26-0513wc Neighborly Apologetics

Title: Christ’s Death, Facilitator: Scott Reynolds

(0:04) Okay. Thank you, Mark. And my greetings to all of you.

Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking your time out of your busy life to attend this tonight.

(0:17) As Mark prayed, we pray that the Lord is going to provide something for us that will be of benefit to you and from my perspective, benefit to your neighbors. (0:31) Remember, we’re doing this under this banner of neighborly apologetics, and we call it that because what we’re seeking here is to tell the body of Christ, understand their role in fulfilling the royal law. (0:50) Jesus is the king of kings, and so James called it the royal law.

It could be called the Jesus law, and that is that we are to love our neighbor. (1:01) We’re to build that deep relationship with those who live near us, and in doing so, we pray that God is going to cast that vision upon the common Christian family, that God has entrusted to them the prime work of the kingdom. (1:18) And in building those relationships with your neighbor, as you build that trusted relationship, and you then begin to have the opportunity to express the reason for the hope that’s in you, as we read in 1 Peter, but to begin to understand the issues that they’re dealing with.

(1:39) So if Mrs. Smith, who lives across the street, you and your family begin to understand for tonight’s topic, begin to understand Mrs. Smith, for who knows, whatever reason, whatever experience or whatever things in her life, that she just does not believe that Jesus really died, that she has some other ideas about that. (2:05) Well, that’s why we’re doing this webinar tonight, to deal specifically with that issue, and we’re following, this is under the larger list of topics in Neighborly Apologetics. (2:21) We decided we would begin with this one, concerning Christ and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(2:31) And we’re looking at three great questions that are very, very important and are apologetic to others, as God exists, is the Bible reliable, and who is Jesus? (2:42) And I would submit to you that these are important questions for you and your family as well, and it is profitable for you to spend time talking about these around an inner table, when you walk by a wayside, and so forth. (3:00) So we’ve been following that question, who is Jesus? (3:05) We’ve already looked at the promises that God made in the prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah. (3:11) We looked at the life and works of Jesus.

(3:14) We finished that last time. (3:17) I apologize that we had to take a month off. (3:22) I was out.

(3:25) And tonight, we’re going to look at the death and resurrection of Jesus, but this is too much. (3:31) So the death and resurrection of Christ is too much for us to handle, and I’m even concerned about getting through everything here tonight. (3:41) So we’re going to deal, first of all, with just the death of Jesus, and the question, did Jesus really die? (3:49) There are all kinds of theories.

(3:51) Almost all of them fall under these two right here. (3:54) So if you can deal with these two, you can deal with almost all of the issues that people rise in the contrary way towards the scriptural presentation that Jesus died. (4:05) The swoon theory and the substitution theory.

(4:08) We’ll look at each of those, but we’re first going to have to build some groundwork for us. (4:16) This aspect of the death of Christ is really huge. (4:19) It’s more than just looking at the physical death of Jesus.

(4:24) It’s much deeper than that. (4:26) And the pathway to help us understand how to talk to people about this is deeper than just facts. (4:37) And so this is what we’re going to do tonight.

(4:39) This is kind of our outline, so to speak, what we know from the historical documents about the death of Jesus Christ. (4:48) What is the historical understanding of Roman crucifixion, and including that, the scourging? (4:54) The evidence of the death of Jesus, and the common-sense issues associated with this whole issue. (5:03) And then the ethical issues that one should deal with when you look at this from a contrary perspective.

(5:13) So let’s start with, what do we know from the historical documents? (5:17) There was a survey done recently in Britain, and 22% of people believe that Jesus wasn’t real. (5:25) That it’s all fake, it’s a myth, it’s some kind of a deception that has been made up. (5:33) And it’s possible that, increasingly possible, that your neighbor is going to fall into this category that he believes or she believes the same.

(5:48) And so what we’re talking about tonight is how do we deal with that? (5:51) How do we prepare ourselves, how do we prepare our family to be able to sit down with Mrs. Smith when that trusted relationship is built? (6:01) To be able to answer her questions. (6:07) Somebody has a mic on, and I don’t know who that is, but if you could mute that. (6:13) There are significant historical references to Jesus, and they are significant.

(6:20) Tacitus, in his writings, said that Jesus suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of the Tiberius, and he suffered at the hands of Pontius Pilate. (6:30) Out of the annals 15. (6:33) Josephus, when he was writing about James, described him as the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ.

(6:42) That’s from his antiquities. (6:44) There are other references to Jesus that we see, and all of the authors, Pliny the Younger. (6:51) When we began to look at some of the other areas in our neighborly apologetics, (6:55) we were talking about the veracity of the scriptures and so forth.

(7:00) We will deal more with each of these people and what they wrote, but they wrote about Jesus. (7:08) They wrote about his death. (7:10) Celsus thought Jesus was a villain.

(7:11) He was no friend of Jesus, but he never questioned the existence of Jesus. (7:18) Even the Jewish Talmud speaks of Jesus and says that he was hanged on a tree on the eve of the Passover. (7:26) Lucian writes of Christians who were worshiping their crucified sage.

(7:32) The Marabara Serapion, I don’t know exactly how that name is even pronounced, the late first century, wrote a letter to his son. (7:42) This is what he said. (7:44) What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise king? (7:48) It was after that that their kingdom was abolished.

(7:52) Nor did the wise king die for good. (7:53) He lived on in the teaching which he had given. (7:57) Justin Martyr, in the mid-2nd century, refers to the Acts of Pontius Pilate, which we don’t have, (8:06) in which he refers that in that, the Acts of Pontius Pilate, even the miraculous Acts of Jesus were referred to, and his resurrection.

(8:17) Phlegon wrote of Jesus' death, and he wrote of the earthquake and the darkness. (8:23) So, all of these things are the kind of historical evidence that helps build what is a deeply impressive amount of historical evidence, (8:36) not only for the existence of Jesus, but for the fact that Jesus was crucified, that he was murdered, he was put to death. (8:45) But nothing really is as compelling as the accounts we find chronicled in the Gospels concerning the life, the death, and resurrection of Jesus.

(8:58) And then you add to that the other writings, the extensive writings of Paul, and then Peter, Jude, and James. (9:07) Now, some, of course, would discount this, and we have to understand the reasons they would discount this, (9:14) and to understand that there’s some valid reasons why someone might say, well, wait a second, these are written by followers of Jesus. (9:23) But that’s really not a very strong charge to make, and we need to know how to handle that charge, because you might hear that.

(9:33) The reality is, if we were to toss out all of the history that was written by authors who did not have a perfect neutral view towards the subject, (9:45) we would probably be left without any history at all. (9:49) But the fact, and we will deal with this, again, when we look at the veracity of the Scriptures, and in particular, the Gospels themselves, (9:57) that it’s hard for anyone to say that this was all made up. (10:04) Paul, remember, was initially hostile to Jesus, but then after Jesus appeared to him and he was radically changed, (10:13) he spent time with Peter and James, who were eyewitnesses of all this, (10:19) and so his writings are filled with the testimony regarding that Jesus of Nazareth existed, that he was crucified, dead, buried, and rose again.

(10:33) So, all four Gospels attest to the death of Jesus. Here are just a few of those. (10:39) Matthew and John both say he gave up his spirit, speaking of Jesus.

(10:44) Mark and Luke say that Jesus breathed his last, as well as the rest of the New Testament, in many places that we couldn’t really list here. (10:56) So, by all of these standards, and we’re going through this very quickly, and I want to pause here and apologize, (11:03) you’re going to see a lot of text on these slides. (11:07) I decided to do that because we’re going to give you the slides.

(11:10) We’re going to give you a copy, a PDF of the slides, and I wanted to help you kind of just sit back (11:21) and allow the Lord to kind of press upon you the weight and the reality of what we’re talking about here, (11:30) that the death of Jesus was not simply just the beating of a heart that stopped in some individual (11:38) a couple thousand years ago, but there are huge eternal ramifications of what happened there, (11:46) and that’s why the world, the flesh, and the enemy are so desperate to try and deny that. (11:54) So, there is no lack of historical evidence for any of this. (12:03) The reality is that Jesus was tried by Pontius Pilate, and he was sentenced to death by crucifixion.

(12:13) So, the key point here is that there is a lot of evidence to support the existence of Jesus, (12:19) so why is there this pushback? (12:24) I think this is a valuable question for you to consider when you’re dealing with Mrs. Smith, for example. (12:31) When you have that kind of trusted relationship with her, and you have the ability to begin to have that discussion, (12:39) and she asks questions and you’re responding to them, it’s a valuable question to ask and ponder this yourself. (12:46) Why is it that people spend so much time trying to prove that Jesus didn’t exist, (12:54) or to prove that he didn’t die, or to prove that he wasn’t raised from the dead? (13:00) There are societies that are formed for the sole purpose of proving that Jesus is a myth, (13:11) or that he is a legend.

That was the purpose of the Jesus Project. (13:15) It was formed to debunk the historical Jesus. (13:18) There are lots of books that are written to deny the historicity of Jesus and Nazareth.

(13:24) In my mind, it’s almost like every Easter, the Time and Newsweek and other magazines seem to be obsessed with trying to debunk Jesus. (13:38) So, here’s some great questions. (13:41) Why do so many people dedicate so much time to this? (13:48) There are campus clubs, societies on college and university campuses that are formed for this particular purpose.

(14:01) Here’s another great question. (14:04) I don’t know of any club in any university, I don’t know of any society in any university (14:11) that has been formed to debunk the existence of Plato, (14:15) or to debunk the existence of Aristotle, or King Arthur, whose existence is a little bit sketchy. (14:24) We don’t have any clubs like that, but we do have clubs and societies that are formed for the purpose of trying to debunk Jesus.

(14:33) That in itself is a very telling thing for people to ponder. (14:39) This is a little touchy, even in our culture today, as much as it astounds me that it’s true, (14:46) but there are people who deny the historicity of the Holocaust. (14:50) And they don’t deny it because there are historical facts and evidence that drive them to that conclusion.

(14:58) In fact, there are tons and tons of evidence that counter that position. (15:03) They deny it because they have an a priori desire, a motive to do so. (15:10) In all of these things we see, there’s a need.

(15:13) I would submit to you that Mrs. Smith, for whatever reason, has a need to deny the existence of Jesus. (15:22) One of the ways you do that is, for example, to deny that Jesus really died, (15:26) because the resurrection is based upon that, and practically the entire thrust of the life of Jesus (15:33) and the purpose of Jesus and the redemption of his people are formed there in his death. (15:42) Because it’s in that death that we find the penalty for our sins being paid.

(15:47) So there’s a need. Mrs. Smith has a need. (15:51) The people who form these societies have a need, a deep need, to try and somehow deny that Jesus exists.

(16:00) It’s not driven by fact, but it’s driven by desire. (16:03) It’s important for us to understand that as we’re dealing with our neighbors. (16:10) So if you’ve watched any of the debates, and I’ve watched numerous of the debates concerning the existence of Jesus, (16:17) the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the rebuttal to that evidence is always extremely weak, (16:26) and contrived and most often will descend into some sort of conspiracy theory.

(16:34) So when you find someone who is falling into a conspiracy theory, (16:38) I can almost guarantee you that they do so because their evidence for the truth of reality is a little weak, (16:45) and they have another desire, another need that they’re trying to fulfill. (16:52) So the reality is the vast majority of honest historians, (16:56) and I want you to hear from Barry Habermas and some other folks here tonight. (17:03) Hopefully they will come through to you.

(17:05) The vast majority of honest historians, whether or not they are a believer in Jesus, (17:12) they are convinced that the evidence of the existence of Jesus is overwhelming, (17:18) and you will hear from Barry, for example, the evidence of his death is overwhelming. (17:26) So when you begin to build that deep relationship with your neighbor, (17:30) and they happen to be a historical denier of Jesus, (17:33) keep in mind that it isn’t so much an intellectual issue as it is a heart issue. (17:39) That is what you’re dealing with.

(17:42) And if you focus yourself simply upon the facts of the apologetic, (17:48) then you will most likely be missing the real cause behind their belief and behind their actions. (17:58) So target your prayers upon the heart of your neighbor, (18:04) that God will open their eyes, soften their heart, (18:07) unstop their ears, that you might build a trusting relationship with them (18:13) so that they would be willing to have a discussion with you. (18:18) Just as Rosaria Butterfield said that after she had entered into that trusted relationship with (18:24) Kent and Floyd Smith, that she began to ask the questions that her worldview could not answer.

(18:33) So there are mystics and skeptics that attempt to debunk Jesus in a number of ways, (18:41) all from the veracity of the scriptures, the scriptures aren’t true, (18:45) try to attack that, to all kinds of conspiracy theories that we talked about. (18:50) And it’s in here that we find the theories associated with the death and burial of Jesus, (18:56) and we’re going to talk about why that is such a critical piece here in just a minute, (19:02) because if you want to undercut the resurrection, which is the grand jewel (19:10) in the whole apologetics realm of Jesus, the resurrection, (19:21) if you want to undercut that, then one might begin to argue that Jesus never existed, (19:26) or that he never really died. That’s what the Quran says, by the way.

(19:30) He never really died, and therefore he wasn’t buried. (19:33) Well, if he didn’t die and he wasn’t buried, then there couldn’t be a resurrection. (19:39) So where do we get the swoon theory and the substitution theory? (19:44) The swoon theory, basically, as we have it listed there, is the argument that Jesus didn’t really die.

(19:50) That he went into some sort of a coma, some sort of a deep subconscious state, and later revived. (20:02) Part of this as well is the spiritual view that Jesus didn’t really die, (20:11) that his spirit wasn’t there, and all those kinds of things. (20:16) So we’re going to look at the historical record.

We’re still under millennia. (20:20) We’re going to try to get through this as quickly as we can. (20:24) But this is all important.

It’s absolutely important for us and your family (20:28) to have a good handle on this whole big picture. (20:32) We looked at this when we looked at the life and the words of Jesus for the thousands of years. (20:38) We had all these promises.

We have the seed line that’s been protected by God (20:44) that’s all pointing toward that great moment in the fullness of time as we’re reading Galatians, (20:49) the birth of Jesus. But then we don’t hear much at all in those 30 years. (20:55) But the vast majority of everything you know about Jesus is bound up in the last three years of his life, (21:01) and even more so, most everything is bound up in his final week.

(21:08) And that’s what leads us to our topic tonight, and that is the death of Jesus. (21:12) And so we’re going to look at, we’re going to quickly run through a lot of things (21:16) that help us build a foundation underneath our understanding that Jesus truly died and why he died. (21:25) So we’re going to look at the creed, the mission, the predictions that Jesus made of his death, (21:31) the betrayal, the arrest, all of this that Jesus predicted would happen, (21:36) the denial, which he predicted, the trial, then standing for a pilot, the crucifixion, the death, and the burial.

(21:44) And that will be the historical record that we’re going to walk through here. (21:52) The early creed, I put this in here, we are going to come back to this, (21:55) because it’s one of the most critical things that you and I and your family need to understand (22:02) in terms of the solid evidence that Jesus is not a myth. (22:11) Myths require, and legends, they require many, many, many years for a legend to arise.

(22:19) And they can’t arise in the lifetime of the people who were there, (22:25) because the people who were there would say, wait a second, that never really happened. (22:29) And so the fact that this creed was formed within years, (22:36) in the lifetime of the people who were there, this creed had already formed. (22:41) We will look at it further and more in depth, (22:45) but I introduced it here for us to look at the Scripture in terms of what the declaration is from the Word of God.

(22:52) In this early creed that brothers and sisters had from the very beginning, (22:58) what I delivered to you is of first importance, what I also received, (23:02) that Christ died for our sins. (23:05) It’s so critical that Christ died for our sins. (23:10) This is not a hoax, it’s not a myth that He didn’t swoon.

(23:13) He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. (23:19) Another key part for us to understand, that He was buried. (23:24) Why? Because He had died.

He was buried. (23:27) And of course the big one, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (23:32) And we’ll look at the resurrection in our next time together.

(23:37) So this brings us back to that early moment when the fullness of time came, (23:43) God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, that He might redeem those who were under the law. (23:50) In Matthew 20, the Son of Man, this is Jesus speaking, (23:52) the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. (23:59) Jesus was going to give His life.

(24:03) If we’re going to fall into the swoon theory or the substitution theory (24:10) or any other theories and conspiracies and so forth that Jesus never really died, (24:15) then we walk away from the fundamental reality of the good news that Jesus died (24:21) for our sins. (24:24) Now, this is not going to work. I’ve tried this with Mark beforehand, (24:29) so you’ll have to just kind of imagine with me.

(24:33) In the background, I’m going to have this really uplifting music, (24:39) and you’ll understand why here. (24:42) So we have the birth of Jesus, which was the Kairos moment. (24:47) Many, many of the prophecies were pointing to that moment, (24:50) and we had this explosion of heavenly activity.

(24:53) We had angels. We had all kinds of visitations. (24:56) We had all this stuff that was happening at the birth of Jesus, (25:03) the moment that Jesus became man.

(25:06) But now what we’re dealing with is the supreme Kairos moment. (25:11) Everything that was leading up to this point in history, (25:15) and you can’t hear it. I wish you could.

(25:20) So I want you to put yourself in the place of the disciples at this moment (25:25) and think about this joyous music, because everything so far has been spectacular. (25:31) Think about this. It was filled with this increasing excitement and anticipation.

(25:37) Jesus was healing all kinds of people, whether they had paralysis, (25:43) whether they had a bleeding disease, whether they were blind, (25:46) whether they had withered limbs, demoniacs. (25:49) He was doing miracles that were breathtaking. (25:51) He was multiplying tissue.

He was raising the dead. (25:54) He was calming the storm. He was walking on waters.

(25:57) And he had these astonishing words. (26:00) He had the words of eternal life, as Peter said, and they were stunning words. (26:04) People, on the Sermon on the Mount, it says people were amazed at his words (26:09) because he was speaking as one who had authority, not like the scribes and the Pharisees.

(26:14) And his words were silent. He silenced the Sadducees. He silenced the Pharisees.

(26:19) And so the disciples were anxious for Jesus to reveal himself as the Messiah (26:24) and to take over, to clean house, to throw off the chains of oppression (26:30) and restore the glory of Israel. (26:32) And you can just imagine how, okay, the music, this is a great, great thing. (26:38) We are headed to the Hallelujah chorus here.

(26:44) And it’s moving upward and onward. It’s thrilling. (26:47) And the crescendo in their mind is going to be spectacular.

(26:51) But then all of a sudden, I mean, in the midst of all of it, Jesus just changes the music. (26:56) And you can’t hear this, but now this is a dirge. (26:59) So you think of some music that’s just a horrible dirge.

(27:07) And it didn’t change. It didn’t change because of the enemies of Jesus. (27:14) The religious leaders didn’t change.

It’s Jesus is the one who changed the music. (27:20) He changed the whole mood. He changed everything in an instant (27:26) because all of a sudden he said, I’m going to be killed.

(27:29) And I don’t know that we can actually put ourselves in the position of the disciples at this point. (27:34) It’s all like, you know, they’re having this party. (27:37) And Jesus stands up and said, I’m going to be killed.

(27:40) And, you know, what a wet blanket on everything. (27:45) And, you know, Peter is the one who made this great testimony that you are the Christ, (27:53) the son of the living God. (27:55) And Jesus said, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah.

(27:59) My father has revealed this to you. I will build my church. (28:02) And you will get the key.

(28:04) Whatever you buy in his band, whatever it is. (28:06) And, you know, I thought, well, okay, start the music again. (28:08) I mean, this is just awesome.

(28:10) But then Jesus says, I’m going to Jerusalem. (28:13) I’m going to suffer many things from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, (28:18) and I’m going to be killed. (28:21) And you talk about a wet blanket that all of a sudden gets tossed onto all of this (28:30) because Jesus is now telling his disciples that all of this is going to end with him dying.

(28:38) And it doesn’t really end. (28:40) But in their minds, this just can’t happen. (28:44) Because remember, Peter even rebuked Jesus.

(28:47) Can you imagine? (28:48) Of course, Peter is like a lot of us, you know, very impulsive. (28:52) But Peter rebuked Jesus. (28:55) And I think it’s because he shared this grand vision, like all of the other disciples.

(29:01) He said, no way. (29:02) He said, this will never happen to you. (29:05) And Jesus was very, very pointed at Peter.

(29:10) Get behind me, Satan. (29:12) You are a hindrance to me. (29:14) You are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of men.

(29:17) Why? (29:17) Because the death of Jesus has eternal ramifications. (29:24) And Jesus was headed to that cross. (29:28) We read in Matthew, as they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, (29:31) a son of man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

(29:36) And he will be raised on the third day. (29:38) And they were greatly distressed. (29:40) Of course they were greatly distressed.

(29:42) Everything had been awesome up to this point. (29:47) In Matthew chapter 20, then Jesus told them again. (29:50) And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside.

(29:54) And on the way, he said to them, see, we’re going up to Jerusalem. (29:57) The son of man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, (30:00) and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles (30:04) to be mocked and flogged and crucified. (30:08) I don’t know that any of us have any kind of an understanding of what that word (30:13) crucified meant to people in the Roman day.

(30:18) But it was horrific. (30:21) And Jesus now said, I’m going to be crucified and be raised on the third day. (30:29) When Jesus had finished, this is Matthew 26, a little later on, (30:32) Jesus had finished all these things.

(30:34) He said to his disciples, you know that after two days, the Passover is coming, (30:38) and the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified. (30:45) Jesus had been predicting this, the betrayal. (30:48) We’re looking at the betrayal, and Jesus had predicted this.

(30:52) One of you betray me. (30:53) And Jesus said, is it I? (30:54) Have I? (30:55) And Jesus said, you’ve said so. (30:58) Bethany, remember there was a woman who was anointed with expensive oil, (31:01) and it was Judas who got all upset about that.

(31:04) He was feigning a heart for the poor, feigning a benevolent heart. (31:12) But Jesus said, she’s preparing me for burial. (31:17) Then one of the 12, his name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest and said, (31:21) what will you give me if I deliver him over to you? (31:23) And they paid him 30 pieces of silver.

(31:25) And from that moment, he saw it an opportunity to betray him. (31:30) Jesus saw all this coming. (31:32) Of course he could have stopped it, but he didn’t, (31:37) because of the momentous eternal ramification of what it meant for Jesus to die, (31:43) to redeem us from our sins.

(31:48) And then the records tell us that the opportunity for arresting Jesus came (31:54) while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, while he was praying. (31:58) Judas led this armed detachment of soldiers and officials. (32:03) He betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

(32:06) He, to remember, tried to resist. (32:08) He cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. (32:11) Jesus healed that ear.

(32:14) Jesus did not resist them, told Peter, put away his sword. (32:20) And the thing that’s incredible to me in John, Jesus stood there. (32:25) He wasn’t resisting these soldiers.

(32:28) Whom do you seek? (32:29) And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. (32:32) And Jesus said, I am. (32:33) And those words, I believe, are reflective of the great I am, (32:41) because the soldiers and officials fell to the ground when he spoke those words. (32:46)

(32:48) Jesus predicted that his disciples would deny him. (32:50) They’d fall away. (32:51) Peter, of course, said, I will never fall away.

(32:55) Jesus, in the record, predicted that Peter would deny him three times that night. (33:02) Peter denied that that was true. (33:06) You don’t have to die with you.

(33:07) I will not deny you. (33:10) All the disciples said the same thing, and they all ran away. (33:14) They all left him.

(33:18) Peter is saying, I don’t know him, denying Jesus there with the servant girl. (33:27) And then the historical record tells about Jesus went to the trial. (33:32) He went before Annas, the informal high priest at that point.

(33:36) Then he went before Caiaphas, who was the official high priest. (33:40) He was tried by the Sanhedrin. (33:44) And there were all kinds of accusations that were made to him.

(33:47) There was no evidence of any value. (33:50) Jesus reigned silent through all of this. (33:52) Caiaphas was frustrated.

(33:53) He finally said, are you the Messiah? (33:55) And Jesus responded that he was. (33:59) That’s when Caiaphas tore his robes. (34:01) He asked for a sentence from the Sanhedrin.

(34:04) And that is when Jesus was condemned to die. (34:08) And so he ended up before Pilate, as the historical records tell us. (34:14) Pilate probably knew that all of this was happening out of jealousy.

(34:21) He’d been warned by his wife because she’d had a dream about Jesus. (34:28) And warned Pilate not to have anything to do with him. (34:32) Pilate offered to release him, you recall.

(34:36) And the crowd called for Barabbas. (34:41) And Pilate said, what shall I do with Jesus, who’s called the Messiah? (34:45) And the crowd said, crucify him. (34:50) Pilate said, why, what evil has he done? (34:52) And the crowd became a mob, calling out for him to be crucified.

(34:59) And Pilate washed his hands, I’m innocent of this man’s blood. (35:01) Not in the crowd’s blood, but in us and our children. (35:06) So the historical documents are very, very clear.

(35:09) Leading us up, all the way up to the point where Pontius Pilate has now ordered for Jesus to be taken to be crucified. (35:23) And it’s here that we need to understand. (35:26) And we, the body of Christ, we need to understand the historical reality of this thing called crucifixion.

(35:36) This was the Roman method of execution. (35:41) This is how they executed people. (35:45) And it was invented, we would say invented by the Persians, the ones who started it.

(35:51) In 300 BC, the Romans really perfected it. (35:55) And it is said that they had executed thousands. (35:59) Many say there was actually hundreds of thousands.

(36:02) And so here we have a historical record of Jesus being crucified. (36:08) And so the question is, is it possible that Jesus was one of those hundreds of thousands of people that the Romans crucified? (36:18) All the documents point to the fact that he was. (36:22) It was a horrific punishment.

(36:26) And the Romans used it because they wanted to make sure that people looked at that individual being crucified and said, (36:35) I never want to be hung up there. (36:38) It was so cruel. (36:41) In fact, our word for excruciating comes from the Latin, which means out of the cross.

(36:48) And if you’ve never read a medical account, a description of scourging in the crucifixion, you may want to do that. (36:56) I will warn you, it will make you sick. (37:00) Just as going through this, and I probably should have given a caveat in the beginning.

(37:05) When you talk about the death of Jesus, we’re going to talk about things that are very, very uncomfortable. (37:10) There are things that we don’t even want to be thinking about. (37:13) But the scourge was a horrific form of torture.

(37:19) The Romans used it to try to get prisoners to confess. (37:23) And it was almost always successful, whether someone was guilty or not. (37:31) The Bible says the Romans employed scourging as a torture of punishment to extract information or testimony.

(37:39) The New Catholic Encyclopedia defines it this way. (37:42) Romans inflicted scourging on recalcitrant slaves or prisoners for withholding information, (37:48) and on criminals condemned to death by crucifixion. (37:53) Theseus of Caesarea wrote this.

(37:56) Their bodies were frightfully lacerated. (37:58) This is speaking of Christian martyrs in Smyrna who were scourged. (38:02) They were so torn by the scourges that their veins were laid bare, (38:06) and their inner muscles, sinews, and even entrails were exposed.

(38:10) And that’s why we read in Isaiah, (38:13) I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard, (38:16) my face I did not shield from buffeting and spitting. (38:21) There were many who were appalled at him. (38:23) His appearance was so disfigured, beyond that of any human being, (38:27) and his form marred beyond human likeness.

(38:31) The scourging was horrific, but it may even pale in comparison to the crucifixion. (38:40) So after Jesus had been lacerated by the scourge, (38:43) he was forced to carry his cross to the skull where he was going to be crucified. (38:51) He was stripped, he was laid on a rough wooden beam, (38:54) his arms were stretched out, nails were driven through his wrists and through his feet.

(38:59) He was raised and dropped into a hole. (39:02) He was exposed, naked before the public, exposed before the sun, (39:06) the cold, birds, insects. (39:09) Cicero called crucifixion the extreme and ultimate punishment of slaves, (39:15) and the cruelest and most disgusting penalty.

(39:21) Josephus called it the most pitiable of deaths. (39:27) The SB study Bible describes it this way. (39:29) Crucifixion was widely believed to be the worst form of execution.

(39:31) Due to the excruciating pain and public shame, (39:35) hanging suspended by one’s arms eventually caused great difficulty in breathing, (39:39) which could be alleviated only by the pushing up of one’s feet to take the weight off the arms. (39:44) Eventually, the victim would succumb to suffocation. (39:49) He had not already died as a result of the cumulative effect of the physical trauma inflicted upon him.

(39:56) So remember, this is the form of execution. (39:59) The Roman soldiers were under orders to execute criminals this way. (40:03) They were under orders to do that, to execute them, and they were professionals.

(40:11) So to insist that someone could go through this and still be alive (40:14) would be like someone arguing that Ted Bundy survived the electric chair, or Timothy McVeigh. (40:23) It borders on the incredulous to think that way. (40:27) And the important thing for us to keep in mind as well is that in the middle of all this, (40:32) in the midst of all this, is when Jesus cried, (40:34) Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

(40:38) The character of Christ and his great love and the demonstration of love on the cross (40:47) demonstrated through those words. (40:49) So let’s look at the evidence of death here. (40:52) So think about this.

(40:54) The soldiers came to break the legs of the crucified men, (40:58) and they didn’t break Jesus' legs because he was already dead. (41:03) To make sure, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus. (41:07) No doubt pierced his heart with a spear.

(41:10) Blood and water flowed out of Jesus, so it had already begun to coagulate. (41:14) The professional executioner was satisfied that he was dead. (41:20) Jesus was dead.

(41:22) I hope you can hear and follow this from Louis Lopatis. (41:30) All of the physical evidence prior to the actual crucifixion, (41:37) the way he was treated, the way he was beaten and whipped, (41:41) and we know all the history of what the Romans used to punish and flagellate their victims. (41:51) Already he was dying on the way to the cross.

(41:54) Most people don’t even survive that beating. (41:58) And it was quite evident that crucifixion was part of the Roman culture at that point. (42:07) And once they put you up on that cross, they didn’t take you down and resuscitate you.

(42:12) They didn’t take you down and bring you to a physician. (42:15) You were up there dying. (42:17) And we have evidence in this fact that in order to hurry up his death (42:24) because the Sabbath was approaching, (42:27) they were going to come and break the bones in his legs (42:33) so you no longer have support.

(42:35) And then he would be asphyxiated and suffocate. (42:38) There was no need to break his bones. (42:40) That was actually a prophecy.

(42:42) None of his bones would be broken. (42:44) So the Romans thought he was dead. (42:47) We don’t have to break his bones.

(42:49) They thrust a spear into his side and out came the water. (42:52) And while they did that, his heart had burst and he was a dead man. (42:57) So we do have that physical evidence, the medical evidence, (43:01) that he had truly died.

(43:04) And it even follows in Jewish custom. (43:08) They’re not going to prepare somebody for burial. (43:11) They’re not going to embalm them and go through the whole ritual of the Jewish custom of the spices (43:18) and the wrapping and put them in a tomb and then seal up the tomb.

(43:22) That would be cruel to put a live man inside a tomb. (43:27) So they believed he was dead. (43:32) Matthew records, Jesus cried out with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.

(43:37) Mark says, With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. (43:41) Luke said, Jesus called out in a loud voice, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. (43:46) And having said this, he breathed his last.

(43:48) And John said, Jesus said, It is finished. (43:52) And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (43:55) Jesus really died.

(43:57) This is Gary Habermas. (43:59) On the question of the death of Jesus, it’s amazing how unanimous major skeptical, critical scholars are. (44:08) For example, John Dominic Crossett, one of the co-founders of the Jesus Seminar (44:14) and a very, very prominent skeptic in this country.

(44:19) Marcus Bork, sort of a sidekick, another Jesus Seminar member. (44:23) They both say, roughly, that the fact that Jesus died by crucifixion is as strong as any fact in the ancient world. (44:32) Just recently, a scholar who’s probably the best-known skeptic in America, (44:37) Bart Ehrman of the University of North Carolina, (44:41) he just did a book arguing against those people who say Jesus never lived.

(44:46) Arguing against them. (44:46) And he says, as many of these guys do, that if you have two or three independent reasons to believe something in the ancient world, (44:57) coming in from different angles, that’s usually sufficient. (44:59) Because in the ancient world, ancient history, we don’t have a whole lot of arguments for a whole lot of events.

(45:06) And yet he lists, this is Bart Ehrman, he lists 11 ancient independent sources for Jesus' death by crucifixion. (45:17) And he says, that’s why I just don’t shy away from it. (45:20) He says, we’ve got way more evidence than we need.

(45:22) We can establish this by a number of good early sources within 100 years of the death of Jesus. (45:28) And some of them, he says, go back to the early 30s A.D. (45:32) So Bart Ehrman says that the best of the data go to within a year or two of the cross. (45:40) So when you have that early and that much wealth, you know, 11 different scholars, authors, it’s almost untouchable.

(45:50) Now you have people who question whether Jesus died or not, but they’re generally people who are in other fields. (45:57) They’re people who the press picks up on. (45:59) They might even be religious, they might even be a minister, but they’re seldom scholars who study the data.

(46:06) Usually people off in the periphery, or you get the idea that somebody wants to make kind of a rift in the news or to ruffle some feathers. (46:19) But for the most part, scholars do not question the fact that Jesus died by crucifixion. (46:26) So we have that overwhelming evidence of the death of Jesus.

(46:31) I think it’s important to kind of understand what Gary is saying there in terms of even people who are not really followers of Jesus are saying, (46:43) you know, it’s impossible really to say that Jesus didn’t die. (46:47) We have too much evidence, more evidence than anything else in ancient history. (46:51) So let’s look at some common sense issues here.

(46:55) Just to step back for a second using common sense, to think that someone could survive a Roman execution is grasping at straws, really. (47:03) And that’s what these gentlemen were pointing to. (47:08) So if you think one could survive crucifixion and then be wrapped in layers and layers of linen cloth mixed with 75 pounds of spices and not suffocate, (47:19) now you’re grasping at more than straws.

(47:23) So then you add into all of that, as Gary was saying, that he was first scourged, leaving a lot of people near death, (47:35) and then was crucified and then pierced with a sword into his heart, most likely, and then wrapped in a shroud like a mummy, (47:42) then laid in a cold tomb with a heavy stone over his hindrance as though sealed, guarded by professional Roman soldiers. (47:49) If all of this, one still glibly maintains that Jesus was not only not dead, but then somehow was able to get up and escape, (47:57) that he had somehow swooned, you have to enter into some kind of logic never, never left. (48:04) So when Joseph of Arimathea came to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus to bury Pilate, this is so important.

(48:11) Pilate first summoned the centurion to make sure that Jesus was dead. (48:18) And the centurion confirmed he’s dead. (48:22) I mean, it’s beyond imagination to think that these professional soldiers who knew how to execute people would somehow get that wrong.

(48:31) But even all the other things, that Jesus had been scourged, he’d been crucified, without any reason that the centurion could get that wrong. (48:43) Nor would it, again the comments, it would make sense that Joseph and Nicodemus could spend hours with Jesus' body, (48:51) burying it, wrapping it, when rigor mortis is setting in, and somehow be fooled that Jesus wasn’t dead. (49:02) And it would make sense at the post-resurrection, and we’re going to look at the resurrection, (49:06) but we have to kind of point at that, the radical changes we see in the women and the disciples, (49:11) if they knew that this was all a fake.

(49:14) So here’s kind of the summary of the burial. (49:19) Pilate, remember, was surprised that Jesus was already dead. (49:22) The centurion confirmed that.

(49:24) They wrapped the body with all of these spices, prepared it according to the custom. (49:32) They put him in a tomb. (49:34) The stone was rolled in front of it.

(49:36) Mary Magdalene was watching all of this. (49:39) And it appeared, if I want us to begin to think from the standpoint of the disciples at this point, (49:45) that it appeared that it was all over. (49:49) And also the response of creation.

(49:52) We can’t leave this out as part of the evidence of what was happening here. (49:59) Everything turned dark. (50:02) Luke said the sun stopped shining.

(50:05) We don’t know how that happened or what happened. (50:09) There are other explanations for how it could have been dark like that. (50:16) Matthew says that the rocks split.

(50:18) There was a tremendous earthquake. (50:19) The tombs broke open. (50:22) The curtain that separated and guarded the entrance to the Holy of Holies, (50:26) and the tomb was torn in two, as we talked about.

(50:29) It’s hard to think that these things would happen (50:31) if Jesus was just in a little swoon and he was going to soon be better. (50:38) When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, (50:44) they were terrified and exclaimed, surely he was the Son of God. (50:51) Okay, a few ethical issues that I think are important for us to ponder here.

(50:58) The swoon theory forces us to then begin to think that Jesus was a despicable liar and deceiver. (51:08) I mean, he gets passed over like, well, he was just swooned. (51:11) Well, he was deceiving people then.

(51:14) He was a liar because he appeared to people afterwards that he had been raised from the dead. (51:20) He didn’t appear to people and say, wow, you know, I had this, man, I was in this coma for a while. (51:25) He would have been lying to Mary Magdalene.

(51:30) He was lying to the women. (51:31) He lied to Peter. (51:32) He lied to the 100, the 500 gathered, lied to his brother, James.

(51:39) So this requires someone to take this terrific leap into conspiracy. (51:46) From everything that we’ve seen and heard from the life of Jesus, everything, (51:51) he’d never lied before. (51:53) He’d never deceived.

(51:55) And so it’s nothing but a conspiracy scam to think this. (52:02) Now, you wouldn’t say that to Mrs. Smith, but you would try to lay out and ask her questions. (52:09) You know, this seems to be absolutely a departure from who Jesus was.

(52:19) Okay, so there is another argument. (52:25) We mentioned this. (52:26) We were going to do this quickly because our time is running out.

(52:29) It’s called the substitution theory. (52:31) It’s really all kind of the same. (52:33) This is maintained by some from the Koran that Jesus was a prophet.

(52:39) He was real, but Jesus wasn’t crucified. (52:44) So some would say that there was a substitute. (52:47) Someone took Jesus' place.

(52:50) And it’s hard for anyone to think that someone would be willing to be scourged (52:54) and crucified in order to propagate a lie. (53:00) So we have to think, okay, how in the world could Jesus be tried (53:04) and sentenced in front of the high priest, the chief priest, (53:08) and everyone else following him around, even though he denied him, (53:14) they followed him around, and no one just happens to notice that this isn’t Jesus. (53:21) Because from that point on, Jesus was under the command of the soldiers.

(53:26) He was never left alone. (53:27) You know, it’s not only leave him alone, he could run away. (53:32) It’s all the stretch of imagination.

(53:36) And then this one, can anyone in the wildest dreams imagine Jesus as Mother Mary at the cross? (53:43) Didn’t know that they were nailing someone else up there? (53:48) Is she not able to discern the voice of her own son? (53:53) So all of these are these desperate notions that expose the fact (53:59) that we are not dealing with evidential problems here. (54:02) We’re dealing with heart problems. (54:06) So when we are in conversation with our neighbor, (54:10) and they offer some of these theories, (54:12) it’s possible they just heard them, and they latch on to them.

(54:16) Why? Because the human heart doesn’t want to accept Jesus, (54:21) because it accepts who I am. (54:23) It causes me then to worship a god. (54:26) If I want to worship myself, I want to, as our whole culture is caught up in, (54:30) the homo deus of our culture, we don’t want another lord.

(54:35) We want to be lord. (54:39) So if our neighbor has somehow caught these things, (54:44) or maybe they’re just offering these to see how we respond, (54:49) that we need to respond with grace and wisdom. (54:53) This is from Lestrom.

(54:56) I think one of the most compelling things about the death of Jesus historically (54:59) is that it is just not in dispute by scholars in the field. (55:04) And I’m not talking about just evangelical Christian scholars. (55:06) I’m talking about critical scholars.

(55:08) I’m talking about skeptical scholars. (55:10) Even atheist scholars recognize the execution of Jesus being historical. (55:16) Why? (55:16) Because not only do we have multiple early accounts of it in the documents (55:22) that make up the New Testament, (55:23) but we also have at least five ancient accounts outside the Bible (55:28) that corroborate his execution.

(55:31) We have Josephus, a first century Jewish historian, (55:36) Tacitus, another early historian, (55:40) and even the Jewish Talmud admits that Jesus was executed. (55:45) This is so well established as a historical fact (55:49) that you can even go to an atheist New Testament scholar, (55:52) like Derek Ludeman of Vanderbilt University, (55:55) and he will tell you that the death of Jesus as a consequence of crucifixion (55:59) is indisputable. (56:01) Now, I don’t know how much you’ve studied about ancient history, (56:03) but there are very few things in ancient history (56:06) that a skeptical atheist scholar like Derek Ludeman will say is indisputable.

(56:12) One of those things is the death of Jesus on the cross. (56:15) Jesus was executed. (56:17) It’s true.

(56:21) So what I want to end up here, (56:24) we’re really running out of time, (56:27) is the criticality of the death of Jesus, (56:30) because much more happened than just was seen. (56:36) Remember, we’ve talked about this. (56:38) I’m going to skip through these.

(56:39) You’ll get these. (56:41) But this was the moment in which Jesus was paying the penalty for our sin, (56:47) and the separation from God is the penalty for our sin, (56:53) and Jesus paid that penalty. (56:55) When he cried, (56:56) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (57:00) This was an incredibly horrible event.

(57:04) I can’t even imagine this. (57:07) And I think this is what Jesus was suffering in the garden for. (57:11) He was looking at what was going to happen on the cross, (57:15) not the nails, not the thorns, not the crown of thorns, not the spear.

(57:20) It was that he was going to be separated from God. (57:24) God was going to forsake him. (57:26) Why have you forsaken me? (57:28) Without the death of Jesus, there is no forgiveness of sins.

(57:31) There’s no reconciliation with God. (57:33) There’s no salvation. (57:35) He was pierced for our transgressions.

(57:38) He was crushed for our iniquities. (57:42) By his scourging, we’re healed. (57:44) The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

(57:49) When Jesus declared that it’s finished, (57:52) he was using the Greek term telestai, which means paid in full. (57:56) Your sins and my sins were paid in full by Jesus. (58:03) The disciples are confused about all this.

(58:07) This is prior to Pentecost. (58:10) This was the one they thought was the Messiah. (58:12) He was, but now they were questioning it.

(58:14) This is the one they thought would set them free from political bondage, (58:18) the one who would restore Israel to its glory days. (58:21) Now he’s been betrayed, arrested, gone through a trial, (58:24) declared guilty, sentenced to death, beaten, scourged, (58:29) nailed to a cross, and died, (58:32) and now is wrapped up and buried and laid in a tomb. (58:37) And for them, I suppose you might say it was all over.

(58:42) So you may want to put yourself in the place of his followers (58:46) for this next month before we come back, (58:50) because our next time together, (58:52) we’re going to deal with the resurrection of Jesus, (58:56) and that, of course, is the hallelujah chorus for us. (59:00) Okay, so, Mark, that brings us right to the end of our time. (59:04) I’m going to stop sharing, turn this over to you.

(59:08) All right. (59:09) Thank you very much, Dr. Tackett. (59:12) As we mentioned earlier, we’ve recorded tonight’s presentation.

(59:16) We’ll be sure to send that out by email to everyone. (59:19) It will also be posted on the webpage (59:22) that is available on the website, deltackett.com forward slash webinars-2. (59:28) I’ll include that link in the email.

(59:30) This is the seventh in the series. (59:32) This is the third in this part of the series, (59:35) but you’ll find all of those previous recordings on that webpage (59:40) that I’ll direct you to. (59:42) Again, really appreciate you carving out the time to be here, (59:47) and thank you, Dr. Tackett, and just incredible teaching.

(59:51) Lots to consider, lots to reflect on. (59:53) Would you mind ending our time in prayer for us? (59:57) I will do that. (59:58) Again, my thanks to all of you for being here tonight.

(1:00:02) Father, we have spoken of things that are difficult to even think about. (1:00:06) We don’t want to think about what you went through, (1:00:09) and yet, Father, in the midst of all of that, behind all of that, (1:00:13) we understand, as the Scripture says, that you demonstrated your love for us (1:00:19) by what you did on the cross, that your death, (1:00:23) what was necessary on the cross for you to be the propitiation for our sins. (1:00:32) Jesus, I don’t know how we can’t—there is no word that we could say (1:00:35) that could begin to even express our gratitude for what you have done.

(1:00:41) Father, I pray for each of these people here. (1:00:43) We pray, Lord, that you, the Spirit of truth, (1:00:47) would begin to open eyes and open hearts and minds, (1:00:50) some maybe who have been skeptical, (1:00:54) others maybe who have friends or neighbors who are dealing with this issue. (1:00:59) Lord, that maybe some of this tonight will be of help to them (1:01:02) as they begin to love their neighbors.

(1:01:04) All for your glory, in Jesus' name, amen. (1:01:11) Thank you again, everyone, for being with us, (1:01:13) and look for that email in the follow-up. (1:01:15) If you have any questions, reach out to me at support at truthandcounterministries.org, (1:01:22) or just reply to the email that you’re going to get following our time tonight.

(1:01:27) Thanks again, and everyone have a good evening. (1:01:30) Good night. (1:01:31)