“It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.” – Jesus (Luke 9) 📕
“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” Matthew 27:51-53 📕
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 📕
But even if someone ignores the eyewitness accounts compiled within the New Testament, he or she would still have a “robust description of Jesus and his followers from ancient, non-Christian voices in the fallout…(ninety-two historical figures).” [1]
Possibly the earliest *non-Christian* reference to Jesus and his crucifixion comes from a Samaritan historian named Thallus around AD 50. And while Thallus’s writings are no longer with us, a portion of his work was quoted by historian Sextus Julius Africanus.
Here is a passage from Thallus’s original account:
“On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.” [2]
Jesus’s crucifixion upon a Roman cross in AD 30 or 33, combined with the empty tomb he left behind (April 5th), is not mythology. Nor is it just “true for me.” As J. Gresham Machen articulated so succinctly, “‘Christ died,’ that is history; ‘Christ died for my sins’, that is doctrine.“ [3]
Instead, these are real historical events that can be examined thoughtfully. These God-given events provide even more evidence of His good character, steadfast Justice, and faithful love. What God has done on our behalf is the greatest gift ever given (Ge 3:15; Isaiah 53; 1 Cor 15)!
✏️ Epic Archeology Article: https://tinyurl.com/46exv5xn
1. Person of Interest (J. Warner Wallace) p.110 https://a.co/d/fDn904r
2. Cold Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace) https://a.co/d/eq7iodi
3. J. Gresham Machen; Christianity & Liberalism, p. 23
Hold Fast Apologetics 