Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Part 2- Appearances of Jesus after His crucifixion

There is solid historical ground for the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

“Inference to the Best Explanation”

A METHOD COMMONLY USED TODAY TO DETERMINE THE HISTORICITY OF AN EVENT.

William Lane Craig describes this as an approach where we, "begin with the evidence available to us and then infer what would, if true, provide the best explanation of that evidence." In other words, we ought to accept an event as historical if it gives the best explanation for the evidence surrounding it.

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There are three Historical truths about the resurrection which are so strong that they are accepted by all serious historians, even non-Christians.

1. The tomb in which Jesus was buried was discovered empty by a group of women on the Sunday following the crucifixion.

2. Jesus' disciples had real experiences with one whom they believed was the risen Christ.

3. As a result of the preaching of these disciples, which had the resurrection at its center, the Christian church was established and grew.

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Evidence for the Resurrection Appearances

There is evidence that Jesus’ disciples had real experiences with someone who they believed was Jesus risen from the dead. People don’t argue this fact because we have testimony from the disciples themselves saying they saw, touched, and ate with Jesus after He had been crucified.

There is a Christian creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 which was given to Paul way before 1 Cor. was written:

1 Corinthians 15:3–8 (NLT): passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter--and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers--at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.

It is generally agreed by critical scholars that Paul received this creed from Peter and James between 3-5 years after the crucifixion. Now, Peter and James are listed in this creed as having seen the risen Christ. Since they are the ones who gave this creed to Paul, this is therefore a statement of their own testimony. As the Jewish Scholar Pinchahs Lapide has said, this creed "may be considered the statement of eyewitnesses."

Their testimonies are also recorded in the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Of course, just because they claimed to have seen Jesus alive again after He was crucified and buried, doesn’t mean they actually did. There are three possible explanations:

1.       They hallucinated

2.       They were lying

3.       They really saw the risen Christ

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Did the disciples hallucinate?

First, the disciples record eating and drinking with Jesus, as well as touching him. This cannot be done with hallucinations. There is no physical nature to hallucinations.

Second, it is highly unlikely that they would all have had the same hallucination. Hallucinations are highly individual, and not group projections. Imagine, if I came in and said, “Wasn’t that a great dream I had last night?” Hallucinations, like dreams don’t transfer that way.

Third, the hallucination theory cannot explain the conversion of Paul, three years later. Was Paul, the persecutor of Christians, so hoping to see the resurrected Jesus that his mind invented an appearance as well?

Fourth, and perhaps most significantly, the hallucination theory does not explain the evidence for the empty tomb.

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Were the disciples lying?

To make a decision on this, it’s important to note that each of the disciples suffered greatly throughout their lives in order to defend their claim that Jesus was the Messiah and that He had risen from the dead. They took these claims to their grave.

Jill K H Geoffrion

How the Disciples/Apostles of the Bible Died 

Disclaimer: Other than Judas & John, these are not Scriptural. Some are historical; some passed down by Christian traditions and are consistent with how they would have been treated in their time.

Andrew (brother of Peter): Martyrdom by crucifixion (bound, not nailed, to an "X-shaped" cross) at Patræ, Achaia [southern Greece]. Hung alive for two days, exhorting spectators all the while.

Bartholomew (Nathaniel): Martyrdom by being skinned alive and crucified, head downward by the idolaters of Armenia (Western Asia near Turkey). The most travelled of the Disciples after Jesus death, Preached the Gospel in Mesopotamia [Iraq], Persia [Iran], Ethiopia, Arabia and India.

James the Greater (son of Zebedee / brother of John): Beheaded or stabbed with a sword by Herod Agrippa around 44 AD near Palestine and not far from where he was a local missionary to the Jews in Judea. His accuser was converted by James' courage & the two were beheaded together.

James the Lesser [son of Alphaeus]: Was first Bishop of Jerusalem Martyred in his early 90's by being thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem , then stoned and head bashed in with club

John (The Beloved) (son of Zebedee / brother of James): Natural Death The only apostle who did not meet a martyrs death. Banished by Roman Emperor Domitian to Isle of Patmos where penned Revelation, the last book in the Bible. Was later freed & went to preach in Turkey and died at 100.

Jude (Thaddeus): Wrote Book of Jude. Martyred by being beaten with a club then crucified 72AD at city of Edessa [Turkey] while on a missionary trip that went to Persia (Iran).

Matthew (Levi): Martyred about 60 AD by being staked and speared to the ground. Preached the Gospel in Ethiopia (Africa) and was killed for questioning the morals of the king.

Simon Peter: Martyrdom by crucifixion at Rome by Nero. Crucified around 68 AD up-side-down at his request because he did consider himself worthy to be crucified like Jesus.

Philip: Said to have been tortured, impaled by iron hooks in his ankles and hung upside down to die. Preaching to death 54 AD in Heliopolis, Egypt. Preached in Phrygia which was in the Roman Province of Asia near Ephesus [Turkey].

Simon [The Canaanite]: Called "The Zealot" because he was associated with that sect. Thought to have ministered mostly in Jordan. Martyred by crucifixion in Britain in 74AD and then sawn in half.

Thomas [Didymus]: Martyred thrust through by spear in India .Preached the Gospel in Parthia [Iran] and in Kerala, [southern India] where yet today the Mar Thoma Church exists.

Mark (John Mark): Was dictated to writing the Book of Mark. Martyred - dragged to death.

Luke: The Physician. Wrote Luke and Acts. Was hanged on an olive tree

Paul meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus

Matthias [Disciple who filled the place of Judas Acts 1:20-26]: Was stoned and beheaded at Jerusalem.

Apostle Paul (Saul): Wrote half of the New Testament was beheaded by Emperor Nero at Rome

James (The half-brother of Jesus): Thrown 100 feet off a wall - done to him after he repeatedly refused to deny his faith in Jesus. He survived the fall and was beaten to death with clubs

12 Men and a Carpenter Who Changed the World, Wayne Pascall

Apologist Sean McDowell carefully states this position:

“The apostles spent between 1.5 to 3 years with Jesus during His public ministry, expecting Him to proclaim His kingdom on earth. Although disillusioned at His untimely death, they became the first witnesses of the risen Jesus and they endured persecution; many subsequently experienced martyrdom, signing their testimony, so to speak, in their own blood. The strength of their conviction, marked by their willingness to die, indicates that they did not fabricate these claims; rather, without exception, they actually believed Jesus to have risen from the dead. While in and of themselves these facts prove neither the truth of the resurrection in particular nor Christianity as a whole, they do demonstrate the apostles’ sincerity of belief, lending credibility to their claims about the veracity of the resurrection, which is fundamental to the case for Christianity.”

New Testament Scholar Craig Keener:

“People of course die regularly for values that are false; they do not, however, ordinarily die voluntarily for what they believe [or know] is false. Intentional deception by the disciples is thus implausible.”

The disciples were not lying and could not have been hallucinating. There is only one possible explanation left: the disciples believed that they had seen the risen Jesus because they really had seen the risen Jesus.

Roman Sleptsuk, The Resurrection

Information drawn from these sources:

- William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith & The Son Rises

- J.P. Moreland's Scaling the Secular City

- Gary Habermas' The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus & Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

- desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection

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You can download a free printout of this information by going to our “Free Material” Page and clicking on “Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Appearances”.

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This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.

The Spiritual Discipline Of Prayer - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Schick and Ben Poole.

Ben Poole
All right, so here it is. "What spiritual disciplines do you, or God's word, recommend for believers in general? What particular disciplines do you, yourselves practice and what does that look like for you?" So first off, big topic and there's so many things we can talk about. And we are gonna talk about probably some of the big ones, the main ones, especially that we see in scripture. And as always scripture needs to be our guiding factor, and we need to abide by the word and to live by that. We have wonderful examples of this. Obviously, Jesus being our perfect example, but all of this comes down to, I know our heart's desire, your pastor's desires and especially God's desire is that our relationship with God is always growing. These spiritual disciplines are not just a list of things that you should do, or you must do. I look at this as things that you get to do. That we have the privilege to become more spiritually disciplined and grow in God through His holy spirit. And so the one that we want to talk about today is maybe one that seems obvious, but at the same time is probably not utilized enough. And that's the topic of prayer. I think that is a wonderful place to start when we think about spiritual discipline, and what I love about prayer is how we see it transform through scripture. Kind of a backstory in the Old Testament, the way that people went to God was through, well, there's a few different ways, but kind of the main one was through the high priest. The high priest once a year, went into the holy of holies to appeal to God on behalf of God's people seeking for forgiveness. And that was the communication outside of the times where God would speak to certain people at certain times. There was not really a freedom to come to God's throne; until the cross. Once Jesus died, you see in scripture that, the veil was torn in two, which really shows this opening where God is out and open for everyone. And Hebrews tells us that we can come before God on His throne, boldly and confidently; not fearful, not worrying, but we can come straight to God. And that is one of, outside of salvation itself, I feel like prayer is one of the greatest, if not the greatest gift that God has given us. Where we can come straight to Him. So with that, Gary, what are some of your thoughts on this?

Gary Schick
Well, and you know, I just want to back up just a hair, because the question actually had to do with spiritual discipline. And I think you're right, I think we want to go with this for a few weeks. You know, we spend so much time focusing on the gospel, which is: God loves us, He made us, we have sinned, it separates us from God. There is nothing we can do to right that wrong, to make ourselves right with God. Christ did it all when He died for our sins and rose from the dead. We are invited to believe in Christ and receive Him as Lord and savior. And so I think it's always important to start there, because even in our conversation before going on the air. You know we were talking about, we know people who've grown up in the church, who really don't know how to be saved even though they've probably heard it. So have you taken the step, have you put your trust in Christ and owned Him as your savior and also your Lord? So what does it mean that Jesus has saved me and now He's my Lord and I'm growing in Him? I always like to talk to kids about the word, "grows." G.R.O.W.S: G--go to God in prayer(what we're talking about today), R--read the word (get into God's word, the Bible), O--others (connect with other believers and have fellowship with them), W--worship (worship privately, worship publicly with the people of God), and then triple S--serve Christ as you serve others and share the faith. And I think there's kind of an order to that, you know, where it's about serving Jesus, it fleshes itself out in others. And part of that definitely includes sharing the faith, but going back to the beginning, go to God in prayer. Prayer has been described as the breath of the believer. Prayer can be very personal and heartfelt and overflowing. The whole book of Psalms is a book of prayer. It's praise, it's petition, it's crying out to God. It shows us that we can just talk to God. You know, probably the earliest reference we have to prayer in scripture is clear back in the book of Genesis. It says basically, that when Adam and Eve's third son, Seth was born at that time, people began to call on the name of the Lord. I think it's most basic essence, is that it's a calling out, but not, you know, I'm not calling out to you, Ben. I'm not calling out to my wife. Well, you guys are great. Yeah, you're a great buddy. My wife is boom, she is amazing. She's my best friend. But calling out to the Lord. And it can be spontaneous all the time, Paul says, "Pray without ceasing." We should pray on all occasion, we should just be about the business of prayer. The end of the spiritual armor in Ephesians talks about, and through all, through all by prayer and petition, you know? This is key. Prayer can also be formal, you know? Like we don't know what to say, we can use those very words of the Psalms. By the way, Jesus taught us a prayer. And I don't know about you, but I feel like most of us have missed it with the Lord's prayer. We're either from just, you know, really contemporary churches. Like churches I grew up in, where the Lord's prayer, "Yeah, that's somewhere in the Bible." You know, they don't make any use of it. On the other hand, I've been a part, especially in this valley, of some more formal churches where we say the Lord's prayer. And I got to tell you friends: if you're not saying it and if you are saying it, you're probably missing it, because what Jesus actually taught was, "pray in this manner." He actually was giving us the Lord's prayer as a structure, a kind of a rungs on the ladder to hang it on. When I was early on as a Christian, I was kind of taught this little acronym, A.C.T.S. When you pray, think about these topics: Adoration (praising God), Confession (confessing your sins), Thanksgiving, (thanking God), and Supplication, (bring your request). The nice thing about that is, we tend to run into God's presence with all the things we want. The Lord's prayer is even better than that, because the Lord's prayer includes: where do you put those applications? Where do you put those prayer requests? I tend to put it under the heading of, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." You know, bringing boldly our needs to God in prayer, but with the attitude that Jesus did when He was in the garden. His flesh was crying out, "I don't want the cross, take this cup from me. But with a recognition of, "Father, your will." And sometimes our heart's desire and the father's will, they are hand in hand, and you can't even get the prayer out your mouth before God's already answered. But you know what? There was one occasion where Jesus wanted something and the opposite happened, and He knew it. I mean, He knew as He prayed that. He'd already told His disciples, "We're going to Jerusalem, I'm gonna suffer, I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna rise. This is what God's will is, and this is what's gonna happen." And yet, doesn't mean His flesh wanted to go there, and what a comfort to us. We don't have to pray right. We don't have to pray the right words, the right thoughts, the right feelings. We can just tell God what we want and trust Him and trust His will. And that it's perfect. And so, you know, I would invite everybody to take a second look at the Lord's prayer and there's somewhere between five and seven topic headings to kind of keep our conversation with God balanced. You know, it starts with calling Him our Father. It starts by asking above all that He would be hallowed and praised. It prays for His kingdom, His justice, His righteousness. It asks for His will, it trusts Him with our most basic needs. Our daily bread, it reminds us to come and ask for forgiveness, but it also teaches us to forgive one another. It invites us to pray that God would guide our steps and that God would protect us and deliver us from evil. And then it rounds it out by saying, "It's all yours God." I mean, what a tremendous way to go to God in prayer. You can take that out, break it into pieces and spread it through there. You can say it, you can say it holding hands with God's people. But you know, don't just go through the motion of the words. Really let the Lord's prayer guide you into prayer. And that prayer, in my opinion, will do more to disciple you in the way of Christ, in the attitude of Christ, in the heart of Christ, in the mission of Christ. Boom! But again, you know, "Oh, I can't talk to God unless somehow I'm working the per-- No, No! I mean, what is the need of the moment? Go to God. What is the praise of the moment? Thank God. And you know, are you sick? James says, "Call for the elders of the church and get together with God's people in prayer." Probably the saddest thing, it's gone by the wayside in my lifetime. There used to be three things: there used to be Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday prayer, and I think all that's left today in most places is Sunday morning and maybe a Wednesday Bible study. But prayer, why is it left in the margins? I mean, what do we read of Jesus? He went often by Himself to lonely places to pray. The example of Jesus was getting alone with the Father. Martin Luther said, "If he had a busy day, he needed to spend more time in prayer that morning to be ready for it." Not the last thing or the least thing, but the first thing.

Ben Poole
This is such a good topic, and what I've talked to people about in the practical side of this, thinking about, we're in a relationship with the creator of the universe and He wants to hear from us. Beautiful opportunity, and I try to help people understand this. And if you're married, which I am, one of the key ingredients to a healthy marriage is communication. My wife and I talk about everything all day long, even into the night. And I also know the other side, whether I'm upset or she's upset when we're not communicating our relationship struggles. We are told in scripture that we are a bride of Christ. We are in a marriage with God, the Father, and what is one way that we keep a healthy relationship? Communication. And that's what it is. And I really appreciate what you said. It's not about a canned prayer. It is about your heart, and I would so encourage you to read through the Psalms. David especially, felt free to express his emotions, his feelings, even anger, even questioning God's timing. And not that we're doubting God, but we are in this relationship where we can speak freely to God. Knowing that He hears us, knowing that He loves us, knowing that He wants to hear our hearts. Side note to that: He already knows what's in your heart. He knows everything you're going through. He wants you to express that to Him and grow in that relationship. And as we talk about these other topics, I really appreciate that you thought prayer would be the one that we should start with, because I think that should be at the forefront of spiritual discipline.

Gary Schick
It runs through all of it.

Ben Poole
Yeah this will shadow into all these other disciplines if we will lead our life in prayer with God and have that relationship. And through prayer, take the time to say what you need to say, let God's will be His, and then listen. Part of prayer is listening for God to speak and answer those prayers. And just like Jesus in the garden, "Not my will, but yours be done." God's always gonna answer your prayers, it may just not be your heart's desire. And so if we can come to every situation, the easy, the hard things and saying, "God, this is my life, and I've given it to you. I'm giving everything of myself to you, to lead me, and so I'm asking that your will be done that it's not mine. And that you would open doors or shut doors or whatever it may be, and that through that we will follow you faithfully to wherever you lead."

Gary Schick
And you know, some of the great prayer warriors of the past, they would pray themselves into a point of where they had really sought God's will until they had gotten themselves out of the way. Until they were really ready for whatever God's will is. And that was a big---and so much more could be said---I mean, I think fasting. You know, we talk about prayer and fasting something, probably not practiced by many. I've practiced it on and off at different points in my life, but it is a function of prayer. It is a way of getting alone with God wherever you are. If you're fasting, it's, "I'm feeding on you God." And whether you're driving down the road, perfect time to pray. Taking a walk, I tend to pray better when I'm moving in motion, or you know, on your knee in your room. Or if you can take an extended period of time, go hike the Monument. Pray all the way up and down, you know, I mean---

Ben Poole
Oh, I'd be praying up for sure.

Gary Schick
But go do something with God.

Ben Poole
It's being with God, and that's really what it's all about.

Gary Schick
And learning to just rest in Him and His presence. I mean, it's not even all talk. It's just sometimes being quiet, and letting the spirit impress things on our heart and mind, and just learning to be with Him.

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Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Part 1- The Empty Tomb

There is solid historical ground for the truth that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

“Inference to the Best Explanation”

A method commonly used today to determine the historicity of an event.

William Lane Craig describes this as an approach where we, "begin with the evidence available to us and then infer what would, if true, provide the best explanation of that evidence." In other words, we ought to accept an event as historical if it gives the best explanation for the evidence surrounding it.

There are three Historical truths about the resurrection which are so strong that they are accepted by all serious historians, even non-Christians.

1. The tomb in which Jesus was buried was discovered empty by a group of women on the Sunday following the crucifixion.

2. Jesus' disciples had real experiences with one whom they believed was the risen Christ.

3. As a result of the preaching of these disciples, which had the resurrection at its center, the Christian church was established and grew.

Evidence for the Empty Tomb

FIRST: the resurrection was preached in the same city where Jesus had been buried shortly before. Jesus' disciples did not go to some obscure place where no one had heard of Jesus to begin preaching about the resurrection, but instead began preaching in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus had died and been buried. They could not have done this if Jesus was still in his tomb--no one would have believed them.

SECOND: the earliest Jewish arguments against Christianity admit the empty tomb.  In Matthew 28:11-15, there is a reference made to the Jew's attempt to refute Christianity by saying that the disciples stole the body. This is significant because it shows that the Jews did not deny the empty tomb. Instead, their "stolen body" theory admitted the significant truth that the tomb was in fact empty.

The Toledoth Jesu, a compilation of early Jewish writings, is another source acknowledging this. It acknowledges that the tomb was empty, and attempts to explain it away. Further, we have a record of a second century debate between a Christian and a Jew, in which a reference is made to the fact that the Jews claim the body was stolen. So it is pretty well established that the early Jews admitted the empty tomb. Remember that the Jewish leaders were opposed to Christianity. They were hostile witnesses. In acknowledging the empty tomb, they were admitting the reality of a fact that was certainly not in their favor.

THIRD:  the empty tomb account in the gospel of Mark is based upon a source that originated within seven years of the event it narrates. This places the evidence for the empty tomb too early to be legendary, and makes it much more likely that it is accurate. What is the evidence for this? I will list two pieces. A German commentator on Mark, Rudolf Pesch, points out that this pre-Markan source never mentions the high priest by name. "This implies that Caiaphas, who we know was high priest at that time, was still high priest when the story began circulating." For "if it had been written after Caiaphas' term of office, his name would have had to have been used to distinguish him from the next high priest. But since Caiaphas was high priest from A.D. 18 to 37, this story began circulating no later than A.D. 37, within the first seven years after the events," as Michael Horton has summarized it. Furthermore, Pesch argues "that since Paul's traditions concerning the Last Supper [written in 56] (1 Cor 11) presuppose the Markan account, that implies that the Markan source goes right back to the early years" of Christianity (Craig). So the early source Mark used puts the testimony of the empty tomb too early to be legendary.

FOURTH: the empty tomb is supported by the historical reliability of the burial story. NT scholars agree that the burial story is one of the best established facts about Jesus. One reason for this is because of the inclusion of Joseph of Arimethea as the one who buried Christ. Joseph was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrein, a sort of Jewish supreme court. People of this ruling class were simply too well known for fictitious stories about them to be pulled off in this way. Also, if the burial account was legendary, one would expect to find conflicting traditions--which we don't have.

The burial account and empty tomb account have grammatical and linguistic ties, indicating that they are one continuous account. Therefore, if the burial account is accurate, the empty tomb is likely to be accurate as well. Further, if the burial account is accurate then everyone knew where Jesus was buried. This would have been decisive evidence to refute the early Christians who were preaching the resurrection--for if the tomb had not been empty, it would have been evident to all and the disciples would have been exposed as frauds at worst, or insane at best.

FIFTH: Jesus' tomb was never venerated as a shrine. This is striking because it was the 1st century custom to set up a shrine at the site of a holy man's bones. There were at least 50 such cites in Jesus' day. Since there was no such shrine for Jesus, it suggests that his bones weren't there.

SIXTH: Mark's account of the empty tomb is simple and shows no signs of legendary development. This is very apparent when we compare it with the gospel of Peter, a forgery from about 125. This legend has all of the Jewish leaders, Roman guards, and many people from the countryside gathered to watch the resurrection. Then three men come out of the tomb, with their heads reaching up to the clouds. Then a talking cross comes out of the tomb! This is what legend looks like, and we see none of that in Mark's account of the empty tomb--or anywhere else in the gospels for that matter!

SEVENTH: women discovered the tomb was empty. Why is this important? Because, the testimony of women in 1st century Jewish culture was considered worthless. As Craig says, "If the empty tomb story were a legend, then it is most likely that the male disciples would have been made the first to discover the empty tomb. The fact that despised women, whose testimony was deemed worthless, were the chief witnesses to the fact of the empty tomb can only be plausibly explained if, like it or not, they actually were the discoverers of the empty tomb."

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There have been various theories used to explain away the empty tomb, such as that the body was stolen. But those theories are laughed at today by all serious scholars. In fact, they have been considered dead and refuted for almost a hundred years.

For example, the Jews or Romans had no motive to steal the body--they wanted to suppress Christianity, not encourage it by providing it with an empty tomb. The disciples would have had no motive, either. Their preaching on the resurrection got them beaten, killed, and persecuted. Why would they go through all of this for a deliberate lie? No serious scholars hold to any of these theories today.

The resurrection of Jesus is not just the best explanation for the empty tomb, it is the only explanation around!

What explanation, then, do the critics offer, you may ask? Craig tells us that, "They are self-confessedly without any explanation to offer. There is simply no plausible natural explanation today to account for Jesus' tomb being empty. If we deny the resurrection of Jesus, we are left with an inexplicable mystery."

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Because of the strong evidence for the empty tomb, most recent scholars do not deny it.

D.H. Van Daalen has said, "It is extremely difficult to object to the empty tomb on historical grounds; those who deny it do so on the basis of theological or philosophical assumptions."

Jacob Kremer, who has specialized in the study of the resurrection and is a New Testament critic, has said "By far most exegetes hold firmly to the reliability of the biblical statements about the empty tomb" and he lists twenty-eight scholars to back up his fantastic claim.

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The information for this blog post was drawn from these sources:

- William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith  and The Son Rises

- J.P. Moreland's Scaling the Secular City

- Gary Habermas' The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus and Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

- desiringgod.org/articles/historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection

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You can download a free printout of this information by going to our “Free Material” Page and clicking on “Historical Evidence for the Resurrection: Empty Tomb”.

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This series of blog posts titled, “Holding on to Reason”, is named after Amanda’s favorite C.S. Lewis quote: “Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.”

Click here for more things written by Amanda Hovseth.

Is There Any Validity To The Doctrine Of Purgatory? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Hashley, Tim Hebbert and Brad Kilthau.

Tim Hebbert
So we're here to discuss another question, and this one comes from a listener. "Purgatory, where did this teaching come from? And is there any validity to it?" So guys, I thought I'd give you a little bit of a historic background to that, and then I'm gonna pass the baton to Gary. But as I understand purgatory, it's a temporary place between heaven and earth where those who have died go to be cleansed, or some unconfessed sins are dealt with so that when they enter heaven, they come completely clean. In the dictionary, it says the word purgatory cannot be found anywhere in scripture. The term itself, which literally means, "to purge or to cleanse," did not come into existence until, somewhere between 1175 and 1225 A.D. So let's talk a little bit about the history of it. Yeah, guys, it was interesting to research a little bit, because I didn't know that much about it. It was birthed, actually in ancient pagan religions, as well as Judaism. We can go back even to the time of the ancient Greeks when they were under the teachings of people like Plato, Heracles, and other philosophers. And they taught the ancient Greeks about a place that they were referred to as a Celestial Hades, somewhere between the earth and the moon. And you went there for a season to work out whatever you had not worked out in your earthly life. I think what I read was, Plato even thought that maybe, that was the answer of what the Milky Way was, that he could see. Ancient Judaism, also for a season, believed in prayers for the dead. In a book called 2 Maccabees 12:41-46, they say this, "So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous judge that reveals the things that are hidden. And they turned to supplication, praying that the sin that had been committed might be holy blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen their own eyes what had happened as a result of the sin of those who had fallen. He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of 2,000 drachmas of silver and sent it to Jerusalem, to provide for a sin offering. In doing this, he acted very well and honorably taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would've been foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was holy in pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead so that they might be delivered from their sins." So you're out there and you're saying, "Well, I've never heard of that book before." Well, it's not in our canon, it's in the biblical canon of the Catholic church. And guys, one of the things I've always struggled with, with some of the books that are added are, they're not recognized in the Old Testament as part of the Jewish canon. Primarily one of the very first reasons is, is because it's written in Greek. It's not written in Hebrew, but I also think as I look at that, they're written in that time between the end of our Old Testament canon and before the gospels begin. And they're written in that time, where for all intents and purposes, God goes silent for those years. So it's very difficult to say, you have divine inspired scripture unless the divine one is inspiring scripture. So we were talking before we went on the air, actually 1 Maccabees is a very good historic document about the Maccabees revolt. But what happens, I think in second and third Maccabees then, is they try to create a theology around that, which I would disagree with obviously. So the foundation of purgatory now is part of the Catholic faith. Their early church fathers didn't always believe it to be something of a physical place until around 1200 A.D. And a medievalist named Jacques Le Goff defines the birth of purgatory, the conception of purgatory, as a physical place. Now this is a place where you go, if you've left this earth, you've died, but you still have some unatoned sins. You go to this place of penance and cleansing. So if you have a loved one there, you can pay penance for them, financial penance for them. In a lot of ways, it's very similar to what we find in the Mormon faith, where they go and they stand as an intermediary or are baptized in place of their relative that may have not died within the bounds of what they would consider, what they need to be in that faith. So, Gary, I'm gonna pass the baton to you. Is there any validity to this teaching and why would it be needed?

Gary Hashley
Validity? That's a that's a good question. Again, the term purgatory really comes from a word that has to do with purification. And I've heard it explained this way, that it's possible that through Jesus your sins have been forgiven, but you haven't been purified yet. So when you die, you have to go someplace to be purified so then you can go to heaven. And so what they will say in their teaching is that there are three main thoughts to purgatory. The first is that, everybody in purgatory is going to heaven. The question in their minds when they believe in purgatory isn't, you're still up in the air as to whether you go to heaven or hell. They say, "You know, if you're in purgatory, that means you're gonna get to heaven eventually." They say, "It means purifying the soul, that your soul wasn't pure. So you need to go and have the fires of purgatory purify your soul." And the third part of their thinking is that, then those who are here and still alive need to pray for the dead and that it helps when we pray for the dead. Some of the reasoning seems a little circular, because they say, actually one of their proponents said, "If someone died and went immediately to heaven, why would we pray for them?" So he's saying, because we're taught to pray for them, must be they don't all just die and go immediately to heaven. They don't say, "Since someone dies and goes immediately to heaven, we don't need to pray for them," they go around the other way in the circle. And so, you know, why would it be needed?

Gary Hashley
Well, if, and here's an if, if we had to earn our own way to heaven: if it was our good works, if it was our efforts, if it was our religious practices that that made it possible to go to heaven. Let's suppose, if we had to earn our own way to heaven and we died, almost there and God was looking down and saying, "Boy, you know, Gary, you got close. I'm just gonna send you to purgatory for a little while to make up for what you didn't accomplish in earning your own salvation. Then you can come to heaven." Well, we don't earn our way to heaven. The Bible says, "It's not of works lest any man should boast." So it's not an issue of, we almost got there. Another thought would be, well, if Jesus' death was a good start, but we had to finish on our own, and that's kind of how I sense what they teach. Is that Jesus died to forgive us our sins, but it really wasn't enough to purify us. And so we have to finish on our own, and purgatory is where we finish that up on our own. But neither of those makes biblical sense, because the Bible teaches us: Jesus died on the cross, Jesus paid it all. His sacrifice was complete, His sacrifice was completely accepted. We add nothing to our salvation. That's why Galatians was written. It's not believe in Jesus and be circumcised, it's belief in Jesus is what saves. So because they divide forgiveness and purification, the Bible does not. In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:8-9 says, "Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him." It doesn't lay out a third. It's not, at home, you know, part way, and then away. It's, we're either at home in the body or away. We're either here or we're in heaven as followers of Jesus, and there's no in between place. Now they would take like, 1 Corinthians 3, where it talks about our works being tried, you know, whether gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw. That it's like, God paints the picture, He piles up our works and what burns up, burns up, and what's left, we get rewarded for. And then he says, "And you're saved yet so as through fire." They take that fire, as you go, and you burn a while. Then you get to go to heaven as if we're in the fire, not our works are in the fire. So no, I see no validity to it. So Brad, take this to the close.

Brad Kilthau
Yeah, Gary, I agree with what you're saying there. And even some of that history that Tim was sharing earlier, we think about Roman Catholicism, and it teaches that believers incur debts that must be inevitably taken care of in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be open to that person. And again, I think as you're sharing Gary, is that's not scriptural. Again what the apostle Paul said, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." There isn't a place in between that is taught in the word of God. And also when you think about, you know, the teaching and the believing in purgatory, I think first of all, the doctrine of purgatory undermines the sufficiency, obviously of Christ's atonement on the cross. I mean, scripture declares that Jesus was one sacrifice that He made perfect forever. Those who are being made holy, in Hebrews 10:14, it's also shared in Hebrews 1:3 And according to the Bible, we can rest assured that in Christ's body, on that cross, all the punishment that we deserve was placed into the body of Christ. And Jesus absolutely satisfied the justice of God the Father on our behalf. Romans 3 teaches us that, 1 Peter 3:18 teaches that. And then we also think, of course, we're coming closer and closer to Easter, and we always remember the work of Christ on the cross. And right before He died, Jesus said the words in John 19:30, He said, "It is finished." And what does that mean? It's obviously that the debt has been paid in full with the shed blood of Christ. There needs to be no other payment for our sins. And then I think, also the second part of this, of why disagree with purgatory, is because sometimes as you look at it, it undermines the seriousness of sin. By forwarding the notion that certain sins are not regarded as depriving the soul of divine grace. In other words, there are certain sins that will, you know, if we commit, but they won't keep us out of heaven. We have to understand that there are not sins that are not so bad that God just lets them slide. And they don't need to be atoned for by the blood of Christ. Every individual sin, even if we go steal a candy bar from the dollar general store, you know, that is stealing, that is a sin against God. And that is enough, there alone, to separate us from the presence of a very perfect and holy God. God the Father is not some old man that just lets things slide. He is perfect, He's righteous, He's holy. And so when we say that, that not so bad sin can be atoned for in a place called purgatory, that's saying that, "Well that not so bad sin doesn't need the blood of Jesus to cover it. This temporal punishment will take care of that." Well, that goes back again to what you were saying Gary. We're adding works to our faith again. Anytime you add works to faith, you have a false teaching. You have a belief that will not get you into heaven. It's only by faith alone, in Christ alone, that we are saved. There's never works, Ephesians 2:8-9 is so clear. And we have to understand that any transgression, any iniquity against our holy God is enough to separate us from our holy God, Psalm 51:4 tells us that. And so there's not a temporal debt that can be paid off on some of these sins and other sins don't need to be. Jesus taught very profoundly on that, if you just look at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. And then also we know that while the Catholic church promotes the teaching of purgatory, it wasn't officially defined by the, and I think Tim was talking about this, it was officially defined by the council of Florence in 1439. And it was also defended by the council of Trent in the late 16th century. Okay, so there were some council meetings, there were some coming together of high ranking hierarchy of the church in these, and there were some good things that were resolved. But we always have to remember, those councils are not scripture and what those councils wrote is not scripture. And when we look at the Bible, purgatory is not supported in a canon of scripture. In fact, I was even studying this a little bit earlier, even the new Catholic encyclopedia clearly acknowledges that the doctrine of purgatory is not explicitly stated in the Bible. Even those who are trying to promote it can say that it's not explicitly stated in the Bible. And so what you find as a teaching of purgatory, is really based upon traditions of the fathers of the Catholic church and not upon the forefathers of the Christian faith that we have of the apostles of the New Testament and the teaching of them. And then finally, I just got to say that most importantly, the father's testimony throughout all the word of God, as I've studied, it tells us that He has graciously provided salvation to those of us who come to Him by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Romans 8 is so clear on that, Romans 11:6 is clear on that and of course, Ephesians 2:8-9, as I shared earlier. So, when we look at the teaching of purgatory and the validity of it, is it true? Well, when you come to the scriptures, you cannot find that support. You can find history, you can find tradition, but support from the scriptures is not found. Hebrews 10:4, just to finish up it says, "By one sacrifice, He," that is Jesus, "made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Jesus did it all. Jesus did it all in the cross of Calvary.

What's New at Cross Reference Library? Men of the Past, Present, and Future

7 Men - How did George Washington resist the temptation to become the first king of America, and why did William Wilberforce give up the chance to be prime minister of England? What enabled Jackie Robinson to surrender his right to fight back against racists, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer to jeopardize his freedom and safety to defy the Nazis? In this stirring and inspiring new work, New York Times best-selling author Eric Metaxas reclaims a long-lost sense of heroic—the idea that certain lives are worthy of emulation. Get to know the seven men in this book, and your life will be immeasurably richer. 

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What Does It Mean To Be Made In The Image Of God? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Gary Hashley, Tim Hebbert and Brad Kilthau.

Gary Hashley
So the one we're gonna look at is this, "We often hear from Bible teachers that, we as humans are made 'in the image of God' what does that exactly mean? And what is the significance of this to us today?" Well, let's start with, where do we even find this term used in scripture?" There are really three places in the book of Genesis that alludes to this. In Genesis 1, in the account of creation after God has made, you know, the heavens and the earth in chapter one, verse one. Then He makes light, then He makes an atmosphere, and then He makes the seas and the land and the plants appear. Then He makes the sun, the moon and the stars. And then He makes the fish and the birds, then He makes animals. We get later to where He makes man, and in chapter one, verse 26, it says, "And God said, 'let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens. Over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God made man in His own image, in the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And then a little later in chapter five, we come across this concept again, where it says, "This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, He made them in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and He blessed them. And named them Man, when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son after his image and named him Seth." And then we get to chapter nine, verse six, where we read, "Whoever sheds the blood of man by man, shall his blood be shed for God made man in his own image." Now I'll tell you right off the top, that this is one of those questions that has been talked about, reasoned about, debated about, argued about, written about, and disagreed about as the years have gone on. What is implied when it says, that God made us in His image? One author says, "Christian thinkers have tried to locate the image of God in various dimensions of man's being. Including man's spirit, soul, rationality, will, mind, personhood, immortality and even his physical body. But scripture is not specific." I want you to hear that, "Scripture is not specific as to exactly what it is about man that constitutes the image of God." The image of God cannot be reduced to one attribute or any combination of attributes in man. The biblical portrait is more holistic. The entire man as a human being, images God. So I'm just gonna share a couple, three thoughts, and then I'll turn it over to my brothers, who are way smarter than I am. I have come to the conclusion over the years, that this isn't a physical thing, because God is spirit. Jesus became flesh, but when He became flesh He became like us. So the fact that, you know, we're made in God's image, doesn't mean physically we look like Him. I do believe it's a uniqueness thing, because if you notice in Genesis 1, it doesn't say this about any of the animals, any of the fish, or any of the birds. It doesn't say they were made in the image of God, but when it comes to the final creative act God records for us here, that He created man. It says He created them in His image. So there's something unique about people as opposed to cattle, as opposed to cats, as opposed to canaries, as opposed to trout. There's something in us that's unique enough that God said, we were being made in His image. I think it's also a position thing, because after saying "We were made in God's image," it says "Now have dominion over everything else." Dominion over the cattle, dominion over the fish, dominion over the birds, dominion over the plants. God put us in a position of being over the rest of creation. It's very important to remember, and I agree with the writer. The Bible does not describe the contents of the image. So anything we say today is kind of conjecture, maybe it's implied, but it'd be nice if He specifically said. And there were those over the years who have argued the difference between image and likeness. What's significant about the fact that we were made in the image of, and the likeness of? And there are so many variations of what has been thought and what has been said about such things. So does it refer to our personality, to our consciousness, to the fact that we can use language, to the fact that we have a will, to the fact that some morality that is built into us? I will let Tim pick up and share what he's prepared on this.

Tim Hebbert
You know, going back to Genesis, for me the defining shift there, and I'm gonna talk for just a couple of seconds here about character that we share with God. Things that He shared in our nature that come from Him. But the defining shift from every other piece of creation in the creation story, is He said He formed man out of the dust of the earth. And then He breathed the breath of life into him. And what is that breath of life? Because all the animals had to have life breathed into them, or they were created with that. I think the shift there is, He breathed His essence and His spirit into us, and so one of the very first things that we share with God is, He is spirit. And He has given us spirit. You know, my dad and I, he's jokingly said, "I don't think any animals will be in heaven except for dogs," because he loved dogs. But what separates man from the rest of animal living, breathing, creation, was that spirit that was breathed into him. In the fourth chapter of John, it tells us, "God is spirit, so those of us who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." So while most of us on Sunday morning, we're gathering and singing worship, but there's a physical human act that goes along in that. A physical act of humanity that goes on in life. But really, that worship time is born out of our spirit. All that we do to worship God is born out of our spirit. So the things in His character that He shares with us is, He shares things from His character with us, but not completely like Him. We are born in spirit, but we are a spirit that depends on His spirit. We reflect God's nature and our ability to reason and the freedom to choose God. God gave us part of that, He gives us knowledge, He gives us the ability to learn things and to reason with what we've learned. To make good decisions, and He's given us the freedom to use those, to make good choices. Unfortunately, in the garden, that's the very first thing that they did wrong. We share a nature of God that has a desire for fellowship. It tells us, you know, in the third chapter of Genesis. He would come to the garden for a time of fellowship with Adam and Eve. And when they broke covenant, that was the very first thing that got broken with Him. God is famous in all of scripture for His desire to be in fellowship with those who love Him. We were created and birthed as children with perfect innocence, which is a reflection of the perfect holiness that God has. Again, original sin destroys that. And I wanna just give one last thing and I'm gonna turn it over to Brad. He creates each and every one of us, unique. The one thing that we can say above all things about God is, there has never been or never will be anyone like Him. In the commandments, you know, I go back to A.W. Tozer talking about the second commandment, "Don't make any graven images." Basically Tozer says, "What He's saying to us there is, 'don't you think for a second, you know, what I look like or what I'm all about.' But in correlation with that, He's called and He's created each of us. That's one of the, I think the amazing things about human creation. There's not two of us that are identical. I mean, we are separate, we are different, each one of us is unique. Even if we're twins or triplets and we're identical on the outside, our spirits are still unique and individual to us.

Gary Hashley
So you're saying Mr. Rogers was right. There's nobody like you!

Tim Hebbert
That's it. Maybe, I don't know. You ruined my whole image of God. I always thought He had a long beard with a lightning bolt. No, I'm kidding.

Brad Kilthau
Well, yeah. And what you guys are saying, I agree. You know, the Bible tells us that we are created in the image of God, and Gary you gave three references from the Old Testament. We also have it in the New Testament, we have that in 1 Corinthians 11:7. And then we also have it in James 3:9 and that reaffirms that in the New Testament, that we are made the image of God. And so I guess I could just add to that is, we think about what does it mean to be made in the image of God? My definition is, "To be human is to be a divine image bearer." In other words, we are to reflect the, image of God to all of God's creation. We don't understand, as you guys were saying, it doesn't tell us a whole lot about what it really means to be made in the image of God. So what can you do? You can just go to the Old Testament and you can find the characteristics of God, and keep searching through that and learn more and more about who God is. And then look for those similar characteristics that we could relate to God in. Of course, as Tim was sharing, we have this ability to reason and we have this ability to rationalize things. Also we have this ability to create things. Obviously that's in the image of God. You think about some of the things that man's been able to create and come up with. The concept in His mind and then to make it with his hands, it's an amazing gift that God's given us being made in His image. Also we are moral beings, we for the most part, obviously we've been given a conscience and God's word is written on our hearts. So, but then at the same time, as Tim was saying, we have the choice. To obey what's written on our heart and our conscience, or we can disobey. And again, that's what Adam and Eve did, and of course they passed that down to all of us. And so the image of God has been distorted in us today. But one of the beautiful things is, when we put our faith and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ, He begins to restore that original image of God back in us. As we go through this process of sanctification, we become more and more like Jesus. And so that starts to change, our attitude starts to change, our thoughts start to change, our desires start to change. And then as those things change inwardly, then outwardly we start to change too. Our language changes, the places we go, the things we do, all of those things begin to change. And I think as you look at that, then that's bringing us again, aback to what God originally created us to be. To walk upright, to be those who seek to live a holy life before God, and to please God. And so again, God gives us an ability that all the rest of the creation that you look at doesn't really have. I mean, the creation has kind of this built-in way of doing things. You know, like this time of year it's the birds who fly south or go to someplace warmer. It's an instinct that we often say they have, but man has the ability to reason these things out. And "why am I going south? And why do I need to do this?" Even our title that we talk about ourselves in science, we're called homo sapiens, which means a thinking being. We have the ability to think where other beings don't, they just do what their instinct says. And even getting back to the thought about dogs being in heaven, you know, we all want our favorite dog to be in heaven, but we have to understand, of course, they don't have a spirit. They don't have a soul, and so are they gonna be in heaven? I don't know. I think God's gonna give us even better animals when we get to heaven. I don't know. But obviously we have a soul that lives forever, He gave us a soul that will live for eternity. And of course, the choice we make determines where that soul is going to live, and with a body that will live with that. If we reject Christ, we'll live forever in a place called hell, with a body that can be tormented forever and ever. If we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we're given this beautiful glorified body to live forever and ever in the presence of God. You don't see that with any other of God's creation, just man.

What's New at Cross Reference Library? Facing the Future

The Last Days - Osama bin Laden is dead. Saddam’s regime is buried. Baghdad lies in ruins. Now the eyes of the world are on Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy, two senior White House advisors, as they arrive in the Middle East to offer a historic Arab-Israeli peace plan and the American president’s new vision of freedom and democracy. But in the shadows lie men whose hearts are filled with evil—men for whom the prospects of peace go against everything they believe. And soon, one terrifying scheme after another begins to unfold: 

• An Iranian plot to send suicide bombers into the U.S.

• A terrorist plot to assassinate the prime minister of Israel

• A Jewish plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock 

As Jon and Erin face a battle for control of Jerusalem, a battle for control of the Holy Land, and an Iraqi plan to rebuild ancient Babylon, they can’t help but wonder: Are such signs evidence that they are living in the last days before the return of Christ? 

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Is The Russian Invasion Fulfillment Of Prophecy? - Ask the Pastor

You can listen to Ask The Pastor every weekday at 9:00am MST on 97.1FM Hope Radio KCMI! You can also listen and subscribe to Ask The Pastor in your favorite podcast feed. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music and most other podcast services.

This edition of Ask the Pastor features Pastors Ben Poole and Gary Schick.

Ben Poole
All right, so forewarning---this question is---we obviously don't know who asks the questions. And so we don't want to be disrespectful, but we also want to look at this from what we believe, a Christian's standpoint should be. Some questions we get, we feel maybe motivated politically, or maybe you hear things from other leaders and preachers. And so we're going to discuss this from what we believe is the perspective a Christian needs from a biblical standpoint.

Gary Schick
It's a good question really.

Ben Poole
It really is. And so we want to honor the question and the one that's asking it, but also, just be prepared. It may not be what you were expecting.

Gary Schick
Do you want the Bible's answer or what you want to hear?

Ben Poole
Yup. So here it is, and this is probably something that you've heard. If you've been online listening, this is definitely a hot topic. So here it is, "As we watch what Russia is doing in the Ukraine, many are wondering if this is fulfilling any biblical prophecy." So again, this is something I've seen a lot of. And I think there's gonna be multiple stances on this, depending on who you listen to. But as always, we want to come at it from a scriptural standpoint. So with that, Gary, why don't you open us up with some plots?

Gary Schick
You know, and I really wasn't thinking about it when I said it. I was just thinking about the snow outside, but if you're familiar with the Narnian kind of allegory, there was a time in Narnia when they were waiting for Aslan to come back. Which is, symbolically, the world under a winter like we're under now, in more ways than one, waiting for Jesus to return. And that's a question, you know, really is this a sign that Jesus is coming soon? And I know there's a lot of places people go in scripture, I actually start with the gospel. Every time people want to talk to me about the end times and "Are we in them and are we getting close?" I start with the words of Jesus, and then I go from there. Out to Revelation and back to Daniel and all those places that people wanna jump to right away. I start with the words of Jesus. And that gives me interestingly, a slightly different perspective on how it's gonna unfold than most Christians seem to have to me. The context is very close to the end of Jesus' life and ministry on this earth. He's in His final week in Jerusalem, He's in the temple---Herod's temple---which was one of the wonders of the world. And, you know, the disciples lived in a time kind of like ours. There was some stability and there was great instability. They were under Roman rule, and they were looking to get out from under it. Everybody was thinking that Jesus maybe was a Messiah, but not the Messiah. Cause they thought, they were thinking, "Political leader to get us out of this mess." Not truly a savior to the whole world. In fact, they weren't even interested in the rest of the world. They, like so many of us, let's just be honest we're interested in ourselves and our own life and our own little plot on the planet. And that's kind of where the Jews were, they didn't really have a God's heart for the world mindset. They had a God's heart for "us" mindset. And so anyway, one of the things that was stable---they thought in their world---was God's temple. "Here it is. Look at it Jesus, isn't it amazing." The buildings and the structures and wow! I mean, it was just really, very recently completed in Jesus time. Actually, I think they may have still been finishing up part of it. And so he just kind of makes this offhanded comment, "Do you see all these great buildings? I tell you not one stone will be left on another." Well to them, the thought of that temple being taken away could only mean the end of the world. And so later in the day, while they're sitting on the Mount of Olives, sun's going down, they're looking across. Today, if you sit on the Mount of Olives, you're gonna see, what is it? The Dome of the Rock. I mean, it's built where the temple was, this Muslim edifice. But there's kind of a mystique about it, the sun's shining off the golden roof. And so probably you'd get a similar feeling. And so the disciples are looking across at God's temple at that point and they're saying, "So Lord, tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming?" You know, because all they could imagine was the final, the showdown. And so I wanna take you back to Mark 13, you could also look at it in Matthew 24, you can also look at it in Luke. All of these end times speeches of Jesus, they're the same one, but each one, you know, Matthew tells us more than Mark does, Luke tells us some different things. But I start with Mark, cause it's the shortest, simplest, and really the core of it. And so Jesus said to them, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one will be left. They'll all be thrown down." So while sitting on the Mount of Olives, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will these things be? What will be the sign that they're about to be accomplished?" Jesus began to say to them, "See that no one leads you astray." This is a topic that people, Christians are vulnerable to being led astray about. Because we have a itching ears that want to know more. "See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name saying, 'I am he' and they will lead many astray." And there were false Christs prior to Jesus: At the time of Jesus, right after Jesus, and there have been a few since. They'll lead ministry. And then, this is what's relevant to us Mark 13:7, "And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are but the beginning of birth pains." So first I wanna say where this does fit into scriptural prophecy, and then I want to key in on just one thing Jesus said there. In terms of prophecy, there has been a lot going on in the world in recent years. You know, we're hearing more about global warming and increasing, you know, violence in our weather. We've had the COVID thing. And just as we're coming out of COVID we all are wondering, I am too, could this lead to world war three? And what will that mean? Well, Jesus talks about how, as we approach the end, the very things that have been since the dawn of time: natural disaster, human war, famines and skyrocketing prices like you and I are seeing at the fuel pump today, these things will happen. But the only part of it that is showing that we're getting closer to "The Turn of the Jesus," is He compares it to birth pains. And I don't know about you, I remember particularly when our first one was born. My wife didn't believe that it was the day, but I'm sitting there at Red Lobster with her having supper and I just started timing the contractions. And they started out pretty spread out, but the intensity and the frequency began to increase. And I remember going upstairs with her to the hospital, she was still resistant and I was all wild, you know, like wild in my head. And I get to the desk and I said to the nurse, "I think we're pregnant." She looked at my wife, "Yeah, I think you're right about that." What I meant was, I think our pregnancy is about to turn into something more. The world is pregnant friends, and we're about to give birth to something. Is it today? Is it tomorrow? I don't know. But Jesus did say there would be an increase in intensity as we draw near to His coming. But what I wanna just move back to, is one word He said here in verse seven, "When you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed." The Greek word there is, "θροεῖσθε," and it means to wail, to clamor, to frighten, to cry aloud, to make a noise by outcry, troubled, frightened, be troubled in mind, alarmed. Isn't that where we find ourselves? When we're sitting there looking at the news, whatever news station you happen to watch, whichever one you've decided is telling you the truth or not. We get a little crazy don't we? And Jesus says, "Hey. Hey! Don't be alarmed. Don't be." Then He goes on and talks about what we should be a little concerned about. You're gonna be brought before rulers in this world, and you're gonna have to give an account for what you believe. And even then don't be afraid, just say what the holy spirit says. Jesus says, "You be my people until I come again, you focus on that. Don't be focused on what's in the head lines." Cause it's gonna come, it's gonna go. And it's gonna come with greater frequency and nothing we think about is gonna change it. But what we do wanna focus on is being witnesses for Him. And living out the Christian life and praying for the leaders and letting God be God of the things that we can't control.

Ben Poole
Yeah. This is probably a touchy subject for a lot of people, and we understand that. And I think that from our perspective, whether it is fulfilling prophecy or not, I don't think that should be our main focus. Because one thing I know: God is God, He is unchanging and He is going to send Jesus back. "Period." End of discussion. When that happens nobody knows, not even the Son. He even said, "I don't know, it's only God. When He says it's time, it's time, and that's that." And so what happens that I struggle with, personally, is watching Christians get so wrapped up into things like this. They neglect the ministry of being a Christian. We are called, not to look for signs and wonders and prophecies, in fact, Jesus---

Gary Schick
In this very passage.

Ben Poole
He kind of is antagonistic against those who are looking for the signs and the wonders. And He's saying, "This is who you are to be." He's asked, "What's the greatest commandment?" Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. These two complete, they are the fulfillment. They are the embodiment of all the law and the prophets. That's who we're to be, is to love God and to love people. And what happens is, so many times Christians are getting caught up in watching the news or listening to certain televangelists or preachers, from my perspective, teaching a fearful faith.

Gary Schick
And it brings in money.

Ben Poole
Yeah, it does.

Gary Schick
It sells.

Ben Poole
Fear sells, and so we are called to something else. And I really love the book of Revelation, and I think I see it differently than a lot of people. Like you said, it is one of the greatest books of hope in the entire scriptures. Because you think about the first generation church---

Gary Schick
God Wins!

Ben Poole
That they were being hunted like animals legally, legally murdered.

Gary Schick
Right.

Ben Poole
And God sends this revelation to John, for John to write down. To send to the churches as a message of hope, that you are going to endure great suffering, but I'm coming back.

Gary Schick
And that's the other thing people don't want to hear. I mean, obviously there are different viewpoints. Is Jesus coming before the tribulation, middle of tribulation, after tribulation? Regardless of your stand on that, Christians will go through times of tribulation. We're going through them now. Is it 'the' great tribulation? I mean, that's gonna depend on your position: Pre-trib, mid-trip, post-trib, and for some of you, what trip? I know, it gets confusing. But I think those arguments can be a ruse, because regardless of what happens at the very end, the last seven years, Jesus---in this passage---very directly says, "You will go through times. There will be times of trouble." And that's when we anchor in Him and say, "You know what? I know you're coming again, and I know you've got me. And I know that I need to rely on you for how I need to respond and not respond in the flesh."

Ben Poole
Yeah.

Gary Schick
But to be Christ's kid in the world and be prayerful and watchful and loving toward all. Which gets harder when it gets tougher. You know, it is hard to love.

Ben Poole
And that's just who God has called us to be. We know that tribulation and hard times are going to come. Who are you to be in the middle of those? You are to be the sons and daughters of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and to live for Him and to worship Him. But we can never use these times to neglect sharing the message of Jesus, because maybe God's coming back soon and maybe it's gonna be another thousand years. It doesn't really matter. He has called us to be His church, His people in the midst of these times. So that's our encouragement to you. I know that, maybe again, this might not have been the way you thought this conversation would go, and we would love to have more conversations about this if you'd like. But again, we're looking at this from a scriptural point from what we believe and really my heart and I think Gary's. No matter what comes be God's people.

Gary Schick
Well, and what gives us a great opportunity here is, just as Christians kind of get a little scared and wondering, or are excited, I would say, the world is actually scared. And to be without Christ in the crisis that we're in, and have just been in and are about to be in next, we don't know what's coming next. There's a lot of instability. You know, we've talked about what's gonna happen with oil and nickel and all kinds of, because we're dependent, we are so dependent. You know, can we even fully break the rush on everything who knows? But we have a message of hope. We know that God wins and that God's got us. And so it's not a blind, fluffy, boy are you're feet even laying on the ground. No, we are. We're walking through it. We're paying at the pump. We're praying for the relief to the people of Ukraine and the salvation of, you know, President Putin that he would just have a different heart and mindset. Whether that happens, you know, we know the gospel is getting through to the people in Ukraine and Russia and we need to proclaim it right here.

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