Not A Fairy Tale

April 5, 2015

Luke 24:1-11 (text v. 11)

Easter Sunday means different things to different people.

A junior S.S. teacher asked her class, “What Does Easter Sunday Mean To You?” One boy raised his hand and answered, “Egg salad sandwiches for the next two weeks.”

Easter is really about the greatest event in the history of the world—Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead! It is the foundation of everything we believe in. Without a risen Savior, Christianity is no better than any other religion.

Christ’s disciples were slow to believe Jesus was alive. For three days they were hiding for fear. They were disheartened and confused.

On that first “Easter” morning, when the women told the disciples the tomb was empty it seemed like a fairy tale to them (Luke 24:11). So Peter and John went to the sepulcher to see for themselves! After seeing the evidence, they were convinced!

Peter later wrote Christ’s resurrection was not a “cunningly devised fable” but he was an eyewitness of His majesty! (2 Pet. 1:16).

Paul asked King Agrippa, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). For the God who created the universe, it is no big deal for Him to raise the dead!

Dr. Simon Greenleaf was an authority the laws of evidence. He was the Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University. His three-volume work, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, is still considered one of the greatest authorities on discerning evidence in legal procedures.

Greenleaf examined the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He concluded that, according to the laws of legal evidence, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in history. He wrote concerning the testimony of Christ’s disciples: “It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.”

Sir Lionel Luckhoo (of The Guinness Book of World Records fame for his unprecedented 245 consecutive defense murder trial acquittals) wrote:

“I have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”1

Christ really arose from the dead! It is no fairy tale! Acts 1:3 says Christ showed, “himself alive after his passion by MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS.”

Notice three of those infallible (irrefutable) proofs:

I. The TOMB’s emptiness (Luke 24:3, 6).

The agnostic Frank Morrison, who was a lawyer and journalist, attempted to write a book disproving the resurrection of Christ. After investigation, his opinion changed and he became a believer in Jesus Christ. Instead of a book disproving the resurrection he wrote a book titled Who Moved The Stone.

Morrison based his thesis the empty tomb. If Jesus was publicly laid in a tomb and three days later the tomb was empty, He either rose from the dead supernaturally, OR someone took the body.

Only three possibilities for who could have taken the body:

The Romans. They had no reason to steal the body, since they wanted to keep the peace in Palestine. Taking the body of Christ from the tomb would only excite matters.
The Jews. That was the last thing they would want. They are the ones who asked for the guard (Mt. 27). If they wanted to silence His disciples, all they had to do was produce His body.
The disciples. [“The Passover Plot” by Hugh Schonfield —Jesus planned his own arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection; he simulated dying on the cross by being drugged so that he could later be safely removed from the grave. Totally ignores the evidence.]

They didn’t under stand the resurrection (Luke 18:31-34).
How did they get past the guard? If the guard was asleep, they could not testify what happened to the body. The penalty for a guard sleeping on duty was death.
How did they move the stone that weighed more than 2 tons.
Why did they leave the grave-clothes? Luke 23:53 says Christ’s body was “wrapped” in linen clothes. Why bother to unwrap the body? How did they get the body out of the grave-clothes and leave them undisturbed lying like an empty cocoon (John 20:1-8)?

The only reasonable explanation is Christ has risen.