

769
00:44:52,720 –> 00:44:57,040
Then of the 12 after that he was
seen of above 500 brethren at

770
00:44:57,040 –> 00:45:00,600
once, of whom the greater part
remain unto this present, but

771
00:45:00,600 –> 00:45:04,880
some are falling asleep.
And after that he was seen of

772
00:45:05,400 –> 00:45:08,600
James, and then of all the
apostles.

773
00:45:09,880 –> 00:45:13,160
Now I would ask you what can
explain the conversion of this

774
00:45:13,160 –> 00:45:16,440
man who is a historical figure
outside the Bible, James the

775
00:45:16,440 –> 00:45:21,280
Just, the half brother of Jesus,
a skeptic.

776
00:45:21,360 –> 00:45:24,480
Jesus has been crucified.
What could convince this man to

777
00:45:24,480 –> 00:45:27,640
believe if Jesus wasn’t
resurrected from the dead?

778
00:45:28,320 –> 00:45:31,360
But Paul says that Jesus made a
special visit to James.

779
00:45:31,360 –> 00:45:33,360
He appeared unto him
specifically.

780
00:45:35,520 –> 00:45:38,720
I’d say there’s no good
explanation other than that that

781
00:45:38,720 –> 00:45:41,760
Jesus really was raised from the
dead.

782
00:45:42,560 –> 00:45:45,000
The historian Josephus, who
lived just after the time of the

783
00:45:45,000 –> 00:45:50,800
apostles, wrote about James.
He talks about the high priest

784
00:45:50,800 –> 00:45:53,720
at the time and the fact that he
was away at this time.

785
00:45:53,720 –> 00:45:57,240
It’s the context, this quote.
Festus was now dead, and Albinus

786
00:45:57,240 –> 00:46:00,880
was but upon the road.
So he that is the acting High

787
00:46:00,880 –> 00:46:04,400
priest.
Ananus assembled the Sanhedrin

788
00:46:04,400 –> 00:46:07,480
of judges and brought before
them the brother of Jesus, who

789
00:46:07,480 –> 00:46:10,800
was called Christ, whose name
was James and some of his

790
00:46:10,800 –> 00:46:13,440
companions.
And when he had formed an

791
00:46:13,440 –> 00:46:16,960
accusation against them as
Breakers of the law, he

792
00:46:16,960 –> 00:46:21,440
delivered them to be stoned.
Now of course the Bible tells us

793
00:46:21,440 –> 00:46:23,800
that James James was a faithful
man.

794
00:46:23,800 –> 00:46:27,400
Of course we have the the
epistle of James within the the

795
00:46:27,400 –> 00:46:30,480
New Testament Canon.
He was the leader of the

796
00:46:30,480 –> 00:46:35,400
Jerusalem Ecclesia, it would
seem, and all but name and

797
00:46:35,400 –> 00:46:37,960
historians outside the Bible
tells us he was put to death.

798
00:46:37,960 –> 00:46:41,240
The historian Josephus over and
above, or Eusebius rather over

799
00:46:41,240 –> 00:46:44,800
and above.
Josephus tells us that James was

800
00:46:44,800 –> 00:46:51,080
killed by the angry Jewish
leaders because he refused to

801
00:46:51,080 –> 00:46:53,280
refute what he had been saying
all along.

802
00:46:53,280 –> 00:46:55,960
That Jesus was the Son of God
and that he had been raised from

803
00:46:55,960 –> 00:46:59,840
the dead and he would lose his
life because he refused to

804
00:46:59,840 –> 00:47:03,840
renounce that Jesus, Jesus of
Nazareth, that he was the Son of

805
00:47:03,840 –> 00:47:08,640
God and he would die for it.
How can we explain James the

806
00:47:08,640 –> 00:47:12,680
Just and his conversion if Jesus
wasn’t raised from the dead?

807
00:47:14,280 –> 00:47:20,000
Now also the writers of the
gospels agree that the first

808
00:47:20,000 –> 00:47:24,720
people who discovered that the
tomb of Jesus was empty were

809
00:47:24,720 –> 00:47:28,320
women.
Now this might not seem like an

810
00:47:28,320 –> 00:47:32,480
important detail to you, but you
have to understand the culture

811
00:47:32,480 –> 00:47:37,200
at the time.
Because if this was, again, if

812
00:47:37,200 –> 00:47:39,880
this was a fictional story and
the writers were making it up,

813
00:47:39,880 –> 00:47:43,240
but they wanted us to believe,
the very last thing they would

814
00:47:43,240 –> 00:47:45,920
do is have this detail in the
story.

815
00:47:46,440 –> 00:47:49,280
Women being the first people who
discovered the body.

816
00:47:49,280 –> 00:47:53,360
Because the Jewish mindset was
pretty antiquated, it was pretty

817
00:47:53,360 –> 00:47:55,400
draconian.
They didn’t have a lot of

818
00:47:55,400 –> 00:47:57,320
respect for the intelligence of
women.

819
00:47:59,480 –> 00:48:02,360
This is what it has to say about
the right of a woman to testify

820
00:48:02,360 –> 00:48:04,600
in a trial in the in the
Jerusalem Talmud.

821
00:48:05,840 –> 00:48:08,760
It’s talking about in this case,
and I apologize that translation

822
00:48:08,760 –> 00:48:12,840
in English isn’t great, but it’s
talking about the if a thief, a

823
00:48:12,840 –> 00:48:15,640
known thief was to test to try
to testify as a witness in a

824
00:48:15,640 –> 00:48:20,120
trial, any evidence which a
woman gives is not valid to

825
00:48:20,120 –> 00:48:22,600
offer.
Also they that is a thief are

826
00:48:22,600 –> 00:48:24,960
not valid to offer.
This is equivalent to saying

827
00:48:24,960 –> 00:48:28,040
that one who is rabbinically
accounted a robber is qualified

828
00:48:28,040 –> 00:48:31,520
to give the same evidence as a
woman, which is to say none at

829
00:48:31,520 –> 00:48:33,760
all.
Thieves were not allowed to be

830
00:48:33,760 –> 00:48:37,040
witnesses in trials and neither
were women.

831
00:48:38,000 –> 00:48:42,360
It was against Jewish law.
Another place in the Talmud says

832
00:48:42,360 –> 00:48:45,720
let the law be burned rather
than entrusted to a woman.

833
00:48:45,840 –> 00:48:48,440
Women were not to be educated,
they were not to be trusted with

834
00:48:48,440 –> 00:48:52,480
any kind of knowledge like this
in Jewish society at this time.

835
00:48:52,800 –> 00:48:55,400
And if we want to know why,
let’s just turn to Josephus and

836
00:48:55,400 –> 00:48:57,760
let him explain why he thinks
that should be.

837
00:48:58,160 –> 00:49:01,280
He says, let not the testimony
of women be admitted on account

838
00:49:01,280 –> 00:49:05,160
of the levity and boldness of
their sex, nor let servants be

839
00:49:05,160 –> 00:49:07,600
admitted to give testimony on
account of the Igno ability of

840
00:49:07,600 –> 00:49:11,360
their soul, since it is probable
that they may not speak truth

841
00:49:11,360 –> 00:49:13,840
either out of hope or gain or
fear of punishment.

842
00:49:14,240 –> 00:49:16,760
See, the general mindset at the
time is that women are silly

843
00:49:16,760 –> 00:49:19,920
creatures, not to be trusted.
They believe anything they hear.

844
00:49:20,480 –> 00:49:24,400
So the very last thing that
somebody writing a fictional

845
00:49:24,400 –> 00:49:27,040
account in the Gospels of the
discovery of the empty tomb

846
00:49:27,280 –> 00:49:30,880
would would say is that the very
first witnesses of the empty

847
00:49:30,880 –> 00:49:35,680
tomb were women.
And yet that’s what happened.

848
00:49:36,240 –> 00:49:42,240
So that’s what they wrote.
And generations later, that same

849
00:49:42,240 –> 00:49:45,480
story that the Jews told the
centurions to tell everybody

850
00:49:45,480 –> 00:49:49,600
that the disciples had stole the
body is what the Jews were still

851
00:49:49,600 –> 00:49:53,080
saying.
Here’s Justin Martyr, one of the

852
00:49:53,080 –> 00:49:55,760
earliest Christian apologist.
A Christian apologist is

853
00:49:55,760 –> 00:50:00,920
somebody who defends the
Christian faith, and he says

854
00:50:03,680 –> 00:50:06,840
sometime around 108 AD.
So after the time of the of the

855
00:50:06,840 –> 00:50:10,200
apostles, about a generation
later, the resurrection of

856
00:50:10,200 –> 00:50:14,920
Christ did not convert the Jews,
but through the whole world they

857
00:50:14,920 –> 00:50:18,480
have sent men to accuse Christ.
And though all the men of your

858
00:50:18,480 –> 00:50:21,760
nation knew the incidents in the
life of Jonah, and though Christ

859
00:50:21,760 –> 00:50:26,200
said amongst you that he would
give the sign of Jonah, yet you

860
00:50:26,200 –> 00:50:29,640
not only have not repented after
you learned that he rose from

861
00:50:29,640 –> 00:50:32,120
the dead.
But, as I said before, you have

862
00:50:32,120 –> 00:50:35,800
sent chosen and ordained men
through all the world to

863
00:50:35,800 –> 00:50:39,280
proclaim that a godless and
lawless heresy had sprung from

864
00:50:39,280 –> 00:50:43,760
one Jesus, a Galilean deceiver
whom we crucified.

865
00:50:44,000 –> 00:50:47,120
But his disciples stole him by
night from the tomb where he was

866
00:50:47,120 –> 00:50:50,840
laid when unfastened from the
cross, and now deceive men by

867
00:50:50,840 –> 00:50:54,680
asserting that he has risen from
the dead and ascended to heaven.

868
00:50:55,400 –> 00:50:58,880
And a generation later this was
still the only and the best

869
00:50:58,880 –> 00:51:02,240
story they had.
They couldn’t dispute the fact

870
00:51:02,240 –> 00:51:06,040
that the tomb was empty, so they
had to tell this story that the

871
00:51:06,040 –> 00:51:10,320
disciples stole the body.
And even a generation or two

872
00:51:10,320 –> 00:51:13,920
after him, another Christian,
his Tertullian, is saying this

873
00:51:13,920 –> 00:51:16,920
sarcastically, speaking for
sarcastically, from the tone of

874
00:51:16,920 –> 00:51:20,680
voice of a non believer at the
time.

875
00:51:21,240 –> 00:51:24,240
This is he whom his disciples
secretly stole away, that it

876
00:51:24,240 –> 00:51:26,640
might be said he had risen
again, or the gardener

877
00:51:26,640 –> 00:51:29,800
abstracted that his lettuces
might come to no harm from the

878
00:51:29,800 –> 00:51:35,640
crowds of visitants.
This was the message of the

879
00:51:35,640 –> 00:51:38,360
Jewish leaders who were not
Christians who despised

880
00:51:38,360 –> 00:51:40,640
Christianity.
Generations later, after the

881
00:51:40,640 –> 00:51:44,800
fact, this was still the best
story that they had to explain

882
00:51:44,800 –> 00:51:48,880
away the resurrection that the
disciples had stole the body,

883
00:51:50,840 –> 00:51:54,400
and it’s all they had.
And as I’ve submitted to you, I

884
00:51:54,400 –> 00:51:56,320
don’t think that theory holds up
either.

885
00:51:57,000 –> 00:51:59,880
As much as anything is a
historical fact, is it?

886
00:51:59,880 –> 00:52:04,360
It is a historical fact that the
tomb of Jesus was empty and more

887
00:52:04,360 –> 00:52:06,800
than that, that he really was
raised from the dead.

888
00:52:08,040 –> 00:52:11,480
And back in the 1930s, a man
named Albert Henry Ross set out

889
00:52:11,480 –> 00:52:14,080
to write a book.
He was a journalist with some

890
00:52:14,080 –> 00:52:19,040
training in in as a as a lawyer
and he set out to write a book

891
00:52:19,040 –> 00:52:22,480
that he was going to use as a
criticism of the New Testament.

892
00:52:22,480 –> 00:52:25,640
This is going to be a critical
in depth examination of of the

893
00:52:25,640 –> 00:52:29,640
four gospel accounts,
specifically detailing the the

894
00:52:29,640 –> 00:52:33,400
trial and crucifixion story of
Jesus.

895
00:52:33,840 –> 00:52:36,440
He was a skeptic.
He had been a Christian, gone to

896
00:52:36,440 –> 00:52:39,400
a Christian Church when he had
grown up, but as an adult he’d

897
00:52:39,400 –> 00:52:42,040
stopped going, didn’t believe it
anymore, but was very interested

898
00:52:42,040 –> 00:52:44,680
in the stories.
He set out to look at all the

899
00:52:44,680 –> 00:52:48,320
details of Jewish law and the
culture at the time, and to look

900
00:52:48,320 –> 00:52:51,360
in depth at the original
languages and the Gospels to see

901
00:52:51,360 –> 00:52:52,800
if the details of the story
lined up.

902
00:52:52,800 –> 00:52:56,760
But his intent was to pick it
apart piece by piece, and at the

903
00:52:56,760 –> 00:52:59,200
end he wrote a book called Who
Moved the Stone?

904
00:53:02,000 –> 00:53:06,280
And he changed his mind because
his book was the opposite of

905
00:53:06,280 –> 00:53:09,320
what he intended it to be.
It’s today one of the most

906
00:53:09,320 –> 00:53:11,400
famous Christian apologetic
works.

907
00:53:11,800 –> 00:53:15,600
It goes piece by piece through
the trial and crucifixion of

908
00:53:15,600 –> 00:53:19,120
Jesus, examining every part in
critical detail.

909
00:53:19,640 –> 00:53:25,000
And the conclusion is, from
everything that I can tell, this

910
00:53:25,000 –> 00:53:29,680
really did happen.
Here’s a quote from towards the

911
00:53:29,680 –> 00:53:35,800
end of the book.
This is what he has to say, he

912
00:53:35,800 –> 00:53:37,840
wrote under the pen name Frank
Morrison.

913
00:53:39,440 –> 00:53:42,440
He said if it could be shown
that there was a single

914
00:53:42,440 –> 00:53:46,200
document, if of admittedly early
date, dealing with the

915
00:53:46,200 –> 00:53:50,080
crucifixion and burial of Jesus,
and which it was even remotely

916
00:53:50,080 –> 00:53:52,840
hinted that such was the case,
that is to say that the

917
00:53:52,840 –> 00:53:54,920
disciples had stole the body of
Jesus.

918
00:53:55,640 –> 00:53:59,640
I for one should attach to that
hint very considerable weight.

919
00:54:01,320 –> 00:54:04,280
Yet in all the very literature
from that far off time, written

920
00:54:04,280 –> 00:54:07,160
under different skies by men of
varying temperaments, possessed

921
00:54:07,160 –> 00:54:10,280
of obviously divergent theories
of the true course of those

922
00:54:10,280 –> 00:54:14,480
memorable events, there has come
down to us no hint or suggestion

923
00:54:14,640 –> 00:54:16,920
that the facts about the grave
were other than those

924
00:54:16,920 –> 00:54:21,240
substantially recorded in the
Gospel According To Mark.

925
00:54:22,440 –> 00:54:26,120
However disconcerting the fact
may be, the literary verdict is

926
00:54:26,120 –> 00:54:29,160
unanimous and must at least be
given its due weight by the

927
00:54:29,160 –> 00:54:33,120
impartial mind.
Now we showed a quote from an

928
00:54:33,120 –> 00:54:36,080
atheist who changed his mind
last night and he said all my

929
00:54:36,080 –> 00:54:40,880
life I followed the evidence
wherever it leads and now I

930
00:54:40,880 –> 00:54:45,120
followed it to believe in a God.
And here is a man who is a

931
00:54:45,120 –> 00:54:50,640
skeptic who didn’t believe but
he followed the evidence and it

932
00:54:50,640 –> 00:54:53,760
led him to believe when he
looked at every detail and

933
00:54:53,760 –> 00:54:55,560
compare the gospel accounts to
each other.

934
00:54:55,920 –> 00:55:00,040
He said this is a historical
fact that at a point in history

935
00:55:00,040 –> 00:55:02,520
a man really was raised from the
dead.

936
00:55:02,520 –> 00:55:04,960
And you have to ask the question
too.

937
00:55:05,200 –> 00:55:10,240
If again, this was a made-up
story, why would they have it in

938
00:55:10,240 –> 00:55:14,960
Jerusalem, where Jesus was most
strongly opposed?

939
00:55:15,080 –> 00:55:18,200
Why, several weeks later we’ll
read about in Acts chapter 2,

940
00:55:18,440 –> 00:55:21,880
would Jerusalem be the place
where the apostles would go out

941
00:55:21,880 –> 00:55:24,680
and and filled with the Holy
Spirit, preached that the the

942
00:55:24,680 –> 00:55:30,160
Lord was risen.
Jerusalem was a place where

943
00:55:30,160 –> 00:55:33,040
anybody, between dinner and
bedtime, could walk outside the

944
00:55:33,040 –> 00:55:35,880
city walls and look for
themselves to see if the tomb

945
00:55:35,880 –> 00:55:40,280
really was empty.
If this was all made-up, why not

946
00:55:40,280 –> 00:55:43,280
spread this message starting
somewhere else, like Galilee,

947
00:55:43,280 –> 00:55:45,960
where Jesus had family, where he
where is all his enemies

948
00:55:45,960 –> 00:55:48,920
weren’t, because all his enemies
were right there in Jerusalem.

949
00:55:50,080 –> 00:55:54,640
Yet the Christian religion, now
spreading like wildfire, had its

950
00:55:54,640 –> 00:55:58,440
heart in Jerusalem, the very
place where anybody could have

951
00:55:58,440 –> 00:56:01,920
walked outside the gates just a
short distance to visit the

952
00:56:01,920 –> 00:56:06,040
tomb.
And as much as anything is a

953
00:56:06,040 –> 00:56:09,920
historical fact.
The resurrection of Jesus is

954
00:56:10,080 –> 00:56:12,320
historical fact.
And if Jesus really was raised

955
00:56:12,320 –> 00:56:15,560
from the dead, that’s proof,
said Paul, that we can and will

956
00:56:15,560 –> 00:56:18,760
be too.
And that’s proof too, that

957
00:56:18,760 –> 00:56:21,480
everything he said was true,
that he truly was the Son of

958
00:56:21,480 –> 00:56:25,200
God, that the Bible that we have
before us is the message of God.

959
00:56:25,800 –> 00:56:28,040
If that’s really true, then
shouldn’t we be taking this

960
00:56:28,040 –> 00:56:31,240
extremely seriously?
Isn’t this a matter of life and

961
00:56:31,240 –> 00:56:33,480
death?
Isn’t this book more important

962
00:56:33,680 –> 00:56:36,240
than anything else in this life?