Much More than an Empty Tomb! by Brad Bromling, D.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=256

Much More than an Empty Tomb!

by	Brad Bromling, D.Min.

As dawn broke on the third day after Christ’ crucifixion, several pious women made their way to the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had donated for Jesus’ burial. When they arrived, they found it open and empty. Instead of seeing their Lord, they saw men (angels) dressed in dazzling clothes who announced that Jesus had been raised from the dead. The women returned to the community of Jesus’ followers and gave a full report. No one believed them. Peter and (apparently) John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. They found it as the women had said. The tomb was empty. But surprisingly, rather than spreading the exciting news that Jesus had been raised from the dead, Peter went away perplexed!

Later that day, two other disciples left Jerusalem and headed toward Emmaus, their hometown about seven miles away. As they walked, they shared their thoughts of disappointment over the death of Jesus. A stranger joined them and asked what they were talking about (they didn’t know the stranger was Jesus). They explained how that Jesus, the mighty prophet from Nazareth, had been crucified. They said, “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel,” indicating that their hopes had been dashed (Luke 24:21). They continued: “Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.” Apparently they expected Jesus to be raised; but even after hearing testimony from the women and the two men, the disciples from Emmaus were not convinced that a resurrection had taken place.

A few hours later they were back in Jerusalem enthusiastically telling others that Jesus was raised from the dead. What moved them from hopelessness to confident proclamation? The answer is plain: they had seen the Lord! By that time, so had Peter. In fact, from that point forward, Jesus appeared repeatedly to His followers for the next forty days before He finally ascended into heaven (Acts 1:3).

The central message of the Church is not simply that Jesus’ tomb was empty—that fact alone was not enough for the original followers of the Nazarene, nor would it be enough two thousand years later. A skeptical mind can imagine many ways to explain how Jesus’ body left the tomb (all of which have been sufficiently answered; see Geisler and Brooks, 1990, pp. 123-128; Bromling, 1993, pp. 33-38; et al.); but for a believer, only one way matters—resurrection. Faith in that is based upon the reliable testimony of people who, after having seen the risen Lord, devoted the rest of their lives to telling the Good News. Jesus left more than an empty tomb; He left credible flesh-and-blood witnesses who said of Jesus, “we have heard” Him, “we have seen [Him] with our eyes,” and “our hands have handled” Him (1 John 1:1).

Maybe an empty tomb should have been enough; after all, Jesus rebuked the disciples from Emmaus for being “foolish” and “slow of heart to believe the prophets” (Luke 24:25). But the fact is, we have much more than that. We have the Good News that Jesus appeared to: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Peter, Cleopas and his fellow disciple from Emmaus, the rest of the apostles, Stephen, James, Paul, and an additional five hundred unnamed people, many of whom Paul indicated would have testified if given a chance (Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:9-20; Luke 24:1-50; John 20-21; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; et al.).

Christianity is not faith in an empty cave; it is faith in a Savior Who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). It is faith in the One Who by His resurrection has the ability to promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

REFERENCES

Bromling, Brad T. (1993), “What Happened to the Body?,” Reason & Revelation, 13:33-38, May.

Geisler, Norman L. and Ron Brooks (1990), When Skeptics Ask (Wheaton, IL: Victor).

From Mark Copeland... "CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS" Evidence For Early Existence Of The New Testament

                         "CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS"

            Evidence For Early Existence Of The New Testament

INTRODUCTION

1. The New Testament presents itself as a historical record 

   of events that supposedly occurred during the First Century A.D.

2. How reliable is it?  How do we determine the reliability of any
   ancient document that professes to record events of history?

3. To establish the reliability of ANY historical document, 

   one of the first questions to be raised is:  "How soon after the    events took place were they recorded?"

4. Applied to the New Testament, this involves trying to determine what
   evidence there is for THE EARLY EXISTENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT...

I. WHY EVIDENCE FOR THE EARLY EXISTENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS CRUCIAL

   A. IF SOME EVENT IS RECORDED LONG AFTER IT OCCURRED...
      1. It is not likely to have been written by "eyewitnesses"
      2. It is not likely to have been written when "other eyewitnesses"
         were around to confirm or dispute its accuracy
      3. Its credibility would be weakened; for example, which would be
         the more credible source for information about an event that
         occurred during The Civil War Between The States...
         a. A present day writer depending totally upon second-hand sources?
         b. Or diaries and letters written by eyewitnesses of the event?
      4. Of course, it would be necessary to show that such diaries and
         letters were authentic and where possible shown to be accurate

   B. DURING THE LAST CENTURY, SOME SCHOLARS ASSERTED THAT THE GOSPELS
      AND THE BOOK OF ACTS DID NOT EXIST BEFORE 130 A.D.
      1. This would mean the Gospels and Acts were not written by
         eyewitnesses!
      2. Rather, it was written by frauds who misrepresented themselves as eyewitnesses!
         a) For the author of Acts claims to have been present during
            some of the events described in that book - cf. "we" in Ac 16:11-12
         b) The author of the Second Epistle Of Peter claims to have been
            an eyewitness of the Transfiguration - 2Pe 1:16-18

[Written by eyewitnesses and others who lived during those times, or a
book written by liars in a effort to deceive...these are the only
choices we have!  This is why it is important to establish the early
existence of the New Testament!]

II. THE EVIDENCE FOR THE EARLY EXISTENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

   A. INTERNAL EVIDENCE...
      1. THE ENDING OF THE BOOK OF ACTS
         a. The book ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial
            - Ac 28:30-31
         b. A plausible explanation is that Luke wrote ACTS during this
            time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero
         c. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that ACTS and LUKE
            (which came first - cf. Ac 1:1 with Lk 1:1-4) were
            written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus
      2. NO MENTION OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IN 70 A.D.
         a. Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the
            temple and city would be destroyed within that generation
            - e.g., Mk 13:1-4,14,30; Lk 21:5-9,20-24,32
         b. History records that in 70 A.D. Jerusalem with its temple
            was destroyed, exactly as Jesus foretold!
         c. Yet not a single book of the New Testament refers to this
            event as having happened!
            1) Such would be very unlikely if they had been written after 70 A.D.
            2) For that event helps to verify Jesus' claim to be the
               Son of God, and it is hard to imagine that any writer
               after 70 A.D. would not make mention to the fulfillment
               of Jesus' prophecy!
         d. This has prompted some scholars to conclude that ALL of the
            books of the New Testament were written prior to 70 A.D.
            - e.g., John A. T. Robinson, in his book REDATING THE NEW TESTAMENT

   B. PAPYRI FRAGMENTS...
      1. CHESTER BEATTY BIBLICAL PAPYRI (dated 200-250 A.D.)
         a. Made public in 1931
         b. Contains the Gospels, Acts, Paul's Epistles, and Revelation
      2. PAYPRUS BODMER II (dated 200 A.D.)
         a. Discovery announced in 1956
         b. Contains fourteen chapters of John, and portions of the
            last seven chapters
      3. EARLY CHRISTIAN PAPYRI (dated 150 A.D.)
         a. Made public in 1935
         b. Written by someone who had the four gospels before him and
            knew them well
      4. JOHN RYLANDS MSS (dated 130 A.D.)
         a. This is oldest fragment of the NT
         b. "Because of its early date and location (EGYPT), some
            distance from the traditional place of composition (ASIA
            MINOR), this portion of the gospel of John tends to con-
            firm the traditional date of the composition of the gospel."
            - GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE, Geisler & Nix

   C. PATRISTIC WRITINGS...
      1. EPISTLE OF POLYCARP TO THE PHILIPPIANS (dated 120 A.D.)
         a. A personal acquaintance of John, the apostle
         b. He quotes from the Synoptic Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 & 2
            Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 2 Thessa-
            lonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Hebrews, 1 Peter, and 1 John
      2. LETTERS OF IGNATIUS (dated 115 A.D.)
         a. Written to several churches in Asia Minor
         b. He quotes from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians,
            Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus
      3. EPISTLE OF CLEMENT TO THE CORINTHIANS (dated 95 A.D.)
         a. This letter was written to encourage the church to respect
            their elders
         b. He quotes from the Synoptic Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corin-
            thians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter

III. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS EVIDENCE

   A. THE NEW TESTAMENT WAS IN EXISTENCE AND WELL KNOWN BY THE END OF
      THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.!
      1. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish
         Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati,
         and renowned Jewish archaeologist: "In my opinion, every book
         of the New Testament was written between the forties and
         eighties of the First Century A.D."
      2. "We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any
         solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after
         80 A.D." - W. F. Albright, biblical archaeologist

   B. THUS THE NEW TESTAMENT PASSES THE "ACID TEST" FOR THE AUTHENTICITY
      OF "ANY" DOCUMENT OF ANTIQUITY
      1. It was written in the same generation in which the events took place
      2. It was circulated among the very people about whom these 

         documents spoke while they were still alive to deny them!
         a. E.g., remember Clifford Irving and his "biography" of Howard Hughes?
         b. It was quickly denounced as a fraud by those who knew best
            and soon lost its credibility
      3. The fact that the first generation preserved the New Testament
         for posterity shows their regard for the genuineness of its contents

CONCLUSION

1. But the "ACID TEST" is only the FIRST test any historical document must pass

2. So what if it was written early...
   a. How do we know that what we read today is an accurate representation of the original "autographs" 

      (the manuscripts actually penned by the authors)?
   b. How can we be sure that in the passing of time the content of the
      original did not become corrupted through mistakes in copying?

These questions shall be examined in the next study...

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011

 

From Gary... Attitude

Attitude describes and defines us. It can change and we can change along with it.  For the record- I don't consider myself religious; just forgiven. This simple passage from the Bible comes to mind...

Galatians, Chapter 6 (WEB)

14 But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Gary- Read the words of this picture over and over. To be succinct: Read, Learn, Practice- then repeat this over again until Jesus comes!!!