The
Resurrection of Jesus and History (Part II)
Matthew
28:1-17 I. THE BODILY RESURRECTED JESUS OF FAITH IS
THE JESUS OF FLESH AND BLOOD HISTORY
D. The Jesus of faith is the Jesus of flesh and blood history (1 John 1:1-3). II.
RATIONAL KNOWLEDGE IS NOT LIMITED TO SCIENCE
A. Science is a rational form of knowledge but not the only form of rational knowledge. There is an assumption in our society that “science” is the only or the highest form of knowledge. We might call this view “scientism” (see Michael Shermer, “The Shamans of Scientism”). B. History is a
rational form of knowledge. C. Is there a mathematical equation demonstrating that Aaron Michael Goerner was born on 4/25/71? Is there an experiment that you could perform in the chemistry lab to prove it? 1. Science generally deals with repeatable events, so science really can’t help us answer whether or not Aaron Michael Goerner was born on 4/25/71. 2. When we look at the empty tomb of Jesus and His bodily resurrection, we need to look at the eyewitness testimony. We need to look at historical documents. D. The Gospels portray the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in courtroom language. 1. In John’s Gospel at least 15 witnesses are brought forth bearing testimony to who Jesus is. 2. John’s “courtroom” uses judicial language some 150 times; terms like: testify, confess, witness, law, truth, testimony, prove, condemned, certified, verdict, judges, judgment, authority to judge, accuse, seal of approval, guilty, charges, criminal, execute. “But God
raised Him from the dead; III. EVEN THOUGH THE HISTORICAL EVIDENCE
DEMONSTRATES THAT JESUS ROSE AGAIN BODILY FROM THE DEAD, MANY REJECT THIS
BECAUSE THE IDEA OF THE DEAD RISING IS UNBELIEVABLE.
A. Is truth dependent upon my subjective feelings about what is believable and what is not? 1. Two hundred years ago it would have been unbelievable to people that man would fly or that we would put a man on the moon. 2. Rejection of the bodily resurrection of Jesus based on what I feel is “unbelievable” isn’t based upon facts, but subjective feelings! It is to exchange emotions for evidence. B. Are some of the claims of Darwinian Evolution “believable”? Professor Richard Lewontin, a geneticist (and self-proclaimed Marxist), is a renowned champion of neo-Darwinism, and one of the world’s leaders in evolutionary biology. ‘We take the side of science in spite of the patent
absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to
fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of
the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so
stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It
is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to
accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary,
that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to
create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce
material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how
mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is an absolute, for
we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.’ Richard Lewontin, ‘Billions and billions of demons’, The New York Review, January 9, 1997, p. 31. [Evolution] is a fairy tale myth. Society has suffered as a result of this adult fantasy. Evolutionists claim their theory is scientific. Where is the
science? I can assure the reader the American Kennel Club would not certify an
ancestor of your dog based on evidence such as paleontologists present.
(Isaac V. Manly, God Made: A Medical
Doctor Looks at the Reality of Creation [Joplin, MO: College Press, 1994] pp.15,117,228). “We are
invited, brethren, most earnestly to go away from the old-fashioned belief of
our forefathers because of the supposed discoveries of science. What is science? The method by which man
tries to conceal his ignorance. It should
not be so, but so it is. You are not
to be dogmatical in theology, my brethren, it is wicked; but for scientific
men it is the correct thing. You are
never to assert anything very strongly; but scientists may boldly assert what
they cannot prove, and may demand a faith far more credulous than any we
possess. Forsooth, you and I are to
take our Bibles and shape and mould our belief according to the ever-shifting
teachings of so-called scientific men.
What folly is this! Why, the march of science, falsely so called,
through the world may be traced by exploded fallacies and abandoned
theories. Former explorers once adored
are now ridiculed; the continual wreckings of false hypotheses is a matter of
universal notoriety. You may tell
where the learned have encamped by the debris left behind of suppositions and
theories as plentiful as broken bottles” (The
Sword and the Trowel, C.H. Spurgeon [1877], p.197). C. The claims of Jesus’ resurrection are extraordinary, but they’re not “unbelievable”. D. For many of Jesus’ disciples, His bodily resurrection was “unbelievable.”
3. Mary Magdalene mistook Jesus for the gardener (John 20:14-16). In the late 2nd century,
the Roman pagan attacked Christian belief in the resurrection by saying, “But we
must examine this question whether anyone who really died ever rose again
with the same body. Alternatively, do you think that the stories of these
others are really the legends that they appear to be, and yet that the ending
of your tragedy is to be regarded as noble and convincing — his cry from the
cross when he expired, and the earthquake and the darkness? While he was
alive he did not help himself, but after death he rose again and showed the
marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. However, who says
this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of those who
were deluded by the same sorcery, who either dreamt in a certain state of
mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken
notion (an experience that has happened to thousands)” (Celsus in Origen, Contra
Celsum 2.55). 4. Jesus had been declared guilty for blasphemy by the Sanhedrin. According to the law, Jesus had died the accursed death of crucifixion. And now after three days He was alive and walking around again?! QUESTIONS FOR
SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION Pray that God would enable
you and give you the desire to be conformed to His Word as read and preached
today. Are faith and knowledge
separate and distinct? Is science the only form of
rational knowledge? What was the point of the
birthday illustration? Read through John’s Gospel
this week taking special note of the “courtroom” setting. Why are the claims of
Darwinian Evolution “unbelievable”? Give examples of how some of
the disciples of Jesus initially thought His resurrection was “unbelievable.” |
