Did Disciples Steal Jesus’ Body?

Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Some people claim that the disciples stole Jesus body from the tomb. Today Pastor Hartwig explains why this is an unreasonable claim.

Mathew 28:13

Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Some would have you believe that he didn’t.

One of the arguments against his resurrection is that the disciples came and stole his body. We know that after Jesus was taken down from the cross the leaders of the people went to Pilate and asked for a Roman guard to be placed at the tomb.

The leaders of the people said to the Roman soldiers

“You are to say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole him away while we were sleeping.’ (Mathew 28:13)

Who were these Roman soldiers? They’re probably a company of 16 men, highly trained to protect a very small area. We had to believe that the disciples came in overpowered them.

Who were the disciples? Well they were fishermen and other types of things, not soldiers. And what was their state of mind at this time after the crucifixion of Jesus? They were scared. They were locked in the upper room and yet we are to believe that they came and took the body of Jesus?

This is unreasonable.

There is no way that the disciples could have overpowered the Roman soldiers and stolen the body. They didn’t have to. Because it wasn’t there. Jesus was risen. He’s risen indeed.

The soldiers know the real story, they reported it to the leaders, but the leaders rejected that Jesus is the savior. So they told the soldiers to spread this story. But Jesus did rise, he is the savior, he died and rose again so that you can live with him in heaven forever. Yes he really did rise from the dead. Amen.

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Timothy Hartwig
Timothy Hartwig

Tim Hartwig is currently serving as President of the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary.

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