1. The Importance of the Resurrection

2. Evidence for the Resurrection
The attitude of the authorities
Matthew 28:11-15 “While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, ‘Tell people, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”

3. Evidence for the Resurrection
The Change in the Disciples
John 20:19 “the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews”
3 denial of Peter
Acts 4:20 “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

4. Evidence for the Resurrection
The number of witnesses
1 Corinthians 15:3-6 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.”
1. Peter —Luke 24:33-34 “So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those with them gathered together, saying, ‘The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’”
2. Twelve — group name. Added Matthias later.
brethren — greater part alive until this time
4. James — half-brother of the Lord
5. All apostles — 120 with him at the beginning of Acts

5. Evidence for the Resurrection
Still Alive

6. Why Believe the Bible at All?
The manuscript evidence
Approximately 5686 copies (24000)
29 years between writing of Revelation and oldest known copy
Plato – 7 copies – 1200 years
Herodotus – 8 copies – 1300 years
Aristotle – 49 copies – 1400 years
Homer (Iliad) – 643 copies – 500 yrs

7. Why Believe the Bible at All?
The archeological evidence
Acts 17:6-8 “And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, ‘These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.’ And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things.”
Politarchs – earliest known use of word, until found on a excavated arch from the 1st century

8. Why Believe the Bible at All?
Acts 18:12 “But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal”
John 5:1-2 “After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades.”
--Then an inscription was found at Delphi, dating to AD51, using the same term — and amazingly, to describe the very same official, Gallio.
--Until the 20th century, there was no evidence outside of John’s Gospel for such a place and, again, critics questioned John’s reliability. Then in the 1930s, the pool was uncovered by archaeologists — complete with four colonnades around the edges and one across the middle.

9. Why Believe the Bible at All?
The James Ossuary
If, as seems probable,
the ossuary found in
the vicinity of
Jerusalem and
dated to about AD
63 is indeed the
burial box of James,
the brother of Jesus,
this inscription is
the most important
extra-biblical
evidence of its kind.
James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus
As New Testament historian Ben Witherington put it:

10. The Importance of the Resurrection
We can trust Jesus
Mark 8:31 “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected…and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

11. The Importance of the Resurrection
John 16:19-20 “Now Jesus…said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.”

12. The Importance of the Resurrection
We should believe in Jesus
John 3:16, 36 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life… Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

13. The Importance of the Resurrection
Jesus’ resurrection shows that we’ll be resurrected too!
1 Corinthians 15:20 “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

14. The Importance of the Resurrection
John 5:26-29 “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

15. The Importance of the Resurrection
So we don’t need to fear death
1 Corinthians 15:54-55 “When this body that decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of Scripture will come true: ‘Death is turned into victory! Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?’”