What Does It Matter If They Find The Bones Of Jesus
Pastor Gerry White
March 4, 2007

Professor Amos Kloner said:

  1. Professor at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv
  2. District archeologist of Jerusalem
  3. "The film should be shown to the public in the interest of freedom of expression"
  4. "The assertions in the documentary fly in the face of Christianity and the Bible"
  5. "The film is so full of inconsistencies that it will leave viewers with a wrong impression"
  6. "The film is not scholarly and not scientific, it is very amateur" Kloner told Cybercast News Service
  7. "This documentary was made according to the imagination of people, I don't accept the claim that this tomb was the burial place for the family of Jesus."

Father Murphy-O'Connor said:

  1. "The names found on the ossuaries are a combination of very common names."
  2. "Fifty percent of all Jewish women in the first century were called either Mary or Salome"

Several years ago, Oded Golan said he had the ossuary of James the brother of Jesus. Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, a biblical scholar and head of Toronto's Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation, said the "self-proclaimed experts" have learned nothing from the James ossuary incident. The Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto was duped into hosting such fraudulent works.

Israel Antiquities Authority said:

  1. "The inscription of the James ossuary is a forgery and Oded Golan is currently on trial for forging part of the inscription."
  2. "We loaned two ossuaries to the filmmakers for their press conference. The Antiquities Authority did not mean the authority supported their claims.

Iran Daily reported:

  1. "Filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici and Oscar winning Canadian director James Cameron announced Monday that using new technology and DNA studies, they have determined that among the 10 ossuaries – burial boxes used in biblical times to house the bones of the dead – found in the cave by Kloner in 1980 are those of Jesus, his brothers, Mary, another Mary whom they believe is Mary Magdalene, and Judah, son of Jesus"

What does it matter if they were to find the bones of Jesus?

For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ must still be dead.

1 Corinthians 15:13 (TLB)

1. There should have been bones in the tomb, therefore, Jesus was not God's Son.

and if Christ has not been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe.

1 Corinthians 15:14 (TEV)

2. Every person [church members, preachers, evangelist, missionaries] who believes in Jesus is lied to and has believed in a worthless fable.

And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:15 (NLT)

3. Everyone you have told the Jesus is raised from the dead, you have lied to yourself.

Certainly, if the dead don't come back to life, then Christ hasn't come back to life either.

1 Corinthians 15:16 (GW)

4. There is no eternal life. Life is pointless, there is no right or wrong, live anyway you want to!

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins.

1 Corinthians 15:17 (TEV)

5. Belief in God is useless and every human being was born by chance with no purpose of life, the Bible is a book of lies (historically, scientifically, philosophically, and biblically).

But CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD

But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (TEV)

1. Eyewitness reports from Mary Magdalene, Mary, Guards, and Angels.

After the day of worship, as the sun rose Sunday morning, Mary from Magdala and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. Suddenly, there was a powerful earthquake. An angel of the Lord had come down from heaven, rolled the stone away, and was sitting on it. He was as bright as lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. The guards were so deathly afraid of him that they shook. The angel said to the women, "Don't be afraid! I know you're looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He's not here. He has been brought back to life as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying.

Matthew 28:1-6 (GW)

2. Eyewitness reports from Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, a young man.

After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James bought some spices to put on Jesus' body. Very early on Sunday morning, just as the sun was coming up, they went to the tomb. On their way, they were asking one another, "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance for us?" But when they looked, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. And it was a huge stone! The women went into the tomb, and on the right side they saw a young man in a white robe sitting there. They were alarmed. The man said, "Don't be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who was nailed to a cross. God has raised him to life, and he isn't here. You can see the place where they put his body.

Mark 16:1-6 (CEV)

3. Eyewitness reports from Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women.

At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn't find the body of the Master Jesus. They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, "Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?" Then they remembered Jesus' words. They left the tomb and broke the news of all this to the Eleven and the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them kept telling these things to the apostles.

Luke 24:1-10 (MSG)

4. Eyewitness reports from Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, John himself, two angels and Jesus Himself.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone was rolled aside from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and me and said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!" We ran to the tomb to see; I outran Peter and got there first, and stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but I didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went on inside. He also noticed the cloth lying there, while the swath that had covered Jesus' head was rolled up in a bundle and was lying at the side. Then I went in too, and saw, and believed that he had risen - for until then we hadn't realized that the Scriptures said he would come to life again!

John 20:1-9 (TLB)

Now, because Christ is risen from the dead:

1. I need to accept the evidence and believe the eyewitnesses who went into the tomb and found no bones or body of Jesus. (Gospel Accounts)

2. I need to believe the people who saw Jesus resurrected.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me — that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. Last of all, I saw him, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (NLT)

3. I need to believe Jesus himself.

Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.

Luke 24:39 (NIV)

He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Luke 24:46-47 (NIV)

4. I need to believe in Jesus Christ, God raised Him from the dead.

If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9 (TEV)