The Resurrection

Bestselling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. Bestselling author and apologist, Dylan Burroughs. Together bringing you truth.

For a new generation, this is TNG Radio. The Christian writer, Henry Dromins, said to have eternal life, you have to have a relationship with the eternal. And Jesus Christ, having risen from the dead, has proved his victory over death. He is the one who holds the keys to eternal life, and he, in Jesus, gives us eternal life. With that, we welcome you to today's edition of Truth For A New Generation.

Alex McFarland here, along with Dylan Burroughs. And before we go any farther, Dylan, let me wish you a happy Easter. And happy Easter to you as well, Alex. It's exciting for me as a follower of Jesus to celebrate this day as the greatest day of our faith, better than Christmas, better than any other holiday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The tomb is empty. He is risen. Amen. He is risen indeed. You know, I love the words of Matthew 28. The angel told the women at the tomb, Matthew 28, 5-7, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here. He is risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples. He is risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him now, I have told you. We're going to unpack on today's show the facts of the resurrection of Christ, the empty tomb, and we just welcome you to the program, and we do hope that that resurrection experience, having a relationship with the living Jesus, is something that is very real in your life.

We hope there's been a time that you've come to Christ in faith and belief, and turned from sin to Jesus to be saved. And you know, Dylan, this is, as we have often talked about and much has been written, this is what makes Christianity different, that we have an empty grave. Our founder is not buried in a tomb somewhere. We don't go to a cemetery to commune with our founder. Our founder is alive, as close by as a prayer, and for the Christian, every hour of every day is communion with the living Jesus, the one who told us, the one who made this promise, because I live, you, the believer, will eternally live also. That is what makes this different, and that's a great, great message, isn't it, Dylan?

It is, and the Apostle Paul went on to say that if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith, and says that more than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, if that's the case. So everything in our Christian faith hinges upon the empty tomb, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and I'm excited to talk about some of the evidence that we have that supports this aspect of our faith. Dylan, have you been to the Holy Land? I have not had that opportunity. I know you have, and that's one place that, of all places on the planet, despite the controversy, despite some of the safety issues people talk about, is a place that I would like to go and stand in front of that empty tomb.

Oh my goodness. Well, two years ago we went, and we've talked about it a couple of times on the show, and we went with some of our colleagues from Focus on the Family, and I will say this, we have had probably two dozen people over the last year email me and ask if we would lead a trip to Israel, and the answer is yes. We definitely want to do that. We have talked to a couple of tour companies, and if you want to be kept abreast of that, I mean, it's at least going to be a year away.

In fact, it might be the fall of 2019, but if you would like to go to Israel with us, just let us know, and when we are ready to roll out that trip, you know, we will publicize it pretty heavily before this year is out. But Dylan, all of the sites of the Holy Land are special, and the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ agonized in prayer the night before his crucifixion, and the Mount of Olives, and the Temple Mount, and all of those things, it's amazing to visit those places. But when you go to the Garden Tomb, and you go in there, and there is the sign on the wall, He is not here. Not in the grave. He has risen, as He said.

It is the single most moving experience of my life, and you'll never be the same. I bought a book when I was over there of Gordon's Calvary, General Gordon that had excavated that area, and there's a very compelling case that the Garden Tomb, there is the empty tomb. I know that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is very much in the news, is also, some say they believe that's the place where Christ was crucified.

And there's a question about exactly what were the boundaries of the ancient city at that point, but what we know is this, He is alive. He rose from the dead, and He appeared to His disciples. We're going to talk about some of the resurrection appearances, but for a few moments, let's hone in on what the women found that first Easter morning. Because Dylan, all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, report that that first Easter morning, and the women at the tomb, giving conclusive proof of Christ's resurrection. And if you look at the four Gospels, it's interesting that in a culture where women were often not considered as equals with men, that Jesus first appeared to women. The Gospels talk about Mary Magdalene in some cases. In other cases, they talk about Mary Magdalene and the other Mary that you see in Matthew 28. You also see Mary mentioned as the mother of James and Salome. And so you see the women are the first to see Jesus, and they are the ones who go and tell the others.

So even in that aspect, it's significant that Jesus first appeared to the women, and they were the ones who brought the message to the disciples and then to others. You know, Lee Strobel, who is a friend, and he has spoken for so many of our Truth for New Generation conferences, and Strobel was a skeptic for many years, even as an adult. He was an atheist.

But with his law degree from Yale University, he took a lot of his legal training to an examination of Christianity, and he came away a fervent believer and for more than 20 years has been a defender of the faith. But Dylan, one of the things that he found very compelling was the fact that the women are the ones who reported the empty tomb. That, as you said, in that day in the first century, female testimony was not admissible in a court case. And yet, the fact that women report that empty tomb, and the other disciples Peter runs and finds the empty tomb, and then news of Christ's resurrection spread. This actually adds credibility to the Gospels because if they were making this up, if this were just a human contrivance, the idea that the men are away, probably hiding out for fear, the women go to the tomb and find it empty.

This unique principle of unexpected testimony adds credibility to the Gospels. We're going to come back and we're going to talk about crucifixion, the resurrection of Jesus, the appearances, and then what that means for us. I appreciate you being with us here on our special Easter edition of Truth.

New Generation will be right back. Stick with us. First Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches, to youth groups, and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like, is there a God? Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come.

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And that sets the Bible apart from almost everything else in the ancient world and its religious pantheon of gods and goddesses. The God Who Speaks is a feature-length documentary from the American Family Association. Available now at TheGodWhoSpeaks.org.

A.W. Tozer, the great Christian leader of years past, said, We understand and acknowledge that the Resurrection has placed a glorious crown on the life of Christ, His ministry, His miracles, His sufferings, all crowned with the greatest proof of His deity, the Resurrection. Welcome back. Alex McFarland here with Dylan Burrows, Truth for a New Generation radio. I do want to thank everybody who recently came for the Truth for a New Generation conference. People from 19 states to hear great speakers like Josh McDowell and Todd Starnes and Jay Warner Wallace.

We are planning two more for the year 2018, and so if you want to keep up with what we're doing, TruthForAnewGeneration.com and then my own travel schedule which is getting more and more full at my own website AlexMcFarland.com. But you know, Dylan, no matter where we go, the message of the Resurrection, and Christ, who is the hope of all people, Christ is the hope of this nation. And let me just say this, it's interesting, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, there are 89 chapters in the four Gospels. The first four books of the New Testament are really four biographies of Jesus, and only four chapters, think about this, four chapters describe the first 30 years of Christ's life. Seventeen chapters describe the last nine or ten days of his life here on earth. So think about this, there are four times more Gospel chapters about the week of the trials and crucifixion and resurrection than even the first 30 years of his life, and obviously the bulk of the Gospels describe the three year ministry of the Lord here as he proved his deity, paid for our sin, rose from the grave.

But it's interesting, ten chapters tell of the last day of Jesus' life on earth. By the way, let me just throw this out there because I know that we get this question a lot about what day of the week Christ was crucified on. Was it a Wednesday or a Friday?

I believe it was a Friday crucifixion because Mark 15 42 says it was the day before the Sabbath, and the Sabbath being Saturday, by definition, that would have had to have been a Friday. And I know, Dylan, we've had questions about three days and three nights. You know, Dr. Barry Leventhal from Southern Evangelical Seminary, a Jewish man, Dallas Seminary educated, I've actually had him lecture before on the Jewish reckoning of time, how they would count part of a day as all of a day, and the Friday, the Saturday, the Sunday morning resurrection in the Jewish mindset would have constituted enough time.

It didn't necessarily have to be a literal 72 hours to get how they would have seen three days and three nights. But a Friday crucifixion, a Sunday morning empty tomb resurrection. Let's talk for a moment, Dylan, about those first moments at the tomb. And it's not hard to memorize, folks. Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20. 28, 16, 24, 20.

That's how I remember it. But let's talk about five aspects. The time of the morning, the people present, the stone, the angel, and the angel's message. Because skeptics sometimes try to imply that there are contradictions in the resurrection accounts of that first Easter morning. I disagree, Dylan.

Well, that's true. I mean, you look at the four Gospels, they're not trying to give a robotic transcript of what happened that day. They're giving a particular point of view from an apostle or those associated with the apostles. And for instance, the time of the resurrection. Matthew 28 says it was at dawn on the first day of the week. Matthew says it was early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise. Luke says the same thing, and then John gives a little bit different aspect where he says while it was still dark. In all four of these cases, we're talking about a sunrise appearance at the tomb or the empty tomb that they arrived at on Sunday morning, right about sunrise. So it's a difference in description.

Exactly. And by the way, the chart that we created for this is in a couple of my books, one of which is Ten Answers for Skeptics. I interviewed 34 professed atheists, and one of the things they said was that the resurrection accounts are, quote, hopelessly contradictory.

I think you're going to find that that's not at all the case. Like you said, the time, you know, early, early in the morning, before dark, no contradiction. Who came to that empty tomb? Matthew 28 says Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Mark says Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Luke 24 says Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others. John 20 says Mary Magdalene.

Let's look for a minute, Dylan, at the Luke 24. When it says Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others, others implies a plurality. Now notice when, like John 20 says Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, it doesn't say only Mary Magdalene. So the fact that one Gospel writer mentions one person, Mark mentions three people, Matthew only mentions two, I mean, that doesn't necessarily imply there couldn't have been other people that came to the tomb either, does it? You're correct, and all four Gospels emphasize Mary Magdalene as either the person or the first person in the list, but what's interesting is that Luke emphasizes three specific people by name and mentions others. So he's giving more and more evidence than the others, because he is a more detailed writer than some of the other Gospel writers we know from observation, and it simply strengthens the case. It doesn't mean one's right and the other's wrong.

One gives more details than the other, and that's how we have to look at it in terms of observing the people present in the situation. Let's talk about the angel. Matthew says the angel of the Lord, Mark 16 says a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, Luke 24 says two men in gleaming clothes like lightning, John says two angels. Okay, let's talk about the Luke 24 and John 20, which mentions two angels, and Mark 16, which says one. But it doesn't say only one, does it? I mean, the Mark 16 just mentions one angel, but that does not necessarily exclude the possibility of two. Certainly, and you see this in the Bible and in other ancient literature, where one report will emphasize one person and another report will emphasize a multitude of people, or more than one person.

In this case, some of the Gospels emphasized the angel who was there, others emphasized the two angels. And we'll be back in just a moment to talk more about this. Stick with us here at Truth For A New Generation Radio. Truth For A New Generation is here to equip Christians with a Biblical worldview through conferences and camps. And speaking about camps, registration is now underway for the TNG Summer Youth Apologetics Camp happening July 22nd through 26th at North Greenville University in South Carolina.

Alex McFarland will be there along with Tony Beam. He's the vice president for student services and Christian worldview at NGU. They'll engage your youth on topics like, If God is so good, why is the world so bad? Learning and applying what God's Word says about gender, and a whole lot more, 15 apologetic and worldview training sessions in all, along with a field trip to the Billy Graham Center.

And of course, outdoor fun and games, and don't forget about the food, great food, enough to fill them up and keep them going. Find out more about the 2018 TNG Summer Youth Apologetics Camp when you visit truthforanewgeneration.com. Our country is falling apart, political unrest, social upheaval, the breakdown of the family, the rise of atheism, the rise of Islam. Our religious freedoms are under attack.

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Sing ye heaven and earth reply, Hallelujah. This is Dylan Burrows and Alex McFarland back with you at Truth For A New Generation radio and we're talking about some of the things that happened on the morning that Jesus appeared. We talked about the four gospels and how they talk slightly differently, but about the same information regarding the angel and the stone and the people present and the time of the actual resurrection, which took place early on Sunday morning. Lastly, we want to talk about the angel's message as well, because each of the four gospels mention it, but they use slightly different words.

And Alex, why is this significant, or what is the significance, perhaps, of the slightly different message that we see regarding the angel's message to Mary Magdalene and the women at the time of the resurrection? Well, you know, a lot of people that have had legal training, like Lee Strobel or J. Warner Wallace, who speaks at the Truth For A New Generation conferences. Wallace was a Los Angeles, California homicide detective for thirty years, and in his book Forensic Faith, where he talks about how he used his legal training in determining does God exist and is Christianity true, the differing details, again, not contradictory details. I mean, a contradiction are two opposite statements, both of which can't be true at the same time. Like if one gospel said Jesus rose from the dead, and another gospel said Jesus did not rise from the dead.

Those are incompatible. But let me throw a word out here, and a word is antinomy. An antinomous situation, or when you've got claims that might appear incompatible, but upon further examination, you find that they are compatible. People with legal training that have become believers and have looked at the resurrection accounts have said, look, these details are complementary but not contradictory. The message of the angels in Matthew 28, Jesus is not here, he's risen, come see the place where he lay. By the way, the first evidential apologetic, Matthew 28, 5-7, come see the place where he lay. The empty tomb is pointed to as an evidence of his resurrection. Mark 16, which is really almost identical to Matthew 28.

Don't be afraid. You're looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here.

See the place where they laid him. Luke 24, one of the angels says, why are you looking for the living among the dead? In other words, you're not going to find Jesus in this cemetery. He is risen, as he said. Don't you remember he said, the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and raised again the third day? And then in John 20, one of the angels asks, woman, why are you crying? So when you get the entire message, don't be sad, don't look for Jesus among the tombstones, he's risen, as he said.

I mean, Dylan, you know, I've spent the better part of two decades studying this. There's no contradiction. There's no necessary contradiction. You know, there's a lot of ways that we could hypothetically make it appear contradictory, but the bottom line, that grave was empty, as Christ had promised it would be. And skeptics who try to oppose Christianity and try to point out contradictions in the scriptures, this is not the area to do so. There are other areas where it might be more difficult to reconcile scripture, but this one is pretty clear. When you look at the angels' message, you have four different versions, emphasizing different aspects, but they're all emphasizing the empty tomb, he is not here, he is risen.

Now for a moment, I want to expand the way that you think about the resurrection of Jesus. If you're not familiar with the New Testament, I would urge you to look at 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Corinthians 15 is a chapter where the apostle Paul talks about all of those who saw the risen Jesus. Says he appeared over a period of 40 days, but in 1 Corinthians 15, it mentions he appeared to Cephas, who was Peter the apostle, and then to the 12. Verse 6 says he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, to all the apostles, and last of all, he appeared to me also as to one abnormally born. Now when you look at this, Paul is writing a letter about 20 years after the events, and he's saying that over 500 people saw Jesus alive again, and that most of those people are still alive.

This is speaking with credibility and authority that is far beyond what any opponent could have opposed. Exactly, I mean we've got Mary Magdalene in the garden, the women returning from the tomb, two disciples on the Emmaus road, church history says it's Cleopas and his wife, he appears to Peter, to the apostles in the upper room, to the 11 in the upper room, to the apostles by the Sea of Galilee, that's John 21, 1-24, which is really the first men's breakfast in church history in a way. But 11 disciples and 500 believers on Mount Tabor, as you mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.6. Jesus appeared to James, his half-brother in Jerusalem. And then Luke 24, 50-53, and then we read also in Acts 1, Jesus appeared on the Mount of Olives and ascended to heaven.

Now think about this, Dylan, some of the greatest days in history, maybe the top five greatest days in world history. The birth of Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus where he said it is finished, paid in full, the resurrection of Jesus, then the ascension of Jesus back to heaven, but the greatest day, the number one greatest day in history will have to be the day that Christ returns. And remember in the resurrection accounts, like Matthew 28, He is risen as He said. Dylan, just as Jesus promised to rise, and He did, just as Jesus promised that whoever calls on His name can be saved, and they can, He is going to come back. Jesus Christ has a 100% track record of keeping His promises, doesn't He?

He certainly does, and many have observed the fulfilled prophecies of the first coming of Jesus, and have shown that several hundred came true during His first time on the earth, and said that that's approximately half of the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah, which leaves about half of those yet to be fulfilled at the second coming of Jesus Christ. And it's important for us as people now to be ready for that personally, but also that we are to be sharing our faith with others. That's what our conference was about at Truth For A New Generation, to save a nation.

It's not a message we keep inside. Thank you for being with us here at Truth For A New Generation Radio and celebrating the resurrection with us. Stick with us and hear more about our ministry. Truth For A New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, exists to equip Christians with a biblical worldview through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit truthforanewgeneration.com, or give us a call at 877-YES-GOD-1. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number 1. TNG Radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, P.O. Box 485, Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. That's P.O. Box 485, Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. Or give online at alexmcfarland.com or truthforanewgeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.