A Sign For You Now

Aim of this step: To further consider the historical evidences for Jesus and the New Testament.

 

Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

 

What Scholars say – Gary Habermas has completed the most comprehensive investigation to date on what scholars believe about the Resurrection. Habermas collected more than 1,400 of the most critical scholarly works on the Resurrection written from 1975 to 2003. In “The Risen Jesus and Future Hope”, Habermas reports that virtually all scholars from across the ideological spectrum (from ultra-liberals to Bible-thumping conservatives) agree that the following points concerning Jesus and Christianity are actual historical facts:

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1. Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.

2. He was buried, most likely in a private tomb.

3. Soon afterwards the disciples were discouraged, bereaved, and despondent, having lost hope.

4. Jesus tomb was found empty very soon after his interment.

5. The disciples had experiences that they believed were actual appearances of the risen Jesus.

6. Due to these experiences, the disciple’s lives were thoroughly transformed. There were even willing to die for their belief.

7. The proclamation of the Resurrection took place very early, from the beginning of church history.

8. The disciples’ public testimony and preaching of the Resurrection took place in the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus had been crucified and buried shortly before.

9. The Gospel message centred on the preaching of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

10. Sunday was the primary day for gathering and worshiping.

11. James, the brother of Jesus and a sceptic before this time, was converted when he believed he also saw the risen Jesus.

12. Just a few years later, Saul of Tarsus (Paul) became a Christian believer, due to an experience that he also believed was an appearance of the risen Jesus.

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The acceptance of these facts makes sense in light of what we have been through so far. Most scholars agree with the twelve facts stated above because the evidence shows that; 1) The New Testament story is not a legend 2) The New Testament story is not a lie 3) The New Testament story is not an embellishment.

 

The Suffering Servant

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In March of 1947 a young Arab shepherd boy (Muhammad adh-Dhib) was watching his sheep seven-and-a-half miles south of Jericho and one mile west of the Dead Sea. After tossing a rock at a stray goat, he heard the sound of breaking pottery. What ensued was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time – the Dead Sea scrolls.

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In excavation of area caves through 1956, numerous scrolls and thousands of manuscript fragments were found in pottery that had been placed there about 2000 years ago by a Jewish religious sect known as the Essenes. The Essenes existed as a group from 167 BC to AD 68. They had broken away from the temple authorities and established their own community in the Judean desert near Qumran.

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One of their scrolls found in Qumran is now known as the Great Isaiah Scroll. Dated from 100 BC, this twenty-four-foot scroll is the complete book of Isaiah (all sixty-six chapters) and is the oldest biblical scroll in existence. It is currently protected in a vault somewhere in Jerusalem, but a copy of it is on display at the Shrine of the Book museum in Jerusalem.

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The importance of this discovery is not just that the scroll predates Christ and is in good condition, but that it contains perhaps the clearest and most complete prophecy about the coming Messiah. Isaiah calls the Messiah the “Servant of the Lord,” and he begins to refer to the Servant in chapter 42 in what is known as the first “Servant Song”. However, the Servant is most often referred to as the “Suffering Servant,” because of the vivid description of his sacrificial death found in Isaiah 53.

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As you read the passage (52:13-53:12), ask yourself, “To whom is this referring?”. Please search this scripture on the internet as the passage is quite lengthy.

Larry Helyer does a fine job of summarising the characteristics and accomplishments of Isaiah’s Servant. Beginning with the first Servant Song in chapter 42, Helyer makes the following observations of the Servant:

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1. He is elected by the Lord, anointed by the Spirit, and promised success in his endeavour (42:1, 4)

2. Justice is a prime concern of his ministry (42:1, 4)

3. His ministry has an international scope (42:1, 6)

4. God predestined him to his calling (49:1)

5. He is a gifted teacher (49:2)

6. He experiences discouragement in his ministry (49:4)

7. His ministry extends to the Gentiles (49:6)

8. The servant encounters strong opposition and resistance to his teaching, even of a physically violent nature (50:4-6)

9. He is determined to finish what God called him to do (50:7)

10. The Servant has humble origins with little outward prospects for success (53:1-2)

11. He experiences suffering and affliction (53:3)

12. The servant accepts vicarious and substitutionary suffering on behalf of his people (53:4-6, 12)

13. He is put to death after being condemned (53:7-9)

14. Incredibly, he comes back to life and is exalted above all rulers (53:10-12, 52:13-15)

 

In addition we also note that the servant is sinless (53:9). Just a casual reading of the passage should leave little doubt that the Suffering Servant is Jesus.

 

Additionally, manuscripts or manuscript fragments of all the Old Testament books except Esther were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. So there’s no doubt that the Old Testament, including the Suffering Servant passage, predates Christ by several hundred years.

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If Isaiah 53 were the only prophetic passage in the Old Testament, it would be enough to demonstrate the divine nature of at least the book of Isaiah. But there are a number of other passages in the Old Testament that predict the coming of Jesus Christ or are ultimately fulfilled by him.

 

Is Jesus God?

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The Old Testament predicts the coming of a Messiah who would be born a man but somehow be God as well (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus is the only known person who meets the predicted qualifications of the Messiah. But did he claim to be God? The answer is that directly and indirectly he certainly did.

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He also had divine actions - for example he said to a paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5-11). The scribes correctly responded, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

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Since Jesus clearly claimed to be God, he couldn’t be just a great moral teacher. Great moral teachers don’t deceive people by falsely claiming to be God. Since Jesus claimed to be God, one of the only three possibilities could be true: he was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.

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Liar doesn’t fit the facts. Jesus lived and taught the highest standard of ethics. And it is unlikely he would have laid down his life unless he really thought he was telling the truth.

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If Jesus thought he was God but really wasn’t, then he would have been a lunatic. But lunatic doesn’t fit either. Jesus uttered some of the most profound sayings ever recorded. And everyone (even his enemies) claimed that Jesus was a man of integrity who taught the truth (Mark 12:14).

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That only leaves us with Lord. He didn’t just claim it or act it, he proved it. He did so with three unparalleled proofs:

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1. He fulfilled numerous messianic prophecies written hundreds of years in advance

2. He lived a sinless life and performed miraculous deeds

3. He predicted and then accomplished his own resurrection from the dead

 

In my research and the research completed by many others, I believe these facts have been established beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, I conclude that Jesus is God.

 

What did Jesus teach about the Bible?

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Regarding the Old Testament, Jesus taught that the Old Testament was the Word of God in seven ways. He said it:

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1. Is divinely Authoritative

2. Is Imperishable

3. Is Infallible

4. Is Inerrant

5. Is historically reliable

6. Is Scientifically accurate

7. Has ultimate supremacy

 

What about the New Testament?

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After all, it was not written till after the end of Christ’s earthly life.

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While Jesus confirmed the Old Testament, he promised the New Testament. He said the New Testament would come through his apostles because the Holy Spirit would remind them what Jesus had said and would lead them into “all truth” (John 14:26, 16:13).

According to Jesus this means that the only books that should be in the New Testament are those that are authored and/or confirmed by his apostles.

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Bruce Metzger of Princeton University put it well. He said, “The canon is a list of authoritative books more than it is an authoritative list of books. These documents didn’t derive their authority from being selected; each one was authoritative before anyone gathered them together”. In other words, the only books that should be part of the New Testament are those that God has inspired. Since Jesus said that his apostles would produce those books, our only questions are historical: 1) Who were the apostles? And 2) What did they write?

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The early church fathers immediately recognised the Gospels and major Epistles as divinely inspired. Why? Because they knew the books were written by apostles (or by those confirmed by apostles), and those apostles had been confirmed by miracles. How did they know that? Because there is an unbroken chain of testimony from the apostles to the early church fathers regarding the authorship and authenticity of the New Testament books.

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Most of the New Testament was accepted before AD 200, and all of it was officially and finally recognised as authentic by the Council of Hippo in 393.

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How can the Bible be inerrant?

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If Jesus confirmed that the Old Testament was the inerrant Word of God, then his promised New Testament must be part of the inerrant Word of God too. But how can this be? Aren’t there scores if not hundreds of errors in the Bible?

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No. The Bible does not have errors, but it certainly has alleged errors or difficulties. There are many books about this topic one I would suggest is - When Critics Ask by Thomas Howe and Norman Geisler.

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Since the Bible is our established standard of truth, anything that contradicts a teaching in the Bible is false. This does not mean there is no truth in other religions. It simply means that any specific teaching that contradicts a teaching of the Bible is false.

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Now let’s review the conclusions we have drawn:

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1. Truth about reality is knowable

2. The opposite of true is false

3. It is true that the monotheistic God exists. This is evidenced by the:

               a. Beginning of the universe (Cosmological argument)

               b. Design of the universe (Teleological Argument / Anthropic Principle)

               c. Design of life (Teleological Argument)

               d. Moral Law (Moral Argument)

4. If God exists, then miracles are possible

5. Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God (i.e. as acts of God to confirm a word from God)

6. The New Testament is historically reliable. This is evidenced by:

               a. Early testimony

               b. Eyewitness testimony

               c. Uninvented (authentic) testimony

               d. Eyewitnesses who were not deceived

7. The New Testament says Jesus claimed to be God

8. Jesus’ claim to be God was miraculously confirmed by:

               a. His fulfillment of many prophecies about himself;

               b. His sinless life and miraculous deeds;

               c. His prediction and accomplishment of his resurrection

9. Therefore, Jesus is God

10. Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches is true

11. Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God

12. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God (and anything opposed to it is false).

 

Let’s go back and unpack the implications of this. The evidence we had gathered up previously helped us to conclude that all nontheistic worldviews and religions are false. This left us to consider the three major monotheistic world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Which one of them is true? The evidence we have now been through now yields a verdict:

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• The revelation of Judaism is true, but it is incomplete. It lacks the New Testament

• The revelation of Islam has some truth, but it errs on some fundamental teachings, including its denial of the deity and resurrection of Christ (Suras 5:75, 4:157-159)

• Only the revelation of Christianity is the complete, inerrant Word of God.

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Could we be wrong about all of this? It’s possible. But in light of the evidence, critics, sceptics, and those of other faiths need to have a lot more faith than we do.