Lie #5: Jesus Escaped The Crucifixion – Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. For some time, the theory has circulated that Jesus did not die on the cross. He merely swooned and woke up in a cool tomb. This is another lie about Jesus, a lie that tries to nullify the whole reason for His coming as a sacrifice for sin.

Stay with us. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, tell us about today's message regarding lie number five, that Jesus escaped the crucifixion.

Well, you know, Dave, the reference that you made to the swoon theory, I remember many decades ago a book was written about that and it circulated in many different places. It misled many people because obviously Jesus did not simply swoon on the cross, He died on the cross. That being said, we also have to recognize that in Islam the Quran says that Jesus was not crucified.

I've talked to Muslims who have said we so honor Christ that we believe that He was not crucified, He was taken directly to heaven. But you and I know that the Bible teaches, and I want to emphasize it again, that Jesus was crucified and He died for sinners. We're offering a resource that we think will be a blessing to you, but also to others in your family and in your circle of friends.

It's entitled, Don't Be Deceived, Six Lies About Jesus. And at the end of this broadcast, I'll be giving you some contact info because we want to put this resource into your hands. Would you just bow your head in prayer for a moment along with me? Our Father, we thank you today for the wonder and the beauty of the cross, a symbol that is so horrid and yet so beautiful. We pray that we might see you there as perhaps we've never seen you there before. Grant wisdom and much power that your blessed Holy Spirit who has been poured out upon your people may speak to every heart. May all minds by your spirit be riveted upon your truth, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Jesus enjoys a special status in Islam. In the Quran, He is mentioned in 93 verses. Muslims honor Him as one of the greatest prophets or the great prophet, and Muhammad himself considered his relationship with Jesus to be unique. He said, I am nearest of all the people to the Son of Mary and to all the prophets, and all the prophets are paternal brothers, and there has been no prophet between me and Him. As you know, Muslims regard Jesus as a wonderful prophet to be honored, but not to be worshipped. They deny the divinity of Jesus and believe that anyone who believes that Jesus was God is to be the object of the greatest curse. But not only the divinity of Jesus is denied, they also disbelieve in the crucifixion of Jesus. Today I would like to read one passage from the Quran.

This is surah number 4, 157 to 159. Speaking of the Jews, and this translation is a little different than the Quran that I have, but it's essentially the same. There's no change in meaning. Speaking of the Jews, it says, they claim we killed Messiah Jesus, Son of Mary, the Apostle of God, but they killed him not, nor did they crucify him. They were under the illusion that they had. Those who differ on this matter are full of doubts. They have no real knowledge, but follow only conjecture.

Assuredly, they did not kill him. And then the text goes on to say, on the contrary, God raised him to himself, and God is all-powerful and all-wise. Now there are various interpretations by Muslim scholars given to the passage that I just read. Some say that God created somebody who looked like Jesus, and that person was crucified, and therefore Jesus was not crucified, but God snatched him and took him up to heaven directly. Some of us find that very unsatisfactory because it would appear at least that God was party to deception.

Other scholars have said no, it doesn't mean that. It simply means that God raised up Jesus and the Jews had to find someone to crucify so that there might not be a riot, and therefore they found someone else to crucify, and so the tradition came down that Jesus was in point of fact crucified. But all of us know that the disciples knew Jesus all too well.

They were very, very well acquainted with him, having lived with him for three years. And then two of his disciples, Joseph of Arimathea, at least not a part of the circle of the twelve, but nonetheless followers of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, and of course Nicodemus, took down the body of Jesus and they buried it. They would know whether or not Jesus had been crucified and that he had died. The question is where did the Qur'an get the idea that Jesus was not crucified?

Well, two possibilities. One is Gnosticism. As you know, we've been studying Gnosticism because of the da Vinci Code, and the Gnostics who came after the time of Jesus, second, third, fourth century, they had all kinds of interesting and foolish theories, as we've learned, in the apocalypse of Peter. It says that Jesus was on a tree laughing. Someone else was crucified.

He was laughing because they thought they were crucifying him, and in point of fact, he was, they were crucifying someone else. But there's another possibility, and that is that the Qur'an accepts the common Jewish teaching. That if Jesus was sent by God, he cannot die.

He cannot die. The Qur'an teaches that God is faithful to his messengers. God gives victory to those who make his cause victorious, and so the argument is if God allowed Jesus to die, it would compromise his faithfulness and his justice, because God is invincible, and therefore the bottom line is that Jesus was such a wonderful prophet, and because God's purposes are invincible, God would not have allowed him to die, but rather took him directly to heaven. So I've heard Muslim leaders say, as I'm sure you have, that they honor Jesus more than we do, because we say that Jesus died, and they say that he was too good to die. He was a prophet sent by God, and so God spared him from death, and the idea that the Jews crucified him was an illusion.

They were deceived. Jesus went directly to heaven. So the question that I'm going to try to answer in the next 15, 20 minutes, maybe 25, maybe 30, depending on how God leads, and you can put your watch away, because mine is up here, so as long as I have my eye on the watch, you don't have to have your eye on yours.

What I'd like to do is to speak to two questions, really. First of all, did Jesus die? And secondly, if he did die, why did he die? And is it true that if we say that he escaped the crucifixion, is it true that we are really saying that God honored him and that those who believe that honor him more than we do?

That's what we are set out to discuss today. First of all, a couple of words regarding the historical record before we get to the scriptures themselves. As you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have a very detailed description of the crucifixion of Jesus. In all of their writings, it is given a lot of space, as we could say.

In some instances, a couple of chapters. And you read it, and you are overwhelmed by the detail and by the truths that are there and how, yes indeed, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried the body of Jesus. We have the story of the disciples cutting and running at the first part when Jesus is crucified.

John comes back, and you have the whole story then of the resurrection, how they recognize him, even with the nail prints in his hands, as Thomas discovered. Now, if you contrast that with the Quran coming 500 years after the time of Jesus, obviously, we do not have there an eyewitness account. And also, in the New Testament, you have multiple witnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Quran, of course, was written by one person. There's another reason why we have strong indications that Jesus was crucified, and that is that the disciples themselves did not want to believe it. If there had been any possible way that they could have had Jesus Christ escape the crucifixion, as we shall see in a moment, they would have. The reason that they ended up believing in the crucifixion is because they had to believe that Jesus died, because there was no alternative, there was no alternative, despite their desire to have him escape death. So much for the Christian sources, we could also today talk about secular sources.

For example, Tacitus, who's a historian who lives at the beginning of the second century, says that Jesus was executed under the leadership of Pontius Pilate. Now with that introduction, let's take our Bibles now and turn to the 16th chapter of the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 16, it's a remarkable story, and I hope that you can find it.

And, you know, we do have pew Bibles for those of you who just happened to forget your Bible today. And you can find it there in Matthew, the first gospel of the New Testament, chapter 16, and in verse 13 it says, now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? Now this whole interchange with Peter is deserving of an entire sermon, and someday you'll get it, but not today. Some say John the Baptist, other Elijah and Jeremiah, or one of the prophets, he said to them, but who do you say that I am?

Wow, who would ask a question like that? Could you imagine me taking the elders and saying elders, who do people say that I am, and who do you say that I am? I think somebody else would be preaching here next Sunday if I were to do that, but Jesus asked it. And you'll notice that Simon Peter says to him in verse 16, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, takes your breath away. And Jesus said, Simon, blessed are you, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. Jesus is saying that the human mind is so blind to be able to grasp these truths, even though they are very evident, as we learned in a previous message in this series, that unless my Father put it together in your mind so that you could see it, you wouldn't have understood it. And Peter, you are blessed. And Jesus goes on and gives him the keys of the kingdom, and later on the keys of the kingdom are given to all of the disciples who had a part in the spreading of the word of God. That by way of introduction to this passage. Now let's notice in verse 20, he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Doesn't that come as a surprise? You've learned that I am the Christ, the Messiah, but don't you dare tell anyone.

Why? Well, think of the message that they would have proclaimed. They'd have told people that he is the Messiah. And what would the people have expected? They'd have gone to the Old Testament and they would have expected the rule of Messiah. They would have expected kingship. They would have expected him to crush all of his enemies, to get rid of the yoke of Rome and set the nation free. And they've been always trying to get Jesus to become king anyway.

This would only increase the clamor for his kingship. And Jesus said, you know, you folks, you don't understand enough. That's why I would prefer that nothing be said about my Messiah ship until you understand why I'm coming and why I came to earth. And that's why you should never read verse 20 without reading verse 21, because they are connected. From that time, Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and be killed. And on the third day, be raised. He must go to Jerusalem, the city of sacrifice. He must suffer many things by the elders and the chief priests.

He must be killed and raised the third day. That little word must. Perhaps 10 years ago, I preached a sermon here at the Moody Church on that little word must. What must happen in Greek?

It's a word with three letters, D E I, day. Same word that Jesus used when he was there at the temple at the age of 12. And they come looking for him and he says, I must be about my father's business.

You look up all the musts, all of the things that are necessary. Jesus said this was necessary that it happened. Now, Peter couldn't endure this. You'll notice it says verse 22 and Peter took him aside. He didn't want to do it publicly. You don't rebuke someone like Jesus to his face in the presence of his other disciples. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, oh, far from it, far from it, Lord.

This will never happen to you. What was Peter's problem? Peter's problem very simply was this.

He couldn't imagine. He couldn't imagine a divine Christ dying because in his mind as well, it looked like a defeat. I mean, crucifixion was humiliation. Crucifixion was torture. Crucifixion was for losers, not for winners. So Peter takes him aside and says, Lord, you have that wrong.

You will not die. We should stand in awe of this encounter. And the reason we should is because Peter is the just the one who moments before spoke the marvelous words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. And a few moments later, he is now actually saying words that are in harmony with Satan. You'll notice that Jesus says to Peter in verse 23, Peter, get behind me, Satan.

Oh, thankfully, he did not say, get behind me, Peter. That would have destroyed Peter because Peter loved Jesus. Jesus said, you are a hindrance, a stumbling block.

That's the word for me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. Peter, you are the rock, but now you are a stone over which I am being tempted to stumble, namely to avoid the cross. Jesus didn't mean that Peter was demon possessed. What he meant was, Peter, the words that are coming out of your mouth would be in harmony with the plan of Satan who would do anything to keep me from the cross because this event, which is so horrible, this event of humiliation is going to be the means of my awesome, unbelievable exaltation and the redemption of humanity. So, Peter, just understand that what you are saying is a line with the hopes and the dreams and the plans of Satan.

Little parenthesis thrown in, there are people who give you good advice because they love you, maybe because they don't want to see you suffer. And in the process, they may be giving you the words of men and not the words of God. So the question is, what about that little word, must? I must go to Jerusalem. I must suffer and die on the cross and be raised again.

Why? Well, I'd like to suggest to you that it represents the greatest glory and the attributes of God. But first of all, I want to give you one other reason before we get that, and that is the scripture had to be fulfilled. Now that your Bibles are open to Matthew chapter 16, you can also turn to chapter 26.

26, it is so wonderful to see how God is able to orchestrate events. Peter cuts off the ear of a servant of the high priest. Judas is coming out to see Jesus. We're in chapter 26 verse 51, and behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

We know that from that that was Peter because of another account. Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?

Must be so. Isaiah 53 had to be fulfilled. He has led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shears is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. Jesus said that the scripture had to be fulfilled. But now the cross itself, what's going on there? The cross reveals a number of attributes of God that could not be shown in any other way. The cross in fact is the center of God's program. The Bible says in the book of Revelation he is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. God created in order that he might redeem. This is the apex of God's plan of redemption and the glory and the beauty of all that he's going to do for us and what he will also do for himself. And that's why Paul will eventually say God forbid that I should glory except except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well what are the attributes? First of all at the cross we see the love of God. I don't see the love of God when I look at nature. Oh sometimes I do when it's calm and it's beautiful. But when I look at a tsunami, when I look at the devastation of tornadoes, when I see famines in Africa and people starving, I do not see the love of God in nature.

Sorry. And if somebody asks me how do you know that God loves the world I don't point to world events but I do point to the cross. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God says what I'm going to do is I'm going to redeem for myself a group of people and that group of people is going to be redeemed by a sacrifice that I myself will make and the son of God is going to make a sacrifice that will be gladly received by the father so that redemption is holy of God and there we see love. The son of man did not come to be ministered unto the Bible says but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Here is love not that we loved God but that God loved us and gave his son as a sacrifice for our sins. Here uncontested is the love of God. Christianity comes along and says that God so loved us that he sent Jesus the perfect sacrifice to pay for all of our sins so that eternally we need bear none of them. Yes my friend at the cross of Jesus Christ we most clearly see the love of God we also see the justice of God and Jesus Christ died was buried rose again and was taken to heaven. Now when you look throughout church history you discover that heresies always developed and when they did it all had to do with the person of Christ. All kinds of theories we emphasize in this message the idea that Jesus didn't actually die. Of course he died.

We have a great deal of evidence for that. If you are inspired as a result of this ministry and you know people who are impacted by the ministry of running to win we want to make available for you a very special resource. It's a book I've written entitled don't be deceived six lies about Jesus.

You perhaps have a friend someone who is struggling with their faith we believe that it will also be helpful for them. I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy because here's what you can do go to rtwoffer.com. Now I'm going to be giving you that contact info again rtwoffer.com or you can pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.

Let me encourage you right now go to rtwoffer.com. You can write to us at running to win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614. Running to win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life.

Conspiracy theorists people touting all kinds of wild schemes clog the internet with their blogs and readers buy it. One theory is that Jesus did not die on the cross he merely swooned waking up in the tomb. This is another lie about Jesus a lie we'll handle further on our next running to win. Thanks for listening this is Dave McAllister. Running to win is sponsored by the Moody Church.