Bible Text: Luke 24:1-12 | Preacher: Pastor Joe Ricchuiti | Series: Luke, No Body, No Nonsense, No Stone

1.  “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.  Without it the believer has no hope for this life or for the life to come.  The apostle Paul wrote, ‘And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain’ (1 Cor. 15:17).  Our belief in this great teaching is not based upon some religious feeling or upon an unfounded idea about what may have happened in the past.  Nor are we talking about an isolated rumor, but about an historical fact with solid evidence to support it.” (Author unknown)

2.  Luke was a careful historian who piled evidence upon evidence, verse upon verse, concerning the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.  Sir William Mitchell Ramsey, a Scottish archaeologist and New Testament scholar said this about Luke’s scholarship and reliability:  “You may press the words of Luke in a degree beyond any other historian’s and they stand the keenest scrutiny and the hardest treatment.” “The author of Acts [and thereby of the Gospel of Luke] is not to be regarded as the author of historical romance, legend, or third- or second-rate history.  Rather he is the writer of an historical work of the highest order.”  This is significant because Ramsay began as a skeptic concerning the historical value and truthfulness of the New Testament. 

3.  Some of the evidences of the resurrection that Luke alludes to in Luke 24:1-12 are: the skepticism of the disciples; the change in worship from Saturday to Sunday; the removal of the stone in light of soldiers presence and a seal on the stone; the empty tomb; the women as the first to be told of the resurrection; the presence of and orderly arrangement of the grave clothes; and the changed lives of the apostles, from a dispirited, fearful group to those who just 50 days later were boldly proclaiming the gospel including the resurrection in Jerusalem.