The worst resurrection deniers ever

Most who have lived since Jesus’ time know about His resurrection, and it has had some interesting effects on their lives.

For example, the story is told about a man, his wife, and his horribly nasty mother-in-law who went on vacation in Jerusalem. While they were there, the mother-in-law passed away. The undertaker told them, “You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here, in the Holy Land, for $150.” The man went quiet but then piped up and told the undertaker he wanted her shipped home. The undertaker asked, “Why would you spend $5,000 to ship her home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here, and you would only spend $150?”

The man replied, “A long time ago, a man died here, was buried here, and three days later he rose from the dead. I just can’t take that chance.”

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On the other end of the spectrum are people who deny Jesus ever rose from the dead. For instance, atheist Richard Dawkins wrote, “The nineteenth century is the last time when it was possible for an educated person to admit to believing in miracles like the virgin birth without embarrassment.  When pressed, many educated Christians are too loyal to deny the virgin birth and the resurrection. But it embarrasses them because their rational minds know that it is absurd.”

That’s true only if you rule out the possibility of God’s existence. As C. S Lewis rightly pointed out, “But if we admit God, must we admit miracle? Indeed, indeed, you have no security against it. That is the bargain.”

And while we’re on the subject of “absurd,” let’s remember God-deniers have admitted they cling to beliefs that seem irrational because of their a priori commitment to atheism. Most don’t say that out loud, but evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin broke from his silent compadres when he said: “We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises … no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, materialism is an absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”

It’s easy for all of us to fall into post-truth thinking because of a prior commitment to something we value, want, or choose to avoid. When it comes to wanting to dodge the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, Richard Dawkins is a lightweight. Scripture gives us a mind-blowing account that far surpasses him.

Say it ain’t so

Matthew’s Gospel states that Jesus’ enemies knew He had predicted His resurrection and were so concerned about His disciples faking it that “they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone” (Matt. 27:66). Matthew goes on to record that things didn’t go as planned for them because, “a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it … The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men” (Matt. 28:2–4).

Pretty powerful stuff.

After the guards experience the supernatural event, they come to, discover Jesus is gone, and then “some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened” (vs. 11).

Now, reason would seem to dictate that when Christ’s enemies hear that a bona fide, supernatural resurrection has occurred, with plenty of eyewitness and other evidence to support it, they’d fall on their knees and confess Jesus as the Christ. After all, before this, they knew about His power to raise other dead people because they’d seen it. They’d witnessed firsthand Him heal diseases, give sight to the blind, cast out demons, multiply food, and do other miraculous wonders. What more proof of His identity did they need?

But seeing doesn’t always equate to believing.

Matthew goes to tell us about their amazing response: “And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ “And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day” (Matt. 28:11–15).

Do me a favor and don’t gloss over these words, even though you’ve probably read and heard them countless times. Realize what’s happening here: they know what really happened, are lying about it, and creating the craziest cover-up story ever (one that skeptics have stopped trying to defend today), because, as Lewontin said, they “cannot allow a divine foot in the door.”

And they’d done this before. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, instead of accepting the evidence of Jesus’ power and person, John’s Gospel says they were planning a murder to stop the spread of Christ’s miracle: “But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus” (John 12:10–11).

During all of this, they were living out something the atheist philosopher Frederick Nietzsche wrote: “If any one were to show us this Christian God, we’d be still less inclined to believe in him.”

Jesus had warned them in a parable about this very thing: “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31). And during His trial, He told them nothing He could say or do would cause them to believe: “[They said] “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe” (Luke 22:67).

They had to deny the resurrection because if Jesus was alive, that meant everything He said about them was true. And that was a non-starter.

The same is true about a lot of us today. Admitting that Jesus “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4) means what He says about our sin and the need for a savior is correct, and that isn’t palatable in our true-for-you-but-not-for-me, Wiccan “An ye harm none, do what ye will” culture.

I hope you won’t be like that.

If you aren’t a Christian, please check out the evidence for Jesus and His resurrection, as well as other works like C. S. Lewis’ book on miracles. Don’t be like the enemies of Jesus who closed their eyes, stuck their fingers into their ears, and pretended His tomb wasn’t empty due to God raising Him from the dead.

Because He did. And, in the end, nothing matters more in this life than that.