Jesus: Empirically Verified

Genesis 3:8-15

John 20: 24-30

 

  1. Introduction
    1. John chapter 20, the second to last sermon in a 19 week series that Dan and I have been preaching on the Gospel of John this summer.
    2. Could have been four times as long. Each chapter holds a number of topics.

                                                               i.      In this chapter alone I am dying to say something about why:

1.      Jesus who seemingly calculates every move, what was the point of appearing to the woman Mary from Magdala first?

a.       Jesus had a wonderful relationship with women; he ought to be revered by the feminist.

2.      Why none of them were expecting his resurrection, not a single one?

a.       When Mary says his body is stolen, and Peter and John find it missing they believe it was stolen NOT the he was resurrected! John clears that up right after in v.9

3.      Where “was” Jesus” from the end of chapter 19 and the beginning of 20?

4.      What’s all this business in v22 about when the apostles forgive then they are forgiven?

                                                             ii.      The point being, 19 weeks is a hilariously hurried review of John’s already brief account. Consequently, I hope this series will push all of us to spend more time in the Gospel of John answering this important question.  “Who is this man Jesus Christ?”

                                                            iii.      The title of this week’s sermon and one of the last “names” we are discussing for Christ is not exactly “religiously warm”, but I suspect if you take some time to think about it, you may agree that it is critical to our faith.
Today will encounter Jesus: Empirically Verified

  1. Verified
    1. I had some difficulty even selecting in the term. What I need is a good Hebrew word that has a host of meanings. A word that means demonstrated authenticated, proven, and genuine, validated, actually real, confirmed, completely and wholly verified.
    2.  The events of John chapter 20 are critical to everything else we have discussed these past few weeks. If Jesus did NOT rise from the dead, and return to his disciples as he had promised, then we are certainly as Paul says in I Cor. 15:19, “to be pitied among all men”
    3. For by his resurrection he proved:

                                                               i.      The Father who he came to glorify is indeed God, and carries all authority. The God of the Torah, the God who promised as we read in Genesis 3, that Eve’s human offspring would one day crush Satan’s head.

                                                             ii.      His own divinity

                                                            iii.      The power of the Spirit as the author and giver of life

                                                           iv.      The validity of his promises.
The resurrection gives him a platform. Without the verifiable resurrection, he was not just another religious leader with unorthodox ideas…He was a nut! Seriously, a deranged maniac who claimed to be God, and claimed that he turned himself over to death, so that he could pay the penalty and conquer physical and spiritual death.

    1. In his appearance to the disciples he proves:

                                                               i.      His humanity. He is still the Man Jesus Christ who was crucified three days prior

1.      He eats and invites recognition by the showing of his wounds

                                                             ii.      Power over the world as he walks through walls

                                                            iii.      Securely places Himself as a genuine event in the time-space history of the world witnessed by many who by worldly standards had only terrible deaths to gain by claiming Christ.

    1. Without the actual, verified resurrection of the man Jesus Christ, the entire schema falls apart. His resurrection is the linchpin of our faith. The foundation of our hope and the authority of His promises!

  1. Thomas the Verifier
    1. Given the critical importance of this single event to the Christian faith, I want to focus in one event and two people in John Chapter 20 – Jesus & the Apostle Thomas.

                                                              i.      I have great respect for Thomas, the twin.   (Who by the way is not the twin of Jesus!)

                                                            ii.      Although he is often called Doubting Thomas, I think that is an unfortunate historic slander. Really, I appreciate Thomas, and I especially appreciate his encounter with the risen Lord.

Turn to vv. 24-27, here is how john records the event.

                                                            iii.      Thomas was not about to take heresy, in v. 25, when the other apostles tell him that they have seen Jesus, Thomas declares that he wants to verify it for himself! Thomas does not doubt our Lord he doubts the testimony of the apostles

1.      Unlike us today, he did not have the benefit of the collected and codified witness of those who died for its validity. He was one of the first, and he wanted to be sure.  Which I appreciate!  I did not get to be there with Jesus, and most of those who claim Christ did not have the chance. Aren’t you glad there was a Thomas?  Aren’t you glad he wanted to verify the truth?




2.      Jesus answers the question. One week later he makes another appearance.

a.       Ok…side note, doesn’t our Lord have a sense of humor?

                                                                                                                                       i.      Waits until they are in locked rooms together and then appears out of thin air and makes a point out of being human! For three years they have been following this guy and he has performed some outstanding miracles, but by in large he has continued to “look” and behave like a regular man. This most certainly made it difficult to remember he was also God. Now he is walking though walls and defying all human limitations.

b.      Jesus invites Thomas to verify the truth. He does not rebuke him.

                                                                                                                                       i.      He had done the same with the other apostles.

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Simple indicative. I believe that Jesus is telling Thomas, as do many others, that because he has asked and seen many others will be blessed and believe.

c.       When Thomas sees that it is indeed his risen lord he immediately and willingly proclaims his faith!

d.      We know that Thomas went on to be a great apostle and evangelist.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Although surrounded by Gnostic Myth, likely the first missionary to India

e.       Thomas is our early advocate and our assurance that we serve a genuine Lord of an actual event. Thank God for Thomas and his bold and profound question. I mean seriously… there hopes had been dashed and it would have been tempting to jump onboard with everyone else, but Thomas stood up the other 10 apostles until he could see it himself.


  1. So What?
    1. The resurrection is:

                                                               i.      An empirically verified time-space event

1.      Not a religious hoax

2.      Especially given the lives of the witnesses

                                                             ii.      The basis of our faith and hope

1.      Divine proleptic

                                                            iii.      Logically sound

1.      Open to all philosophical inquiry

2.      We need not be afraid to investigate our faith!  It is cogent, sound, and congruent world view.

a.       You will not blow God off the throne. Should you discover something more true and beautiful than God, don’t worry about God, worship whatever you find.

3.      Don’t despise Thomas for his question, be thankful for his advocacy.

4.      His resurrection is the linchpin of our faith. The foundation of our hope and the authority of His promises!