- Imagine going into a
room to make a big presentation
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and you know for sure
nobody wants you there,
00:00:03.80\00:00:07.10
and they're probably
gonna laugh you to scorn
00:00:07.10\00:00:09.50
when you're done
making the presentation.
00:00:09.50\00:00:11.71
The question is, would
you still be willing to do it,
00:00:11.71\00:00:15.98
and what would it take to
make you willing to persist?
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That's on today's Authentic.
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[upbeat ambient music]
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A few years ago,
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our crew was filming
in the city of Jerusalem
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and I had a free morning
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to go and explore
the old city by myself.
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Now, if you ever get
the chance to do this,
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I highly, highly recommend it.
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It's one of the
oldest cities in the world,
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easily one of
the most significant,
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so much history has transpired
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in the streets of old Jerusalem
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that you'll find
something interesting around
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just about every corner.
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So on this particular morning,
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I decided to
compare two different places
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that might be the spot
where Christ was crucified.
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The first was easily
the more famous of the two,
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an old church dating back
to the time of Constantine.
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Constantine's mother,
Helena had traveled to Jerusalem
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to look for the tomb of Jesus,
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and when she
thought she found it,
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she built a
church over that spot.
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Now, her original
building isn't there anymore
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because the site has
been through a lot of trauma
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since it was
first built in the 300s.
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It was destroyed by fire in
614 when the Persians invaded,
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and then rebuilt by the
Byzantines a few years later in
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630. In the eighth century,
it suffered an earthquake,
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it was damaged terribly
and again, in the ninth.
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In the 11th century,
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a Muslim Khalif had
the building torn down,
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and on it went
over and over and over.
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So the building
you find there today
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is absolutely not the original.
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But you know it's
not really the building
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that draws people anyway,
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it's more what people
think they're gonna find inside.
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When you first walk
in, [intense ambient music]
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on your right,
there's a steep staircase
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leading up to the top
of a rocky prominence,
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although you can't
really see the rock
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because the church is
built over it, and they say,
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when you're up on
top of that staircase,
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you're actually
standing on Golgotha,
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the hill where
Jesus was crucified,
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and there's this place
where you can kneel down
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and reach through
a hole in the floor
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and supposedly touch the
exact spot where it happened.
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Then down below that,
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at the bottom of the staircase
backed by the entrance,
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there's a pink slab of stone
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where they say
Jesus was embalmed
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before they put him in a tomb.
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Now that one is a
lot more suspicious
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because we know for sure
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that the current
stone on that location
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was installed in the 1800s.
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So I know it's
not the real thing.
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Go a little
deeper into the building
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and you'll find a large
room with a big structure
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where they say,
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you can actually visit the
spot where Jesus was buried,
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his tomb is supposedly inside.
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And as you can
imagine, there's almost always
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a huge line of
people waiting to see this.
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So if you're gonna go,
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you should probably go
first thing in the morning
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and even then plan to be
in line for quite a while.
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So that's one location, the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher,
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where some people believe
Jesus was crucified and buried.
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And to be honest, personally,
I'm not sure I believe it
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because I guess I've
explored the ancient world
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a little too often to
just believe whatever I'm told.
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2000 years is a really long time
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to accumulate
tradition for cities to change.
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But of course, on the other
hand, I'm not an archeologist
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and I'm not even a
professional historian.
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Of course, for
me what matters most
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is not where
these things happened,
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but the fact
that they did happen.
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So after spending a bit of time
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at the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher,
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I went outside the old city
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on the north side
by the Damascus gate,
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and I made my way to the
bus station, not to catch a bus,
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but to catch a glimpse
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of something they
call Gordon's Calvary.
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Around the back of the station,
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there's this small hill
with a couple of indents
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that kind of look like eyes
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and there's a small feature
that kind of looks like a nose.
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So some people believe that
was the side of the crucifixion
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because "Golgotha"
means the place of the skull.
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Now to the left of that hill
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is a small park with a tomb
in the side of another hill,
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which people
call The Garden Tomb.
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And in my opinion,
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the hill behind the bus
station seems more likely
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than the Church
of the Holy Sepulcher
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for a number of reasons.
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But again, I'm hardly an expert,
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there's a really
good chance I'm wrong,
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which doesn't bother me
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because the
location isn't the point,
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[tranquil ambient music]
although I will say this,
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wherever the location was,
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it was designed
to maximize shame.
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We often picture Jesus
crucified on top of a hill,
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but what the Bible actually says
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is that he was
crucified at Golgotha,
00:05:02.76\00:05:05.60
not necessarily on Golgotha.
00:05:05.60\00:05:08.60
It seems far more likely to me
00:05:08.60\00:05:10.57
that he would've been
crucified by the public roadway
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that ran along
the bottom of the hill
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because that would
be more embarrassing
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and they could use Jesus
as a warning to anybody else
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who might be tempted
to defy the Roman empire.
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In fact, just a
few decades earlier,
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the Romans had crucified
something like 2000 rebels
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along the major
roadways outside of Jerusalem
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for exactly that reason.
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So when Christians
sing that well known hymn,
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"The old rugged cross",
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and they say,
"on a hill far away",
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well, there's a good
chance they're wrong,
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it's probably
"by a hill far away".
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Yet again, it's not really
the location that matters,
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it's the fact that it happened.
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The passage of time
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and a widespread
familiarity with the story
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has dramatically
dampened the visceral impact
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of what they
actually did to Jesus.
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You and I are used to seeing
crosses on church buildings
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or dangling from
necklaces and earrings,
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and we easily forget what a
serious problem the cross was
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for those
earliest of Christians,
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the man they said
was God in human flesh
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had just died the most
humiliating death possible,
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hung naked in front of the world
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and hung between
two obvious reprobates
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in order to make his death
seem well, even more shameful.
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Good men did not die on crosses.
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Crosses were for
the scum of the earth,
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which is the reason
that Roman citizens like Paul
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were never crucified.
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Paul you'll
remember was beheaded.
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Now, historically we
think that crucifixion
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was invented by
the ancient Assyrians
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or the ancient Babylonians,
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and it was
designed to be as torturous
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and sadistic as possible.
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The Persians
continued to use crucifixion,
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and then Alexander the
Great adopted it from them
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after his conquests in the East.
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The Phoenicians
picked it up from the Greeks,
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and then the
Romans got it from them,
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and then the Romans practically
made an art form out of it.
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In fact, in the
minds of most people,
00:07:09.42\00:07:11.86
the Romans kind of own
the art of crucifixion.
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It could take days for a victim
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to finally succumb to
the cruelty of a cross.
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You would be dehydrated,
you would be bleeding,
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and you would be riving in
agony as you hung from nails
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that were strategically
placed to maximize pain.
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In the end, you
died from asphyxiation
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because you were
suspended in a way
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that would make it
impossible to breathe
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if you didn't push
yourself up to take a breath,
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and to push yourself up,
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you had to put
pressure on your feet,
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which had also been
nailed to the cross.
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Then after that,
you would sink back down
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to hang from your
nail pierced hands
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or wrists to be technical.
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It created a grizzly
dance of death up and down,
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up and down for days on
end until your legs gave out
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and you finally suffocated.
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And sometimes
to speed things up,
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the Romans
would break your legs,
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which made you suffocate faster.
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Needless to say,
crucifixion is probably
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the most sadistic method
of execution ever devised.
00:08:11.59\00:08:16.12
And the early Christians
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were telling people
their God had died like that.
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They insisted that Jesus
was the long awaited Messiah,
00:08:22.10\00:08:25.33
the one who was supposed to
liberate the nation of Israel,
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but then he died at the
hands of these pagan oppressors.
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So needless to say,
it wasn't an easy sell.
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By this time, the Jews
had been living in the shadow
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of gentile
empires for 100s of years,
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starting with the Babylonians.
00:08:40.25\00:08:42.42
And the Roman
occupation of Palestine
00:08:42.42\00:08:44.85
was a particular
unwelcome experience.
00:08:44.85\00:08:47.96
Now, it's true, the Jews
had a number of legal privileges
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that other
conquered nations didn't have
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because at one point,
they offered support to Julius
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Caesar, but for the most part,
00:08:56.90\00:08:58.23
the Jewish experience
with the Romans was brutal.
00:08:58.23\00:09:02.17
This was their
covenant territory,
00:09:02.17\00:09:04.37
the one that
rightfully belonged to them
00:09:04.37\00:09:06.21
because it was given to their
father Abraham by God himself.
00:09:06.21\00:09:10.35
It was supposed to
be an exceptional place,
00:09:10.35\00:09:12.78
a nation where the
faith of the one true God
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could be on full display so
that gentile nations could see
00:09:14.92\00:09:18.02
how superior the
God of Israel was.
00:09:18.02\00:09:21.76
So to be occupied by a gentile
presence was humiliating,
00:09:21.76\00:09:25.69
and for somebody to say
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that messiah had been
murdered by Romans, unthinkable.
00:09:27.00\00:09:31.83
And in just a few
moments I'll be right back
00:09:31.83\00:09:33.80
to show you
more, so don't go away.
00:09:33.80\00:09:35.60
[tranquil ambient music] -
Life can throw a lot at us.
00:09:38.27\00:09:41.58
Sometimes we don't
have all the answers,
00:09:41.58\00:09:44.55
but that's where
the Bible comes in.
00:09:44.55\00:09:47.35
It's our guide to a
more fulfilling life.
00:09:47.35\00:09:49.72
Here at The Voice of Prophecy,
00:09:50.52\00:09:52.02
we've created the
Discover Bible guides
00:09:52.02\00:09:54.19
to be your guide to the Bible.
00:09:54.19\00:09:55.76
They're designed to
be simple, easy to use,
00:09:55.76\00:09:58.26
and provide answers to many
of life's toughest questions,
00:09:58.26\00:10:01.23
and they're absolutely free.
00:10:01.23\00:10:03.26
So jump online
now or give us a call
00:10:03.26\00:10:05.60
and start your
journey of discovery.
00:10:05.60\00:10:08.60
- There's this
ancient collection of poems
00:10:08.60\00:10:11.14
dating way back
before the birth of Christ,
00:10:11.14\00:10:13.44
decades before Jesus was
born, and it's apocryphal,
00:10:13.44\00:10:17.05
which means
you're not gonna find it
00:10:17.05\00:10:18.21
in the pages of the Bible.
00:10:18.21\00:10:20.52
Some people call
this ancient book
00:10:20.52\00:10:22.38
the Psalms of the Pharisees,
00:10:22.38\00:10:24.15
but most people call
it the Psalms of Solomon.
00:10:24.15\00:10:26.89
And one of the major themes
this book deals with is the hope
00:10:26.89\00:10:30.06
that God was going to deliver
his people from the gentiles.
00:10:30.06\00:10:33.53
Here's a little
snippet from the 17th poem
00:10:33.53\00:10:36.03
in the collection, a poem
00:10:36.03\00:10:37.50
that's actually looking forward
to the coming of Messiah.
00:10:37.50\00:10:40.44
It says, "Behold, O Lord,
00:10:40.44\00:10:42.54
and raise up
onto them, their king,
00:10:42.54\00:10:44.14
the son of David.
00:10:44.14\00:10:45.41
At the time in the
witch thou seest, O God,
00:10:45.41\00:10:48.04
that he may reign
over Israel thy servant
00:10:48.04\00:10:50.11
and gird him with strength,
00:10:50.11\00:10:51.78
that he may
shatter unrighteous rulers,
00:10:51.78\00:10:53.98
and that he may purge Jerusalem
00:10:53.98\00:10:55.65
from nations that
trample her down to destruction.
00:10:55.65\00:10:58.95
Wisely,
righteously he shall thrust out
00:10:58.95\00:11:01.12
sinners from the inheritance.
00:11:01.12\00:11:02.59
He shall destroy
the pride of the sinner
00:11:02.59\00:11:04.83
as a potter's vessel."
00:11:04.83\00:11:07.10
So you can see to many
people's way of thinking,
00:11:07.10\00:11:09.66
messiah was supposed to drive
the Romans out of the land,
00:11:09.66\00:11:12.93
but this brand new sect
00:11:12.93\00:11:14.07
of Christians was
suddenly insisting
00:11:14.07\00:11:15.94
the man the Romans had executed
00:11:15.94\00:11:17.61
in the most
humiliating way possible,
00:11:17.61\00:11:20.18
well, they were
saying that was messiah,
00:11:20.18\00:11:23.48
and that was really unpopular
because it didn't make sense
00:11:23.48\00:11:26.98
from the
perspective of most people.
00:11:26.98\00:11:29.18
In fact, the
entire life of Christ
00:11:29.18\00:11:31.35
caused quite a bit
of cognitive dissonance
00:11:31.35\00:11:33.72
for people who had
been marinating in the ideas
00:11:33.72\00:11:36.52
that you find in books
like the Psalms of Solomon.
00:11:36.52\00:11:39.36
I'm reminded of that
story in John chapter one
00:11:40.76\00:11:43.53
where Philip tries to
convince his friend Nathaniel
00:11:43.53\00:11:45.90
that Jesus was Messiah.
00:11:45.90\00:11:48.30
Here's how that story
goes, starting down in verse 43
00:11:48.30\00:11:50.17
where it says,
"The following day,
00:11:50.17\00:11:54.11
Jesus wanted to go to Galilee,
00:11:54.11\00:11:56.58
and he found Philip and
said to him, 'Follow me.'
00:11:56.58\00:11:59.68
Now, Philip was from BethSaida,
00:11:59.68\00:12:01.15
the city of Andrew and Peter.
00:12:01.15\00:12:03.32
Philip found
Nathaniel and said to him,
00:12:03.32\00:12:05.09
'We have found him
of whom Moses in the law
00:12:05.09\00:12:07.36
and also the prophets
wrote, Jesus of Nazareth,
00:12:07.36\00:12:10.73
the son of Joseph.'
00:12:10.73\00:12:12.33
And Nathaniel said to him,
00:12:12.33\00:12:14.00
'Can any good thing
come out of Nazareth?'"
00:12:14.00\00:12:16.67
You see, it turns out
00:12:17.47\00:12:18.53
that Nathaniel was
from the village of Cana,
00:12:18.53\00:12:20.37
the place where Jesus
turned the water into wine,
00:12:20.37\00:12:23.00
and the village of Cana was
right next door to Nazareth.
00:12:23.00\00:12:26.61
So there's a pretty good chance
00:12:26.61\00:12:27.98
that Nathaniel knew what
that town was really like.
00:12:27.98\00:12:31.11
[tranquil
ambient music] You and I
00:12:31.11\00:12:32.21
placed a little bit
of a halo over Nazareth
00:12:32.21\00:12:33.78
because it's the
hometown of Jesus.
00:12:33.78\00:12:35.35
But back in the day,
00:12:35.35\00:12:36.82
well, Nazareth wasn't
making lists of places
00:12:36.82\00:12:39.42
people wanted to live, and
it certainly wasn't a place
00:12:39.42\00:12:42.46
you'd expect to
find a national hero.
00:12:42.46\00:12:45.23
Messiah was supposed to
sit on the throne of David.
00:12:45.23\00:12:48.16
He was supposed to occupy a
place of political prominence,
00:12:48.16\00:12:51.57
so it seemed far
more likely to most people
00:12:51.57\00:12:53.87
he'd be born in a
place like, well, Jerusalem.
00:12:53.87\00:12:56.94
So right from the beginning,
00:12:58.11\00:12:59.71
Jesus was defying
most people's expectations,
00:12:59.71\00:13:03.11
and the cross was the most
confusing development of all.
00:13:03.11\00:13:05.95
I mean, how could
messiah die like that?
00:13:05.95\00:13:09.12
Let me read you
another famous Bible story,
00:13:09.12\00:13:12.15
this one from
the Gospel of Luke,
00:13:12.15\00:13:14.12
and this is
something that happened
00:13:14.12\00:13:15.79
after Jesus was crucified.
00:13:15.79\00:13:17.96
This takes place
on the road to Emmaus
00:13:17.96\00:13:20.03
where two of Jesus followers
are trying to comprehend
00:13:20.03\00:13:22.66
what just happened
with the death of Christ.
00:13:22.66\00:13:26.00
And suddenly the
risen Jesus joins them,
00:13:26.00\00:13:28.97
but they don't know who he is.
00:13:28.97\00:13:30.51
Verse 17.
00:13:30.51\00:13:31.51
"And he said to them,
00:13:32.37\00:13:33.94
'What kind of
conversation is this
00:13:33.94\00:13:35.44
that you have with one another
as you walk and are sad?'
00:13:35.44\00:13:39.11
Then the one whose
name was Cleopas answered
00:13:39.11\00:13:41.62
and said to him, 'Are you
the only stranger in Jerusalem?
00:13:41.62\00:13:45.22
And have you not known
00:13:45.22\00:13:46.55
the things which
happened there in these days?'
00:13:46.55\00:13:48.82
And he said to
them, 'What things?'
00:13:48.82\00:13:51.06
So they said to him the things
concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
00:13:51.06\00:13:53.83
who was a prophet, mighty indeed
00:13:53.83\00:13:56.46
and word before
God and all the people,
00:13:56.46\00:13:59.40
and how the chief
priest and our rulers
00:13:59.40\00:14:00.97
delivered him to be condemned
to death and crucified him.
00:14:00.97\00:14:04.97
But we were hoping
00:14:04.97\00:14:06.07
that it was he who was
going to redeem Israel."
00:14:06.07\00:14:09.58
Now, that's a
really important thought
00:14:09.58\00:14:10.88
because it shows us what
people expected messiah to do.
00:14:10.88\00:14:14.15
He was supposed to
get rid of the Romans.
00:14:14.15\00:14:16.79
And even after
Jesus rose from the dead,
00:14:16.79\00:14:19.12
the disciples still kind
of thought that might happen.
00:14:19.12\00:14:22.36
I mean, just listen to what
they said in Acts chapter one.
00:14:22.36\00:14:27.13
"Therefore, when
they had come together,
00:14:27.13\00:14:29.90
they asked him saying, 'Lord,
00:14:29.90\00:14:31.70
will you at this time
restore the kingdom to Israel?'"
00:14:31.70\00:14:35.40
So the idea that a man
00:14:35.40\00:14:37.01
who was shamefully
crucified by the Romans
00:14:37.01\00:14:39.24
could possibly be messiah,
00:14:39.24\00:14:41.44
believe me, it
wasn't an easy sell.
00:14:41.44\00:14:44.38
[tranquil ambient
music] There was almost nobody
00:14:44.38\00:14:46.31
in the ancient world
00:14:46.31\00:14:47.65
whose culture would let them
accept that idea, not the Jews,
00:14:47.65\00:14:51.85
not the Greeks,
and not the Romans.
00:14:51.85\00:14:55.16
Which brings us to one
of the most important things
00:14:55.16\00:14:57.26
the Apostle Paul ever wrote
00:14:57.26\00:14:58.83
found in the book
of First Corinthians,
00:14:58.83\00:15:01.50
and I think we're gonna read
quite a bit from this passage
00:15:01.50\00:15:04.13
because modern Christianity
has mostly forgotten
00:15:04.13\00:15:07.44
just how scandalous
00:15:07.44\00:15:08.87
the idea of a
crucified Christ really was.
00:15:08.87\00:15:11.91
Modern Christians
talk about the crucifixion.
00:15:11.91\00:15:14.31
We read about the crucifixion,
00:15:14.31\00:15:15.91
we watch dramatic
movies about the crucifixion,
00:15:15.91\00:15:18.75
we sing
beautiful songs about it,
00:15:18.75\00:15:20.92
But our understanding
00:15:21.75\00:15:23.08
is now 2000 years
removed from the actual event
00:15:23.08\00:15:26.45
and the visceral impact
of what happened to Jesus
00:15:26.45\00:15:29.22
has been largely
blunted to the point
00:15:29.22\00:15:31.36
where we scarcely realized
00:15:31.36\00:15:33.23
just how hard it was to
preach the message of Christ.
00:15:33.23\00:15:37.03
I mean, we think
that our postmodern world
00:15:37.03\00:15:39.20
makes preaching difficult,
00:15:39.20\00:15:40.34
but that's a
cakewalk compared to the world
00:15:40.34\00:15:43.07
that our first
century counterparts faced.
00:15:43.07\00:15:45.64
Here's the way
that Paul describes it
00:15:45.64\00:15:47.88
in 1 Corinthians 1, he writes,
00:15:47.88\00:15:50.81
"For the message of
the cross is foolishness
00:15:50.81\00:15:53.68
to those who are perishing,
00:15:53.68\00:15:55.28
but to us who are being
saved, it is the power of God.
00:15:55.28\00:15:58.65
For it is written:
00:15:58.65\00:15:59.75
'I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise
00:15:59.75\00:16:01.66
and bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent.'
00:16:01.66\00:16:04.63
Where is the wise?
00:16:04.63\00:16:05.86
Where is the scribe?
00:16:05.86\00:16:07.23
Where is the
disputer of this age?
00:16:07.23\00:16:09.26
Has not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world?
00:16:09.26\00:16:12.50
For since, in the wisdom of God,
00:16:12.50\00:16:14.04
the world through
wisdom did not know God,
00:16:14.04\00:16:16.44
it pleased God
through the foolishness
00:16:16.44\00:16:18.77
of the message preached
to save those who believe."
00:16:18.77\00:16:22.68
So right out of the gate,
00:16:22.68\00:16:23.81
Paul tells us that
the cross makes no sense,
00:16:23.81\00:16:26.15
not humanly speaking,
00:16:26.15\00:16:28.15
not unless you see it
from God's perspective.
00:16:28.15\00:16:32.22
And you know
that's still true today.
00:16:32.22\00:16:34.36
When you hear the way
00:16:34.36\00:16:35.36
that some people
describe what happened,
00:16:35.36\00:16:36.76
it's obvious they don't really
grasp how important this was.
00:16:36.76\00:16:40.43
This is not the way
00:16:40.43\00:16:41.53
most people would
write the story of redemption
00:16:41.53\00:16:43.90
because it presents
a very unlikely hero.
00:16:43.90\00:16:47.54
Paul continues in
verse 22, where he says,
00:16:47.54\00:16:50.01
"For the Jews request a sign
00:16:50.01\00:16:52.11
and the Greeks
seek after wisdom,
00:16:52.11\00:16:54.28
but we preach Christ crucified
to the Jews a stumbling block
00:16:54.28\00:16:58.58
and to the Greeks foolishness."
00:16:58.58\00:17:00.65
So why does he say that?
00:17:01.42\00:17:02.85
Well, we've already
seen that the Jews of his day
00:17:02.85\00:17:05.62
we're expecting
something quite different.
00:17:05.62\00:17:08.09
But there is
something else here,
00:17:08.09\00:17:09.89
and I'll be right back in a
moment to share that with you.
00:17:09.89\00:17:13.36
[upbeat ambient music] - Here
00:17:13.36\00:17:16.36
at The Voice of Prophecy,
00:17:16.36\00:17:17.70
we're committed to
creating top quality programming
00:17:17.70\00:17:20.07
for the whole family, like
our audio adventure series,
00:17:20.07\00:17:22.87
"Discovery Mountain".
00:17:22.87\00:17:24.61
"Discovery Mountain"
is a Bible based program
00:17:24.61\00:17:27.21
for kids of all
ages and backgrounds.
00:17:27.21\00:17:29.51
Your family will enjoy
the faith building stories
00:17:29.51\00:17:32.31
from this small mountain
summer camp [indistinct].
00:17:32.31\00:17:35.15
With 24 seasonal
episodes every year
00:17:35.15\00:17:37.69
and fresh content every week,
00:17:37.69\00:17:39.79
there's always a new
adventure just on the horizon.
00:17:39.79\00:17:43.02
- Back in the Old
Testament book of Deuteronomy,
00:17:45.83\00:17:48.20
there's a passage
that made it really hard
00:17:48.20\00:17:50.53
for Jewish folks
to accept the idea
00:17:50.53\00:17:52.43
that messiah could
die such an ignoble death.
00:17:52.43\00:17:55.40
It's Deuteronomy 21
and 22, where it says,
00:17:55.40\00:17:59.07
"If a man has committed
a sin deserving of death
00:17:59.07\00:18:01.81
and he is put to death
and you hang him on a tree,
00:18:01.81\00:18:04.81
his body shall not
remain overnight on the tree,
00:18:04.81\00:18:07.12
but you shall
surely bury him that day
00:18:07.12\00:18:10.52
so that you do
not defile the land
00:18:10.52\00:18:12.39
which the Lord your God is
giving you as an inheritance:
00:18:12.39\00:18:15.39
for he who is
hanged is accursed of God."
00:18:15.39\00:18:19.89
So in light of that,
you've gotta ask yourself,
00:18:19.89\00:18:22.66
how could anybody accept
00:18:22.66\00:18:24.37
[tranquil ambient music]
Jesus was God's anointed?
00:18:24.37\00:18:26.53
Would God really allow
his son to be crucified
00:18:26.53\00:18:29.00
like a common
criminal hung on a tree,
00:18:29.00\00:18:31.47
which would only
prove that he was cursed?
00:18:31.47\00:18:34.28
It was a pretty
bitter pill to swallow,
00:18:34.28\00:18:36.21
which is why Paul tells
us that his Jewish audience
00:18:36.21\00:18:38.75
had a lot of
trouble accepting him.
00:18:38.75\00:18:41.25
And on top of that,
00:18:41.25\00:18:42.82
the Greeks thought
that the idea of God's son
00:18:42.82\00:18:44.82
dying on a cross was ludicrous
00:18:44.82\00:18:46.69
because the Greeks
were wisdom seekers,
00:18:46.69\00:18:49.09
and that's not how
they perceived the universe.
00:18:49.09\00:18:51.59
I mean, how could a
man on a criminals cross
00:18:51.59\00:18:54.00
be the offspring of
the immortal, invisible God
00:18:54.00\00:18:57.33
whose very thought
gave birth to the universe?
00:18:57.33\00:19:00.90
The ancient Greek philosophers
actually rejected the idea
00:19:00.90\00:19:03.74
that the supreme God
made this world at all
00:19:03.74\00:19:05.87
because the
world's too imperfect,
00:19:05.87\00:19:08.61
and this man was
supposedly God in human flesh?
00:19:08.61\00:19:12.15
It was too demeaning, too dirty,
00:19:12.15\00:19:14.18
too common for the Greek mind.
00:19:14.18\00:19:16.95
And so the very first Christians
really had a hard job.
00:19:16.95\00:19:20.49
The Romans could hardly bow
00:19:20.49\00:19:22.16
the need to a
man they crucified.
00:19:22.16\00:19:24.33
The Greeks could not believe
that such a common ignoble man
00:19:24.33\00:19:27.56
could possibly be a path to God,
00:19:27.56\00:19:29.63
and the Jews could not get past
00:19:29.63\00:19:31.53
what seemed to be the
complete disappointment
00:19:31.53\00:19:33.77
of their national aspirations.
00:19:33.77\00:19:36.44
So when you get to
the early second century,
00:19:36.44\00:19:38.61
there was a man
by the name of Justin
00:19:38.61\00:19:40.94
who was a disciple
of Socrates and Plato,
00:19:40.94\00:19:43.65
but eventually
converted to Christianity.
00:19:43.65\00:19:46.11
In one of his
better known works,
00:19:46.11\00:19:47.65
he talks about a Jewish man
00:19:47.65\00:19:49.22
who wanted to ask
questions about Jesus.
00:19:49.22\00:19:51.22
So Justin shared
00:19:51.22\00:19:52.82
some of the Old Testament
scriptures about messiah,
00:19:52.82\00:19:55.52
and then the
Jewish man says this,
00:19:55.52\00:19:58.26
"Be assured", he says,
00:19:58.26\00:19:59.36
"that all our
nation waits for Christ,
00:19:59.36\00:20:01.40
and we admit that
all the scriptures
00:20:01.40\00:20:02.90
which you have
quoted refer to him.
00:20:02.90\00:20:05.10
But whether Christ should
be so shamefully crucified,
00:20:05.10\00:20:07.97
this we are in doubt about.
00:20:07.97\00:20:10.57
For whoever is crucified is
said in the law to be accursed,
00:20:10.57\00:20:13.71
so that I am exceedingly
incredulous on this point,
00:20:13.71\00:20:17.75
it is quite clear indeed
that the scriptures announced
00:20:17.75\00:20:19.88
that Christ had to suffer,
00:20:19.88\00:20:21.72
but we wish to learn
if you can prove it to us,
00:20:21.72\00:20:24.19
whether it was by the
suffering cursed in the law."
00:20:24.19\00:20:28.89
So here's what
I'm really driving at,
00:20:28.89\00:20:30.66
[tranquil ambient music] somehow
00:20:30.66\00:20:31.89
that first
generation of Christians
00:20:31.89\00:20:33.29
took the message of Christ
to the entire Roman Empire
00:20:33.29\00:20:36.30
in the space of
one single generation.
00:20:36.30\00:20:39.40
And when Paul took the message
00:20:39.40\00:20:41.24
to the
synagogue in Thessaloniki,
00:20:41.24\00:20:43.61
the reception was so hostile
that it actually caused a riot.
00:20:43.61\00:20:46.91
And their number one
complaint, they said,
00:20:46.91\00:20:49.31
"These who have
turned the world upside down
00:20:49.31\00:20:51.48
have come here too."
00:20:51.48\00:20:53.11
So ask yourself this,
00:20:54.02\00:20:56.12
how in the world did an
unlikely band of misfits
00:20:56.12\00:20:58.79
with a very unpopular message
00:20:58.79\00:21:00.62
manage to disrupt
the entire Roman empire?
00:21:00.62\00:21:05.29
I mean, these early
Christians were outsiders,
00:21:05.29\00:21:08.16
they were nobodies.
00:21:08.16\00:21:09.60
The religious
authorities in Jerusalem
00:21:09.60\00:21:11.27
rejected these people,
00:21:11.27\00:21:12.63
and they were more likely to
be slaves in a Roman household
00:21:12.63\00:21:15.44
than actual Roman citizens.
00:21:15.44\00:21:17.67
These people had no status,
00:21:17.67\00:21:19.47
they had no legal recognition,
and they had no respect.
00:21:19.47\00:21:23.38
So how did they manage
in the words of an angry mob
00:21:23.38\00:21:26.15
to turn the world upside down?
00:21:26.15\00:21:28.18
In the book of Colossians,
00:21:28.18\00:21:29.25
which was probably
written around 62 AD,
00:21:29.25\00:21:32.65
Paul casually mentions
00:21:32.65\00:21:33.99
that the gospel had been
delivered to all the world,
00:21:33.99\00:21:37.53
a reference to the world of
his day or the Roman Empire.
00:21:37.53\00:21:40.40
How in the world did
these people pull that off?
00:21:41.80\00:21:44.47
To be a Christian was
to be an outcast, a fool.
00:21:44.47\00:21:47.67
In fact, there's this
ancient work of graffiti
00:21:47.67\00:21:49.84
found on the
Palatine Hill in Rome,
00:21:49.84\00:21:52.31
crude drawing of a
man with a donkey's head
00:21:52.31\00:21:54.64
dying on a cross.
00:21:54.64\00:21:56.14
And the inscription says,
"Alexamenos worships his God."
00:21:56.14\00:22:00.32
It was meant to make
Christians look stupid,
00:22:00.32\00:22:02.18
and frankly, this was
the opinion most people had.
00:22:02.18\00:22:05.99
So you gotta wonder
why the disciples did it.
00:22:05.99\00:22:08.46
I mean, why share
the story of Christ?
00:22:08.46\00:22:11.59
It was a belief system
just about everybody rejected
00:22:11.59\00:22:14.56
because to our way of human
thinking, it doesn't make sense.
00:22:14.56\00:22:18.50
It's not the way that
most people think about God.
00:22:18.50\00:22:21.27
And so you're not gonna
preach something like this
00:22:21.27\00:22:23.97
unless you really believe it.
00:22:23.97\00:22:26.51
[tranquil ambient
music] Why else would you risk
00:22:26.51\00:22:27.64
utter humiliation every
single day of your life?
00:22:27.64\00:22:30.35
Why would you risk
the wrath of the Romans
00:22:30.35\00:22:32.51
and the distinct possibility
00:22:32.51\00:22:33.78
that you could be put
to death like Jesus was?
00:22:33.78\00:22:36.72
Why would you cling to the
idea of a suffering messiah
00:22:36.72\00:22:39.62
when you'd be
laughed out of the room
00:22:39.62\00:22:40.99
by the most respectable
philosophers in the world?
00:22:40.99\00:22:44.86
I mean, the odds against
the success of the early church,
00:22:44.86\00:22:49.00
almost insurmountable.
00:22:49.00\00:22:51.07
And yet today,
00:22:51.07\00:22:52.57
about a third of the
planet claims to be Christian.
00:22:52.57\00:22:55.20
There was just
something about Jesus,
00:22:55.20\00:22:56.94
something about that cross
00:22:56.94\00:22:58.47
that showed these people
what God was really like.
00:22:58.47\00:23:01.01
He was nothing like the
God's from Mount Olympus,
00:23:01.01\00:23:03.35
the ones who toyed
with people's lives.
00:23:03.35\00:23:05.91
He was not like
the immovable mover
00:23:05.91\00:23:08.02
that Aristotle talked about,
00:23:08.02\00:23:09.58
so removed from human experience
00:23:09.58\00:23:11.49
that you can't
expect to make contact.
00:23:11.49\00:23:14.99
Jesus was willing
to humiliate himself,
00:23:14.99\00:23:17.99
sacrifice himself for us.
00:23:17.99\00:23:22.13
The Son of God
completely overturned
00:23:22.13\00:23:24.00
every single expectation we had.
00:23:24.00\00:23:26.17
He was willing to suffer
00:23:26.17\00:23:27.40
the most
embarrassing death conceivable
00:23:27.40\00:23:29.90
if it meant that he
could bridge the gap between
00:23:29.90\00:23:31.87
the throne of God and you
00:23:31.87\00:23:34.58
so completely has
God identified with us
00:23:34.58\00:23:37.28
that he's
chosen to be one of us,
00:23:37.28\00:23:39.55
to live like us, to
suffer like us, to die like us
00:23:39.55\00:23:43.39
if it means that
he can have you back.
00:23:43.39\00:23:46.19
And to see him
alive after he died,
00:23:47.36\00:23:49.96
to know that he
holds the keys of death
00:23:49.96\00:23:51.83
and tells us that we no
longer have to fear the grave,
00:23:51.83\00:23:55.20
that changes everything.
00:23:55.20\00:23:57.63
I'll be right back after this.
00:23:57.63\00:23:59.60
[tranquil ambient
music] - Are you searching
00:24:02.74\00:24:05.71
for answers to
life's toughest questions,
00:24:05.71\00:24:07.81
like, where is
God when we suffer?
00:24:07.81\00:24:10.11
Can I find real happiness?
00:24:10.11\00:24:11.91
Or is there any hope
for our chaotic world?
00:24:11.91\00:24:15.05
The Discover Bible Guides
00:24:15.05\00:24:16.35
will help you find the
answers you are looking for.
00:24:16.35\00:24:18.82
Visit us at biblestudies.com
00:24:18.82\00:24:21.39
or give us a
call at 888-456-7933
00:24:21.39\00:24:25.69
for your free
Discover Bible Guides.
00:24:26.83\00:24:29.23
Study online on
our secure website
00:24:29.23\00:24:32.30
or have the free guides
mailed right to your home.
00:24:32.30\00:24:34.87
There is never a
cost or obligation.
00:24:34.87\00:24:37.51
The Discover Bible
guides are our free gift to you.
00:24:37.51\00:24:40.68
Find answers and guides like,
00:24:40.68\00:24:42.04
"Does my life
really matter to God?
00:24:42.04\00:24:44.35
and a second chance at life?"
00:24:44.35\00:24:46.48
You'll find answers to the
things that matter most to you
00:24:46.48\00:24:48.85
in each of the 26
Discover Bible guides.
00:24:48.85\00:24:51.52
Visit biblestudies.com
and begin your journey today
00:24:51.52\00:24:55.59
to discover answers to
life's deepest questions.
00:24:55.59\00:24:59.53
- And we're back from the break.
00:25:03.50\00:25:04.57
Hey guys, bring me
that book over there,
00:25:04.57\00:25:07.04
the one on the,
00:25:07.04\00:25:08.14
yeah, the big
one on the far left.
00:25:08.14\00:25:09.47
Yeah, I should have
gotten that during the break.
00:25:09.47\00:25:11.64
Here it is.
00:25:11.64\00:25:12.64
"Foxe's Book of Martyrs".
00:25:12.64\00:25:14.41
It's probably the most
famous work ever written
00:25:14.41\00:25:16.98
about the fate of
many early Christians.
00:25:16.98\00:25:20.52
It begins by showing us
00:25:20.52\00:25:22.68
that only one of Christ
disciples died from natural
00:25:22.68\00:25:26.49
causes. The rest were put
to death because of what they
00:25:26.49\00:25:29.32
preached. Andrew was
crucified in the British Isles,
00:25:29.32\00:25:31.89
Thomas was impaled on a spear,
00:25:31.89\00:25:34.50
Peter was crucified upside down
00:25:34.50\00:25:36.43
just outside the city of Rome.
00:25:36.43\00:25:38.37
James was tossed off a building
00:25:38.37\00:25:40.34
and then had his head
smashed in with a club.
00:25:40.34\00:25:42.47
I mean, this goes
on for 100s of pages.
00:25:42.47\00:25:45.04
And in the Bible, Paul
spends an awful lot of time
00:25:45.04\00:25:48.44
talking about the
hardships he had to put up with.
00:25:48.44\00:25:51.11
He was pelted with
stones and left for dead,
00:25:51.11\00:25:53.58
shipwrecked, imprisoned, and
then he ended up on death row
00:25:53.58\00:25:57.19
and all of that for a
really unpopular message,
00:25:57.19\00:26:00.82
a message that ran
completely contrary
00:26:00.82\00:26:03.19
to the way most of us think.
00:26:03.19\00:26:05.59
[intense
ambient music] And still
00:26:05.59\00:26:06.39
all these ancient believers
00:26:06.39\00:26:07.46
really thought
this was worth it.
00:26:07.46\00:26:10.17
Other religious
movements have come and gone,
00:26:10.17\00:26:12.03
but for some reason,
00:26:12.03\00:26:13.44
whatever these
ancient people found in Jesus,
00:26:13.44\00:26:16.07
and the story of
the cross has made this
00:26:16.07\00:26:18.94
into one of the most enduring
faiths in the whole world.
00:26:18.94\00:26:22.41
And here we are living in
the midst of a civilization
00:26:22.41\00:26:24.81
that to a large extent,
00:26:24.81\00:26:25.98
those ancient
believers helped us build.
00:26:25.98\00:26:28.72
But today,
00:26:28.72\00:26:30.05
most of us have no idea
what this book actually says.
00:26:30.05\00:26:33.56
So here's what I wanna suggest,
00:26:33.56\00:26:35.76
listen, I know some people are
also willing to die for a lie
00:26:35.76\00:26:39.09
because every so often you
hear of some apocalyptic cult
00:26:39.09\00:26:42.66
that goes up in flames,
00:26:42.66\00:26:43.87
from Heaven's Gate in San Diego,
00:26:43.87\00:26:46.10
to the Solar temple in Quebec.
00:26:46.10\00:26:48.60
So a willingness to die
00:26:48.60\00:26:50.24
doesn't necessarily mean
that what you believe is true,
00:26:50.24\00:26:54.21
but you will notice
00:26:55.21\00:26:56.31
all those little
cults have come and gone,
00:26:56.31\00:26:58.25
and the teachings of Christ
00:26:58.25\00:26:59.51
are still here after 2000 years.
00:26:59.51\00:27:02.42
I mean, you might be skeptical,
00:27:02.42\00:27:05.02
you might not
believe this story,
00:27:05.02\00:27:07.06
but at least you
should know for yourself
00:27:07.06\00:27:09.39
exactly what
you're skeptical about.
00:27:09.39\00:27:12.79
So maybe it's
time instead of reading
00:27:12.79\00:27:14.36
what people
write about the Bible
00:27:14.36\00:27:15.76
to have a look for yourself.
00:27:15.76\00:27:17.97
Because I mean, what
if this book turns out
00:27:17.97\00:27:20.90
to be exactly what you've been
looking for your entire life?
00:27:20.90\00:27:24.64
What if the claims
of Christ are true?
00:27:24.64\00:27:27.54
What if that really
was God in human flesh
00:27:27.54\00:27:30.25
on the side of the road
that day all those years ago?
00:27:30.25\00:27:34.22
At least you owe it to
yourself to have a look
00:27:34.22\00:27:37.02
and examine those
claims from firsthand sources.
00:27:37.02\00:27:40.92
Thanks for joining me today.
00:27:40.92\00:27:42.12
I'm Shawn Boonstra,
00:27:42.12\00:27:43.46
and this has been
another episode of Authentic.
00:27:43.46\00:27:46.46