Miracles at the Crucifixion of Christ

regardless of religious background most people would have meant that if supernatural events occurred at the crucifixion of Christ and if he actually rose from the grave it would be the most significant event in history Christ impact on history is profound we even divide all of known history by his existence did something amazing happen at Christ's crucifixion that led to the rapid expansion of Christianity around the Middle East then quickly around the globe let's take a look at what the Bible says about the supernatural events that occurred at Christ's death now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying my God my God why have you forsaken me and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit then behold the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quake and the rocks were split and the graves were open and may bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many so when the Centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened they feared greatly saying truly this was the son of God this passage includes five events that can be evaluated historically darkness covering the land for three hours the temple veil tearing in half a significant earthquake many graves opening and the Dead coming back to life and a Roman centurion and his soldiers having on-the-spot conversions after seeing the miraculous events at his death let's take a look at the first one the three hours of darkness that occurred during the crucifixion which was recorded by three of the Gospel writers the accounts given by Matthew and Mark were very similar and Luke the physician wrote it was now about the sixth hour and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour the Sun failing note that all three writers testify the darkness lasted for three hours and that it covered all the land was this a natural event or a supernatural one actually we believe it was a supernatural event because natural events that caused darkness like storms and eclipses just don't fit the historical descriptions of what happened while storms can create ten Prairie darkness they don't cause the Sun to fail and none of the historical descriptions of this event biblical or secular mentioned a storm or even rain eclipses can also cause darkness but only for minutes not for three full hours and history is clear that Jesus was crucified on Friday the 14th of Nissen during the Jewish Passover and Passover his only occur on full moons making an Eclipse impossible because the moon was on the far side of the earth away from the Sun before looking into the historical support for this event let's first answer the question why is it even important at the crucifixion God the Father placed all the sins of mankind including yours and mine upon his son Jesus Christ and God poured out his wrath upon him Jesus stood in our place and bore the punishment we deserve Jesus cried out in a loud voice my God my God why have you forsaken me Jesus was separated from his father for three hours God signified this by blotting out the Sun until Jesus had paid the price for sin in full so the son being covered in darkness represented what was happening to the son as he was covered by the darkness of our sin and judgment but is there any historical evidence to verify that three hours of darkness really happened actually there is will quickly review just some of the highlights from dozens of ancient historians who documented this event and will use both Christian and non religious sources we've already reviewed the writings from three biblical authors who recorded them shortly after Christ's crucifixion then four centuries afterwards historians continued to write about the supernatural event in ways that were remarkably consistent let's review just some of these outside of the Bible the oldest account was written by a historian named talus in AD 52 scholars believed that talus recorded the event in a way that minimized the supernatural trying to explain it as just a natural eclipse though we no longer have Tallis's original writings we have the quotations from his works made by later writers such as Julius africanus a leader in the Roman Empire who was instrumental in setting up the public library in the Pantheon at Rome Julius wrote the five volume set titled the history of the world in about 2:21 in this work julius wrote Tallis in his third book of histories explains away the three hours of darkness as an eclipse of the sun unreasonably as it seems to me for the Hebrews celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day according to the moon and the passion of our savior falls on the day before the Passover but an eclipse of the Sun takes place only when the moon comes under the Sun and it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old that is at their junction how then should an eclipse occur when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the Sun the writing of Tallis shows that the facts of Jesus's death were known and discussed in Rome as early as the middle of the first century to the extent that unbelievers like himself thought it necessary to explain the matter of darkness as a natural event like an eclipse but Tallis did not question the historicity of Jesus nor the three hours of darkness that occurred at his death rather he affirmed it at the time of his writing anti Christians had already been explaining the period of darkness as only a natural phenomenon such as an eclipse origin for example had written that this idea of it being an eclipse was an invention of the pagans to discredit the Gospels phlegon of trellis a first century Greek historian for not long after the crucifixion wrote one of the most well known books of ancient history titled Olympiads phlegon wrote in the fourth year of the two hundred and second Olympiad there was a great eclipse of the Sun greater than had ever been known before for at the sixth hour the day was changed into night and the stars were seen in the heavens an earthquake occurred in both Ania and overthrew a great part of the city of Nicaea flagons account reveals several key things the Sun was darkened during Christ's death along with a great earthquake the time of the darkness agrees with Matthew 27 his entry also gives us the year of the crucifixion with the two hundred and second Olympiad running from July ad 29 to June ad 33 also several of the early church fathers quoted him so there seems no reason to doubt his word another historian Philip on confirms the historicity of flagons statement by writing in about this darkness phlegon recall in the Olympia's he mentioned the eclipse which took place during the crucifixion of the Lord Christ and no other eclipse it is clear that he did not know from his sources about any similar eclipses in previous times and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberias Caesar another well-known historian Origen when responding to Celsus a critic of the supernatural elements in the Gospels wrote with regard to the eclipses in the time of Tiberius Caesar in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified and the great earthquakes which then took place flag on - I think as written in the 13th or 14th book of his chronicles and Celsus imagines also that both the earthquake and the darkness were an invention but regarding these we have in the preceding pages made our defense according to our ability adducing the testimony of phlegon who relates that these events took place at the time when our Savior suffered Julius africanus even wrote phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar at full moon there was a full eclipse of the Sun from the sixth hour to the ninth manifestly that one of which we speak additional writers who refer to flagons account of the darkness include Joanna's filipinas Malayalis origin Eusebius and Maximus together this makes seven ancient writers who directly quote flag on qualifying this fragment as one of the best attested ancient writings 4th century records from the early church fathers include the letter of Pontius Pilate which he wrote to the Roman Emperor concerning Christ well-known historian Justin Martyr even referred to these records pilots letter stated and at the time he was crucified there was darkness over all the world the Sun being darkened at midday and the stars appearing but in them there appeared no luster and the moon as if turned into blood failed in her light and in that terror dead men were seen that had risen as the Jews themselves testified and the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour Tertullian a Jewish console familiar with the Roman archives wrote in AD 197 at the same moment about noontide the day was withdrawn and they who knew not that this was foretold concerning Christ thought it was an eclipse but this you have in your archives you can read it there continues yet nailed upon the cross Christ exhibited many notable signs by which his death was distinguished from all others and his own free will he with a word dismissed from him his spirit anticipating the executioner's work in the same hour to the light of day was withdrawn when the Sun at the very time was in his Meridian blaze those who were not aware of that this had been predicted about Christ no doubt thought it was an eclipse writing about the year ad 3:15 Eusebius who was a historian of the Emperor Constantine Road Jesus Christ underwent his passion in the 18th year of Tiberias ad 33 also at that time in another Greek compendium we find an event recorded in these words the Sun was eclipsed by Thea was struck by an earthquake and in the city of Nicaea many buildings fell the accounts of the darkness that occurred at Christ's crucifixion continued even into the sixth century AD the historian cassiodorus wrote our Lord Jesus Christ suffered an eclipse of the Sun occurred such as never was before or since isn't it amazing that so many references exist that testified to such an unusual event next we'll take a look at the second of the five events that the Bible says occurred at the crucifixion of Christ the temple veiled tearing in half Matthew states Jesus again crying out in a loud voice yielded up his spirit at that moment the curtain in the temple was ripped in two from top to bottom and there was an earthquake with rocks splitting apart the curtain referred to comes from the aramaic war de perak ad which was a one foot thick piece of fabric covering the entrance of the Holy of Holies in the second temple the veil of the temple had always shown to people how approaching a holy God was difficult for a sinful man the only way a sinful man could approach God was through the high priest who would enter into the Holy of Holies through the veil of the temple only after making many sacrifices the idea was that God cannot be approached by sinful man lest he be destroyed that all changed when Christ who was the perfect sacrifice gave us access to God at the very moment he died so how do we know this actually happened recent archaeological discoveries revealed at the temple in Jerusalem during King Herod's reign did in fact have a huge east-facing curtain a bail that was suspended on the eastern lintel in front of metal doors marking the entry of the holy place the ad 33 earthquake evidently displaced the temple's lintel tore the curtain and shifted the pivots for the metal doors next we have the earthquake we don't have to do much research to find out there was an earthquake when Christ died let's start with the federal agency the National centers for environmental information no.8 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a United States government federal agency their website has a database of major earthquakes throughout history according to their website in 33 AD the earthquake occurred at the crucifixion that is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ this account matches the historical record in the Holy Bible Jesus Christ was about 33 years old when he was crucified there was an earthquake and the Sun was darkened according to their website in the nation we today call Israel which was previously called Palestine back in the year 33 AD they show that an earthquake occurred that destroyed a city and in their words it was at the crucifixion this is based on their references dating back from 1853 and 1985 this matches the account given in the Holy Bible which shows that Jesus Christ when he was about 33 years old was crucified the Sun was darkened and there was a great earthquake you now when the Centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done they feared greatly saying truly this was the son of God we've already covered many of the historical accounts that attest to both the darkness and the earthquake at Christ's crucifixion these include flagon of trowels who said an earthquake occurred in by thin iya and over through a great part of the city of Nicaea as well as certain places in Italy Origen who noted the great earthquakes which took place during the crucifixion Pontius Pilate who said the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour and of course Matthews account which even many secular historians consider valid even plenty the elder wrote an account of an earthquake occurring in the surrounding regions at that time leading up to more recent times geological research dating back nearly a century has also documented earthquakes during this time in Jerusalem Judea and by thinny within the last couple of decades geological studies published in several scientific journals document a significant earthquake occurring in that region in AD 33 these studies have been reported in mainstream media outlets like NBC News and others more recently several geologists have studied the sedimentary layers of the Dead Sea and other areas surrounding where Christ was crucified they found geological markers for several earthquakes that occurred at times that correspond with dates indicated from historical documents dr. Steve Austin explains now take a look at some sediment layers you can see in in the mud from the Dead Sea the kind of grey layers which is clay mud there we see clay mud we see clay mud here and then we see the white layers which are calcium carbonate mud and that's a different kind of mud than the clay mud and it creates this alternating light and dark layering that is very evident in the sediment layers and is undisturbed now what is interesting about that is how little disturbance there is except for the earthquakes and this graphic shows the idea of how earthquakes create a record within the sediment layers of the dead sea so you have laminated sediment as shown here in the pre seismic situation precise make dead sea sediment and it's laminated it's laminated right here now what happens is an earthquake occurs and it shakes the sediment and the upper part of the sediment liquefies or becomes lofted during the earthquake and then ree compacts to make a disturbed layer and then post seismic after the earthquake that layer is buried and so you have a record inside of the sediment layers of the earthquake take a look at the detail of 33 AD you can see the thin layer running right along here and then you can see the the post disturbance layer and that all that wrinkling going on there is the effects of the earthquake wave that sediment the light layers are the chemical carbonate layers and the gray layers are the clay layers and that looks like a earthquake of about magnitude 5.5 maybe magnitude 6 shook the bottom of the lake there dr. Austin's research has been published around the world next we have the graves opening and numerous people being raised from the dead after Christ's resurrection Matthew recorded the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the graves after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many Wow if this really happened it certainly would have said Christ's death apart from any other in history and it would have created quite a stir among the people of that time the Apostolic father Ignatius records the earliest commentary we have on this event in his works have been widely trusted throughout church history Ignatieff the trans force says the scripture many bodies of the saints that slept arose their graves being open he descended indeed into Hades alone but he arose accompanied by a multitude he also acknowledged this event in a letter to the magnesium's between AD 70 and 115 early church fathers in the east also verified the historicity of Matthew's account Cyril of Jerusalem wrote but it is impossible some will say that the dead should rise and yet Elijah twice raised the dead when he was alive and also when dead and his Christ not risen but in this case both the dead of whom we speak himself arose and many dead were raised without having even touched him for many bodies of the saints which slept arose and they came out of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city evidently this city in which we now are and appeared to many finally we have the letter of punches pilot to the Roman Emperor where he mentioned that people were terrified having seen dead men risen as even testified by the Jews many other biblical and secular scholars confirmed this resurrection event including hilary of poitiers Chrysostom and even st. augustine st. remy jews thomas aquinas and john calvin finally we have the Centurion and those with him who witnessed the earthquake and other events who feared greatly and proclaimed truly this was the son of God what type of events would it take to persuade a battle-hardened Roman centurion in charge of an execution to come to great fear and acknowledge that Christ was the son of God think about it here is a guy in charge of 80 soldiers that has moved to such fear that he admits right in front of his subordinates that the very person they are trying to execute is the Son of God there must have been extremely out of the ordinary things going on for this to happen so there we have it the darkness temple veil earthquake dead people rising from their graves and the same day conversion of a Roman centurion and his soldiers these events were followed by Christ's resurrection and 2,000 years of changed history seems to be on the miraculous side to me looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation the fossil record dinosaurs download the Genesis apologetics app from the iTunes or Google Play stores for answers to these questions and more

Channel: Genesis Apologetics

Views: 916,103

Rating: 4.8364706 out of 5

Keywords: crucifixion of christ, miracles at calvary, crucifixion darkness, earthquake at the crucifixion, temple veil tearing, Matthew 27

Id: 2Q8jk41AI3E

Length: 20min 18sec (1218 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2017