through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If you have your Bibles with you, turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. During this Easter season we have tremendous opportunities to witness for Christ and to remind people of the evidences for the resurrection and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. 200 years ago in 1815 all of Europe agonized in suspense waiting for the news of the impending battle between the Duke of Wellington Marshal Blücher and the French Emperor Napoleon. And just when they thought the threat was over with Napoleon defeated and exiled on the island of Elba, Napoleon had returned, mustered a huge army and marched to destroy the British army under the Duke of Wellington and the German army under Marshal Blücher. People waited in great anticipation for news of this critical battle which would decide the future for all of them. A sailing ship siren poured that signalling with signal flags, the result of this decisive battle. A signalman on the top of Winchester Cathedral decoded the message from a ship in the channel. Wellington defeated and then the fog obscured the ship and the message was sent throughout the British Isles. Wellington defeated. Shock and depression spread with the devastating news. Then several hours later, when the fog lifted, the signal was completed. Wellington defeated the enemy. Two words can make a big difference to a sentence. Made all the difference. And so, for three days, the fog was obscured. Christ has died. But then, on the third day, Christ is risen. As the full message of the decisive victory at the Battle of Waterloo was proclaimed throughout the land, there was tremendous rejoicing. Wellington and Blucher's victory at Waterloo ushered in almost 99 years of general peace in Western Europe. But Christ's bodily resurrection from the dead is even more tremendously important, that it has ushered in eternal life. Death is man's greatest enemy, and it has conquered all men except Christ. Cities and nations like people are born and grow for a season and then they fade away. Homes go back to dust. Clothes, vehicles, even vehicles will ultimately rust and go back to dust, just like the owners will. The Bible describes this universal reign of decay and death as the bondage of corruption, that everything decays and runs down. Some things quicker than others, like Japanese toys. But in science, this is recognized as the second law of thermodynamics, the law of increasing entropy. Left to themselves, every system tends to become disordered, like a teenager's bedroom, or like a garden, or something run by Eskimo. It runs down and eventually dies. All the founders of the great religions and movements have died, and you can visit their graves. Sarastha, Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, Marx, Vladimir Lenin, They're all dead and decayed in the grave. But Jesus Christ is alive. I remember on the first Resurrection Sunday in 1977, the week after I was converted, I had the opportunity of going to church for the first time and Reverend Rex Matthew gave this illustration. He said, today in Red Square in Moscow, because remember back in 1977, heights of the Cold War, communism was the evil empire, Communism was spreading throughout the whole world, and neighbors, Mozambique, Angola, even Zimbabwe was in danger of falling to Communism at that time. And so, on that Easter Sunday, Rex Matthews said, in Red Square today there are people lined up to see their God, Vladimir Lenin, who most certainly is dead. There is no question Vladimir Lenin is dead. And yet, on the one side of Red Square people are lining up to see their God who is dead, but on the other side of Red Square is St Basil's Cathedral. And there the Christians on Resurrection Sunday walk around saying, where is he? He's not here. Where is he? He's not here. Where is he? He's not here. And then finally one of the priests shouts out, Christ is risen! And the entire congregation resounds, He is risen indeed! What a contrast. On the one side you've got atheism's God, dead. On the other side you've got Jesus Christ and his followers, alive, forevermore. In Romania the term was Christos Anviat, Christ is risen, and on Easter Sunday the people would greet one another with that term. Christos Anbiot Christ is risen and this is a battle cry at one time it's said that there was a propaganda speech going around the schools where atheists would go around and teach the children how there is no God and God is dead and he asked for a response and one young girl stood up in the school classroom in Moscow and shouted out Christ is risen and the entire school resounded out he is risen indeed It didn't matter what the atheist commissar had just been indoctrinating them about for so long. The people still kept this faith deep in their hearts. So what difference, you may ask, does it make that Christ is risen? The resurrection of Jesus Christ is vitally important because it demonstrates Christ's victory over death. it gives hope to all mankind and it shows that eternal life is available to believers it points to the ultimate triumph of God over all evil and it provides indisputable proof that the message about Jesus Christ as both judge and saviour is true Acts 17 verse 31 because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has ordained and he has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. So the resurrection of Christ is proof of the Day of Judgment. Now, it's one thing to hear faithful Christians say this, but what about the sceptics? What do the sceptics say? The resurrection is so important, it is so foundational to Christianity that it has been targeted for the most relentless attacks. One of the first books I read in this was Who Moved the Stone by Frank Morrison. I remember reading this in 1987, like it was yesterday, it was so gripping, I read the whole book in almost one sitting, stunned, just could not put it down, as this lawyer, this sceptical lawyer, determined to disprove the resurrection and thereby undermine Christianity. As a lawyer he recognized, if I can disprove the resurrection, which should be easy, then I can destroy the foundation stone of Christianity. And the result of his exhaustive investigations into the facts was he was converted to Christ. And he published this book, Who Moved the Stone, which decisively demonstrates the overwhelming evidence for the resurrection. There was a skeptical university lecturer, Josh McDowell, who determined to disprove Christianity by investigating evidences against the resurrection. And I had the privilege of hearing Josh McDowell for a week in the Great Hall in Wits University. back in 1981, and he came first of all for the debate against Amrita, and I was there in Durban for that, and then I hitchhiked up to Joburg and heard him for the next five days in Witz University, and wow! This is one of the great apologists and debaters of the 20th century. And he held the university in Spellbund, in the biggest hall in Witz University, packed to overflowing, standing room only, five days in a row. And the most overwhelming was the evidences for the resurrection. I mean that I can remember like it was yesterday. It was just so important. And the result of Josh McDowell's sceptical investigation of the facts was he was converted to Christ and he published this monumental evidence that demands a verdict, which was followed by more evidence that demands a verdict. and then the new evidence that demands a verdict, and it is overwhelming, more than a carpenter and other books like that, which exhaustively and conclusively document, present evidences upon evidences, substantiating the historical truths, the factual accuracy, the archaeological evidence, the manuscript evidence, fulfilled prophecies, over 2,000 prophecies fulfilled so far, transformed lives and other indisputable evidences which support the fact of the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the truth claims of Christianity. Thomas Arnold, Professor of History at Oxford University, one of the greatest historians of the 19th century, wrote, I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better, fuller evidence of every sort to the understanding of a fair enquirer than the great sign which Christ has given us, that Christ died and rose from the dead. Simon Greenleaf, recognized one of the most skilled legal minds ever produced, the man who developed Harvard Law School, a skeptical Jew, an unbelieving Jew. He is recognized as the top authority in what constitutes sound evidence. At one point, he was ridiculing Christianity and Christian beliefs in the classroom, and one of his brave students said, but sir, have you ever investigated the evidences for the resurrection of Christ? And Simon Greenleaf testified that he felt ashamed, because he had always drummed into students, never come to a conclusion about any case until you have examined the evidence. And here he was, found out by one of his students, the first year at that, he had not even examined the evidences for the resurrection of Christ. So he went with a vengeance into investigating the facts. with of course the intention to justify himself and to disprove the resurrection which would have saved face for him. But Simon Greenleaf, after making the most thorough and exhaustive examination of the objective evidence and the testimony of the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, published this book, The Testimony of the Evangelists, published by Baker in 1874. In this landmark book, he said, it was therefore impossible that the apostles could have persisted in affirming the truth they had narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact. In fact, Simon Greenleaf declared, any court of law, if presented with the evidence of the Resurrection, would have to give a verdict in favour of the integrity and accuracy of the Gospel writers and the fact of the Resurrection. These are pretty awe-inspiring conclusions and conversions from serious sceptics. One of the most popular books ever written, one of the most successful films ever produced, Ben Hur, was the result of a sceptical challenge to General Lew Wallace, who aside from being Governor of New Mexico at the time of Billy the Kid, and being a Civil War veteran, he became America's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, so he had the opportunity of investigating the archaeological evidence going to the digs in Palestine, going all around Jerusalem, he was able to go, because that was all part of the Ottoman Empire, and he investigated and he went through the manuscripts and he went through all the archaeological sites, and after careful examination of the evidence, he produced Ben-Hur, the book, which led to the film An Absolute Sensation. So what are the facts that convinced these sceptics? The religious leaders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees who had campaigned and conspired to have Christ arrested and executed on trumped-up charges, they had a compelling interest to disprove any claims of the resurrection. The Pharisees and Sadducees had presumed that the execution of Jesus Christ would eliminate this threat to their religious power base, and silence is supported. These Jewish religious leaders had great concerns about the corpse of Jesus, and they had approached the Roman governor Pontius Pilate for military detachment to secure the tomb. these facts established in Matthew 28. The Roman governor's priority in this volatile province of Palestine was to preserve peace and stability. He recognized that political problems would ensue if anything happened to this religious teacher whom he had three times declared innocent and ultimately washed his hands in front of the crowd declaring, I am innocent of this man's blood. This man has done nothing wrong. This man has done nothing to deserve death. Three times he declares him not guilty. He even sends him to heritage, sends him back. So effectively Christ was declared innocent four times by two separate authorities. His wife had warned him, don't have anything to do with that innocent man for I've suffered a great deal today and I dream because of him. Pontius Pilate was only too aware that a travesty of justice had occurred. The last thing he needed was a review of his shameful conduct, his dereliction of duty in this case. Ensuring that the victim's corpse remained buried was definitely in Pontius Pilate's interest. Take a guard, Pilate answered, go and make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and they made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. It was a Roman god. As the chief priest had approached the Roman governor and as the Greek word custodia had been used to describe the detachment of soldiers, it was evidently a Roman god. If only a temple god had been used, there would have been no need to approach the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to issue the order. Additionally, the concern of the gods after the resurrection to be protected from the consequences from the governor confirms that those guarding the tomb were Roman soldiers. The detachment would have consisted of at least 16 men, with four soldiers placed directly in front of the entrance to the tomb on duty at any one time. Under Roman military law, if any guard deserted his post or fell asleep on duty, he would face crucifixion. Typically, if a Roman soldier allowed a prisoner to escape, they would face the same sentence as the prisoner, which in this case was crucifixion. The seal placed on the stone at the entrance to the tomb signified the administrative authority of Rome. Only an authorized officer of Rome could be permitted to break a Roman seal. Anyone breaking a Roman seal without permission would be tracked down and executed. These people were serious. You didn't mess with the authority of Rome. Although the intention of the religious and political leaders had been to ensure that the phenomenon of Jesus ended at the tomb, their extraordinary security measures only served to confirm the truth that they had murdered an innocent man, and that Jesus Christ was truly the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth, the one who lives and was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore. I remember that very verse being used at the final words of the debate against Ahmadiyyat in Durban 1981 after their debates and rebuttals each one had one minute at the end and because the challenger was Ahmadiyyat he went first and as Josh McDowell was the one being challenged he had the last word and the last sentence after everything that Ahmadiyyat had brought up had been demolished his last minutes all he could say in the debate was well nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say I was once dead and now I'm alive because the whole debate was was Christ crucified and so Josh MacDowell stands up and says, excuse me Mr. Leader, did I hear you right? Did you say nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say, I once was dead and now I'm alive? Can I read to you from Revelation chapter 1 and as he read this passage, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler, the kings of the earth, the one who lives and was dead and behold I'm alive forevermore, the crowd just erupted in applause, standing ovation, debate was over, Armageddon was demolished, Josh MacDowell was surrounded by people asking him questions for a long time afterwards, and Amalida packed up his briefcase and walked out with only the chairman talking to him. Nobody from that huge crowd of over 5,000 spoke to Amalida. He walked out after the debate finished. Kaput destroyed his credibility. So wrecked. And I know because when I wrote to the Islamic Propagation Center International and said, could I have the tape of the debate? I really had the tape of the debate from Life Challenge Africa also in Campus Crusade for Christ, who were selling it, from Islamic Propagationists to Oligarchs, a cassette tape that only had Ahmadiyyat arguments, it didn't have Joshua Telfin. I asked why is that missing? He said it was a technical problem. Now they walked up the same microphone, And so, you know who's lost the debate by who doesn't give both sides of the argument. You know who's won the debate by who publishes the tapes of the debate. And so that was very clear. But this verse nailed the final nail in the coffin of Didat's arguments against the crucifixion of Christ. Christ's victory over death is given in Matthew 20. Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the two. And behold, there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. And the God shook for fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the woman, do not be afraid. for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified he is not here for he is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee there you will see him behold I have told you so they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word and as they went to tell his disciples behold Jesus met them saying rejoice so they came and held him by the feet and worshipped him then Jesus said to them do not be afraid go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see me so the attempts to avoid the truth of the resurrection have taken these forms. To explain away the empty tomb, the enemies of the gospel have had to resort to some desperate deceptions. The first was to suggest the disciples had stolen the body. Now this incredible theory suggests that those same disciples who had slept in the garden, who had fled at his arrest, who had denied him before young maid, were hiding in fear behind locked doors, that these same men could have unitedly overcome 16 professional Roman soldiers, dared to break a Roman seal, an imperial seal, moved a two-ton tombstone just to steal a corpse, a dead Messiah would have served absolutely no purpose for the disciples. What possible motivation could they have done to do such a thing? Even had they possessed the ability to overcome the military obstacles, the political obstacles, the logistical obstacles, they had nothing to gain there. In fact, they had everything to lose. Every one of the disciples suffered severe persecution. Most of them died as martyrs for the faith. Would you die for a lie? Would anyone die for a lie? A person might die for something they think is the truth but proves to be a lie, but nobody would knowingly die for a lie. Next question, did Jesus really die? Others have questioned whether Christ really died on the cross. Perhaps he only fainted. This is called the swoon theory. This would have us believe that Roman soldiers who were professional killers, the centurion in charge would have probably supervised dozens if not hundreds of executions, the centurion then is like a sergeant major of today you could say, that they had failed to ensure that this high profile political prisoner was not actually dead. Considering the vicious flogging which the Lord had already endured, cats and lion tails with pieces of bone and metal, the excruciating torture of the crucifixion, the spear thrust to his side from which blood and water flowed out, all provide convincing medical evidence of death. Yet those advocating the swoon theory would have us believe that one who had endured such a savage flogging, crucifixion and a spear thrust could have not only survived the legendary Roman military efficiency, but that he is revived on a cold slab in a cold tomb? How? Further, that he somehow disengaged himself of the grave clothes and 100 pounds of spices, ointments and wrappings, which effectively mummified him, rolled away the two-ton stone, overpowered or looted the Roman soldiers, and somehow found and impressed his disciples with his deity? How would a half-dead Jesus in such a state impress anyone? These suggestions have only to be mentioned or to be dismissed as unbelievable. We're dealing here with an empty tomb. So another desperate attempt to explain where the resurrection of Christ is, they went to the wrong tomb. All of them. Mary Magdalene, Peter, John, the other woman, they all went to the wrong tomb. Even Joseph of Arimathea, whose tomb it was, didn't seem to notice. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Roman soldiers and whose interest it was, none of them pointed out the fact that the tomb was in fact still occupied. But this theory is also impossible. The tomb was not in a cemetery. It's in a garden privately owned by Joseph Arimathea. There was no other tomb in a garden. There still is no other tomb in a garden. You can go to the garden tomb in Jerusalem and it's not a cemetery. It's a garden tomb. They couldn't have gone through the wrong tomb. There was only one. You're not just dealing with an empty tomb. You're dealing with the absence of the body. all that the Roman and Jewish leaders had to do in order to end Christianity forever was produce the corpse of Jesus but they couldn't do it even when the Apostle Peter could stand up on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem within sound of the temple and San Antonio fortress and proclaim therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that this that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They didn't do this in Rome, they were doing this in Jerusalem, where this happened, where the participants in the guilty parties were. And many thousands in Jerusalem, including many Pharisees we read, came to faith in Christ, even opponents of the gospel like Saul of Tarsus. You're dealing with a crisis of credibility. To the Jewish religious leaders, this was their worst nightmare. This was a disaster, a catastrophe. The proclamation of the resurrection of Christ undermined their power and their credibility. Thousands of their followers now believed that they had condemned an innocent man. Worse than that, they condemned the Messiah himself. What was the temple built for, if not for the Messiah? The religious leaders, the priesthood that was meant to be serving God had actually murdered his Messiah? This new religion of Christianity was undermining the power base and the credibility of the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. If the body of Jesus could have been found, Christianity would have been stopped dead in its tracks. The threat to the religious status quo would have ended. So since they desperately needed Jesus' corpse, the Jewish leaders would have used every means at their disposal, including torture, robbery, whatever would have been needed, to hunt it down and find it if that was possible. If it was possible. But you're dealing with more than that. It's not just an empty tomb. It's not just the absence of a body. We're dealing with the testimony of eyewitnesses. And on at least 12 separate occasions, Jesus Christ was seen rising from the dead, that he was seen alive after the tomb. Mary Magdalene saw him. The other woman saw him. Peter, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 10 of the disciples in the upper room, all 11 disciples 8 days later, 7 of the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, to 500 one time, to James, to all 11 apostles and others at the Ascension, Paul, to John, that all saw Jesus' body raised from the dead. The testimonies are overwhelming. So to explain away all these eyewitnesses, enemies of Christianity have suggested these were merely hallucinations, merely the result of hypnosis or hysteria. However, while a hallucination tends to be a unique psychological experience of an individual, we are here dealing with a large number of individuals, who at different times, in different places, in different groups, both indoors and outdoors, on a hilltop, along a roadside, by a lakeshore, all saw the Lord. They saw him, they ate with him, they saw the wounds in his hands and in his side. And far from being gullible, these disciples appeared to be extremely sceptical and very slow to believe. Thomas declared he would not believe that Christ had risen unless he personally placed his fingers in the nail prints in his hands and feet and placed his hand in the wound in his side. That's extremely high level of gullibility. I mean, skepticism, not gullibility. You're also dealing with the transformation of the disciples. We don't only have the eyewitnesses, but we've got the dramatic transformation of the disciples. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead transformed the disciples' grief to joy. They cowardised to boldness. Their skepticism to faith. Their doubt to determination. It turned Saul, the persecutor of the church, into Paul, the apostle of the church. It transformed society, it transformed history. It changed the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath into the Christian first-day Lord's Day. What else could explain the replacement of Saturday as the Jewish day of rest into Sunday as the Christian Lord's Day? Sunday as a day of rest worldwide is a phenomenal testimony to the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from dead. The resurrection transformed a small Jewish remnant into a worldwide Christian church. Over 2 billion people worldwide describe themselves as Christians who believe in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. That didn't just happen by accident. The Grand Canyon, or the Palladio River Canyon, did not come from somebody dragging a stick behind them. Big results have big causes. The very existence of the largest religious movement in the history of the world is another powerful evidence of the truth of the resurrection. and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life because of Christ's death on the cross we can rejoice that our sins are paid for we are forgiven justified by faith. Because of Christ's resurrection from the dead, we can rejoice in the prospect of eternal life. Because of Christ's ascension, we can know that He has all authority. He is above every principality and power, and His great commission will be accomplished on earth. And because of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we do not need to trust in our own abilities, but in His power alone. Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. William Sangster, the church leader and hymn writer, suffered from increasing paralysis at the end of his life, which prevented him from even being able to talk. On his last Easter before he died, he wrote, how terrible to wake up on Easter and have no voice to shout, he is risen, but far worse to have a voice and not to want to shout. We serve a risen Savior. Death is defeated. Christ has risen victorious. Victorious over death, hell, Satan and the grave. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Christ though he may die, yet shall he live. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. Let us pray. Lord God, we thank you and praise you that you are risen victorious over death, hell, Satan, and the grave. We thank you, Lord God, that we serve a risen Savior. We thank you that you are the resurrection in life. We pray, Lord God, that you would help us to communicate these facts to our skeptical friends, neighbors, strangers. Help us, Lord God, to be effective witnesses for you, especially during this particular season. Help us, Lord God, to testify to your resurrection. We pray it in Jesus' precious name. Amen.