The Cross and the Empty Tomb

Did Jesus Die on the Cross

by Johnny McCulloch

Some skeptics say that Jesus did not really die on the cross. Some of these skeptics are religious leaders. The theory that Jesus did not die on the cross is called the swoon theory and was proposed by the German rationalist, venturini in the 18th century. Paulas and Hase of the same century also advocated this theory. This theory holds that Jesus only became unconscious, and after being placed in a tomb he soon revived, went past the Roman guard to his disciples.
If one admits as many of the facts as are admitted in the swoon theory he is faced with other things in the record which he cannot consistently deny. This theory admits the fact of Jesus and his ordeal on Calvary; it admits that Jesus was scourged and nailed to the cross and that. his side was pierced with a Roman sword by one of Caesar's servants.
Two thieves died near the man of Nazareth. Out of respect to the Jews and their holy day that drew near, the Roman authorities hastened the death of the thieves by breaking bones in their bodies. The soldiers did not break a bone in the body of Jesus, for they observed to their amazement that he was already dead! These soldiers were not trying to prove anything; they were impartial witnesses. How could Venturini, Paulas, . Hase and others testify concerning the body of Jesus seventeen hundred years after the ordeal of Golgotha? Which was better qualified to speak concerning the body of Jesus, the 18th century prejudiced critics, or the soldiers of Caesar who inspected the Galilean's mortal form. These soldiers decided that Jesus was dead; they knew he was. The testimony of these soldiers is more acceptable than that of Venturini, Hase and Paulas.

The above article appeared in the Mt. Juliet Messenger on November 19, 1989.

The Empty Tomb

by Johnny McCulloch

The first attempt to escape the fact of the resurrection of Jesus was the attempt: of the chief priests who tried to explain why the tomb was empty! The guards reported to the priests and even these Jewish leaders did not question the report that the tomb was empty! They did not go to see if the tomb was really empty; they knew it was!
If they did go to the tomb to see, there is no record of such a trip. Suppose they did go to see for themselves, would they not have found it either empty, or sealed with the body still in it? If they had found the tomb with the body of Jesus still in it, this would have been glorious news to them; and who can doubt that they would have published such news abroad? If they had gone and found the body still in the tomb they would have forced the disciples to see the same, and we would have never heard that Jesus was raised from the dead.
But the Jewish leaders who had Christ killed did not go see if the tomb was empty; they were strongly persuaded by the soldiers that it was. If they had any doubt about whether the tomb was open and empty, or sealed with the body still in it, why did they tell the soldiers to say that the disciples stole the body? Before telling this infamous lie, why did those Jewish rulers not go to the tomb to see for sure that the tomb was empty? If they had gone and discovered that the tomb was still closed with the body still in it, they could have saved some money, for they paid the soldiers to say that the disciples stole the body. They paid the soldiers to say that while they were asleep the disciples came and stole the body. Desparate men make such foolish blunders and rediculous statements. Imagine those soldiers on the witness stand telling about what happened while they were asleep! The empty tomb must be dealt with by those who deny the resurrection of Christ. liThe rending tomb proclaims his conquering arm.

The above article appeared in the Mt. Juliet Messenger on March 25, 1990.

Did Disciples Steal the Body?

by Johnny McCulloch

There are those who deny that Jesus was raised from the dead. Many young people are becoming skeptical because they have not considered the evidence surrounding the facts of Christ's rising from the tomb.
Bribed servants of Caesar first preached that the disciples stole the body of Christ from the guarded garden grave. Celsus, an infidel of the second century tried to account for the fact that the body of Jesus was gone from the grave on the third day with the same story the soldiers were bribed into telling. If the disciples did steal the body, why did the soldiers have to be bribed to tell it? These soldiers told that they were asleep when Christ's disciples's took his body out of the grave. If they were asleep, why were they not punished for being asleep, and how did they know what happened?
If the disciples stole the body from the senator's sepulchre, this means that they preached a kingdom of truth based on what they knew to be a lie. It means that the apostles not only preached what they knew to be a lie, but they also suffered physical torture, and final death for preaching it.
If the disciples stole the body, their subsequent action is as hard to explain as the resurrection. There is no way of accounting for the conduct of the disciples, if they stole the body of their master from it's resting place in the rock! We might easily imagine men making up a false story, and we can think that men would preach what they knew to be false. But it is difficult of apprehension that men would die for telling that which they knew to be false.

The above article appeared in the Mt. Juliet Messenger on March 25, 1990.

Did Enemies Steal the Body?

by Johnny McCulloch

Some have said the enemies of Christ stole his body. Of course those who say this do not believe the Bible to be the word of God. They do not accept all that is said in the Bible. The truth is that God raised Jesus from the grave, but I am dealing with the question concerning Christ's mortal form on the basis of the facts admitted even by those who do not believe all that the Bible says.
Had the enemies of Christ even intended to steal the oody of Jesus they would not have begged from Pilate a guard of Roman soldiers to watch the grave where lay the body they intended to steal; soldiers which they would have had to overcome in order to carry out such pernicious plans.
But if the enemies of Christ took his body, what did they do with it? Did they destroy it? surely they would not have stolen it to destroy it. If they had destroyed it they wbuld not have worse off that if they had left it in the tomb. If they had destroyed the body, the disciples could have told that it was raised by God's power, or they could have told anything else aoout it, and the enemies of Christ could not have disproved their story by presenting the body as evidence. If the enemies of Christ had stolen the body they would have been the last to have destroyed it.
The only motive that the Jews could have had for stealing the body of Jesus was that they might present it as evidence against the doctinre of it's resurrection. By presenting it they could have silenced those who preached that it was raised from the dead.
If the enemies stole the body, they did a poor job of announcing their deed, for nany thousands of the Jews were convinced by the apostles that the body was raised from the dead. If the enemies stole the body, it seems that in some way they could have convinced their fellows not to believe the resurrection story. No, the enemies of Christ did not steal hisbody; God raised it from the dead.

The above article appeared in the Mt. Juliet Messenger on May 6, 1990.

What Happened to Him?

by Johnny McCulloch

Some contend that Jesus only became unconscious on the cross, and that after he was in his tomb a little while he revived and walked out.
If Jesus did not die on the cross, when and where did he die? To avoid the miraculous, some deny the resurrection, and for the same reason they refuse to believe the story of the ascension of Jesus. If Jesus did not die on the cross as reported in the New Testament, and if he did not ascend to heaven, when and where did he die? If Jesus revived from a swoon and did not ascend, what happened to him? If he lived on in or near the land of Palestine, why did not his enemies capture him and make a public spectacle out of him and thus disprove the story of the resurrection that was widely proclaimed? The Jews used every means available to stop the preaching of Christ's resurrection. If Christ had still been living the Jews would have used Christ himself as their greatest weapon to defeat the doctrine that he was raised from the dead; they would need no other proof; all other methods and schemes for stopping the resurrection would have been unnecessary.
What skeptic who thinks that Jesus did not die on the cross will produce the least bit of historical evidence that any Jew, or anyone else, ever looked for Jesus after the ordeal of Calvary? Yes, it is possible that Jesus could have secluded himself from the Jews, but they would have looked for him.
Where is the record that says anyone looked for him? If Jesus did not ascend, what happened to him? He ascended; there can be no doubt about that.

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