Ankerberg Show

Narrator: Welcome to the John Ankerberg Show discipleship segment. Whether you've recently discovered your faith in Christ or have been a longtime follower, we aim to provide you with the tools and encouragement to strengthen your relationship with him. We are dedicated to equipping you to confidently share the hope that resides within you, as instructed in 1 Peter 3:15. Join us now for the John Ankerberg Show discipleship segment as we embark on this journey of spiritual growth and learning together.

The claim that Jesus rose from the dead has sparked a global movement. It exploded from the very city where Jesus rose again. Those who claimed they saw Jesus gave their lives to tell others. Even skeptics and persecutors were converted. Today, we will continue examining the evidence even critical scholars affirm and reflect on its implications for our everyday lives. Join us for this session of the John Ankerberg Show.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Welcome to this session of the John Ankerberg Show where we're talking about the important questions: did Jesus really die on the cross? And then, did Jesus rise from the grave after he was buried on the third day? In other words, on the third day, did he come forth from the grave victorious? In fact, Sunder, we've been giving eight historical facts. We're coming up to number seven and eight, but I want you to go over the facts that we've already shown the people just to remind them of the eight historical facts that over 2,200 critical scholars, skeptics, atheists, people of all different religious backgrounds, looked at these facts and they say we basically agree with all of these facts. What are the eight facts?

Sunder: The first one was that Jesus was condemned to die on the cross for the specific reason that he claimed to be God himself, and he did it in three different ways. It was recognized as blasphemous, and between the Jewish authorities and the Roman authorities, he was condemned to die on the cross. The second fact is that crucifixion definitely killed somebody. There was no question that Jesus died on the cross.

The third thing that we learned for sure was that Jesus was then buried and a stone was rolled over the grave, and that finished him off completely. His body was even wrapped in spices, 100 pounds of spices, I'm told. Then fourthly, we said, to the surprise of everyone, Jesus rose from the dead. This was testified to by eyewitnesses, women who were the first to see him, which was already an amazing thing because in those days women were never considered to be credible witnesses. They recorded it because it happened.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Fact number five. Jesus' disciples said that Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them.

Sunder: As many as 500 people saw him, his twelve disciples, James his half-brother, and then Paul, who was one of the greatest persecutors of the church.

Dr. John Ankerberg: What are the other facts is that you have the early creeds that came out that were written so close to the events. Paul says that which I received, the set of beliefs I passed on to you. Paul got saved probably within 24 months of the time that Jesus was crucified. He was persecuting Christians and the risen Jesus appeared to him. I want you to tell the story in a moment, but the fact is the information that he passed on, he records in 1 Corinthians 15.

The scholars look at this and say this is early information that was put into print at 55 AD in his book to the Corinthians. It was preached to them in 50 AD when he actually went to Corinth and preached to them. He says he got that information way back when he got saved, which was two years from the time that Jesus passed off the scene, or when he met with Peter and James, which was three years later, within five years. If it's five or two, it doesn't make any difference. That is so short a period of time, the scholars say this is credible historical information from one of the greatest scholars that lived at that period who was right on the scene and claimed to be an eyewitness and knew the other eyewitnesses.

Sunder: It also knocks the ground out from another objection that people say or explanation. There was a legend. There simply wasn't enough time for the legends to develop. All these creedal statements came in so quickly. There were eyewitnesses who could have been checked up on, and legends don't develop under those circumstances.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Scholars say it takes two generations for legend to develop, and this all happened within one generation. Now I want to talk about this man called Saul originally. He was one of the top Jewish scholars that studied under Gamaliel and he was adamant that Jesus just couldn't be who he was claiming to be. He was so adamant about that, that he went to the Jewish leaders and got permission to do what?

Sunder: To persecute the church. The reason, John, why he was so dead set against it, he grew up in Tarsus, which was an academic center as well. He was the master of Greek, Hebrew, and Roman culture. He knew Aramaic, he knew Greek, and he knew Hebrew. He was just totally well-versed. He also said, "I was a Pharisee of the Pharisees." The Pharisees were among the strictest law observing sect within Judaism, and he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee.

He was considered to be top-notch in that area. He outdid all the other people in his eagerness and his perfection obeying the law. He had a tremendous amount of pride in himself and he was a Hebrew-speaking Jew as well. He said this idea of a crucified Messiah is anathema, it's actually an insult to my God. Paul wasn't a cruel man. He didn't go around killing people because he loved killing people.

He was zealous for his God. He said, "How can you say a crucified man?" because in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses, and Paul was a lover of the law, Moses says, "Cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree." You're saying this man is my Messiah who's going to come? That is such an insult to my God, I have to put a stop to it. We have to understand the motivations for the man.

They were completely religious, and he got permission to persecute these people, arrest the people, and he would cast his vote in the death sentence against many of them. This was the guy who all of a sudden changed his name to Paul. Paul was a Gentile name. Gentiles were hated by Jews, and for him to take on that name would have been unbelievable.

What caused him to take a Gentile name? Because Paul had a complete change in his mission. The early mission was to stop the spread of this thing called Christianity, which for him was poison and blasphemous. He said, "I'm now going to propagate it to the Gentiles." So he took on a Gentile name as himself. Amazingly, he loved Jesus and he gloried in the cross. The very cross that he said was anathema, blasphemous, now was something for him to glory in.

Dr. John Ankerberg: He was on the road going to Damascus to persecute Christians in that city. Talk about what really changed him.

Sunder: All of a sudden he was stopped dead in his tracks and he heard this voice. He said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul thought, "Who are you, Lord?" He said, "I am Jesus whom you're persecuting." In that instant, in that instant, everything changed for Paul. He saw Jesus. He knew who Jesus was. The glory was so bright. It was a midday sun.

If you've ever been to the Middle East in the midday, it's not only hot, the sun is unbearably brilliant in a clear sky with no haze on it. Jesus' glory eclipsed the glory of the midday sun in the Middle East. You can imagine how bright it was. He was struck almost blind like you and I look at the sun for a few seconds we can't see anything. He was like that for three days until the scales fell from his eyes and he said, "Now the rest of my life is given to him."

Dr. John Ankerberg: There's a part of that story too. He was blinded. He went into the city and God told one of his people to go over there. That person didn't even want to go because he was afraid of Saul.

Sunder: The only Paul they knew was he was going to kill me.

Dr. John Ankerberg: But I find it very interesting the message God told him. God told him, "I'm going to show him what he's going to do for me, but I also said I'm going to show how much he's going to have to suffer for me." He gave him apostleship, but he said, "You're also going to suffer greatly for me." Then he opened his eyes and then Paul immediately started to preach.

He preached these facts of the creed that we were just talking about. Three years after that, he went up to see Jesus' own disciple and talked with them. That's where he says, "Whether it was I or they, we were all preaching the same thing about Jesus." He was the divine one, he was God, son of God who was crucified, dead, buried, and he rose from the dead.

Sunder: And he wouldn't have been willing to suffer as he did if he hadn't encountered the risen Jesus.

Dr. John Ankerberg: That's why scholars say with all of that background, he is one of the most credible witnesses you have in ancient history that Jesus rose from the dead. Otherwise you can't explain what happened to this guy Paul.

Shamala: And you know what I find interesting in that interchange on that road to Damascus, he first asked Jesus, "Who are you?" and Jesus said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth." Then he said, "What do you want me to do?" All that he did came out of discovering who Jesus was. For him, it was very important.

Until we know who he is and get to know his heart, only then will we end up doing the things we do because we have met him. I was just struck by that sequence of his question was first of all, "Who are you?" and then, "What do you want me to do?"

Dr. John Ankerberg: Alright. We're going to take a break and when we come back, we're going to talk about the second person who is our eighth fact here, and that is Jesus appeared to his half-brother, his own brother James, who all through his life never believed in Jesus. We're going to talk about what happened to James, so stay with us. We'll be right back.

Narrator: Join us next time for part two of our discipleship series, Follow Me: Experiencing the Joy of Walking with Jesus, as Sunder and Shamala pick up where we left off this week. Thank you for joining us on our journey of discipleship. To deepen your understanding and grow in your faith, explore our extensive discipleship resources at jashow.org and engage in transformative courses at jabible.org. ATRI is dedicated to encouraging believers, defending the faith, and challenging the skeptics. Join us in this mission by subscribing to our YouTube channel for more in-depth teachings and practical guidance to deepen your faith.