What is the evidence
for Jesus being who
He is claimed to be?
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
 historically, a Rabbi who was crucified …
 … promised to the Jewish people as a saviour
hundreds of years before He lived …
 … teaching with extraordinary insight …
 … working astonishing miracles …
 … raised from death after His execution …
 … persuading orthodox Jews that he is God …
 … followed today by millions who believe the same
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
 Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish teacher,
lived in Israel in the first century
 he was executed by the Romans in around 30 CE
 the claim that he was raised from death is very early
indeed, and was in written Christian records within 20
years.
Historical evidence
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For
he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of
people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he
gained a following among many Jews and among
many of Gentile origin. And when Pilate, because of an
accusation made by the leading men
among us, condemned him to the cross,
those who had loved him previously did
not cease to do so. And up until this very
day the tribe of Christians (named after
Flavius Josephus
him) had not died out.
c. 94 CE
Historical evidence
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
… Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most
exquisite tortures on a class hated for their
abominations, called Christians by the populace.
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered
the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the
hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus,
and a most mischievous superstition …
Tacitus
c. 116 CE
Historical evidence
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
 the Gospels in the New Testament were written
within living memory of those who knew Jesus
 some of the most important sites associated with
Jesus were clearly identified in the local communities
three hundred years later
Historical evidence
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
 more than three hundred verses or passages in the
Old Testament appear to anticipate the coming of
Jesus
 Dr Peter Stoner has calculated that the probability of
just 8 of these applying to any one human being (born
in Bethlehem, with a “forerunner”, entering Jerusalem on a donkey, betrayed by
a friend, for 30 pieces of silver, which were used to buy a Potter’s Field, keeping
silent at trial, crucified) as
1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
 the total number of people who have ever lived may
be around 120,000,000,000
Old Testament evidence
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
 countless readers of Jesus’ teaching have found
it unique
 his extensive use of parable was highly innovative
 his teaching included claims about the nature of His
relationship with God which are unparalleled
 his modification of commands from the Torah is
unique (“You have heard … but I say to you”)
Evidence of teaching
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
 the accounts of miracle in the New Testament were
recorded within living memory of those involved
 the detail of these accounts imply historicity
 in an age where miracle workers were comparatively
common, Jesus is perceived as outstanding
Evidence of miracle
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
The
Garden
Tomb,
Jerusalem
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
Inside the
tomb
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
Inside the
tomb
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
Abraham – buried in Hebron
Muhammad – buried in Medina
Gautama – ashes in 8 parts
around NE India
Jesus ?
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
It wasn’t Jesus on the cross
He didn’t die on the cross, but
recovered inthe tomb
The disciples stole the body, and
then pretended that Jesus had been
raised to gain followers
The authorities moved the body to prevent it becoming
a focus – this was misunderstood by the disciples
It was a fiction, with no historical root
Hallucination
He was raised from death
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
1. “It wasn’t Jesus on the cross”
Surah 4:157-158 “. . . they [the Jews] said (in boast), ‘We killed
Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’ – But
they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to
appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of
doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to
follow, for of a surety they killed him not – Nay, Allah raised
him up unto Himself . . . .”
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
1. “It wasn’t Jesus on the cross”
 the Moslem belief is that Jesus (‘Isa) was too
special to die, so he was replaced by someone
who looked like him. He will return at the end of
the age.
There is no evidence for this belief before the
revelations that Muhammad received in the
6th century CE
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
2. “Jesus didn’t die”
 the expertise of Roman soldiers
 “blood” and “water” from Jesus’ side
when speared by Roman soldier
 soldiers motivated! - capital penalty
for failing to ensure death by crucifixion
 how did Jesus move the stone? (2 tons)
 how did he look Messiah-like?!
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
3.
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“The disciples stole the body”
armed guard at tomb
stone to move
disciples scared
would they have been willing to die for a trick or
hoax?
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
4. “The authorities moved the body”

BUT when rumours of resurrection
began, surely they would have
produced the body?
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
5. “It is fictional”
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if people with Jewish roots wanted
to create a Messianic resurrection
myth, what would we expect to find?
not dimensions which are in tension
with the humanity of Jesus
the presence of proof texts from
the Old Testament
credible witnesses – not women!
Evidence for resurrection
Just Looking
What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
6. “Hallucination”

different people at different times
and in different places - more than
500 on one occasion
(this claim made in living memory)



physicality – showing wounds,
sharing a meal
the effect on many lives
not only to the highly strung or emotional!
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
7. “Resurrection”
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
7. “Resurrection”
 Gordon’s Calvary / Garden Tomb
Church of Holy Sepulchre 
 ? Pentecost ?
1 km
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
7. “Resurrection”

the disciples transformed

the authorities impotent

thousands of conversions in a few days

the rapid spread of belief in the face of persecution
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
What does the resurrection of Jesus prove?

validation of the claims that Jesus
made (I and the Father are one; in three days
I will be raised)

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victory! …
over the worst that human beings
could do … executing the only perfect
human being who ever lived, the person of God himself
over death … the consequence of sin
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
Evidence for resurrection
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
“When you have eliminated every
other possible alternative, whatever
remains – no matter how implausible –
must be the truth”
Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes
Evidence for resurrection
Just Looking
What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
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the first followers of Jesus were Jewish …
… and therefore adamant that there is One God.
a human being could not be God.
Messiah would be human.
AND YET … when they encountered Jesus, their that He
was God – living, teaching, dying and rising from death
for them
Evidence of Jewish converts
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
Countless millions have
experienced the risen Christ
“In its favour as living truth there exists such
overwhelming evidence, positive and negative,
factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in
the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the
resurrection story is true”
Lord Darling (former chief justice of England)
Evidence of believers today
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What is the evidence for Jesus being who He is claimed to be?
Christ has died!
Christ is risen!
Christ will come again!
Hallelujah!
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