How Do We Know the Tomb Was Empty?

Maybe the Apostle's Just Lied About it?

In follow up to a previous post, instead of providing an alternative explanation some may challenge the Bare Minimum Facts themselves, rather than try to find another explanation.

In a quick review:  Most historians, looking at the Gospels as just historical documents, agree on four facts about Jesus' death and resurrection.  1) Jesus Died on a cross and was placed in a tomb.

2) The tomb was discovered empty

3) Many claimed to have seen Jesus alive after being crucified

4) The disciples attitudes changed 180 degrees from hiding from the authorities, afraid for their lives; to boldly preaching Jesus Christ Resurrected from the dead to the point of dying for it.

In the previous post we took a brief look at an attack on the fact that Jesus died on the cross.  Books like the one I saw at my local library - which I will not name - push this idea.  The late forensic pathologist and medical examiner Dr. Fredrick Zugibe's book "The Crucifixion of Jesus" shows from a medical perspective it is unthinkable that Jesus survived the scourging and crucifixion.

Today, we'll look at another attack on the four bare minimum facts: "How do you know the tomb was empty?" I mean, maybe Jesus' body is still there?

J-E-T-S Jets, Jets, Jets!

Thanks to Trent Horn, of Catholic Answers, we can answer this by remembering to tell the person, "Just cool your J.E.T.S." (No I'm not suddenly a New York Football fan.) The acronym JETS can help us remember the four supports for why we know the tomb was empty:

J = Jerusalem. The empty tomb was first preached first in Jerusalem. This would be kind of like someone saying an alien space craft crashed just a mile or two away. If you wanted to see if it was true, you'd just go there!  Christianity would have never gotten off the ground if all the authorities had to do was walk down to the next block over, roll away the stone and show everyone interested that Jesus' body was actually rotting in the tomb.  Anyone could have done this and not wasted even an hour out of their day.

E = Enemy Attestation. Even Jesus' enemies concede that the tomb was empty. They had to pay the guards to say the Disciples stole the body thus giving an explanation for why the tomb was empty.  Again, all Jesus' enemies had to do to shut the whole thing down was drag out Jesus' dead body and all of Christianity would have ceased.  As a matter of fact, even to this day, all anyone has to do is find Jesus' dead body, bring it out and all of Christianity would cease.  Christianity is the easiest disprovable religion in the world... if it isn't true.

T = Testimony of women. Unlike today, in ancient times the testimony of women was viewed as being less reliable then that of a man's. In the words of the famous philosopher, James Hetfield, "Sad but True..." So, if you wanted to make up a story that Jesus' tomb was empty who would you use? Mary Magdalene - a woman of ill repute?  Or maybe Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two men, and Sanhedrin members? Given the culture, it was a really poor idea to have the empty tomb be first proclaimed by women.  You would only do this... if it were true.

S = Simple. The Gospel accounts of Jesus' Resurrection are very simple. Jesus just Rose. Compare this to the fictitious accounts hundreds of years later where everyone is gathered around the tomb, a huge angel rolls away the stone, first the cross comes out and starts talking to everyone, then Jesus comes out and he's like 500 ft tall!

In modern witness statements, truthful witnesses are more likely to state things very simply. People who are trying to deceive or with hold some information, are more likely to make very elaborate statements.

Let us continue to proclaim with confidence backed by history and logic:

HE HAS RISEN!!

Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead? The Truth May Shock You.

HE HAS RISEN!

Many of us know the physical, bodily Resurrection of Jesus is true, yet we struggle to explain to others why we know this to be true.

"Well you just have to believe." "You know it in your heart." or "The Bible says so." are answers that not only will fail to convince a skeptic, but will probably serve to make them believe we're a bunch of mindless, fanatics with no rational reason behind our beliefs.

JUST THE BARE FACTS, MA'AM.

How do we show that our belief is not only rational, but the best explanation of the facts?

One way is to use what has been called, "The Bare Facts" approach. To start off with, for the sake of argument, we look at the New Testament only as historic documents. From reading the New Testament as historic documents we can glean these facts that are well attested to:

1) Jesus was Crucified, died and was buried

2) His tomb was discovered empty

3) Numerous people claimed to have seen Jesus after He died

4) The Apostles completely changed their attitudes from one of fear of being killed and hiding, to preaching that Jesus had Risen to the point of being killed for it.

Any explanation of what happened in Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago has to take into account these four facts. If an explanation fails to account for all four facts, it cannot be the truth.

For example some claim that Jesus didn't really die, but merely "swooned" or fainted on the cross and was actually still alive. I recently saw a whole book dedicated to this theory at our local library. This could account for the tomb being empty and numerous people claiming to have seen Him alive after His Crucifixion. However, this does not account for the complete change in the Apostles' attitudes (would a near-dead, man, who's completely beat up inspire you to preach he was resurrected or inspire you to call an ambulance?) and doesn't account for the Romans' execution efficiency. They knew death. In addition, between the scourging - which could be a death sentence itself -  the spikes through His hands and feet, the spear in the side and the resulting gush of blood and water, no medical expert looking at that list of damage to the body would say that person would be up and walking in 36 hours.  The late Dr. Zugibe, forensic pathologist and medical examiner studied the mechanisms of the Biblical Crucifixion of Jesus for 45 years.  His book "The Crucifixion of Jesus" shows that it was not possible that Jesus was alive when he was taken down off the cross.

Skeptics will also say "The Apostles stole His Body." This would admit #1 and would account for #2, but doesn't explain #3 and #4. This is actually the oldest claim made by skeptics. The Pharisees told the tomb guards to make this claim (Mt 28:11-15). However, how many of us could really see the Disciples taking on a troop of Roman Soldiers, over powering them - but leaving them alive - and taking Jesus' body? They only had 2 swords among them, and Peter was so inept with his sword that when he had a free swing he only succeeded in cutting off some guy's ear.  If he were a trained soldier, Jesus would have had to raise another person from the dead, not just heal an ear.
 
     Otherwise how likely is it that the Apostles snuck in through the asleep guards, rolling aside a huge stone in front of the tomb, unwrapping Jesus' body and sneaking back through the guards with a dead body without waking a single one?  Traditionally, if guards failed in their task their sentence was death.  This is why the Pharisees had to reassure the guards that if their boss found out they would smooth things over with him.

This also does not account for the Apostles' 180 degree change: no one dies for what they know is false. If the Apostles stole Jesus' Body, they would know what they were preaching was false. All but John died in horribly slow, torturous ways. During their deaths, they were told numerous times that all they had to do was say it was a lie, and they could go free.

Take Bartholomew / Nathaniel. He was martyred by being SKINNED ALIVE! How long could you last? If you had told a lie and were being tortured to death for telling that lie. All you had to do was tell the truth and you'd be set free. HOW LONG WOULD YOU LAST? Yet all of them died proclaiming Jesus' Resurrection was TRUE!

There are other objections - the Apostles made the whole thing up, it was a mass hallucination, it was only a 'spiritual' resurrection - but in the end, only one explanation accounts for all four of the "bare minimum" facts: That "[Jesus] was crucified, died and was buried. On the third day He rose again (bodily) in accordance to the Scriptures..."

So with the confidence bolstered by logic and reason let us proclaim:

HE HAS RISEN!