Let us see if our marks apply here. The subject is important beyond words. If Christ be raised as Scripture asserts the truth of Christianity is proved, and woe betide the man who fails to embrace it!
Mark 1
That the matter of fact be such as may be judged by men's outward senses.
Death and resurrection are plainly this. The pallor, the heart stilled, the coldness of death, the struggle of dying over—these and a thousand things testify to sight and touch that death is present. In the same way our senses can testify of the return of life to one who has been dead, as witness the case of Lazarus.
Mark 2
That there should be a sufficient number of witnesses to put the matter of fact beyond the possibility of collusion or fraud.
First as to Christ's death. We have the witness in the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And here just a word. It is noticeable how infidel and higher critical writers will often accept the testimony of a profane writer, as if it must be true, whilst casting doubt on the veracity of a sacred writer. If they think Josephus contradicts Matthew, they will bow to Josephus as correct, and act as if Matthew were proved incorrect. Such conduct only proves bias. At the least one is as reliable as the other.
These four writers either witnessed the death of Christ or testified to it as common knowledge. In the case of John he witnessed the plunge of the spear into the side of the dead Christ, and saw the blood and the water flow therefrom, and bears special and solemn witness to the truth of his testimony.
All four evangelists testify that Joseph of Arimathea buried the body of Jesus, John adding the information that Nicodemus assisted Joseph in this last act of loving service and devotion to his Lord, whilst Mark supplements the story by telling how Pilate sought and obtained the testimony of the centurion, who was in charge of the crucifixion, to Christ's death before acceding to Joseph's request.
Then Matthew testifies that "many women" including Mary Magdalene, the Mother of our Lord and the mother of James and John, beheld afar the tragic circumstances attending the Lord's death.
The three hours' darkness, the earthquake, the rending of the rocks, the opening of the graves, many saints arising after the resurrection, above all, the rending of the veil of the temple, were the divine attestation to the Lord's death and witnessed by these many witnesses.
The New Testament was written, with the exception of John's writings, in the lifetime of the apostles, and if perfectly false statements had been made, if the death of Christ had not occurred as stated, if Joseph had never begged the body of Jesus, if the miraculous events connected with His death had never occurred, the sacred writings would never have been accepted as God's revelation, but on the contrary, vehement denials of such falsehoods would have been raised. But not one denial is heard, not one suspicion of falsehood is raised. The Christians received the sacred writings as perfectly true.
The death of Christ is an attested fact and cannot admit of successful denial. The numerous miraculous events attending it, the large number of witnesses brought forward would have led infallibly to the discovery of any deceit or fraud, whilst on the contrary they form the greatest safeguard to the truthfulness of the sacred narrative.
Let us now consider the witness to the resurrection of Christ. The four evangelists testify to this as historians, and certainly in the cases of Matthew and John as eye-witnesses.
Matthew gives us the testimony of the angel to the resurrection of the Lord as rendered to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, apparently the mother of our Lord, and of this being confirmed by His meeting them and their falling at His feet and worshipping Him. He also tells us how the eleven disciples saw Him by appointment in Galilee and worshipped Him, Matthew honestly noting, "But some doubted."
Mark, too, tells of the Lord's appearing to Mary Magdalene, afterward to the eleven, who had hitherto stoutly refused to believe the testimony of those who had said He was risen, so that we have not to deal with the credulity of men who would believe anything, but with men who required to be really convinced of a fact on which so much depended.
Luke adds that there were "other women" that accompanied the two Marys to the sepulcher and who saw the risen Lord, but whose testimony seemed as " idle tales " to the apostles, so little did they understand the statements of the Lord before He died that on the third day He would rise. This further proves that the testimony of His resurrection was not accepted till it could no longer be disbelieved.
Next we have Luke's testimony of the two disciples going to Emmaus meeting with the risen Savior on the road, His turning in with them to their home, His becoming known to them in the breaking of the bread; their return to Jerusalem under the powerful impulse of their discovery; their finding the eleven, and, " them that were with them," convinced by the fact that the Lord had appeared to Peter. They found the wondering and now convinced company of disciples, and added their testimony, when the Lord Himself appeared to them. This put them into a state of terror and fright, supposing they had seen a spirit, but the Lord reassured them, bade them handle Him and see that He was indeed their risen Lord. Flesh and bones were His still, the marks of His crucifixion were displayed in His hands and feet.
John gives us the further information that he himself accompanied Peter to the Lord's sepulcher-Luke only mentioning Peter-and proceeds to give in much greater detail the interview the weeping Mary Magdalene had with her risen Lord, and also records His appearance to His own, in the upper chamber, on the first day of the week at even. A week later this was repeated, doubting Thomas absent on the first occasion being present this time. Convinced that He was indeed risen, he exclaimed, "My Lord and my God."
John also testifies to the Lord greeting His disciples on the shore after a night of fruitless fishing, and states:-" This is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead." (Chapter 21:14).
In 1 Corinthians 15 the great resurrection Chapter, in addition to the foregoing witnesses, we have the special witness of James; then, as if to put the matter beyond all possible chance of deception or collusion, we are informed that the Lord was " seen of about five hundred brethren at once," and as if to fling down the challenge of this testimony the apostle Paul adds, " Of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep," (Verse 6).
Again we repeat, if deceit and fraud were at work, could the four evangelists have gone further out of their way, to render the deception impossible, by introducing such detailed accounts of the resurrection? They narrated too many details, and adduced too many witnesses to leave any hope of a successful deception. No witness, thus cited, came forward to state the evangelists' or the apostle Paul's statements were false, and there were at least the greater part of five hundred witnesses, a very considerable number, who could have come forward to expose the deception, if such had existed.
To all this, Paul gives his own weighty testimony, that he had seen the risen Lord. If this had been deception, how and when would surely have been stated, but Paul is content just to state the amazing fact. How often. Scripture astonishes one by what it does not say, as well as by what it does. Here we have a restraint not known in man's writings. Such a wonderful experience as Paul's would have been described in great detail were he left to his own wisdom in stating it.
Never was any fact more indubitably proved than the resurrection of Christ.
The writer got into conversation in the train with an avowed atheist. He felt led to press the testimony to the resurrection of Christ. As he did so, the atheist said with a kind of shudder, " Well, if you can prove to me the resurrection of Christ, I am bound to be some kind of a Christian." He saw what was involved. If Jesus rose from the dead as the Scriptures state, and testimony supports, then He was indeed the Son of God; His death on the cross, a work which God accepted as satisfying His righteous claims; the Gospel, a true message.
Mark 3
That public memorials be kept up in celebration of it, involving outward actions to be performed.
Baptism and the Lord's supper are the two ordinances connected with the Christian religion, and they both, witness to the death of Christ. Indeed, the whole working arrangement of Christianity, as set up by Scripture, and practiced by those who bow to it, affords testimony under this head.
Every baptism is a fulfillment of Mark No. 3 " Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into [literally unto] Jesus Christ were baptized into [literally unto] His death." (Rom. 6: 26).
Every time the Lord's supper is partaken there is a fulfillment of Mark No. 3. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." (1 Cor. 11:2626For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:26)).
They both certainly involve outward actions to be performed.
It is not like the erecting of a stone monument, which could be done by one or two persons being responsible for it, which might be erected to the alleged memory of something, which had never occurred. Such a happening is not likely, but possible. But in these cases adduced outward actions have to be performed, and shut out the possibility of fraud.
Mark 4
That such memorials and such actions be instituted and do commence from the time that the matter of fact occurred.
Under this head we have the testimony of Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, both as to baptism and the Lord's supper. Were three thousand converts baptized on the day of Pentecost, and did they steadfastly continue in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers? If this did not occur there were multitudes to contradict it. Would Luke have hazarded such a statement if it had not been true? The very number implied as witnesses would have discovered the fraud if such had existed. Then again, would Luke have dared to describe Peter's baptizing of Cornelius and his Gentile friends, if such had never occurred? We know the measures God took to remove prejudice from Peter's mind, and Peter's difficulty in meeting the bigotry of his brethren in the matter, so that if the statement had not been true it certainly would not have been put on record.
We have the record of the baptism of Lydia and her household, of the jailor and his household, of Stephanas and his household and of the twelve men at Ephesus; who would dare to record these actions if they had never occurred?
Paul, too, in his epistles, unfolds the doctrine of baptism in Romans and in Galatians, and tells of the Lord having delivered to him personally the instructions as to the Lord's supper in 1 Corinthians.
Leaving Scripture we have the testimony of the Fathers as to the practice of the two rites of Christianity, and which were handed on and practiced century after century to this present time.
We have, on the one hand, the spectacle of the Jew celebrating the Passover centuries before Babylon became a mighty empire. We find the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian and Roman empires have passed away into remote history, but the amazing Jew, spite of being dispossessed of his land, spite of being oppressed and persecuted for centuries, is still present with us, and celebrates his Passover to this present time.
On the other hand, we have the testimony of the Christian church to this hour in the practice of the rite of baptism and in the celebration of the Lord's Supper.
Step by step the death and resurrection of our Lord are proved to be indisputable facts on which we may safely build.