The Case of the Empty Tomb
Introduction
Imagine with me that we picked up a newspaper on Good Friday. And in big bold letters the front page headline reads, "Jesus Christ's Body Discovered"? What if some archaeologists discovered the embalmed body of Jesus somewhere near Jerusalem? Let's suppose his body was preserved so well that you could clearly see the nail holes in his hands and feet, as well as the hole in his side from where the Roman executioner ran his spear up into his heart to make sure he was dead. The crown of thorns and the wooden sign that read, "King of the Jews" are also in the grave with his body.
What would it mean if Jesus did not rise physically from the dead? What would it mean to you personally? Would you still call yourself a Christian? Would you still go to church? Would you still come to youth group? Would you live your life differently? I think the answers to those questions will come out of the answers to three bigger questions. The first question is, Does it really matter if Jesus rose from the dead? The second question is, Can we know for sure that he did rise from the dead? The third question is, So What? In other words How is it relevant to my life?
Does it really matter if Jesus rose from the dead?
First, let's tackle the question, Does it really matter if Jesus rose from the dead? Some people say, "Oh all that happened along time ago and it is recorded in an ancient book. It just isn't relevant to my life. Now go away. I've got to finish my homework so I can go to the party tonight. Other people say, "Oh come on. There isn't a God, the miracles of the Bible were just made up legends to get naive people to believe and follow this new religion. Don't tell me you believe that dead men can come back to life. Give me a break. Don't be so gullible." I've actually had people tell me that only they mixed a few choice words in that I can't repeat here.
Well, it turns out that the apostle Paul dealt with these questions. Some of the people who were attending church in the city of Corinth were saying just that. They didn't believe that anyone could come back to life. Paul wrote this to them:
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, ÷. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. . . . If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
What is Paul saying here? First, Paul is saying that all of Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is like a house of cards. If you pull the "resurrection" card out from the bottom Christianity collapses into just another religion that may have wise teachings to follow but has no power to save us. On the other hand, if Jesus rose from the dead it proves that He is our savior. It proves that when He died on the cross He really did die in our place to pay the penalty for our sins for us. It means that He is the living Lord of the Universe.
Second, Paul is saying that we will one day be raised back to life to live with Him in heaven forever. Jesus' resurrection was not simply the resuscitation of a dead corpse only to have it die again. It was permanent so that Jesus would never die again. In a similar way we will die once physically and sometime in the future we will also be raised from the dead and go to Heaven never to die again (Romans. 6:8-10). But if Jesus didn't rise from the dead we won't be raised from the dead either. He would have been just another man like you or me. He couldn't save us from our sins.
Third, Paul is saying that Jesus' death for us is inseparable from His resurrection. The two go together hand-in-hand. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, He didn't die for our sins and we are not saved. If He did die for our sins He also rose from the dead and we can be saved.
The fourth thing Paul is saying here is if Jesus did not rise from the dead then we are to be pitied more than anyone else for we have been deceived more than anyone has ever been deceived. It is all a big hoax. We've been had. Why does it matter if Jesus rose from the dead? Because if He didn't it was the most evil hoax ever perpetrated because for the past 2000 years billions of people have believed it and based their lives and even cultures on the belief. However, if Jesus did rise from the dead it is the most important and exciting news in all of history. It gives meaning and purpose to history as all the affairs of mankind pivot around it. That's why we have BC. - AD. Someone once rewrote the word history as His Story. As you can see, there is a lot at stake here. It really does matter if Jesus rose from the dead.
Can we know for sure that Jesus really did rise from the dead?
The second big question we want to answer tonight is can we know for sure that Jesus really did rise from the dead? Now many people say that because it is not provable scientifically then it can't be proven at all. Well they are right that we can't use scientific methods to prove or disprove the resurrection. Why? Because we can't create a repeatable experiment to crucify Jesus again then bury him again to see if he'll rise from the dead again and then crucify him again to see if he'll rise again and do this over and over.
So if we can't prove it scientifically are there any other ways we can prove it? Yes, there is. Another way is what is called a "legal-historical proof." It is how a detective and lawyer would prove someone committed a crime and present that case convincingly to a judge and jury in a court of law. The person who says that if you can't prove something scientifically then you can't prove it at all has to go to court and use legal proofs just like the rest of us. If they want to prove someone stole their car they aren't about to set up a repeatable scientific experiment to see if the suspect will steal their car all over again and again and again. They might not get it back one of those times. They themselves believe that a legal-historical proof is adequate to prove the truth or falsehood of an event in history. So a legal-historical proof is just as valid as a scientific proof. We just have to use the two different kinds of proofs in different venues.
Today we are going to apply the steps of the legal-historical proof to solve what I call, "The Case of the Empty Tomb." Now what things would we need to have to persuade a judge and jury that someone did something?
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We would need credible eyewitness testimonies.
We would need a theory or explanation of who did it, when, where and how. (It's like making an accusation in the game of Clue like: Mrs. White did it with a knife in the kitchen. In our case we are trying to show that Jesus did it by the supernatural power of God in a tomb near Jerusalem 2000 years ago.)
We would need a motive. (If someone didn't have any motive or reason to commit a crime then they probably didn't.)
And we would need to disprove any alternative theories.
Credible Eyewitness Testimonies
Let's start with the eyewitness testimonies and determine if they are credible. If we determine they are credible then their report of what happened will be reliable.
The eyewitness testimonies can be put into five groups: The two disciples who wrote gospels (Matthew and John), the other two gospel writers (Mark and Luke), the rest of the disciples, other followers of Christ, and Jesus' enemies. They all were either eyewitnesses or got their information from eyewitnesses. They would all be able to testify reliably and credibly as to what really happened. And if their testimonies agreed substantially (which they do) it would make a strong case for it being true wouldn't it?
The Disciples who wrote the gospels
The first body of eyewitness testimony is the two disciples who wrote gospels: Matthew and John. Remember, you can think of the gospels as biographies. Matthew and John were the two disciples who wrote eyewitness biographies of Jesus' life, death and post-resurrection appearances. They lived with Jesus everyday, all day long for about 3 years. Believe me, they knew everything about Jesus. They were reliable and credible eyewitnesses and biographers.
The other two gospel writers
The second body of eyewitness testimony is the other two gospels: Mark and Luke. Mark was not one of the 12 disciples but he was Peter's assistant in his evangelistic ministry. Mark carefully recorded Peter's eyewitness accounts of Jesus. Finally, there was Luke. Luke was a physician with a cool analytical mind that dealt with the detailed facts. As a reporter he was only interested in the facts." Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts." He took great care in getting all his facts together before he compiled other people's eyewitness testimony. Scholars regard Luke to be one of the best historians in the ancient world. Listen as I read the beginning of his gospel,
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
In case you were wondering Theophilus was a Roman of high rank who wanted to know what these reports of Jesus' resurrection were all about.
Luke wrote a sequel to his gospel called Acts. At the beginning he writes again to Theophilus,
After suffering, (Jesus) showed himself to these men and gave many infallible proofs that he was alive.
The rest of the disciples
The third body of eyewitness testimony is the rest of the disciples. Jesus appeared to the rest of the disciples together on at least 4 separate occasions.
Other followers of Christ
The fourth body of eyewitness testimony is other followers of Christ. First there were the women who discovered the empty tomb and saw the resurrected Jesus. Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James, and Salome came to anoint Jesus' body with perfume to counteract the stench of decaying flesh. This was a normal practice. They were expecting to find a dead body not a risen one.
In the category of other followers of Christ, beside the women, he appeared to a group of over 500 people on a mountainside in Galilee. My point here is that Jesus was seen by a large number of credible eyewitnesses over a 40 day period of time who could agree or disagree on what they witnessed. That's pretty good evidence that Jesus was seen alive, isn't it? In fact, the majority of New Testament scholars, even liberal ones agree that the disciples really did find an empty tomb and saw appearances of Jesus. The catch is the liberal scholars think these appearances were just hallucinations or visions of some kind and I'll address that later when we deal with alternative theories.
Jesus' enemies
The fifth and final body of eyewitness testimony was those who were hostile to Jesus and his followers. His enemies wanted nothing more than to be able to prove that Jesus didn't rise from the dead. So all they would have to do is produce the body and say, "See, he's still dead you fools!" But they couldn't. And their silence speaks louder than words.
What Happened
As good detectives we examined the eyewitness testimonies which were the first thing we needed to present our legal proof. We have determined that the eyewitnesses were credible. This supports the reliability of the explanation they told of what happened. Next, we need a theory or explanation of what happened, to whom, when and where. The following is what these credible eyewitnesses reported as having occurred around April of 33 AD. I'll warn you it is not a nice picture.
Jesus was flogged and mocked
Mark records the following events after Jesus' trial: "[Pilate] had Jesus flogged."
Let's unpack that before we go on to see just exactly what happened. This whipping was the first part of the punishment. The Roman soldiers stripped Jesus of all his clothes and then tied him to a post. The instrument they used had several long strips of leather held together by a handle. At the end of each strip of leather were tied pieces of sharp bone and metal. It was nicknamed "the cat-of-nine tails." The soldier would whip the criminal across the back and the pieces of sharp bone and metal would dig in and tear the flesh as the soldier dragged it over the person's back.
Now, Jewish law limited the number of lashes to forty which was about all a person could withstand before dying, the Romans didn't set a limit. So Jesus was at the mercy of the soldiers who, believe me, didn't have much mercy. The only obligation the Roman soldiers had was to keep him alive so he could be crucified. After this brutal whipping the soldiers mockingly dressed him up like a king.
They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. And they began to call out to him, ÎHail, king of the Jews!" Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
So they put a purple robe on which stuck to the blood on his back. By the time they finished mocking him the blood would have begun to clot and form a large scab. So when they tore the robe off, you guessed it, it tore open all the wounds again which caused more pain and loss of blood.
Jesus was taken up to be crucified
Next Jesus and the procession of soldiers and spectators slowly made their way up the mountain. Mark continues his report:
They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). (Sounds like an appropriate name for a place of execution.) Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
The myrrh was an anesthetic to ease the terrible pain of both what he had been through and what he was about to go through. But Jesus refused it. Jesus resolved to experience death at its bitterest and identify with the worse pain we can suffer. When I am suffering I compare what I'm going through and what he went through and I know he understands my suffering.
They crucified him
And they crucified him.
This short simple statement actually tells us a lot. So let's unpack it. Crucifixion was reserved for executing only the lowest and vilest of criminals. It was the most shameful way to die in the ancient world. Today we use more humane methods like lethal injection because we've taken the torture out of the execution. But crucifixion in the ancient world was refined to an exact science designed to cause the most pain a human could endure and prolong it until every last ounce of life was squeezed out of him. I'll describe it a little bit but not give you all the gory details.
First, the large spikes were driven through each wrist between the radius and the ulna. If it was driven through the middle of the hand as pictures show it would have ripped through the knuckles. Next, the feet were put together one on top of the other and a spike was driven through them. Then the whole cross was lifted up and dropped into the hole (thud) which would have caused more pain. The only way he could breathe was to push up from the spike in his feet to raise him enough to breathe. Of course, this hurt so bad that he could not hold himself up and had to ease back down pulling his wrists into those spikes and letting out his breathe. This he had to do until he was so exhausted and delirious he could not do it anymore. So the real cause of death was asphyxiation.
Now, all of this happened on what we now call Good Friday. The Jewish Sabbath starts at 6:00 PM Friday night and lasts until 6:00 PM Saturday evening. They had a law which did not allow crucifixion on the Sabbath. The bodies could not even be left on the cross Friday after 6 PM. So if a criminal was still alive at the end of the day the Roman executioners would break the man's legs so he could not push himself up to breathe and would quickly die. The executioners broke the legs of the other two criminals but when they got to Jesus he was no longer moving. To ensure that he was dead one of the soldiers thrust his spear up under Jesus' rib cage and into his heart. One of Jesus' disciples John wrote in his gospel that blood and water flowed out. Now that is a key piece of evidence. Any medical examiner would say this was proof positive that Jesus was dead.
Jesus was buried in a tomb
We learn next that Jesus was buried in a tomb by two Jewish religious leaders. John writes,
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the (other) Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus (in secret) at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation (Friday) and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.
The Tomb
Let's talk about the tomb first. Only the rich or moderately well-to-do could afford a tomb of their own. Joseph of Arimathea donated his own tomb to bury Jesus in. This tomb would have been carved out of sold rock or a modified cave. A round stone in the shape of a large thick wheel was carved out of the face of the rock to be rolled down an incline then into a groove at the base of the opening of the tomb. The round stone covered the opening and could weigh up to 2 tons. They made it that heavy to keep grave robbers and wild animals out.
Jesus was buried according to custom
John tells us that Joseph and Nicodemus buried Jesus according to the very strict Jewish burial customs. They wrapped Jesus' body with strips of cloth wound tightly around the body and stuck together with an expensive mixture of myrrh and gummy aloes that in turn stuck the cloth to the body. John tells us it all weighed about 75 pounds. It could not easily be removed.
A Roman Guard unit protected the tomb
Matthew gives us additional information. He wrote:
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first." "Take the guard," Pilate answered, "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
A Roman Guard unit usually consisted of from 11 to 18 trained Roman soldiers. They were highly disciplined and the punishment for sleeping on the job, failure or desertion was death. No one was going to get by them.
The tomb was officially sealed
Finally, they put an official Roman seal over it. This probably would have been a cord stretched across the stone and anchored at each end on the rock wall. A glob of wax imprinted with the official Imperial Seal of Rome was then placed on the string and rock. This told everyone that anyone who broke the seal would incur the wrath of the Roman Empire, and we've already seen what the Romans could do to people.
The tomb was found empty
The next event in the story is that on Sunday morning the tomb was found empty. John wrote,
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lighting, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ÎHe has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ÎGreetings,' he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ÎDo not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.
Well, do you want to know what happened to the Guards? Were they put to death for failing to protect the tomb? Well, John tells us,
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, "You are to say," 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' "If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Jesus appeared to a lot of people in his new resurrected body
Let's summarize what we've covered so far. The eyewitnesses reported that Jesus appeared to a lot of people in his new resurrected body over a period of 40 days. Jesus appeared to individuals including Mary Magdalene, Peter and James. Jesus appeared to small groups including the disciples on at least 4 separate occasions. Jesus appeared to a large group of over 500 people on a mountainside in Galilee. Jesus ascended bodily up through the clouds while the disciples were watching.
Jesus' Motive
Ok, we brought out the eyewitnesses and examined the story of what happened. What else do need to make our legal proof conclusive. We need a motive. Why would Jesus want to or have to rise in order to have this theory make sense? Why would Jesus need to rise from the dead. Wouldn't dying for our sins in our place be enough? Jesus emphasized His rising from the dead would be the "sign" to prove His claims to be the Messiah. We see this in John chapter 2 when Jesus cleared the corrupt money changers out of the Temple claiming it was His father's house. The Jews demanded of him,
What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
At the time, the Jews misunderstood and thought he was talking about the Temple building in Jerusalem. But "after he rose from the dead his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."
In other words, when they saw him alive on the third day it confirmed that he was really Messiah he had claimed to be. So what was his motive? To prove he was the Messiah.
Disproving the Alternate Theories
Remember in the beginning of my talk I said that Christianity stands or falls with the resurrection. So the issue of Jesus' resurrection has been the storm center of the attack on Christianity. Now, there have been many attempts through the years to try to explain the empty tomb by natural causes instead of a miracle. But you'll see how each of those attempts fail to explain the facts.
The Wrong Tomb Theory
The first alternative theory is the Wrong Tomb Theory. It assumes that the women got confused and went to the wrong tomb, an empty one at that. If so then the disciples who went to confirm the women's claims went to the wrong tomb. The big problem with this theory is that the Jewish and Roman authorities who had so much at stake and who placed the Roman guard and Roman seal at the tomb, would not have been confused about which was the right tomb. The Roman authorities didn't forget where they put their guard units and Imperial Seals. They could just go to the tomb and say, "see the guards are still here, the stone and the seal are still in place. Jesus is still in there." They could have even had the tomb reopened to show everyone that the body was still there. But they couldn't do that because they were at the right tomb and Jesus was gone.
The Swoon Theory
The second alternative theory is the Swoon Theory. It's proponents maintain that Jesus didn't really die; he merely swooned or fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood and mistaken for dead. Then later he revived and convinced his disciples he had died but came back to life. Now think back over all that Jesus suffered physically. First remember that when the Roman executioner thrust his spear up into Jesus' heart, blood and water came out. Any medical examiner would say that was proof positive that he was dead. Second, if Jesus was still alive he would have to move a very heavy rock out of the way and overpower the Roman Guards. Next Imagine Jesus, still half dead, weak, ill, in dire need of the best of modern medical treatment, staggering up to you and saying, "I am the Lord of Life, Conqueror of Death. I am your Messiah, Savior and Lord of Lords." Would you believe him?
The Stolen Body Theory
The third alternative theory is the the Stolen Body theory which says Jesus' body was stolen by the disciples and they went around claiming he rose from the dead. Remember when Jesus was arrested they went into hiding. They split the scene baby. They feared for their own lives. They were reduced to depressed cowards. They would have to come to the tomb overpower the battle hardened, trained, disciplined, "I-would-be-put- to-death-if-I-fail" Roman Guards. What do you think? If they were able to do that and steal the body they would have to carry Jesus body around, prop open his eyes, prop him up into a standing position, and move his mouth use ventriloquism to say, "Hi everyone, it's me, Jesus. I've come back to life. Now follow me."
Another problem is the disciples endured great hardships and even martyrdom as they went around the then known world proclaim Jesus resurrection. They would have had to allow themselves to be tortured and killed for what they knew was a lie. Very few people are willingly die for the truth. No one in their right mind would willingly die for a lie. And these people didn't fit the description of a lunatic.
The Legend Theory
The fourth alternative theory is the Legend Theory. Some scholars a while back postulated that most of the gospels were simply made up of legends and myths one to two hundred years after Jesus lived. I wish I had more time to address this theory but that would be a whole other talk. But I will summarize three points. First, the belief that Jesus rose from the dead was almost immediately put into creeds and songs by these people even before the books of the NT were written. Scholars have determined there just wasn't enough time for a legend or myth to develop. Second, the New Testament was written within a generation of Jesus' life and death by people who had either seen Jesus alive again or knew people who had. They would not allow legends to develop. Third, the early church grew so confidently and rapidly because their faith and message were based on solid factual evidence rather than something they knew to be a lie that was being turned into a legend. For these reasons and others the legend theory has fallen out of favor with the majority of scholars.
The Hallucination Theory
The fifth and last alternative explanation is the Hallucination Theory which maintains that all those who claimed to have seen the resurrected Jesus saw hallucinations or visions. This is probably the most popular theory among liberal scholars. Now let's suppose you are sitting in class. You are bored and begin to day dream. What are the chances that everyone else in the class are having the same day dream at the same time. In a similar way it would be psychologically impossible for more than one person to see a hallucination of Jesus at the same time. Jesus was seen by groups of people as big as 500. A large group of people can not see the same hallucination at the same time. Neither could the appearances been visions like when people report they see Mary, Mother of Jesus. The eyewitnesses touched Jesus with their hands and felt a solid physical, fleshly body. You might think you are touching the person in your own hallucination or a vision but you can't touch the person in someone else's hallucination or vision. You can't even see them.
This were not hallucinations. People really did see and touch Jesus' new physical body. It wasn't the empty tomb that convinced people that Jesus rose from the dead; it was His numerous appearances over 40 days. His appearances disproved every other explanation for the empty tomb anyone can think up.
Summary
In our legal case we have examined the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. First, we examined the eyewitnesses to see if they are credible. We have seen that some were Jesus' disciples who were with him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 3 years. After all that time with Jesus they were convinced that Jesus was who He claimed to be: The Son of God, God Himself in the flesh, the Messiah, the Savior and Lord of Life. Other eyewitnesses were actually enemies and their silence is louder than words. If they could only produce the body they could disprove the resurrection and shown Jesus and His motley band to be frauds.
Second, we examined the story the eyewitnesses recounted. Jesus was flogged and mocked, crucified and buried in a tomb guarded by a huge stone, a Roman guard unit and the seal of the imperial Roman Empire. The tomb was found empty. Jesus appeared to a lot of people in his new resurrected body. He appeared to individuals, small groups, and even to a large group of over 500 people. Third, we saw that Jesus had a sensible motive for rising from the dead. He came back to life to validate that His death was for our sins. Finally, we examined alternative theories that have been promoted throughout modern times. We disproved The Wrong Tomb Theory, The Hallucination Theory, The Swoon Theory , The Stolen Body theory and The Legend Theory.
I hope after all of this you will agree with me that we can have complete confidence that our faith in Jesus and his death and resurrection are not based on myth or legend but solid historical factual evidence. While we can not prove Jesus rose from the dead by observing it for ourselves in a scientific laboratory we have enough historical evidence to entitle us to believe they He did. There is no reason to worry if archeologists will one day discover that Jesus never rose from the dead.
How is Jesus' resurrection relevant to my life?
Our last question to deal with today is "How is Jesus' resurrection relevant to my life 2000 years later?"
We have meaning and purpose in life
First, we have meaning and purpose in life. Often we encounter difficulties that tempt us to think that our life has no meaning or purpose. Sometimes when I go through tough times I feel all alone and think, "Maybe I've been deceived. Maybe there really isn't a God who loves me and has a plan for my life. Maybe Jesus didn't really die for my sins and I am still helplessly hopelessly lost." Some people have these thoughts and they decide life is not worth living and commit suicide. Some people try to avoid these thoughts because they are just too painful and the solutions that other religions offer are impossible. So they anesthetize themselves with food, alcohol, drugs, sex and other things.
The apostle Paul had it right when he wrote, "If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.'" In other words, this life is all there is. Live only for pleasure. Go for the gusto. We all know people like that. How, then, do we know there is another life beyond this one? Well I go back to the basics. I go through the historical evidence for Jesus' resurrection. There is no way to refute it. It had to have happened. And if Jesus rose from the dead then He died for me. He took my place and paid the death penalty for my sins for me. And now I can find and live with God's meaning and purpose for my life. There is a reason why I'm going through tough times and God is going to bring me through it and bring good out of it.
We now have access to God, the Father through Jesus Christ
Second, we now have access to God, the Father through Jesus Christ. The writer of the Book of Hebrews (4:14-16) in the New Testament assures us,
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus knows what we are going through. He went through it Himself and didn't sin. Because He is sinless and died for us we can now go to God to receive His mercy and grace. God allows us sinful rebels into His presence now only because Jesus died for us, rose and went back to Heaven. This is why we pray in Jesus' name. Jesus brings us to the Father.
We can receive God's salvation
Finally, now we can ask God for forgiveness and salvation. Our salvation is a gift. It is free to us. We can't buy it with any amount of good works or good looks. It could only be bought by Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8,9)." But like any gift we can reject it or receive it. John wrote, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)." Have you asked God to forgive you of all your sins and to give you eternal life with Him? If not I invite you to do that tonight.
If you would like to receive Jesus and His salvation into your life tonight I invite you to pray along with me. This prayer is a way to talk to Jesus. I am going to tell you the prayer first so you know what it involves. Then I will say it again, pausing after each phrase so you can repeat it to Jesus. But don't repeat it out loud. It may distract others.
Here is the prayer:
Lord Jesus, I need you. There is nothing I can do to make myself good enough to earn my salvation. I believe that you died to pay the penalty for my sins for me. I believe you rose from the dead and are now with me. Please come into my life, forgive me for all I have done or ever will do that is wrong in your eyes. I now receive your gift of salvation and eternal life. I want you to be the Lord of my life. Please make me the kind of person you want be. Amen.
If you have already prayed a prayer like this then use the opportunity to thank Jesus for saving you and giving you eternal life. Reaffirm your desire to trust and obey Him.
If you prayed asked Jesus to be your savior for the first time tonight please talk to me or a youth leader so we can help you learn how to grow more in your new relationship with Christ
Copyright 2005. Gary C. Burger and New Media Ministries. This article may be reproduced and distributed freely as long as it is done so in its entirety. If quoted it must be properly cited as a reference.
