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Was Jesus Christ
Who He Said He Was?
The Jewish teacher from Nazareth claimed to be the promised
Messiah and Son of God.
Could His assertions be true? Can we find evidence to back up His bold statements?
by Bill Bradford
Many of us wonder about God's existence. Is He real? Is the Bible truly His Word?
Was Jesus Christ who He said He was, the very Son of God?
Is there historical proof to which we can turn for verification? Is there a single event that offers compelling evidence that God indeed exists and Jesus of Nazareth was truly His Son?
Yes, there is one such event. Many do not believe it ever took place. Most people know of the event but have never really considered its implications-but it makes all the difference in the world if it happened.
What is this event? It is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Jesus said this event would serve as a sure "sign" proving that He was indeed who He claimed to be (Matthew 12:38-40; Matthew 16:1-4; Luke 11:29-30; John 2:18-21).
But did it happen? If it didn't, then you have no reason to believe that the way of life that Christ brought was any different from any other religion. If it didn't happen, there was nothing special about Jesus of Nazareth. He was merely another devout man, albeit one who laid the foundation for one of the world's major religions, like Muhammad or the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama.
But if it did happen there is one great difference between Jesus and all other religious teachers. Jesus Christ died and was raised to life again.
Can we know whether this truly happened? What are the implications if it did take place?
Much of the Bible focuses on the life of this Jewish religious teacher. The four biblical narratives, the Gospels, culminate with His death and resurrection. It was the bringing back of Jesus from the dead that separates Him from any other religious teacher or philosopher who has ever lived. If Jesus was not resurrected from the dead, then neither He nor His followers have any special claim.
Can we find evidence for Christ's resurrection? Can you prove it? Many people claim personal spiritual experiences and a turnaround in their lives as proof. This may be proof to the believer, but would a skeptic accept this as evidence?
There is indeed a great deal of skepticism about the resurrection of Jesus. Several theories have been put forth to explain the claim that He was resurrected. Most revolve around assertions that:
Jesus didn't really die; He fainted away on the cross and recovered later in the grave.
He did die, but His body was secretly removed from the grave, either by enemies or friends.
The claimed encounters with Jesus after His death and resurrection were either fabrications or hallucinations on the part of the disciples based on their belief in a Messiah who would not die and the ability of the mind to conjure up visions to support what it wants to believe.
Ultimately only two explanations are possible for Christ's death, the disappearance of His body and His reappearance. Either these were actions of God, or they must be accounted for with purely earthly or naturalistic explanations.
What about the theories that have been put forth to dismiss the accounts of His resurrection? As we will see, they have serious difficulties when we examine the facts.
At this point we might ask, How do we know the facts are facts? Some even claim that the death, burial and resurrection stories are but myths comparable to the legends of Krishna, Osiris, Attis, Adonis, Dionysus, Mithras and other supposed deities. Is the story of the founder of Christianity no different from theirs, merely the product of sorrow, imagination and hope?
Attack on the historical records
Historical facts ultimately stand or fall on eyewitness accounts of events. Such accounts often can be verified with similar descriptions from other eyewitnesses. Historians can piece together events with confidence if the versions are noncontradictory, similar in details, plausible and accepted at the time they were written.
The accounts of the life, death and burial of Jesus are some of the most authentic in ancient historical records. Historian Will Durant, in his volume Caesar and Christ, a part of his massive work The Story of Civilization, quotes the Jewish scholar J. Klausner: "If we had ancient sources like those in the Gospels for the history of Alexander or Caesar, we should not cast any doubt upon them whatsoever."
The Gospel accounts, however, have been placed under severe scrutiny. "One of the most far-reaching activities of the modern mind has been the 'Higher Criticism' of the Bible-the mounting attack upon its authenticity and veracity," writes Durant (Caesar and Christ, 1972, p. 553).
He comments on the concerted attempt to discredit what many scholars have come to see as reliable historical accounts. "In its enthusiasm of its discoveries the Higher Criticism has applied to the New Testament tests of authenticity so severe that by them a hundred ancient worthies-e.g. Hammurabi, David, Socrates-would fade into legend" (Durant, p. 557).
In other words, this respected historian recognizes a deliberate attempt to discredit the Bible-especially with respect to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ-that we do not find directed toward other historical figures. We should ask why that should be.
Telling evidence
What evidence is contained in the accounts passed down to us, and what does it tell us? The claim that a man died and then rose from the dead certainly deserves a healthy skepticism. Extraordinary claims deserve extraordinary proof. Can we find such proof?
The four Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Two of the four-Matthew and John-were among the 12 original disciples and personally involved in many of the events they recorded. Most Bible scholars believe Mark's Gospel is largely the account and personal recollections of the disciple Peter as recorded by his close friend and companion Mark (1Peter 5:13). Luke was a painstaking historian who interviewed eyewitnesses to prepare his biography of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4).
The accounts are indeed in agreement and point to the resurrection of Jesus as a historical reality that took place exactly as the Gospels record.
Apologist William Lane Craig in his booklet God, Are You There? does an excellent job of summarizing three features of the burial-and-resurrection story widely accepted by New Testament historians that give the strongest credibility to the truth of the accounts:
Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.
Because Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the same Jewish high court that condemned Jesus, he is unlikely to be a Christian invention. Mark's Gospel tells us that "Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, . . . taking courage, went into Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus" (Mark 15:43). "Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb" (verse 46).
No one trying to contrive and pawn off a fabrication would have invented a person who did not exist and say he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jewish nation. Members of the Sanhedrin were widely known. Because Joseph was a respected public figure, many people would have known the location of his tomb. If Jesus had not been buried in his tomb, the ruse would have been all too easy to verify.
Women were the first to discover that the tomb was empty.
Mark also records for us the detail that three women-Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James; and Salome-approached the tomb at the earliest light to anoint the body of Jesus with spices. Finding the heavy stone door rolled back, they entered the tomb and were shocked and afraid when they saw a young man, clothed in a long white robe, sitting on the right side. The man told the women, "He is risen!" and instructed them to go and tell Jesus' other disciples (Mark 16:1-8).
In the society of the day, the testimony of women was held in such low regard that they were not even permitted to serve as witnesses in a court of law. How remarkable is it, then, that women were the acknowledged discoverers of Jesus' empty tomb?
Had someone fabricated the story at a later date, as many critics assume to have been the case, the plot surely would have made male disciples such as Peter and John the discoverers of the empty tomb. That it was women who are the chief witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb is best explained by the straightforward truth that the women named were indeed the actual discoverers.
The Gospel writers faithfully record what for them was an awkward and potentially
embarrassing detail. They even record that the disciples did not believe the women's
report: "Then (the women) returned from the tomb and told all these things to
the eleven and to all the rest . . . And their words seemed to them like
idle tales, and they did not believe them"
(Luke 24:9-11).
Those who had Jesus condemned and executed acknowledged that the tomb was empty and His body missing.
What was the reaction of Jesus' enemies to the disciple's declaration that Jesus was alive again after having been executed? Did they respond that the disciples were lying, that Jesus' body still lay in the rock-hewn tomb? No. Did they claim that the disciples were hallucinating? No. Instead they bribed the Roman soldiers responsible for guarding the sealed tomb to spread a cover story, to claim that Jesus' disciples had come and stolen His body while they slept.
Read the account in Matthew 28:11-15. This was the authorities' attempt to explain why the body was missing and could not be found. We have evidence that the tomb was empty from the very enemies of Christ.
Eyewitness accounts of His appearances
On multiple occasions and under various circumstances individuals and groups of people saw Jesus alive after knowing He had died. William Craig comments: "This is a fact which is virtually universally acknowledged among New Testament scholars . . . The list of eyewitnesses to Jesus' resurrection appearances which is quoted by Paul guarantees that such appearances occurred."
Notice what the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: ". . . He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time" (1 Corinthians 15:5-8).
How did Paul receive this information? He was acquainted and had spoken with the people involved. He had heard the account in their own words. Most who could verify it were still alive.
If these appearances were not true, people were alive who knew the parties involved and would have known it was not true. Such eyewitness accounts cannot be dismissed as fantasy; they must refer to actual events that were witnessed by many people alive at the time of Paul's writing. Paul even lists the names of the best known of the witnesses so others could verify the facts for themselves.
The disciples' astounding transformation
One of the major proofs of the resurrection of Jesus is the dramatic change in the lives of His disciples.
The Gospel accounts are not flattering to the disciples (further evidence that they didn't fabricate the story). At the time of Christ's arrest and trial, all His disciples forsook Him and fled (Matthew 26:56). Peter, who avowed he would always stand by Jesus, cursed and swore, denying that he knew Him (verses 69-75). Jesus, we remember, foretold Peter's weakness and even forewarned His disciples that they would also be offended because of their association with Him (verses 31-35).
Within a short time, however, we see the apostles speaking to large crowds and
openly declaring that Jesus came back from the dead. They boldly confronted
the civil and religious authorities with the fact that Jesus had been killed and
raised to life again. They defied orders under threat of imprisonment if they continued
to speak about this man Jesus (Acts 4:1-23). They courageously faced beatings and
endured death threats because they preached that He was alive and was the Messiah
(Acts 5:17-42).
Whereas only weeks before they had denied they even knew Him, now nothing could stop them from openly publicizing what they knew to be true. Only one explanation for their new unshakable belief is plausible. They saw Jesus Christ alive after they knew He was dead. They spoke with Him, ate with Him, received extensive instructions from Him, spent time with Him and touched Him.
These men gave the remaining years of their lives-and ultimately life itself-for the one they knew had conquered death. Had they all been only participants in a giant hoax, could we believe these men would give their lives for something they knew to be a lie?
Peter's transformation
The apostle Peter is the best known of the disciples whose lives were so remarkably changed. His boldness on the Feast of Pentecost was amazing. At the temple he addressed a huge crowd of people, from which 3,000 became disciples of Jesus the Messiah.
Peter spoke to people who lived in Jerusalem and all of Judea as well as many other parts of the Roman world. They were in Jerusalem to observe Pentecost as God had commanded in Deuteronomy 16. Peter reminded them that they all knew who Jesus was and what had happened to Him seven weeks earlier at the Passover feast (Acts 2:22-24).
Peter fearlessly proclaimed they were the ones who had crucified the promised Messiah, but that God had raised Him up.
The reaction of the people is quite telling. There is no denial, no outcry, no attempt to stone Peter for this apparently outrageous charge. They knew of the events surrounding the arrest, trial and crucifixion of Christ. They knew that many-perhaps even some of those standing there listening to Peter-had shouted for Christ's blood. They knew of the strange disappearance of the body from the tomb, a mystery no one had been able to solve.
They had heard of other strange events that took place at the time: the mysterious darkness that descended on the land as Jesus was being crucified, people being resurrected from the grave and walking the streets of Jerusalem, and the massive veil in the magnificent temple tearing from top to bottom with no apparent cause. How were these events to be explained? What did they mean? Peter was giving them the amazing explanation-an explanation that would require them to make a decision that would affect the rest of their lives.
Peter contrasted the empty tomb of Jesus with the nearby tomb of Israel's greatest king, David. "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29). His point was unmistakable: Everybody knew where David's tomb was, and that was where the king's body was buried. But Jesus, unlike David, was no longer bound by the grave!
Jesus of Nazareth, Peter declared, had been raised up by God-and there were many witnesses to that fact. Once again there was no argument from the crowd. On the contrary, the people asked what they should do now that they, too, were convinced that Peter was right. Peter replied that they should repent and be baptized and they also would receive the Holy Spirit as had the disciples on that very day.
The only way you can explain the dramatic transformation of the disciples from a scared, frightened band ready to throw everything away and flee in despair back to Galilee is that Jesus left behind dramatic and powerful evidence: an empty tomb. Ordinary men from ordinary walks of life, who had denied their Master and failed Him miserably, suddenly changed almost overnight into dynamic leaders of a Church that was to defy and challenge the ancient pagan world, propelled by a powerful transformative experience.
James, half brother of Jesus
Perhaps an even more remarkable transformation took place in the life of James, the half brother of Jesus (James was the natural son of Mary and Joseph; Jesus was the son of Mary and God the Father). Notice how J.P. Moreland describes events in James's life as recorded in the Bible and contemporary history:
"Why did these men change? Why did they undergo hardship, persecution, pressure and martyrdom? Consider James the brother of Jesus. Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, tells us that he died a martyr's death for his faith in his brother. Yet the Gospels tell us that during Jesus' life, he was an unbeliever and opposed Jesus.
"Why did he change? What could cause a Jew to believe that his own brother was the very son of God and to be willing to die for such a belief? It certainly was not a set of lovely teachings from a carpenter from Nazareth. Only the appearance of Jesus to James (1Corinthians 15:7) can explain his transformation.
"As with James, so it is with the other disciples. One who denies the resurrection
owes us an explanation of this transformation which does justice to the historical
facts" (Scaling the Secular City, 1987,
pp. 178-179).
Paul the persecutor
The apostle Paul is another remarkable example. As a devout Jew he was resolutely convinced that a resurrection had not taken place. He persecuted members of the early Church for believing in such nonsense. He staked his whole mission in life on his conviction that the resurrection was a fabrication and the movement was a threat to every tradition he held sacred.
This new movement, he was convinced, deserved to be stamped out by any means,
including imprisonment and execution (Acts 22:4)-and this would be his personal crusade.
Then something happened. Jesus Christ appeared to Paul and spoke
to him.
Paul was not a man given to the vivid imaginations of superstitious people. He was a level-headed intellectual. Yet he later was prepared to defend his zeal for Christ before hostile mobs as well as governors, kings and other rulers. In the end Paul was prepared to die for what he knew was true: Jesus was indeed the Messiah and was alive and well at the right hand of God.
Who was Jesus?
Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15). He asked the Pharisees, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" (Matthew 22:42).
This is the ultimate question. Is He a figment of our imaginations? Is He a mythological figure? Was He merely an ordinary man with better-than-average religious teachings whose philosophy happened to take hold? Or is He the power of the universe?
The question of who Jesus was is decisively answered by His death-predicted by Himself and the Hebrew prophets-and His resurrection. These crucial events proved Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.
The power of the resurrection
Paul's chief aim in life was turned upside down. What would he say if you had asked what was the most important thing to him after he had seen Jesus? His answer: ". . . I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ . . . , that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, . . . (and that) I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:8-11).
The bringing back to life of Jesus from the dead changed everything for His disciples. It can change everything for you too. It is only through the certainty of the resurrection of Jesus that you can be assured that others, too, will be raised from the dead. ". . . If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men" (1Corinthians 15:17-19, New International Version).
You, too, can be changed by belief in Jesus' atoning sacrifice and resurrection. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead will give you life as well (Romans 8:11) if that power dwells in you. It is the power that can change your life. The death and resurrection of Christ guarantee it.
GN
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