Jonathan Gray info1@archaeologyanswers.com
ARCHAEOLOGY NEWSFLASH 299
Henry Kroll, this news is from Jonathan Gray
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Do you love the adventure of discovery?
How would you like to play detective today?
Right now, you and I do have an opportunity to be detectives.
This was not planned. But it is important. We shall investigate
some questions that were raised by last week's newsletter.
You may recall that in Archaeology Newsflash 298 I reported
on our archaeological investigations in Jerusalem, at the
empty tomb of Jesus Christ.
A BRIEF REVIEW
To recap briefly, the Romans had driven an iron shaft into the
stone face of the tomb to stop the 13-foot seal-stone from
being rolled to the side and the tomb being opened.
Their purpose: that no one could ever remove the body.
The record states that the stone was then “sealed”. (Matthew
27:60,66)
It would be impossible to bend this 35 centimetre (1.4 inch)
thick shaft, much less snap it off, simply by pushing the
seal-stone against it.
As noted, to move the great stone even one inch, the shaft must
first be taken out.
However, when we examined the hole that held the metal shaft, we
found that the shaft was still in there! What was left of it,
that is.
It was sheared off, level with the wall.
The appearance of the metal was consistent with its having been
sheared off when struck with a tremendous force from the
right-hand side.
According to an engineer, the shear strength of this peg was
approximately 60 to 80 tons.
To put it another way, a metal peg of such thickness would
withstand 60 to 80 tons’ pressure before it actually snapped off.
Imagine, if you can, ten tip trucks all compressed together - or
all the materials for two brick houses squeezed together - and
suddenly dropped onto the iron peg.
That is the pressure required to snap the iron peg.
I mentioned that it would be impossible, humanly speaking, to
snap off that metal shaft from a dead stop. There was no leverage.
But the seal-stone has gone.
Someone pushed the stone aside without taking out the metal peg.
...Who was it?
Eyewitness writings of the time claim that nothing less than a
shining heavenly entity had rolled away the stone with super-human
force.
After taking into account the body of archaeological evidence
uncovered, we were compelled to find - like it or not - that such
a claim was consistent with the physical findings.
Anyway, in last week's newsletter, I did invite everyone -
skeptics included - to submit any possible counter-evidence.
INTERESTING RESPONSE
As it turned out, virtually all who responded saw the evidence
as convincing. Then there was one helpful man who presented this
thought:
PERHAPS SOMEONE CHISELLED OFF THE
PROTRUDING END OF THE METAL ROD
THAT HELD THE SEAL-STONE IN PLACE,
SO THEN IT COULD BE MOVED AWAY?
That would open the tomb so that
Jesus' body could be removed.
In other words, there was nothing supernatural involved. Some
man or men did it.
Lets be frank about this. Under ordinary circumstances, one would
probably agree. It would be an idea worth chewing over.
Yet, as detectives, we shall need to consider these four
indisputable facts:
1. Much easier would it be to just pull out the peg, rather than
go to all that hard labour of chiselling it away. (The rod was
as thick as two of my fingers.)
2. The authorities were determined to keep Jesus in the tomb.
That is why it was under guard. So it would be logistically
impossible for anyone to get past the guards to attempt any such
chiselling.
3. Anyone daring do to break the seal and remove the body would,
in any case, face the death penalty. (We shall address that lower
down.)
4. The archaeological evidence:
(a) We found no tool marks on the portion of the plug that
remains. Tool marks would have to be on the left side
of the plug, because the right side was flush against
the seal-stone, jamming it in place.
(b) The appearance of the metal was consistent with its
having been sheared off when struck with a tremendous
force from the right-hand side.
The examining engineer confirmed my conclusion.
“I could see that the end had been torn slightly sideways - perhaps
a quarter inch - to the left, even though it was now rusted some,”
he said.
“It was an incredible sight, to witness what had happened.
Accomplished by moving the stone in one simple move.”
I’ll repeat that. The evidence also shows that the stone was moved
with great speed, by some colossal super-human force which did NOT
REQUIRE TAKING OUT THE METAL ROD.
Do you grasp the significance of this? Firstly, such a feat is
unexplainable by human action. Secondly, it did happen.
It is the type of evidence that is easy to read. It shows that the
stone was moved with great speed, by some colossal force WITHOUT
TAKING OUT THE METAL ROD.
And as we pointed out in the previous newsletter, that was humanly
impossible. But it was done. The implication is a supernatural
power was involved, just as the gospels state.
Like it or not, the physical evidence today stares us in the face.
NOW, REGARDING THE DEATH
PENALTY MENTIONED ABOVE
As noted in the previous newsletter, Jesus said he would rise from
the dead, so they set his tomb to be guarded by 16 crack Roman
soldiers. If any one man fell asleep on guard duty, their whole
group would be burned alive in their own clothing. So, of those 16
guards, nobody so much as yawned.
The seal of Rome was placed on the huge stone blocking the grave
entrance. If anyone broke that seal, the Roman FBI and CIA would hunt
for them and then crucify them upside down.
THE PROPHECY AND THE EMPTY TOMB
Jesus had prophesied that he would rise from the dead after 3 days.
Let's be realistic. If he was a deluded madman, then he would be on
the level of the man who says he is a poached egg.
If, as he claimed, he was truly our Life-giver visiting in human
flesh, then you could expect his prophecy to come true.
What was a fact undisputed by the Romans and the Jews? It was this:
On the third day (April 29, AD 31) the tomb-stone was indeed rolled
away and his tomb was empty.
In that case, what happened to his body?
If it was a hoax that established worldwide Christianity, if its
central character Jesus Christ never rose from the dead, then what
became of his body within three days after burial must be the world’s
most intriguing unsolved mystery.
Do you love a mystery? Of course you do. We all love mysteries.
SO WHO MOVED THE STONE?
THE ROMAN GUARDS?
The Roman guards? Not likely. Military law could demand the death
penalty upon soldiers who lost their prisoner.
The fear of punishments produced faultless attention to duty,
especially in the night watches. Why should the guards want to risk
death? And what would be THEIR motive for removing the body? No motive.
DID THE JEWS STEAL THE BODY?
No, that didn’t make sense. They were jealous of his influence and
character. They would have done anything to discredit Jesus as the
Messiah. Yet, even when he was in the tomb there was something about
his prophecies that bothered them.
Firstly, in their own Scriptures were predictions about the anticipated
Messiah.
Secondly, in Jesus’ life, those prophecies, one by one, were claimed
to be coming true. One of those prophecies hinted that the Messiah was
to come alive again after a violent death. (Isaiah 53:7-11) Jesus had
claimed that he would die and rise again after three days.
So to make sure that Jesus’ body could not be snatched from the tomb,
the Jewish leaders themselves had called upon Roman help to keep that
body in the tomb. At their own suggestion and under their supervision,
the tomb was sealed. (Matthew 27:62-66)
So well was it sealed, that no one could break it open - and Roman
guards were ordered to watch it.
When the guards reported that the tomb was open and the body missing,
the Jews themselves paid a large sum of money to the soldiers to spread
the story that Jesus’ disciples had stolen his body away.
Now, I ask you, If the Jews themselves had stolen the body, why would
they bribe the soldiers to say the disciples had done it?
The proof (to them) that forces exceeding the power of a group of armed
soldiers, had opened the tomb, stunned the religious leaders.
The fact that
(a) they bribed the soldiers to hush up the facts,
and that
(b) they bribed the Roman governor not to punish
the soldiers for their story,
- these two actions demonstrated that what they were trying to hide was
AN ADM1SSION OF THE FACT.
Efforts to prevent any resurrection and to circulate a false report
concerning it, served only to provide additional confirmation of it as
an historical fact.
Okay, just tell me, What would have been one of the greatest proofs
to the people that Jesus was still dead?
Surely the finding and public exhibition of his body? All the Jewish
leaders had to do to disprove the resurrection story, was to discover
and produce the body of Jesus.
Such an event would have been the most important talking point for Jews
from that day to this.
If the Jewish religious leaders had stolen his body - and KNEW where that
body was, and could produce the dead body, then why did these same Jews
finally persecute and even murder at the jeopardy of their own lives, in
order to stop those who went about teaching that Jesus had risen from
the dead?
Just think about this. The Jews are the most resourceful and untiring
race on earth! You may recall that they searched the whole world
relentlessly, until they discovered the whereabouts of Nazi war criminal
Adolf Eichmann.
They investigated, searched, scanned, scoured, until they found him.
They were able to find Eichmann, even though he was in South America...
yet they were unable to produce the dead body of Jesus - in tiny Judea?
Why? Because there was no dead body.
DID HIS FRIENDS
STEAL THE BODY?
Okay, then, did Jesus’ disciples come while the guards were asleep,
roll away the stone, steal the body, rebury it, and cover up the affair,
so as to trick people into thinking he had risen from the dead?
Very well, then... if the disciples had stolen the body, Why did the
Jewish priests find it necessary to bribe the guards to say so?
If the guards had slept at the tomb, would not those angry Jewish priests
have been foremost in accusing them to the governor? But instead they
secured the safety of the soldiers, for telling that story.
Again, if those soldiers slept on guard, if while sleeping, their prisoner
was taken away, then by military law they merited the death penalty for
failing to prevent it. So why were they not placed under arrest if the
story was true?
Was it because Governor Pilate knew the guards had not been sleeping when
the body came out - but that something else had happened?
The soldiers’ exemption from arrest would indicate that the body of Jesus
was NOT stolen while they slept.
Anyway, even if all those guards had been asleep, surely they would have
been awakened by the heavy noise of the rolling of that massive stone door
along the hollow pavement outside the tomb?
But, in my investigation, something else nagged at me.
Was it likely that ALL the guards would be asleep – at the same time?
Especially since provision was made to avoid weariness by changing the
guard through the night watches.
UNEXPLAINABLE BEHAVIOUR… UNLESS
The thing that threw me most, was the conduct of the disciples themselves.
The faith of the disciples had collapsed after Jesus’ death on the cross.
They were scared to death. Their leader was dead.
BUT... WHAT DO WE BEHOLD!!!
Within just 7 weeks after this, the resurrection of Jesus is made known by
them, through the length and breadth of the land!
Those men who had cowered and hidden in dismay, now came boldly forth,
full of confidence in Jesus... to follow him everywhere. Even back to
Jerusalem where it all happened, they came. To the very place from which
they had fled!
Now they walked everywhere with ANIMATED STEPS AND HEADS HIGH, like men
no longer serving a defeated convict, but like men whose Master was Lord
of heaven and earth.
This empowered them to shake the world, in the first century.
WHAT RESTORED THEIR FAITH?
How is it they were suddenly so filled with power and conviction, that
they went out enthusiastically announcing against all opposition, even
at the risk of their lives, that Jesus had risen?
As a hard-nosed investigator, I asked myself, Would numerous men be torn
limb from limb, thrown to wild beasts, drawn and quartered, sawn in two,
hung upside down, burnt at the stake – for something they knew to be a
deliberate hoax?
THE WITNESSES
It occurred to me that if there was no dead body - that if the
resurrection had occurred - there would surely have to be people who
saw him alive.
So I searched for eyewitness evidence. And this is what this skeptical
archaeologist found:
Only 50 days after the tomb of Jesus was burst open, the erstwhile
cowardly disciple Peter suddenly stood up and addressed a huge crowd
in that very same city where the resurrection was claimed to have
happened.
His evidence convinced 3,000 local citizens in that audience that Jesus
was bodily raised from the dead. “We all are WITNESSES,” said Peter.
(v.32)
With women and children factored in, it appears that perhaps as many as
15,000 residents of Jerusalem (about 15 percent of the population)
became believers within days of the event.
I have been through the facts many times, looking for a flaw. And I have
kept coming back to this: There were too many witnesses to the event for
it to be denied!
These witnesses were not resting their faith on an empty tomb, but upon
physical appearances of Yeshua after the event - on many different
occasions!
What appearances? you ask.
Jesus had been seen alive after the “event”, not once or twice, but at
least ten times, according to records.
He was seen, not by just one individual, whose word could be doubted, but
by GROUPS of two, seven, ten, eleven, and even 500.
More than half a thousand people had seen him after his resurrection and
under many different circumstances.
Jesus talked, walked, ate, opened the writings, prepared a fire for
breakfast, and showed the crucifixion nail scars. He permitted them to
skeptically touch and examine his real body.
During all those occasions, witnesses spoke with him, touched him and
dined with him. And he gave the order to spread the news to the world.
(Matthew 28:5-10, 16-17; Luke 24:86-48; John 20:19-29; 21:4-13;
1 Corinthians 15:6)
The verdict of a doctor named Luke was that these were “infallible
proofs”. (Acts 1:3)
LEGAL VERDICT
Professor Thomas Arnold, author of a famous three-volume History of Rome,
who was appointed to the chair of Modern History at Oxford, stated
concerning the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus:
“Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece
by piece, as carefully as every judge summing up on a most important
cause.
"I have myself done it many times over... I know of no one fact in the
history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of
every sort.” (Wilbur M.A. Smith, “Therefore Stand”, 425,426)
A countless number of eminent lawyers give the same verdict.
Sir Edward Clarke, K.C., writes: “As a lawyer, I have made a prolonged
study of the evidences for the events… To me the evidence is conclusive,
and over and over again in the High Court, I have secured the verdict
on evidence not nearly so compelling.”
Just for today, here is my gift for you. And it is yours today
for no charge. To download your own personal copy of "Men in
Embarrassing Places" please go to
http://www.beforeus.com/man-in-carboniferous.pdf
If you would like further evidence concerning the work of our associated
teams at this site, you will find it in "Ark of the Covenant". Among
other things, it combs carefully through some of the evidence as to what
really happened. Here is where to go: http://www.beforeus.com/abook.html
With my best regards to you and yours,
Jonathan Gray
info@archaeologyanswers.com
DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?
Please email me your questions. I am here to help
you with any questions on ancient mysteries. Just
email me at info@archaeologyanswers.com
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International explorer, archaeologist and
author Jonathan Gray has traveled the world
to gather data on ancient mysteries. He has
penetrated some largely unexplored areas,
including parts of the Amazon headwaters. The
author has also led expeditions to the bottom
of the sea and to remote mountain and desert
regions of the world. He lectures internationally.
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