Mainstay Of Christianity: The Empty Tomb

by Joel Hendon⁽¹⁷¹⁾ Red Star

http://hebronics.org/index.html

Not many people realize the importance of the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. If it could have been, or yet can be proven that Jesus did not rise from the grave, nothing would be left. Christianity is totally based on the resurrection. If he did not rise, His life and His death were totally in vain. It would prove that the Bible is unreliable and therefore, worthless. It would mean that man's sins were never forgiven and that eternal life is a joke. That is how vital it is, so our efforts are to show that all evidence points to the fact that he did arise. If then, He did truly arise, it is proof positive that the Bible is absolute and reliable. Everything it says.

So let's begin before the fact. The Bible, with all of it's internal evidences of inspiration and accuracy, has several prophecies of the messianic suffering and resurrection:

(Psalm 16:10) "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."

(Matthew 12:40) For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Those who delivered Him to Pilate and those who screamed "Crucify Him, crucify Him" feared that He might indeed arise from the grave or others believed His followers would steal Him away to make it appear He had risen. So they requested Pilate to take extra precautions else the body midhg be taken away. So he did, he placed armed soldiers to guard the tomb against such. This in itself would have stopped anyone from stealing the body, unless they first killed the guards because the Roman guards were facing a penalty of death if they allowed any prisoner to escape or be taken from them.

Also, the disciples of Jesus had no need for the body and would only want Him buried as he was, so there was no reason for them to take Him away.

In Philip Schaff's famous and scholarly "History Of The Christian Church", chapter two, The Christ, is listed much valuable information concerning the life of Christ as well as his death and resurrection. Towards the end of this chapter when he takes up the resurrection, he makes this remark: "The resurrection of Christ is therefore emphatically a test question upon which depends the truth or falsehood of the Christian religion. It is either the greatest miracle or the greatest delusion which history records".

He then takes each of the so-called "explanations" for the empty tomb and very adequately demolishes them. It is lengthy and impractical to paste into this article. But here are the listings of the items discussed:

1. The Historical view, which is that view accepted by Christians and others who accept the Holy Bible as being absolute truth. He acknowledges there are certain aspects of the account that are difficult to explain yet he is quick to affirm that these difficulties are not nearly as foreboding as is the problems created by their denial.

2. The Fraud theory. That which supposes that the disciples stole away the body as I have covered above, yet he tells more.

3. The Swoon theory. That which says that Jesus was not dead when taken from the cross but rather had just passed out and later revived. But the same problems face this theory as does the number 2 above. In His condition he would scarcely have been able to slip out of the tomb, through and away from the guards, etc.

4. The Vision theory. This says that those who say they saw Him alive simply had an imaginary vision or dream of seeing Him. At best something similar that which Paul saw on the road to Damascus. There were far too many to make this theory viable. The scriptures tell of several visual sightings of Him , at one time over 500.

It would be extremely helpful for those who truly wish to know the facts, to read Schaff's account. The entire account would probably not be longer than 3 of these pages. But although I did not see a copyright claim, I presume that his works are copyrighted and I would not want to lift a complete chapter on this article. If you do desire so to do, go here: http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/history/1_ch02.htm

After a very thorough study of this matter, one's faith cannot help but be bolstered when it becomes so very obvious that none of those pathetic "explanations" can come close to convincing anyone. Regardless of how much they may wish.

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Article submitted Tuesday, May 05, 2009 & read 34 times.

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