Denver Seminary

The four Gospels report that Jesus predicted His death, burial, and resurrection. All of His wondrous teachings, healings, exorcisms, and transforming relationships with all manner of people—from fishermen to tax collectors to prostitutes to revolutionaries—would be incomplete without His crucifixion and resurrection. Shortly before His death, "Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life" (Matt. 16:21). Peter resisted this grim fact, but Jesus rebuked him. There was no other way (vv. 22–23). For, as Jesus had taught, He "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28; see also Mark 10:45). HOPE DEFERRED He gave His life on an unspeakably cruel Roman cross—impaled for all to see alongside two common criminals. We call this day Good Friday because it was good for us; but it was dreadful for Jesus. As Jesus' disciple Matthew recounts, "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split" (Matt. 27:50–51). When the guards at the crucifixion experienced the earthquake and the other extraordinary phenomena, "they were terrified, and exclaimed, 'Surely he was the Son of God!'" (v. 54). The dead Messiah was pried off His bloody cross, embalmed, and laid in a cold, dark tomb, guarded to the hilt. All seemed lost. The one who had boldly claimed to be "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), the prophet who had announced that "God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16)—this man had died. The man who had raised the dead was dead. He gave His life on an unspeakably cruel Roman cross—impaled for all to see alongside two common criminals. On the first day of the week, two women, both named Mary, came to visit the tomb of their master. They had stayed with Him as He died. Now they visited His tomb in grief. Yet instead of mourning a death, they celebrated a resurrection. An angel from God rolled back the stone sealing the tomb and charged them to look at its empty contents. He then told them to tell Jesus' disciples of the Resurrection and to go to Galilee where they would see Jesus. As the women scurried, Jesus met them, greeted them, and received their worship (Matt. 28:8–9). He directed them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me" (v. 10). THE UNDENIABLE RESURRECTION The rest, as they say, is history, and these events changed history forever. The fact that women were the first witnesses to the Resurrection puts the lie to the notion that Jesus' resurrection was concocted at a later point to add drama to His life. Women were not taken to be trustworthy witnesses in courts of law at that time, although Jesus always respected them. If someone had wanted to create a pious fraud, they never would have included the two Marys in their story. The man who had raised the dead was dead. Moreover, all four Gospels testify to the factual reality of the Resurrection. These accounts were written by eyewitnesses (Matthew and John) or those who consulted eyewitnesses (Luke and Mark); they were people in the know, not writers of myths and legends (see Luke 1:1–4; 1 Peter 1:16). As he began to study the Gospels as an unbeliever, the literary scholar C. S. Lewis saw that they were not written in the fashion of literary fiction. They defied that genre. He faced facts and became a Christian. After the Resurrection, the gospel of the risen Jesus was quickly proclaimed in the very area where He was crucified. This upstart "cult" would have been easily refuted by someone producing the corpse of Christ, which both the Jewish establishment and the Roman government had a vested interest in doing, since this new movement threatened the religious and political status quo. But we have no historical record of any such thing occurring. On the contrary, the Jesus movement grew and rapidly spread. Christian Jews changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday in honor of Jesus' resurrection. Pious Jews would never do such a thing on their own initiative, because it would set them against their own tradition and their countrymen. Nor would they have ceased offering the prescribed sacrifices their Scriptures required had not Jesus proven Himself to be the final sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God (see John 1:29 and the Book of Hebrews). Thus, the resurrection of Jesus best accounts for this change in their day of worship, their manner of worship, and the spiritual transformation at the core of their lives. Moreover, the two key rituals of the earliest church—communion and baptism—both presuppose the historicity of the Resurrection and are difficult to explain without it. But we have another witness: the Apostle Paul. They had stayed with Him as He died. Now they visited His tomb in grief. Yet instead of mourning a death, they celebrated a resurrection. ENGAGE 13

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