Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
So, this is the second part of this series on the evidence of the resurrection. We saw last time how Thomas Arnold and Sir Lionel Luckhoo, two among many that really researched for years the evidence of the resurrection and they said that without a doubt, Christ is risen from the dead. This is based on the fact that many scholars have looked at the Bible and saw that historically, it is very, very valid.
So, people started come up with these different theories, with four in total, where they tried to conceal the truth of the resurrection. We'll see two theories this... in this video and two others in the next. But before going with the first theory, we have to understand that in Matthew 17, verses 22 and 23, this is one verse among many where Christ says that He will die and after three days, He will be raised from the dead once more.
So, you have to understand that this is a huge statement. Imagine you're trying to make friends and as your relationship with them is deepening, you come to them one day and you say: guys, I'm gonna die and in three days I'll be raised up. Wait for me here. What will they think of you? They will think that you are a lunatic.
Actually, it has been said about Christ that we have three options when we look at His life and at His works, right? Or He is a liar, or He is a lunatic, or He is Lord. So, is God a liar? It has been shown very clearly from the Bible that He's not. And He said: I am the way, the truth and the life. And He has spoken the truth and that is very evident. The second point is: Is He truly a lunatic? This verse, when He said it, what was going into his mind? But was He a lunatic? Because in reality, we see that, the remainder of His life, everything that He said, He did, including all the miracles, all the wisdom of the teaching. There was not a wiser man on earth than Christ, because He is God-Man, He's the incarnate Logos. So then, He must be truly Lord. And if He is Lord, He can be raised from the dead.
So, the first theory is called the swoon theory or the faint theory and it goes something like this. It says that Christ was beaten, obviously very harshly, prior to the... the cross. So, when they put Christ on the cross, He fainted. Now, because of the poor knowledge in the medical field at the time, they thought that He was dead. So, they took Him down from the cross. He wasn't dead: He had just fainted. And they wrapped Him and put Him inside the tomb. Then, three days later, as He awoke and He regained consciousness, He got out of the tomb and He told His disciples that He was raised from the dead.
Now, looking at this theory very quickly, it kind of makes sense. But if we look at it in its details, like we will see now, it does not make any sense at all. So, let's see if this theory really stands. We have to understand that, at the time, people were treated barbarically. So, when someone is scourged like Christ, he's not hit with a rod: he's hit with a flagrum. 1 The flagrum has pieces of bones and of metal in it. And they said, historically, that it used to pick up the flesh from your back or wherever you were scourged. So, people would have their muscles laid bare, their veins laid bare. It was something that was very, very brutal. That's number 1.
Number 2, solders had amazing experience in crucifying people. They could not make a mistake if someone was dead or not, first because of their experience. Like Josephus the historian says that, at some point in 7 A.D., they used to crucify over 500 people per day. The level of experience was extremely high.
And secondly, these soldiers were extremely afraid if they did not do their job properly. So, if that happens and they fail at their mission, someone will take them, torture them, and then kill them. And they are guaranteed that and that only. And that's why, in Acts 16, you find an example of a soldier that thought that he didn't fulfil his mission... was about to take his sword and kill himself without hesitation, because he's guaranteed death, and prior to it, torture. That's the only thing he's guaranteed.
Number 4 is the fact that they broke the legs of the two thieves, but not the legs of Christ. Because when you're on the cross, you can't breathe, right? So, they push with their legs to be able to breathe. But, since Christ was already dead, they did not need to break His legs. They break the legs, because if you're standing like this, you cannot breathe anymore. So, it accelerates your asphyxiation and you cannot breathe anymore, and therefore, you die. But, they didn't break His legs, which is evidence that they knew for sure that He was dead.
Let's say He wasn't after all of this. The people took Him down. St. Mary, St. John, Joseph, and Nicodemus, at some point, they had to touch His body. Wouldn't anybody feel that He was still breathing? But nobody felt the fact that He was breathing, because He was dead. What if He wasn't? Then, they took a cloth and put it around His face, another cloth around His body. How would He breathe with a cloth on His face? That would surely kill him.
In addition, when they hit Him with the spear, water and blood came out. So, medical experts say that this is because His heart was ruptured, because of all the effort that Christ had done and that was obvious that He couldn't even carry His own cross to Calvary, right? So, He was tired. His heart was ruptured and so the blood in the heart went and was mixed with the water. And that's why when He was hit with the spear, the water and blood came out. Even after all of this, let's say He wasn't dead. When He was taken and put in the tomb for these
1 flagrum: latin word for a whip, a flail.
three days, approximately 36 hours, in the cold, without medical attention, without food or drink in that state, does He have a chance to survive?
But the people that uphold this theory believe that not only He survived, but then, He had the strength to remove the cloth, both of them, and He got up and He pushed that huge rock and cut the seal. And then, He fought the soldiers, 'cause they were probably awake, and after He fought the soldiers with His two feet that were pierced and His two hands that were pierced, He went and travelled to Emmaus for seven miles, and many other places, and somehow made the disciples believe that He was raised from the dead. How would you believe such a theory? It is obvious that Christ truly died on the cross.
So, historically and biblically, it is evident that Christ died on the cross. And the fact of the matter is His tomb was empty on Sunday morning, like He had said that He would be raised after three days before He died. But the Jews do not want to believe in the resurrection. Therefore, in Matthew 28, they came up to the soldiers, gave them a large sum of money and told them: Say that His disciples came at night and stole the body while you were asleep. 2
But there are many problems with that statement. The first one is how do you know who stole the body if you were asleep? If you know, it's because you saw. And if you saw, means you are awake. Secondly, if this was true, we know that the soldiers would have their heads cut off immediately, like we had explained before. Number three, where did the disciples of Christ have this courage to come and steal the body? They were afraid and scared, as we saw. Nobody was under the cross, other than St. John. We know this. And supposedly, they came and rolled this big rock and made noise and still the soldiers were asleep? The chances of this happening is very small.
Another point is, in John 20, St. John, St. Peter walked inside the tomb. And now, we have to be a bit more specific about the linen cloth. So, we have a handkerchief on the head of Christ and we have a set of cloths on his body. Now, in John 20, it says that the handkerchief was folded and it was put separately from the remainder. Now, what kind of thief, as he walks in to steal, is folding things? It does not make any sense.
Now, in addition to this, let's go back to St. Peter and the disciples and how afraid they were. If I take St. Peter for example. So, St. Peter was afraid of a servant girl, right? So, he denied Christ in front of a servant girl in Matthew 26. That demonstrates how afraid he was. But after he saw Christ's resurrection, he was a completely different person.
So, in Acts 2, we see that he gives this powerful sermon where 3000 people are converted and baptized. Now, in Acts 4, he's face to face with the Jewish leaders and they're telling him and the other disciples not to preach in that name. And this is His response. He says, in verse 19:
2 Adapted from Matthew 28:13
'' 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, ''Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.'' (Acts 4:19-20).
Look at the courage that he has. And we know that eleven out of the twelve apostles were martyred. And you very well know St. Peter was martyred, crucified upside down. So, where did this power come from, unless they truly believed that our Christ was raised from the dead?
So, this theory that the disciples stole the body implies that the disciples knew that they had lied, that they had stole the body and afterward they had lied, and they believed in their own lie to the point that they died for that lie. And that makes no sense whatsoever. And that's why that second theory is also refuted.
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever. Amen.