The King is Coming

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 Discipleship Training Ministries, Inc www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: April 16, 2006

The King is Coming
by Dan Trygg

"From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." Matthew 24:32-35

"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ… 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death." I Corinthians 15:14,15,17-26

The testimony of the NT is clear. Jesus died for our sins, once for all; He rose again from the dead, and, after appearing physically to His disciples over a period of 40 days, He ascended to heaven. This is not some "cleverly devised myth" (II Pet. 1:16) that is a curiosity, or just a good story to be repeated as folklore to future generations. This is not just part of our cultural heritage. What happened in 30 A.D. in Jerusalem are historical events, which are strongly verifiable, using the same techniques and tests used to verify any other event in history. We need to look at that historical basis a bit more closely.

The importance of those events cannot be overstated. The meaning of all human history hinges upon what took place there in those days. The destiny and purpose for the entire human race are tied to what happened in the garden tomb that Sunday morning, which happened to coincide with the Jewish Feast of Firstfruits that year. Did Jesus rise from the dead, or not? If He didn’t, then there is no basis for the Christian message. It is all a sham. If He did, however, then we need to ask, "What is meaning of this event?" If we can believe the recorded teachings of Jesus, and the explanation of His disciples, who spoke with Him on numerous occasions after His resurrection, then the resurrection is the event that establishes the claims of Christ to being the Messiah, …to being even God having come in the flesh. It gives further credibility to the testimony of the apostles regarding His miracles. After all, if He could rise from the dead, then that same power could, indeed, have operated through Him to heal others.

More importantly, however, is what this means for our future. According to the apostle Paul, the resurrection of Jesus is proof given by God that He has appointed Jesus to judge the world (Acts 17:30,31). This is not some new spin concocted by Paul years after Jesus was gone. Paul is only faithfully repeating what Jesus Himself said. He claimed that "the Father will not judge anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father" (Jn. 5:22,23). In Matt. 25, Jesus claims not only that He will return in glory, with the angelic hosts, to sit on the throne of His earthly kingdom, but He describes a scene which should give every man woman and child pause. Jesus says that all nations will be gathered before Him, and He will judge them (vss. 31-46). Moreover, He has the authority to send people to their eternal destiny, of either punishment or life. If this true, it does not matter what we think of our life choices, what matters is what He thinks of our life choices. We will be evaluated by Him, and His standards, not by our own conscience or by society’s morals. The NT clearly tells us that Jesus did not simply rise again from the dead to live happily ever after. That is not the end of the story.

Jesus clearly stated that He would be coming back. He rose from the dead and He will return. He is coming back to destroy the evil and corrupt power systems of this world, and establish His reign upon the earth. He taught that His people, His "generation", family or race, will remain until the end (Matt. 24:34), but He Himself is returning, and all that He taught would be fulfilled. Furthermore, those who have trusted in Him will be raised from the dead, and transformed to be like Him, both in moral purity and in physical immortality. Obviously, if He did not rise from the dead, then He was mistaken. If He died, and stayed dead, then His understanding of Himself and His mission were erroneous. Furthermore, His teachings would have no special authority, for He would have been only a man, not God. Then, as Paul said, the Church through the ages have been promulgating nothing more than a myth. People would have perished for nothing more than a made-up story. It all hinges upon the resurrection. Did Jesus rise from the dead? If so, what evidence do we have that supports that?

Evidence For The Resurrection

If everything hinges upon the event of the resurrection, what evidence is there to establish it as true?

1.) The Empty Tomb – Without an empty tomb, there would be no evidence for a resurrection. The four gospel accounts are in agreement that the tomb was empty on Sunday morning. To refute Christianity’s claims, all that would have been necessary was to show that Jesus’ tomb was still occupied.

2.) The Graveclothes – John’s account of Jesus’ burial and resurrection gives us much detail and emphasis upon the graveclothes. Normally, the deceased would be buried or entombed within a few hours of death. We see from Lazarus’ burial, that he had also been wrapped and bound in linen strips (Jn. 11:44). One thing that was unusual in Jesus’ burial was the amount of spices used in preparing the graveclothes. In preparing the body, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus used a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a 100 pounds weight. Normally, these spices were dried, so 75 pounds (these were 12 oz. pounds) would be a very large amount. It was the practice to mix the spices with oil to a gummy consistency and spread it on the wrappings as you wrapped the body. This mixture not only served as an aromatic preservative, but also dried to cement the wrappings together. Normally the body was wrapped, mummy style, from the feet up to the neck, and a separate cloth was used to wrap the head and cover the face with a napkin. When Peter and John entered the tomb and saw the graveclothes still lying there, with the napkin still rolled up by itself, John said "he believed" (20:3-8). What did they see? Not a pile of graveclothes removed from the body (If you were going to steal a corpse, why would you want to unwrap it, especially if it was all gummy and oily?), rather the body removed from the graveclothes! The wrappings were still there in the shape of the body, but Jesus was no longer within its folds!

3.) The Eye Witnesses – Eyewitness evidence is stronger if it involves multiple witnesses, in various settings and in various times. Jesus’ appearances cannot be explained in terms of emotional manipulation or crowd hysteria, because of the wide variety of people and circumstances. Some witnesses were persuaded against all expectation.

Following is a listing of the eye witness appearances of the risen Christ. Jesus appeared to:

(a.) the women returning from the angelic encounter at the tomb (Note, they went to anoint His body. They did not expect Him to be risen. There were at least four women – Lk. 24:10) – Matt. 28:1-9;

(b.) Mary Magdalene at the tomb – Jn. 20:11-18;

(c.) Peter – I Cor. 15:5; Lk. 24:34;

(d.) The two on the Emmaus Road – Lk. 24:13-35;

(e.) The ten apostles on Sunday evening – Jn. 20:19-24;

(f.) The eleven apostles a week later – Jn. 20:24-29;

(g.) A group of 500 at one time – I Cor. 15:6;

(h.) James, the brother of Jesus – I Cor. 15:7;

(i.) Seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee – Jn. 21:1-23;

(j.) The eleven on a mountain in Galilee – Matt. 28:16-20;

(k.) The eleven on the Mt. of Olives, near Bethany – Lk. 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-13;

(l.) Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias (The context indicates that they must have seen Jesus, because they were to be "witnesses of His resurrection" and they had been among the disciples from the "baptism of John, until the day that He was taken up from us") – Acts 1:21-26;

(m.) Saul of Tarsus – I Cor. 15:8; Acts 9:1-19.

To sum up, we have at least 522 different people who had seen the risen Christ. The scriptures record at least 13 different appearances. In several of these instances, the state of mind of those who saw Him was not at all expecting Him to rise from the dead (cf. a.,b.,c., d., e., i., and m. listed above) In fact, they were disheartened and grieving His death, which they thought was final. Jesus’ appearance to them caught them entirely off guard. The wide variety of settings (i.e., to individuals, to groups, in locked rooms, or outside in a variety of places) preclude any possibility of crowd control or manipulation.

As proof of the reality of His appearances, the witnesses testified that they

(a.) held His feet (Matt. 28:9);

(b.) clung to Him (Jn. 20:17); (

c.) saw the wounds in His hands and side (Jn. 20:20);

(d.) touched Him, specifically to be sure He was flesh and bone, not an apparition (Lk. 24:39);

(e.) watched Him eat fish in front of them (Lk. 24:41-43);

(f.) probed the wound holes in His hands with a finger, and put a hand into the wound in His side (Jn. 20:24-29).

They also had extensive conversations with Him, not just fleeting appearances, and He appeared to them "by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days". In other words, He appeared to them many more times than what we have record of, and He spoke with them and taught them much more than what they wrote down for us in our gospel accounts.

4.) The Transformation of the Disciples. - These men, who had fled the scene of the arrest, and were hiding behind locked doors "for fear of the Jews" (Jn. 20:19) were, within 50 days, openly proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection, even confronting the very authorities they had feared to their face (Acts 4:8-10). To a man, none returned to his former career. Every one of them spread the gospel far and wide. They received no wealth, fame or power for their efforts. Paul tells us they endured great hardship and abuse for their efforts (I Cor. 4:9-13). All except John died a martyr’s death. Yet none of them recanted their explanation for the faith that they possessed. Jesus is Risen!

5.) The Coming of the Holy Spirit, the Birth of the Church, and the Testimony of Believers Throughout History. There is no reasonable explanation for these events, especially the ongoing experience of believers, unless Christ actually did rise from the dead, and sent the Holy Spirit, as He said He would (Jn. 14:16,17; 15:26,27; Acts 2:32,33).