Somebody Would Crack
Did the apostles of Jesus die for that which they knew was a lie? Would you?
Thirteen normal every day people are lined up in a room. They all claim to have eaten pizza together for lunch the day before. But, they are lying, they didn’t eat pizza together the day before. And they know they are lying.
I am a very bad person. Adolf Lewis. I walk up to Person A in the room and ask him, “Did you eat pizza with these people yesterday?”
“Yes,” he says. “I did.” Remember, he is lying and he knows he is lying.
I put a gun to his head. “If you don’t tell me the truth, I’m going to blow your brains out.”
“I’m telling the truth! I ate pizza with these—”
BLAM!
Twelve people left.
I walk up to Person B. He looks somewhat uneasy, to say the least. I ask him, “Did you eat pizza with these people yesterday?”
He stuck by his lie. “Y-yes, I did...” BLAM!
Eleven to go.
That’s enough. How many of the rest of those people are going to stick by what they know is a lie if they know they will die if they do?
I highly suspect somebody would crack. Very, very few people will die for that which they know is a lie.
In the first century, thirteen men (adding the apostle Paul) claimed they had seen Jesus of Nazareth after He died. That He had been raised from the dead. Within two months, thousands of people—who were in a position to investigate their claim—believed what they said.
Were these 13 men lying? And did they know they were lying? Did they know Jesus of Nazareth really didn’t rise from the dead, that it was all a hoax, and that they never saw Him again after His crucifixion?
Were they lying and know they were lying?
The Jews and Romans began to BLAM! them one by one.
History tells us that not one of those 13 men ever cracked and recanted his testimony. To a man, they died for what they taught about Jesus of Nazareth.
This, of course, does not prove that Jesus was raised from the dead. It just provides some pretty substantial evidence that the 13 men believed what they said, that they weren’t deliberately lying. That they truly believed they had seen the resurrected Jesus, not just fleeting glances of Him, but with prolonged interviews, for “forty days” with “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3). The historian, Luke, “having traced the course of all things accurately from the first” (Luke 1:3)—which is exactly what an historian is supposed to do (I know because I’m a trained historian)—agreed with them.
Did those 13 men die for that which they knew was a lie?
Would you?