Acts 1:1-3
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
There are so many attempts to change historical records. Sometime people just want to change what has been written in order to present a different view. Some of these very things have been very much in the main stream of late. For example, the struggle that has been taken place in Texas. The rewriting of the history book with the intended purpose of editing out information that show a certain perspective and adding in information that would change the account of history all together.
This procedure has a name. It is revisionism. Look at how this can be defined;
“Historical revisionism is either the legitimate scholastic re-examination of existing knowledge about an historical event, or the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favorable light.”
“In revising the past, illegitimate historical revisionism (“negationism”) appeals to the intellect—via techniques illegitimate to historical discourse—to advance a given interpretive historical view. The techniques include presenting known forged documents as genuine; inventing ingenious, but implausible, reasons for distrusting genuine documents; attributing his or her own conclusions to books and sources reporting the opposite; manipulating statistical series to support the given point of view”
In the two quotes above it can be understood what the purposes for the revision are. It has also been stated by some in various places around the world in the last few years that the Holocaust did not take place. We all know that it did, but the attempt none the less is at work to change this historical fact in order to discredit the Jewish Nation of Israel.
Well, in the same way people all throughout the years have been attempting to change the historical facts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore I will present a few of the historical facts that Dr. Luke in the book of Acts calls “Many infallible truths.” (These have been gathered from many sources and I have condensed them for use in this posting.)
The eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ.
The order of appearances between Christ’s resurrection and ascension seems to be as follows:
(a) To Mary Magdalene and the other women as they returned from the sepulcher, after having seen the angel who told them Christ had arisen (Matt. 28:8-10; Mark 16:9-10; John 20:11-18).
(b) To Peter, before the evening of the day of the resurrection, but under circumstances of which we have no details (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5).
(c)To the two disciples, Cleopas and another, on the way to Emmaus, on the afternoon of the day of the resurrection (Mark 16:12; Luke 24:13-32).
(d) To the ten apostles, Thomas being absent, together with others whose names are not given on the evening of the day of the resurrection at their evening meal (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25; 1 Cor. 15:5).
(e) One week later, to all the eleven apostles, probably in the same place as the preceding appearance (Mark 16:14; John 20:26-29).
(f) To several of the disciples at the Sea of Galilee, while they were fishing (John 21:1-24);
(g) To the apostles and more than 500 brethren and James, the Lord’s half brother, on an appointed mountain in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:6-7);
(h) To those who witnessed the Ascension at Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:19; Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:3-12).
2. The fact of the empty tomb.
* The emptiness of the tomb is acknowledged by Jesus’ opponents as well as affirmed by His disciples.
“Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day” (Matthew 28:11-15).
- Of all the things that could be said about the empty tomb there are two that summarize it all.
- Jesus was gone
- The cover up to hide the truth
- Notice the Phrase in the verse above; “and the saying is commonly reported among the Jew until this day.”
- That means that as many as 30 years had passed and the paying the money to the soldiers in order to keep them quite was still common knowledge
3. The shape of the linen wrappings.
“So they [John and Peter] ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed” (John 20:4-8).
- There was something about the way the burial linens were laying that caused John the beloved to believe when he saw them.
- There has been some discussion by way of emails that present the idea that because the napkins were folded it means that the Master would be coming back soon.
- This is very interesting and worthy of further study, but this does not seem to be the meaning of it all.
But, this we know for sure, when John saw it all he believed. It was probably that the linens had just collapsed after Jesus was brought back to life and it is just as though His body went through the linen cloth.
5. Transformation of the eyewitnesses.
The transformation of the disciples is perhaps the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection.
Josh McDowell writes,
“Look at the life of James,
the brother of Jesus. Before the resurrection he despised all that his brother stood for. He thought Christ’s claims were blatant pretension and served only to ruin the family name. After the resurrection, though, James is found with the other disciples preaching the gospel of their Lord. His epistle describes well the new relationship that he had with Christ. He describes himself as ‘a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ . . .’ (James 1:1). The only explanation for this change in his life is that which Paul gives: ‘Then He [Jesus] appeared to James . . .’ (1 Corinthians 15:7).” – Evidence that Demands a Verdict, p. 236.
Consider the transformation of Peter:
“In the hall of judgement when Jesus was on trial, Peter shrank and shivered at the pointed finger of a little maid . . . . But on the day of Pentecost and later, he shook his own finger in the face of the chiefest of the Jews and accused them of the murder of Jesus Christ, whom he acknowledged to be the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel. What changed this coward into a hero, this craven traitor into a brave and loyal supporter and adherent of the Christ of God? He had been with Jesus, the risen Christ, and that changed his cowardice for a courage that was adamant and strong.” – Emery H. Bancroft, Christian Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, p. 141.
And then there’s doubting Thomas.
When the other disciples told him that Jesus had appeared to them, Thomas did not believe. He said, “Except I shall see in his hand the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe (John 20:25). Then eight days later Jesus did make Himself know to him, and Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Thomas made an about-face after seeing his Lord risen from the grave and went on to die a martyr’s death.
6. It changed the day of worship.
From the Sabbath to the first day of the week!
What cause these first believers to changed. This was no easy task. The Sabbath had been engrained into the very core of the religious system of the Jewish people. They had made so many rules that went way beyond the teaching of the Scriptures. This led to many confrontations with Jesus and latter even the apostle Paul.
There are really not too many references in the New Testament that deal with the Sabbath. Almost all of them have to do with Jesus healing or doing something that was against the Sabbath guidelines. The point Jesus made was that He was the Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around. Both Paul and Jesus taught and read Scripture on the Sabbath. In Paul’s case he used the opportunity to present Christ in the synagogues on the Sabbath and even was asked on a few occasions to come back on the next Sabbath. The last time Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament is in chapter 18 of the book of Acts.
Something changed! Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that it took place on the first day of the week, the day of worship became the first day of the week or the “Lord’s day.”
Scripture never indicates that the First day of the week is now the Sabbath. Over the years Christians have wrongly called Sunday the Sabbath. They have wrongly stated that it is a day of rest. In the New Testament, it was not a day of rest it was a day of activity. Actively celebrating the resurrection and the rest we have in Jesus Christ because the work of salvation has been finished.
Hebrews 3 and 4 deal with this new day of acknowledging the fact that we can rest from attempting to work for our salvation because the work has been finished once and for all.
It is my concern that for so many years Sunday has been considered a day of rest and with new generations coming onto the scene they are ok minimizing the Lord’s Day and making it a day of leisure. This is partly because we have proclaimed the first day of the week to be a day of rest when it is really a day of activity.
Take a look at this passage from Hebrews and focus in on the last sentence and see how the rest we have in Christ because of obedience and the reception of the redemptive promises is placed along side of the day of rest as presented in the book of Genesis when the work of creation was completed.
Heb 3:16-4:10
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
