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Holy or “Black” Saturday and Resurrection or “Easter” Sunday

This is part 4 of a 4-part series on Passion Week.

Passion Week: Holy or “Black” Saturday

"The Denial of St. Peter," by Adam de Coster, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“The Denial of St. Peter,” by Adam de Coster, Public domain

Location: Jerusalem

On Saturday, Jesus’s bewildered followers scattered and wept in sorrow. They hid from the religious authorities as they tried to make sense of the crucifixion of their beloved leader. They had thought Jesus was the Messiah, the righteous king God had promised would rule forever (Isaiah 9:7). He had even affirmed privately that he was the Messiah.

Jesus had also seemed to be the promised prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15). All the signs were there, including miracles greater than had ever been seen before. He was a godly man and a brilliant teacher with the power to heal, cast out demons, and even raise the dead.

But now he lay dead in the tomb of a rich man, having been crucified between two criminals. He now seemed more like the Suffering Servant than the Messiah who would rule forever:

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Isaiah 53:9

Saturday was dark. But Sunday was coming.

Read

  • Deuteronomy 18:15-19
  • Isaiah 53

Passion Week: Resurrection or “Easter” Sunday

Resurrection

Peter and John running to the tomb on Resurrection Sunday
Apostles Peter and John hurry to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection, 1898.

Location: Jerusalem

“He is risen,” said the angel.

On the day of the Feast of Firstfruits, Jesus rose from the dead.

At the temple that Sunday, Jews would offer the firstfruits of barley that had risen to life in their fields. Most did not know that Jesus had that morning become the firstfruits of people to rise to life from this earth.

As the firstfruits of barley anticipated the greater harvest to come, so the resurrection of Jesus anticipates the greater resurrection to come, for “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

Just as seed lay in the ground until life raised it up, so Jesus lay in the tomb until life raised him up. Just as the Jews raised the firstfruits of their harvest on Sunday before the Lord, so Jesus raised himself as the Firstfruits of the harvest of God’s children on Sunday.

Paul puts Passion Week in perspective:

 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Christians can be sure we have eternal life because He is risen!

Read

  • Leviticus 23:9-11
  • Matthew 28:1-10

Conclusion

The triumphal entry led to the crucifixion which won the resurrection. Hallelujah!

In This Series

  1. Here’s What Happened During the Remarkable Passion Week: Palm Sunday and Holy Monday
  2. Holy or “Fig” Tuesday and Holy or “Spy” Wednesday
  3. Holy or “Maundy” Thursday and Good or “Passion” Friday
  4. Holy or “Black” Saturday and Resurrection or “Easter” Sunday

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Holy or “Maundy” Thursday and Good or “Passion” Friday

This is part 3 of a 4-part series on Passion Week.

Passion Week: Maundy Thursday

“Maundy” comes from the Latin for mandate and refers to the new commandment (mandate) Jesus gave on Thursday night.

Preparing for the Passover Feast

Location: Jerusalem

On Thursday afternoon of Passion Week, priests slaughtered the Passover lambs. Jesus sent two of his disciples to find a man carrying a jar of water. They were to ask him where Jesus’s guest room was for the Passover feast that night.

Later, Jesus gathered with his disciples in the large upper room of that house. There he removed his outer garment, tied a towel around his waist, and washed his disciples’ feet—normally the duty of the lowest household servant. Then he told his disciples that just as he served them, so must they serve each other.

Jewish days start at sundown. So when the disciples sat down to eat the Passover feast, for them, the Day of Preparation (Friday) had begun. The Passover feast commemorated how years before, lamb’s blood protected the Israelites from death so they could journey to the earthly promised land.

The Last Supper

The Last Supper on Maundy Thursday
“The Last Supper” by Valentin de Boulogne, 1625

Jesus testified that one of them would betray him. Peter motioned to John to ask Jesus who. John reclined next to Jesus and leaned over and asked quietly. Jesus replied, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it” (John 13:26). Then he dipped the morsel, gave it to Judas, and told Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly” (verse 27). Judas left to betray him.

Then Jesus told the Eleven that now he would be glorified. He began to teach them urgently:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

John 13:34

Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup of wine, gave thanks for it, and passed it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28).

Afterward, they went to a garden where Jesus frequently met with his disciples. It was not long before Judas appeared, leading a band of soldiers.

Little Details

This day is sometimes called “Holy Thursday” or “Maundy Thursday.” “Maundy” comes from the Latin mandātum, from which we get the word “mandate.” Novum mandātum refers to the new commandment Jesus gave: “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (“A new commandment I give to you: That you love one another, as I have loved you”).

Read

  • Mark: 14:12–16
  • John: 13:1–38

Passion Week: Good or “Passion” Friday

The Arrest

Location: Gethsemane to Jerusalem

The soldiers arrest Jesus. Peter and John follow them at a distance. The rest of the disciples flee. John knows the high priest and gets them entrance to watch Jesus’s trial. Trials at night were illegal, but the Jewish leaders seem to have found a loophole.

The former high priest Annas questions Jesus, trying to get him to incriminate himself. That is illegal too, and Jesus exhorts him to question witnesses instead. It is an opportunity to repent. But an officer strikes Jesus for impertinence and Annas sends him to the current high priest, Caiaphas, who sends him to the governor, Pilate, for crucifixion.

The First Flogging

Location: Jerusalem

Pilate knows the Jews have delivered Jesus out of jealousy. So he sends Jesus to be flogged with the lightest form of flogging, the fustigatio. The soldiers put a crown of thorns on his head and a purple robe on his shoulders. They mock and beat him. Pilate shows the beaten, wounded Jesus to the Jews, demonstrating he is no threat and has now been publicly humbled. He declares Jesus’s innocence and his decision to release him.

But the Jewish leaders threaten to report him for releasing someone who claims to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Pilate takes Jesus within his headquarters again and asks him if he is king of the Jews. Jesus replies, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).

The Second Flogging

Torn, Pilate offers again to release Jesus, but the Jews will have none of it. Finally, Pilate gives in and sends Jesus for a second flogging, this time the most severe, the verberatio. It is the flogging that precedes crucifixion, ripping away flesh and exposing bones and muscles.

The Crucifixion

Resurrection came after the crucifixion on Good Friday
“The Three Crosses,” by Rembrandt, 1653

Location: Golgotha

Pilate’s soldiers crucify Jesus, pounding nails through his wrists and feet, attaching him to a wooden cross. Two criminals hang on wooden crosses beside him. Above Jesus’s head, Pilate attaches a placard describing the crime for which he must die:

Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Soldiers gamble for his clothes. The Jewish leaders mock him for not being able to save himself after all his claims.

Of the Eleven, only John witnesses the day’s horrific events. The women who travel with Jesus are there, as is Jesus’s mother. Seeing her, Jesus tells John to take her home and care for her as his own mother. He leads Mary away to his home. Even in Jesus’s time of greatest suffering, he cares for others’ needs.

At noon, darkness covers the land. Sometime after, John leaves Mary and makes his way back to the cross. He hears Jesus say, “It is finished,” and watches him die. Just then, the curtain of the temple tears in two and a great earthquake shakes the land. The sun’s light returns.

The Burial

Location: Jerusalem

The Jewish leaders want the bodies taken down because the next day is a Sabbath, a day of rest. So the soldiers break the legs of those crucified with Jesus so they will die quickly, no longer able to lift themselves to breathe. When the soldiers see that Jesus is already dead, they leave his legs unbroken. Instead, they pierce his side with a sword. John witnesses the blood and water pouring out. For as the Old Testament declared, the Passover Lamb’s bones could not be broken, and they will look on the one they have pierced (Exodus 12:46; Zechariah 12:10).

Two followers who were among the Jewish leadership, Nicodemus and Joseph, take down Jesus’s body and place it in a new tomb belonging to Joseph.

To his disciples, nothing seems to be going according to plan.

Little Details

Note that since Jewish days start at sunset, Jesus is crucified on the same Jewish day (Day of Preparation) on which he eats the Passover Feast. This gives new meaning to his claim during the meal that eating the bread is eating his flesh, and drinking the wine is drinking his blood.

Read

Arrest

  • John 18:2–12

Trials

  • John 18:13-14
  • John 18:19-24
  • John 18:38—19:16a (first Flogging)
  • Mark 15:6–15 (second flogging)

Crucifixion

  • John 19:16b–30

Burial

  • John 19:31–42

In This Series

  1. Here’s What Happened During the Remarkable Passion Week: Palm Sunday and Holy Monday
  2. Holy or “Fig” Tuesday and Holy or “Spy” Wednesday
  3. Holy or “Maundy” Thursday and Good or “Passion” Friday
  4. Holy or “Black” Saturday and Resurrection or “Easter” Sunday

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Holy or “Fig” Tuesday and Holy or “Spy” Wednesday

This is Part 2 of a 4-part series on Passion Week.

Passion Week: Holy or “Fig” Tuesday

The Cursed Fig Tree

The Accursed Fig Tree, James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Accursed Fig Tree, by James Tissot, public domain

Location: Bethany to Jerusalem

As Jesus heads to Jerusalem with his disciples, he spies a fig tree. Hungry, he searches for fruit but finds none. He curses it, and it withers.

The withered tree points to Isaiah 5. There God says he planted Israel as a choice vine in a well-tended vineyard. But when he looked for fruit, he found nothing good. Therefore, he would destroy the vine.

Teaching

Location: Jerusalem

Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants. The master plants a vineyard and leases his land to tenants, But when he sends servants to collect the fruit, the tenants beat and mistreat his servants. He sends his son, but the tenants kill him. So the master will put the tenants to death and give the vineyard to others.

Like the lesson of the fig true, God is looking for good fruit but is finding only bad. Therefore, the land will be taken from those now in it and given to others. And the land was given to others for almost two millennia.

Teaching

Location: Bethany

Jesus’s words puzzled them: “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified” (Matthew 26:2).

He had just been teaching about the kingdom of heaven and the final judgment. His disciples believed he was the Messiah—the anointed king who would rule forever. Surely, he meant something symbolic, as when he said they all must take up their cross and follow him. But now Jesus is talking about being crucified!?

Among his followers, perhaps only two glimpsed the reality: Mary of Bethany and Judas Iscariot.

Mary of Bethany Honors Jesus

That night, Mary’s family held a banquet in honor of Jesus. Not long before, he had raised her brother Lazarus to life after he had been dead for four days. Jesus, Lazarus, and the other men reclined at the low table, leaning on one arm, feet stretched out behind them. Mary’s sister Martha served the meal.

Customarily to honor a guest, a host anointed the guest’s head with olive oil and provided a servant to wash the guest’s feet with water and a towel. The Jews considered touching someone’s feet to be degrading, so the lowliest servant was assigned the job.

To Mary, olive oil, water, a towel, and the lowest servant did not honor this guest enough.

Mary approached Jesus with a creamy white alabaster flask in her hand. It contained a pound of ointment perfumed with nard, an expensive oil. She broke the flask’s long, thin neck and the spicy, earthy fragrance permeated the house. She poured the scented oil first on his head—just like a priest would anoint a king at his coronation.

Then she poured the remaining nard on his feet and wiped them with her hair. She honored Jesus in every way she could and showed herself a servant to Jesus.

Judas Iscariot Plots to Betray Jesus

But Judas Iscariot indignantly demanded why such an expensive ointment hadn’t been sold so the money could be given to the poor. But his indignation had a hidden meaning, for he was in charge of the moneybag and often helped himself to its contents.

Jesus rebuked him:

Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.

Mark 14:6,8

Angry, Judas Iscariot departed to seek the Jewish leaders.

Little Details

Tuesday of Passion Week is known as “Fig Tuesday” because it is the day that Jesus cursed the fig tree.

Jesus often stayed in Bethany with Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. The dinner referred to here was in “Bethany in the house of Simon the leper” (Matthew 26:4). Since this Simon lived in a house, he may be a former leper.

The NIV reads, “Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment” (John 12:3). The word translated pound is litra and refers to the Roman pound, which was about 11.5 ounces.

Read

  • Matthew 21:18-21, 33-44
  • John: 12:2–8

Passion Week: Holy or “Spy” Wednesday

Judas Iscariot Plots to Betray Jesus

Judas receiving thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus, by János Pentelei Molnár, 1909.
Judas receiving thirty pieces of silver for betraying Jesus, by János Pentelei Molnár, 1909.

Location: Jerusalem

Tradition says that Judas met the Jewish leaders on Wednesday. He asked how much they would pay him to deliver Jesus to them. They were delighted. After all, they had already decided that the only way to stop the huge crowds from following Jesus was to kill both him and Lazarus.

And stop him they must. For they feared that if Jesus led an insurrection, the Romans would take away the Jewish leaders’ political power. It was also the only way they could get back all the followers they had lost to Jesus. Jesus, they reasoned, could not be the Messiah. He taught there was a resurrection, contradicting the Sadducees. And he belittled the Pharisees’ many rules as mere traditions of men. No, the real Messiah would be submissive to them. The crowds were foolish and should be listening to them. Jesus must be stopped.

Quiet

Otherwise, Wednesday seems quiet, with the Gospels not identifying anything Jesus does that day. Was he preparing for what was to come?

Read

  • Matthew 26:14-16

In This Series

  1. Here’s What Happened During the Remarkable Passion Week: Palm Sunday and Holy Monday
  2. Holy or “Fig” Tuesday and Holy or “Spy” Wednesday
  3. Holy or “Maundy” Thursday and Good or “Passion” Friday
  4. Holy or “Black” Saturday and Resurrection or “Easter” Sunday

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Here’s What Happened During the Remarkable Passion Week

Passion Week, also called Holy Week, lasts from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. Its name derives from the Latin word passio, which means “suffering.” In 2026, the week lasts from March 29 to April 5.

Pondering each day what happened to Jesus during the original Passion Week gives us a more worshipful attitude all week. But it can be difficult to glean that from the various Gospels. Thankfully, scholars have harmonized the Gospels for us.

This is the first of a four-part series that describes each day’s events and offers Bible readings.

Palm Sunday

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, by Anthony van Dyck, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“Entry of Christ into Jerusalem,” a 1617 oil painting by Flemish Baroque painter Anthony van Dyck

The Triumphal Entry

Location: Bethany, Jerusalem, Bethany

“Go,” Jesus tells two disciples. “In that village, you’ll find a donkey tied with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me.”

They find the donkey and colt just as Jesus said. Quickly, they untie them and bring them to Jesus. Then they lay their cloaks on the beasts.

The large crowd at Jerusalem’s gate had heard Jesus was coming. They want to see this miracle worker who raised to life a man dead four days. Could he be the Messiah, the long-awaited King who would rule forever? Will he now lead an army to beat back Rome?

Jesus mounts the donkey colt, who has never before been ridden. He arrives, not on a war horse but on a donkey colt, in peace. Nevertheless, the crowd sees him and rushes to place their cloaks on the road before him. Some run to cut palm branches from nearby trees and spread those before Jesus too. It is an honor fit for a king.

“Hosanna to the Son of David!” they shout (Matthew 21:9). Hosanna means “God save us,” but Jesus knows they do not realize his true identity. Still, Son of David means they think he is the Messiah. They continue: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

But even his disciples miss the full significance of what Jesus does. It is not until later that they realize he has just fulfilled the words of the prophet Zechariah:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
   Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
   righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
   on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Zechariah 9:9

Read

  • Matthew 21:1–9
  • John 12:12–19

Passion Week: Holy Monday

Jesus taught confessing and forgiving
Jesus teaching in “The Hundred Guilder Print,” by Rembrandt

Teaching

Location: Jerusalem

On Monday of Passion Week, Jesus taught the crowd gathered at the temple for Passover. When he heard that God-fearing Greeks sought him, he said this:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

John 12:23-24

Those listening did not understand the significance of three things in his statement.

Misunderstanding 1: The Meaning Of “Son of Man”

First, “Son of Man” can mean simply “human,” but Jesus reveals elsewhere that he means the divine Son of Man whom Daniel prophesied about:

“I saw in the night visions,
   and behold, with the clouds of heaven
      there came one like a son of man,
   and he came to the Ancient of Days
      and was presented before him.
   And to him was given dominion
      and glory and a kingdom,
   that all peoples, nations, and languages
      should serve him;
   his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

      which shall not pass away,
   and his kingdom one
      that shall not be destroyed.”

Daniel 7:13–14

Misunderstanding 2: Jesus’s True Mission

Second, they did not know he meant he had come to die. The people wanted an earthly king who would deliver them from Roman rule. But Jesus was also the Suffering Servant about whom Isaiah wrote:

By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Isaiah 53:8

Misunderstanding 3: The Breadth of Jesus’s Mission

Third, they did not know that Jesus came to save non-Jews. Yet this is what Isaiah prophesied about the Suffering Servant:

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Isaiah 49:6

In John 12:23-24 above, Jesus is the grain of wheat that fell into the earth and died. Then he rose and bore much fruit, bringing to God both Jews and non-Jews.

While he died as the Suffering Servant who cleanses people’s transgression, he arose in glory. For he is also the Divine Son of Man whose dominion is everlasting.

Read

  • John 12:20–50

In This Series

  1. Here’s What Happened During the Remarkable Passion Week: Palm Sunday and Holy Monday
  2. Holy or “Fig” Tuesday and Holy or “Spy” Wednesday
  3. Holy or “Maundy” Thursday and Good or “Passion” Friday
  4. Holy or “Black” Saturday and Resurrection or “Easter” Sunday

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Evidence for the Resurrection Part 2

In my last post, we began to look at evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. We covered three key facts that ancient primary source documents tell us regarding Jesus and the events surrounding his death. They were:

  1. Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.
  2. Jesus’s tomb was found empty.
  3. Soon after the crucifixion, people said they saw Jesus alive. This included the apostle Peter, the church persecutor Paul, and the skeptic James the brother of Jesus.

Today, we’ll look at one more key fact, and then we’ll consider what conclusions we can draw.

4) Jesus’s followers were willing to die for their belief in the resurrection.

After Jesus’s crucifixion, his scared and confused followers scattered and hid. But then something amazing happened: they claimed they had seen Jesus alive again! Suddenly, they were transformed. They spoke boldly and publicly about Jesus being raised from the dead. Even after Jewish leaders and Roman officials threatened them with punishment, torture, and death, they refused to recant their testimony about seeing Jesus alive.

The biblical books tell us of some of the persecution, but extra-biblical sources tell us about the martyrdoms of Peter, Paul, and James (Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus , 91, 113, 134).

Martyrs testified to the resurrection
Many early Christians lost everything (Konstantin Flavitsky, 1862, public domain)
  • Peter went from denying he knew Jesus to boldly proclaiming Jesus’s resurrection. Rome crucified Peter.
  • Paul transformed from persecuting Jewish Christians to claiming he saw Jesus alive. He boldly spread news of the resurrection throughout the Roman empire. Rome beheaded him.
  • James the brother of Jesus changed from thinking his brother was crazy before the crucifixion to claiming the resurrected Jesus appeared to him. He became a leader of the Christian church (Acts 15:13; 21:18; Galatians 2:9). Jewish leaders executed him.

The disciples’ willingness to testify that they saw Jesus alive after he died despite threats against them is evidence that the disciples had experiences that they sincerely believed were appearances of the resurrected Jesus.

Don’t people die for lies?

But don’t people die for lies they believe are true? Yes, but there’s a crucial difference between them and those who claimed to see Jesus alive. Gary Habermas and Michael Licona explain:

No one questions the sincerity of the Muslim terrorist who blows himself up in a public place or the Buddhist monk who burns himself alive as a political protest. Extreme acts do not validate the truth of their beliefs, but willingness to die indicates that they regarded their beliefs as true. Moreover, there is an important difference between the apostle martyrs and those who die for their beliefs today. Modern martyrs act solely out of their trust in beliefs that others have taught them. The apostles died for holding to their own testimony that they had personally seen the risen Jesus. Contemporary martyrs die for what they believe to be true. The disciples of Jesus died for what they knew to be either true or false.

Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004), 59.

The conclusion of skeptics

That is why skeptic Bart D. Ehrman writes,

Historians, of course, have no difficulty whatsoever speaking about the belief in Jesus’ resurrection, since this is a matter of public record. For it is a historical fact that some of Jesus’ followers came to believe that he had been raised from the dead soon after his execution. We know some of these believers by name; one of them, the apostle Paul, claims quite plainly to have seen Jesus alive after his death.

Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), 231 (emphasis mine).
Ascension of Christ after resurrection
Rembrandt: The Ascension of Christ

It is also why atheist Gerd Lüdemann writes,

It is certain that something must have happened after Jesus’ death which led his followers to speak of Jesus as the risen Christ.

Gerd Lüdemann, What Really Happened to Jesus? An Historical Approach to the Resurrection, trans. John Bowden (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1995), 26.

Scholarly consensus

In fact, Gary Habermas surveyed more that 1,400 sources on the resurrection since 1975 and concluded this:

Perhaps no fact is more widely recognized than that early Christian believers had real experiences that they thought were appearances of the risen Jesus. A critic may claim that what they saw were hallucinations or visions, but he does not deny that they actually experienced something.

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 60.

What Best Accounts for These Facts?

Here are some of the options that skeptics put forth.

The resurrection is a legend?

The claims about the resurrection occurred too soon after the crucifixion for a legend to arise, and the disciples’ willingness to die shows they believed they saw the risen Jesus.

Jesus swooned?

A team of medical experts examined what we now know about scourging, crucifixion, and the account of Jesus’s death. Scourging resulted in severe blood loss. The crucified victim sometimes lived for days in tremendous pain. To exhale, he had to push up on his nail-pierced feet and wrists. Thus, when the soldiers wanted to hasten the death of the two men crucified with Jesus, they broke their legs. When they saw that Jesus was already dead, they pierced his side with a sword, causing a flow of blood and water. Here is what the medical team concluded:

Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between his right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured his death… Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge.

William D. Edwards, Wesley J. Gabel, and Floyd E. Hosmer, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 1986, 255:1463.

More problems with the swoon theory

Resurrection came after the crucifixion
“The Three Crosses,” by Rembrandt, 1653

Even if Jesus had somehow survived, he could not have rolled away the heavy stone, made it past the guards, and walked on injured feet to find the disciples. And if he had, the disciples would have thought that he survived, not that he was resurrected. They would have had to get him medical care and nurse him back to health. A weak and wounded Jesus would not have inspired the disciples to risk their lives proclaiming Jesus was raised from the dead.

Finally, this theory can’t account for the radical transformation of James and Paul.

The disciples hallucinated?

By far the most popular theory today among skeptics today is that the disciples only hallucinated what they thought were actual appearances of the resurrected Jesus.

But the hallucination theory doesn’t work because hallucinations are individual experiences of the mind, like dreams. Therefore, they cannot be shared. Yet, many of the testimonies about Jesus’s appearances were to more than one person at a time. Jesus appeared more than once to the eleven (John 20:19,26; 21:1), to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31), and on one occasion to more than 500 people (1 Corinthians 15:6).  Interestingly, when Paul writes about the appearance to the 500, he claims “most of whom are still alive,” implying, “You can go ask them yourselves.”

Indeed, for their experiences to be hallucinations, John would have had to have hallucinated Peter talking to Jesus while Peter hallucinated talking to Jesus when John passed by, both hearing the same words. While Thomas hallucinated Jesus telling him to put his hands in his wound, the other ten disciples would have had to have hallucinated watching the conversation.

Hallucinations aren’t shared

In fact, when U.S. Navy SEALS train, hallucinations are common due to extreme fatigue and sleep deprivation. But no two hallucinations are alike:

Most hallucinations occur while the candidates, as a team, paddle in a raft out in the ocean. One believed that he saw an octopus come out of the water and wave at him! Another thought he saw a train coming across the water headed straight toward the raft. Another believed that he saw a large wall, which the raft would crash into if the team persisted in paddling. When the octopus, train, and wall were pointed out by the candidates to the rest of the team, no one else saw them, even though they were all in the same frame of mind. Most of them hallucinated at some point, but none of them participated in the hallucination of another.

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 106-107.

The disciples stole the body?

Then they died for what they knew was a lie, and no one does that. People die for what they think is true that turns out to be false. But if they stole the dead body, then they were proclaiming a resurrection they knew didn’t happen. No one dies for what they know is a lie.

resurrection
“The Resurrection” ~ woodcut by Dore

In addition, this doesn’t account for the conversion of the two skeptics, James and Paul. Neither believed Jesus was the Messiah before the crucifixion. Both had experiences that they thought were appearances of Jesus. Both were willing to die rather than recant their testimony that they saw Jesus alive after the crucifixion.

Habermas and Licona write,

If the direct witnesses really believed that he rose from the dead, we can dismiss contentions that they stole the body and made up the story. In fact, virtually all scholars agree on that point, whatever their own theological positions.

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 62.

That Jesus really was raised from the dead?

This best accounts for the historical facts: Jesus really was raised from the dead. That’s why we can trust him and what he said.

That Jesus really was raised from the dead best accounts for the historical facts. Share on X

Interested in the evidence that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament promises, prophecies, & types? See my book, Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament.

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Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Part 1

Is there evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Or is Christianity simply a matter of blind faith?

It claims not to be. According to the Gospels, Jesus said his being “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” would be the “sign” that he came from God in fulfillment of Old Testament scriptures (Matthew 12:39-40). This is an obvious reference to his death, burial, and resurrection on the third day. Paul said that God “has given proof…to everyone” that he would judge the world by Jesus “by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). He also wrote, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

If the resurrection is supposed to prove so much, what evidence do we have today that it really happened?

Quite a bit.

The Testimony of Ancient Documents

Crucifixion before Resurrection
The Crucifixion (Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

We possess many ancient documents that tell us about the beginnings of Christianity. Scholars call these primary source documents. A primary source document is a first-hand account of a topic. Some of the primary source documents are extra-biblical (outside of the Bible).

The four Gospels, Acts, and 1 Corinthians are also primary source documents. They record Jesus’s death as well as eyewitness testimonies of Jesus’s subsequent resurrection.

A few skeptics object that these documents have not been accurately transmitted. That is, they claim the biblical sources must have been altered over time. But this is not true. Scholars use what’s called the bibliographical test to gauge how accurately ancient documents have been transmitted.

The bibliographical test examines the reliability of ancient manuscripts.

This test compares the number of surviving manuscripts of ancient documents and how much time elapsed between the earliest surviving copy and the date the original manuscript was handwritten.

Clay Jones explains:

The bibliographical test examines manuscript reliability, and for more than a generation Christian apologists have employed it to substantiate the transmissional reliability of the New Testament. The bibliographical test compares the closeness of the New Testament’s oldest extant manuscripts to the date of its autographs (the original handwritten documents) and the sheer number of the New Testament’s extant manuscripts with the number and earliness of extant manuscripts of other ancient documents such as Homer, Aristotle, and Herodotus.

Since the New Testament manuscripts outstrip every other ancient manuscript in sheer number and proximity to the autographs, the New Testament should be regarded as having been accurately transmitted. 

Clay Jones, “The Bibliographical Test Updated,” The Christian Research Journal

In other words, the bibliographical test shows that the biblical texts were accurately copied.

Ancient Documents Establish Key Facts

Now let’s move on to key facts that the primary source documents establish. Even skeptical and atheist scholars agree on a surprising number of basic facts.

1) Jesus died by Roman crucifixion.

Resurrection came after the crucifixion
“The Three Crosses,” by Rembrandt, 1653

That Jesus was crucified around AD 30 is a fact of history attested to in multiple primary source documents, including documents written by those who didn’t believe Jesus rose from the dead.

For example, the Roman historian Tacitus (56–120) wrote,

Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus.

Tacitus, Annals

Of course, the “extreme penalty” is crucifixion.

Skeptic and co-chair of the Jesus Seminar John Dominic Crossan writes,

That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.

John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1987), 179 .

The biblical sources also record the crucifixion: Matthew 27:32-31; Mark 15:21-47; Luke 23:18-54; John 19; Acts 2:23, 36; 4:10; and 1 Corinthians 1:23; 2:2; 2:8. Dr. Gary Habermas and Dr. Michael Licona write that the evidence for this and other data we’ll look at

are so strongly evidenced historically that nearly every scholar regards them as reliable facts.

Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004), 48.

2) Jesus’s tomb was found empty.

The four Gospels record that Jesus’s dead body was laid in a tomb, but the tomb was found empty days later. Here’s what else they record.

A Jewish leader placed Jesus’s dead body in a tomb.

Angel in tomb after the resurrection
“The Resurrection” ~ woodcut by Dore

All four Gospels record that a member of the Jewish ruling council named Joseph of Arimathea removed Jesus’s dead body from the cross and laid it in his own tomb (Matthew 27:57-60; Mark 15:42-46; Luke 23:50-53; John 19:38-42). This is significant because it is highly unlikely that the Gospel authors would fabricate this detail since it would have been easily verifiable by people alive at the time. Additionally, the early Christians blamed the Jewish leaders for the crucifixion, which makes it incredulous that they would invent a story about one of them attending to Jesus’s body.

Details like these are why cofounder and president emeritus of Internet Infidels, Jeffrey Jay Lowder, writes,

The burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea has a high final probability.

Jeffrey Jay Lowder, “Historical Evidence and the Empty Tomb Story: A Reply to William Lane Craig,” in The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave, ed. Robert M. Price and Jeffery Jay Lowder (Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2005), 265–66.

The tomb was found empty.

Next, the four Gospels report that on the third day after burial, women found the tomb empty (Matthew 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-10). Clay Jones explains the significance:

That the Gospels record women as being the first to discover the empty tomb makes it likely because of what is called the “criterion of embarrassment.” The criterion of embarrassment is a type of critical analysis where authors are presumed to be telling the truth if they record something that might be embarrassing to them or their cause. In short, no one in first-century Palestine would concoct a story with women taking the lead in the most vital discovery of Christianity!

Clay Jones, Immortal: How the Fear of Death Drives Us and What We Can Do About It (Oregon: Harvest House, 2020).

They record that after that, two disciples found the tomb empty (Luke 24:12; John 20:2-7).

The Jews claimed the disciples stole the body.

Matthew wrote that the Jewish leaders paid the guards who were watching the tomb to say that the disciples came at night while the guards slept and stole the body (Matthew 28:11-15). Extra-biblical documents attest to this report too. Justin Martyr (100–165) in his dialog with the Jew Trypho wrote:

You have sent chosen and ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim that a godless and lawless heresy had sprung from one Jesus, a Galilaean deceiver, whom we crucified, but his disciples stole him by night from the tomb, where he was laid when unfastened from the cross, and now deceive men by asserting that he has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven.

Justin Martyr, “Dialog with Trypho,” in Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers, vol. 2, Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, trans. Marcus Dods, George Reith, and B.P. Pratten, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Edinburg: T&T Clark, 1879), 235.

Why would the Jewish leaders claim Jesus’s body was stolen unless the tomb was empty? Additionally, if the Jewish leaders weren’t saying this, why would Matthew report this embarrassing detail?

Without an empty tomb, Christianity wouldn’t have begun.

Finally, if the tomb wasn’t empty, all the Jewish and Roman leaders had to do to quell Christianity was to produce Jesus’s body. Habermas and Licona note,

In the arid climate of Jerusalem, a corpse’s hair, stature, and distinctive wounds would have been identifiable even after fifty days.

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus , 70.

Christianity’s critics nowhere claimed to have found his body. Instead, they claimed the disciples stole the body. That is why

…roughly 75 percent of scholars on the subject accept the empty tomb as a historical fact.

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus , 70.

3) Soon after the crucifixion, people said they saw Jesus alive.

The primary source documents tell us that Jesus’s followers and two former skeptics all saw Jesus alive.

Ascension of Christ after resurrection
Rembrandt: The Ascension of Christ

Jesus’s followers claimed to see Jesus alive.

After Jesus’s crucifixion and burial, his confused and scared followers scattered and hid. But something happened that emboldened them.

Matthew recorded that he and the other ten disciples saw and spoke to the resurrected Jesus as a group (Matthew 28:16-20).

John wrote that the risen Jesus appeared to him, the other ten disciples, a woman, and others, often in groups (John 20:11-31).

Peter proclaimed to thousands that he was a witness to the fact that God had raised Jesus from the dead, as the non-Jewish historian Luke recorded (Acts 2; Acts 3:15; 4:10; etc.). Peter also wrote about the resurrection (1 Peter 1:21).

Former skeptic James saw Jesus alive.

Before the crucifixion, Jesus’s brother thought Jesus was “out of his mind” and tried to stop him from teaching publicly (Mark 3:21; John 7:5). According to an early Christian creed, the resurrected Jesus appeared to James (1 Corinthians 15:7).

Former Christian persecutor Paul claimed to see Jesus alive.

Paul (also known as Saul) was a devout Jew and a member of the strict Pharisee sect. He persecuted Jews who became Christians (Acts 8:3). Then one day he had an experience which he described as an encounter with the resurrected Jesus (Acts 9:1-9).

Jesus’s followers proclaimed the resurrection soon after the crucifixion.

I mentioned an early Christian creed. Paul quoted it here:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians around AD 55 (The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 52). He wrote that he had earlier “delivered” to them what he had “received.” That means Paul received the creed before his earlier visit to Corinth.

Based on this, skeptic Gerd Lüdemann writes,

We can assume that all the elements in the tradition are to be dated to the first two years after the crucifixion of Jesus.

Gerd Lüdemann, Resurrection of Jesus: History, Experience, Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1995), 38.

Likewise, atheist Michael Goulder notes that Paul’s testimony

…goes back at least to what Paul was taught when he was converted, a couple of years after the crucifixion.

Michael Goulder, “The Baseless Fabric of a Vision,” in Resurrection Reconsidered, ed. Gavin D’Costa (Oxford: Oneworld, 1996), 48.

To Be Continued

We’ve looked at key three facts that primary source documents support. That’s all we have room for in this post. So I’ll continue with the last one and the conclusions we can make from them in my next post.

The last one’s a doozy you won’t want to miss!

Discover how primary source documents provide evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Share on X

Interested in the evidence that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament promises, prophecies, & types? See my book, Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament.

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Will there be Sadness in Heaven over Unsaved Loved Ones? Part 3

In this series, I answer a reader who asked whether there will be sadness in heaven for parents of unsaved children. In Part 1, I listed several unsatisfying approaches to the question. Part 2 explains the first of three considerations involving this question: that blood relationships to both saved and unsaved children will change in heaven. This post examines two more considerations, both ways the judgment will affect sadness in heaven.

2) Revelation will Lessen Sadness in Heaven

Two of my girlfriends who thought they had married nearly perfect, godly men recently discovered their husbands had been involved in long-term affairs. Both women were shocked to find out that the men they were certain they knew intimately were actually living double lives: there was the “faithful Christian” life they portrayed in front of family and church friends, and then there was the worldly life they lived among others and in their thoughts.

Both men called hiding their sin from others “compartmentalizing”; the Bible calls it “walking in darkness” (John 3:20-21). The wives had loved a façade, not who that person really was.

Sometimes We Love a Facade

We cannot know with certainty what another person is like here on earth. But at the judgment, God will expose people’s hidden sins and motives (Romans 2:16; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Matthew 10:26). When we see the true nature of people who continued in evil and refused to repent, that nature may shock us, but it will also enlighten us as to why they don’t belong in the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes we will learn we loved a façade and the person we thought we loved never existed.

The “Remains” of the Unsaved will Differ

The question remains: The saved resurrect to glorified bodies, but what of the unsaved? Jesus speaks of “both soul and body” being destroyed in hell (Matthew 10:28), but the type of body isn’t clear. C. S. Lewis argues in The Problem of Pain that it will be less than the earthly body:

What is cast (or casts itself) into hell is not a man: it is “remains”. To be a complete man means to have the passions obedient to the will and the will offered to God: to have been a man—to be an ex-man or ”damned ghost”—would presumably mean to consist of a will utterly centred in its self and passions utterly uncontrolled by the will.” (1953: 113-114)

He illuminates his meaning further in the novel, The Great Divorce. If Lewis is right, then seeing ex-humans with uncontrolled wills will do much to help us understand why they are lost (though without necessarily stopping sorrow over the loss of what might have been—more on this momentarily).

3) Joy and Sadness can Co-exist

Sadness in Heaven over Unsaved Loved Ones

Detail of martyred Bartholomew in “Last Judgement” by Michelangelo (Web Gallery of Art, public domain, Wikimedia)

Philosopher and ethicist Adam C. Pelser argues in Paradise Understood that the saved will at times feel sadness and somberness over the lost, but that will not diminish joy. He says emotions result from evaluating something as good or bad, so emotions such as sadness and somberness are valuable because they help us “perceive, know, and appreciatively understand” badness and they enable us to fully appreciate goodness. For example, contemplating the Crucifixion on Good Friday causes sadness and somberness, but also increases “a deep, appreciative understanding of the significance of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ” and therefore increases the joy of celebrating Easter (2017: 130-131).

Joy and Sadness in Scripture Together

Pelser argues:

Indeed, Scripture attests that it is possible to experience a deep and abiding joy even amidst the most severe trials and tribulations of this life (cf. James 1:2). If a joy that is “inexpressible and filled with glory” is possible in this life (1 Peter 1:8), still so full of pain and suffering, how much more will a deep and abiding joy be possible in heaven where those who are saved will live forever free from the many and varied trials and tribulations of this life? Just as Christian joy need not be diminished by sad and somber reflection on the crucifixion of Christ in this life, the stable, enduring state of perfect heavenly joy will not be diminished by moments of sadness and somberness toward negative realities, especially when one views and understands those negative realities in the light of God’s perfect goodness. (2017: 131)

If Pelser is correct, then sadness can co-exist with joy even in this life.

Joy and Sadness on Earth Together

One of our foster children at 14 ran away to connect with her birth mom and gain freedom to live with boys, forget school, and enjoy drugs. We were heartbroken, while at the same time relieved to have the violence and turmoil she brought finally gone. We knew the separation was good for our family, yet cried over her choices because we loved her dearly.

But here’s the thing. Even though her choices and pain still saddens us, we no longer shed tears. In fact, somber reflection about her co-exists with a joyous knowledge of God’s grace to us and others.

Joy and Sadness in Heaven Together

Now, between our deaths and the creation of the new heavens and earth there will be time—perhaps substantial time. The judgment of billions of people follows the general resurrection. My husband Clay in his book, Why Does God Allow Evil?, points out that it would take 133,090 years to judge for ten minutes all seven billion alive today (2017: 155). That’s a long time and doesn’t include the judgments of those who have lived before.

My point is that there will be time to consider and adjust to losses of loved ones. The tears that God wipes away may include tears over lost loved ones.

Who knows? When God wipes away the tears, we may talk to him about all the attempts we and he made to draw those loved ones in, and we will be satisfied that all that could be done was. Somber reflection will co-exist with a joyous knowledge of God’s grace to us.

And when the day of Christ reveals loved ones whom we have poured our lives into are saved, we “may be proud that [we] did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Philippians 2:16). We shall join with angels in taking great joy over them (Luke 15:10).

Sadness in heaven over unsaved loved ones? Part 3: 2 Ways the Judgment will Affect Sadness Share on X

Sorrow in heaven over lost loved ones? Surprising answer of @AdamCPelser! Share on X

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Will there be Sorrow in Heaven over Unsaved Children? Part 2

In Will there be Sorrow in Heaven over Unsaved Children? Part 1, I began to address a reader’s question about sorrow in heaven over unsaved children and I listed three approaches to it that don’t work. In this post, we’ll look at the first of three consideration that shed light on the issue.

3 Helpful Considerations About Sorrow in Heaven

The first consideration pertains just to parents of adult unsaved children, while the next two in Part 3 address knowing any unsaved loved one is in hell.

1) Blood Relationships with Saved & Unsaved Children Will Change

That the question asked about a parents’ sadness over adult unsaved children is due, perhaps, to the fact that most people view parental love as the one that mourns loss most.  On earth, there are some complicating factors that make loss of children especially difficult. Some of these complicating factors will be replaced or disappear in the afterlife, and that may lessen sadness so that it becomes more like the loss of other loved ones.

a) The Instinctual Part of the Parent-Child Bond May Cease

When I was 11, I excitedly told schoolmates on the bus that our family dog, a German shorthaired pointer named Gayleene, had puppies. Two children wanted to see the puppies, so I brought them home. I opened the front door to the smell of damp fur and milk. I beckoned them to follow. But as I rounded the corner from the short hallway into the living room, I heard a roar and froze. Gayleene half rose, the four speckled puppies attached to the front of her chest dropping loose with a sucking sound while others further back kept feeding. Her roar—a mix of a howl and deep growl—emanated from her dappled chest, pulsed through her tautly stretched neck, and reverberated out her whiskered mouth opened in an “O” just below quivering nostrils. Her chocolate ears pressed back and her brown eyes bulged wild and wide.

I put out my hand to stop the others. “This isn’t a good idea,” I whispered, and they nodded, turned, and left. I shut the door and peeked back around the corner. Gayleene had lain back down and was busy nuzzling her little ones back into place so they could feed. I gingerly approached and sat in a chair not far from her while I pondered the sudden change in her personality. She ignored me, apparently not considering me a danger.

That day I learned that female animals have a strong instinct to protect their young. Later, I learned that both male and female humans generally have such an instinct, too. The Bible calls this instinct God-given and observes that ostriches have less of it (Job 39:14-17) while she-bears are ferociously endowed (Proverb 17:12).

The Mama-bear Instinct May Cease

Sorrow in heaven over unsaved children

Detail of Book of Life in “Last Judgement” by Michelangelo (Web Gallery of Art: Public Domain, Wikimedia)

Instincts are behaviors that are innate rather than learned. In fact, the Bible likens people who act on passions alone to animals who act on instinct rather than reason (2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10). Thus instincts seem to be part of our physical makeup—our “flesh and blood”—rather than our minds. Since “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50), I suspect that purely physical instincts that have no use in the next life will disappear with our earthly bodies.

This may include whatever is purely instinctual about the parent-child bond; for example, the mamma-bear instinct that causes parents to rush to defend their children. In humans, this protecting instinct ensures a family’s survival on earth, but such a drive is unneeded in the coming kingdom where there is no more death. If that instinct to protect our own disappears, then it would no longer drive emotions to greater heights.

b) Corruptions of Parental Love Will Cease

Although the instinctual parts of the parent-child relationship may desist, love will not, for “Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8).  On the other hand, certain corruptions of parental love that increase grief on earth will cease. Fire will reveal and burn these away (1 Corinthians 3:12-15):

  • The pursuit of immortality through offspring that causes the loss of an only child to also be the loss of preserving one’s memory
  • The pursuit of self-worth through being needed that results in loss of purpose when children leave or die
  • The idolizing of children that may result in abandoning God if family expectations aren’t met (Matthew 10:38)

c) A Sibling Relationship Will Replace the Parent-Child Relationship

Jesus considered blood ties to have less significance than spiritual ties (Matthew 10:37; 12:49-50). This particularly makes sense when we consider that in the kingdom of heaven our family relationships actually change, especially the parent-child relationship, because God adopts those who are born again (Romans 8:23). When someone adopts a child, her parental ties to the birth parent end.

In the kingdom of heaven, everyone will be a child of God the Father, and the earthly parent-child relationship will become a heavenly sibling relationship.

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Will There Be Sorrow in Heaven over Unsaved Children? Part 1

A reader asks about sorrow in heaven over unsaved children:

If we who are in Heaven have memory of our life back on earth, how can there be no mourning from parents who may not see their children in Heaven? But if our children are not with us in Heaven that would be a painful reminder that seems to interfere with Revelation 21:4.
Steve

The Problem of Sorrow in Heaven

This is a great question, Steve. I assume your question is about adult children since most theologians think young children are saved, as Dr. Clay Jones argues in Why Does God Allow Evil?: “Although Christians differ about whether all children will be saved, many of them, including apologists such as Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, and Greg Koukl, have argued that all who die before the age of accountability (see Deuteronomy 1:39) will be saved” (2017: 90).

Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” How can there be no more mourning or crying if Christian parents in heaven remember beloved unsaved adult children?

God’s Heart on Sorrow in Heaven

Let me begin with a story. One evening our foster daughters’ rebellion discouraged my husband and me greatly. We’d poured our lives into them, we’d done everything we knew to help them, we’d sacrificed for them, but they weren’t leaving destructive ways. So my husband went walking on the hill next to our house among the frames of partially constructed homes so he could pray. With tears in his eyes, he asked, “Lord, what if these girls never come to know you?” Immediately, the words came to mind: “Then you will know the fellowship of my suffering” (Philippians 3:10). At that, we understood better what it is like for God to love those who reject him. That helped immensely.

When we talk about sorrow in heaven over lost loved ones, it’s important to remember God’s heart. He desires all to be saved (Ezekiel 18:23; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Jesus grieved over the lost (Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41). He told us, “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). The Bible describes Jesus as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,” which assures us that “as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (Isaiah 53:3; 2 Corinthians 1:5). He shares our sorrow over lost loved ones.

3 Common But Unworkable Approaches to Sorrow in Heaven

Sorrow in Heaven depicted in Last Judgement

“Last Judgment” by Michelangelo (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Here are three common approaches to this problem.

Sorrow in Heaven Approach 1: Universalism

Some argue like this: Perfect joy in heaven cannot exist if loved ones reside in hell; the Bible says there will be perfect joy in heaven; therefore, everyone must go to heaven. But universalism contradicts Jesus’ teaching about eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46) and about salvation coming only through him (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

Sorrow in Heaven Approach 2: Memory Loss

This argument also contends that we cannot have perfect joy in heaven if loved ones are in hell, but resolves the problem by saying we won’t remember our earthly lives or even that we had children. But what would it mean for Jacob to be “gathered to his people” if he doesn’t know who “his people” are (Genesis 49:33)? Also, how can the deeds of the saved follow them (Revelation 14:13) if they don’t remember those deeds? To remember Corrie ten Boom’s faithfulness in the face of the Holocaust requires remembering the evil of the Holocaust, too.

Sorrow in Heaven Approach 3: Beatific Vision

The saved shall see God face-to-face and know him fully (1 Corinthians 13:4). We call this seeing and knowing the “beatific vision.” Particularly during the middle ages, many believed that in heaven the saved gaze and contemplate on God eternally. They’re so filled with joy that they’re unconcerned with anything else, including the lost. But Revelation 6:9-10 says “the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God” cried out, “how long before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth?” Also, in Jesus’ parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), the rich man is in Hades, yet Abraham knows his history and talked to him over a chasm.

There you have three common approaches that don’t work. In Part 2 and Part 3, I’ll cover three considerations about sorrow in heaven that do work. Part 2 addresses just the issue of parents knowing adult children are in hell. Part 3 addresses any unsaved loved ones.

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The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness

What’s the ultimate reason behind unforgiveness? Part 5 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

Forgiving without excusing is hard, so hard it sometimes seems unforgiveness won’t ever let go.

When I stopped excusing my mother’s actions as based on ignorance and inability to help herself, I had to learn something new: forgiving without excusing. I made good progress when I prayed in ways that bolstered faith in God’s promises and good care. The anger eased significantly. But it still sometimes flared unexpectedly.

Unforgiveness & a Cry for Help

Then one day it erupted in a way that scared me. I was driving my pale blue Toyota Corolla to work as the sun was just rising, when I spied a girl in a steel blue school uniform skipping gaily, two perfect dark braids bouncing on her carefully pressed short-sleeved shirt.

Her mother loves her, I thought. And then, I hate her!

In that moment I feared what I would become if I didn’t forgive my mother: filled with hatred and jealousy towards those who had what I wanted, even if they hadn’t wronged me. My stomach churned as I realized I had it in me to be like her. In my pride, I hadn’t thought that possible. Though I might never hurt a child as she did, if I harbored hatred I would be like her.

Suddenly, I wondered when she first chose not to forgive. Had she stood at the same crossroads, but made the easier choice and let bitterness seep in, not knowing it would spread and finally rule?

I clenched the steering wheel in desperation. “God, I don’t want to become like my mother. Help me forgive!”

Unforgiveness & a Cry for Justice

Unforgiveness finds Justice in the Crucifixion

The Crucifixion (Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

I considered how Jesus compared forgiving sin to forgiving a debt, and thought perhaps if I prayed aloud to release her from her debt—for God not to punish her for her sins—that might equal forgiveness even if my emotions dallied.

“God, I want you not to punish—” Do I? “No! That’s not what I want! I want Justice!”

And then I understood. More quietly I finished, “But I also want to be forgiven.” I paused as I remembered my ugliest sins.

I turned onto the freeway. Ahead, the morning sun had risen above the horizon. “God, I know my many sins against you far outweigh hers against me. So I pray that you draw my mother to know you, and if she receives Jesus as her Savior, then Justice will be done by his shed blood. And if she rejects Jesus, then Justice will be done when her sins are held against her. I forgive her as I want to be forgiven, and leave her in your hands.”

At that moment I knew it wasn’t mine to determine whether my mother received eternal forgiveness. That was between her and God. It wasn’t even mine to know to what degree my mother’s actions were intentional: Only God sees the heart.

In my heart, mercy had triumphed over judgment.

Peace washed up and through me. Yes, Justice would be done. I was humbled by the glimpse of the depths to which I could fall without God’s grace. And I was no longer angry. I truly wanted God to give my mother the same grace I wanted him to give me.

Unforgiveness Stripped Away

That was many years ago. Neither the jealousy nor the rage returned. As new affronts came—whether from her or others—the lessons learned through forgiving my mother helped me continue to forgive without excusing.

How Excusing Sin Leads to Unforgiveness

In time I understood how excusing sin actually produced the pride that prevented forgiving. I had initially excused my mother’s wrongs by telling myself she didn’t know better; after all, no sane person would purposefully and knowingly harm children. Thus, my siblings and I were safe from repeating her actions because we knew better. We were better than she because we had superior knowledge.

When my false belief that she didn’t know better collapsed, its sister belief changed slightly: “My siblings and I and most people I know would never purposefully and knowingly harm children.” Now, we were better than she innately.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn & why unforgiveness is unwarranted

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (by Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo [CC BY-SA 3.0 nl (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons)

And that was the pride blocking forgiveness: this subconscious sense that I was somehow better than she and therefore more deserving of mercy. When I wasn’t.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who suffered eight years in a Soviet gulag, asked this about those who committed genocide:

Where did this wolf-tribe appear from among our people? Does it really stem from our own roots? Our own blood?

It is our own.

And just so we don’t go around flaunting too proudly the white mantle of the just, let everyone ask himself: “If my life had turned out differently, might I myself not have become just such an executioner?”

It is a dreadful question if one answers it honestly.[i]

If I answer honestly, then I know that if my life had turned out differently (especially if I hadn’t come to Christ), I could have murdered or abused or terrorized or done any number of things I’ve escaped. I could have been like my mother. Because I’m not innately better. And therefore not more deserving of mercy.

We can Choose to Forgive

We can choose to forgive because forgiving is about more than one relationship with an offender: It’s about future relationships; about healing us; and about participating in divine Justice and Mercy.

The ultimate reason behind unforgiveness Share on X

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[i] Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, 73.

Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness
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4 Sins that Require Faith to Forgive

How do we take hold of faith to forgive when forgiving is tough? Part 4 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

Some sins are relatively easy to forgive: unintentional sins and minor wrongs, for instance. Other sins are much harder. Here are four that require faith to forgive.

It takes Faith to Forgive Sins that Cause Great Loss

When we lose possessions, relationships, health, or dreams because of someone’s sin, we’ll need faith to forgive: faith that we cannot lose anything of eternal value. Our heavenly treasures can be neither stolen nor destroyed (Matthew 6:19-21).

Martyrs had faith to forgive

Many early Christians lost everything (Konstantin Flavitsky, 1862, public domain)

I once lost a position after someone lied about me; I also lost relationships. I had to in faith believe that our losses and hurts here will not harm us in ways God cannot redeem. After all, God does work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). Indeed, when we suffer loss and hardship with faith, we gain an eternal reward (1 Peter 1:6-7; 2 Corinthians 4:17).

Our earthly losses are losses of temporal things only. We must let them go, for holding onto grudges over things lost makes those things idols raised above obeying God. Because of their faith, the first Christians “joyfully accepted” the plundering of their property because they knew that they “had a better possession and an abiding one” in the life to come (Hebrews 10:34).

It takes Faith to Forgive Malicious Slander

False and malicious slander is a fiery dart in the hand of the jealous, the power hungry, the fame seeker, the revenge taker, and the self-justifier. When aimed at us, we need faith to forgive: faith that believes only God’s opinion matters. Like Paul, we must consider others’ judgments “a very small thing” (1 Corinthians 4:1-5).

False witnesses accuse Jesus before the ruling council (José Madrazo, 1803, public domain)

A leader who believed the lies I mentioned above expressed harsh words about me. I memorized and quoted 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 regularly. I imagined myself holding up a giant shield of faith between me and the fiery darts of his judgments. The shield extinguished the darts, blocked them from piercing me, and moved my eyes from them onto our Redeemer.

Jesus warned that we would be unfairly maligned: “If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known” (Matthew 10:25-26). We don’t need to harbor unforgiveness because God can and will reveal the truth. His timing is perfect, even if the truth isn’t revealed till the Judgment.

It takes Faith to Forgive Wrongs Committed Over and Over and OVER

When family members or friends apologize, but keep doing the same things, they appear insincere. After all, repentance means trying to change. It takes faith to forgive repeatedly. In fact, when Jesus told the apostles they must forgive others over and over, they responded, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:3-5).

Jesus had faith to forgive Peter denying him 3 times

Peter denied Jesus 3 times (Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1873, public domain)

I doubt there’s anyone who hasn’t faced repeated wrongs. When my husband and I were dating, we agreed to never bring up a past wrong once we’ve said, “I forgive you.” To respond to an apology with, “But this is the fifth time,” is not loving, for love “keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Besides, bringing up past offenses separates even close friends, while putting forgiven faults behind us seeks love (Proverbs 17:9).

To forgive, I have to let go of that part of me which protests, “If she really cared, she wouldn’t keep doing this,” because how much someone loves me isn’t the point. That’s between her and God. My relationships aren’t about other people being what I want them to be: They’re about me being what God wants me to be.

Moreover, haven’t we all come to God confessing the same thing over and over again? We must grant the mercy we wish to receive. Only God knows the heart—which is why my part is to forgive and leave ultimate justice to God.

It takes Faith to Forgive Betrayal

Who hasn’t been betrayed by someone trusted? When we’re betrayed, it takes faith to forgive: faith that believes God rewards repaying hatred with love. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, do good to them, bless them, and pray for them, for God will greatly reward us (Luke 6:27-35).

Joseph had faith to forgive his brothers' betrayal

Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery (Konstantin Flavitsky, 1855, public domain)

When betrayed, we must remember no one can circumvent God’s good plans for us (Romans 8:28-31). After I learned that my mother knew her sins against me and my siblings were wrong, I prayed for insight into why the anger held on even though I’d tried to forgive her.

My Right?

It struck me that part of the reason is that I had considered parental love and goodness a right. God commands them, to be sure. But God had adopted me and I had a new, perfect Parent who was giving me all I needed: “Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close” (Psalm 27:10).

Beyond God’s Redemption?

I pondered further. Had I lost anything that God couldn’t work for good? No, Joseph’s story showed that (Genesis 50:20), and I’d already seen some good come from it in that others with similar backgrounds were more open to talk to me about Christ. Had I lost anything of eternal worth? No, heavenly treasures can’t be destroyed or stolen (Matthew 6:19-20). Everything that’s of this earth alone will pass away, so if I haven’t lost anything of eternal worth, then in the long run I haven’t actually lost anything.

A Prayer of Faith

In faith I chose to believe that God could use my mother’s betrayal for good, not just for me, but also for others (2 Corinthians 1:4). I prayed, “God, I trust you to work my mother’s wrongs for good for me, my siblings, and others. Keep the three of us from repeating her sins. Thank you for opening my eyes to know you. Thank you for the ways I’ve already seen you work good from my past.”

The anger finally began to subside.

Yet for this betrayal, I needed one more step. That’s the topic of my next post.

4 sins that take faith to forgive Share on X

How do we take hold of faith to forgive when forgiving is tough? Share on X

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Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness
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How Confessing and Forgiving are Inseparable

To forgive, combine confessing and forgiving as Jesus taught. Part 3 of “Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions.”

Jesus said something astonishing in the Lord’s Prayer about confessing and forgiving. He said we should pray,

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12

In so doing, he linked confessing and forgiving. He followed up with this:

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14–15

New Testament scholar D. A. Carson says, “There is no forgiveness for the one who does not forgive. How could it be otherwise? His unforgiving spirit bears strong witness to the fact that he has never repented” (Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World, 75).

Confessing and forgiving in "Return of the Prodigal Son"

A wayward son finds forgiveness and his father’s embrace in “Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (circa 1668)

Confessing and forgiving are strongly connected. True repentance is the necessary path to true forgiveness, for those who haven’t honestly and deeply repented of their own sins lack the capacity to forgive others.

Previously

In my last two posts, I discussed what forgiving isn’t and said that the first step towards forgiving is committing to forgive. I began the story of how I realized that I had been excusing my mother’s sin by saying, “I forgive her because she doesn’t know better.” When the fact that she had known better bowled over my excuses, I felt betrayed. Rage overcame me. Instead of excusing sin, I needed to do the much harder job of forgiving sin.

Confessing and Forgiving Come Before Confronting

When we’ve committed to forgive, the next step is not confronting those who’ve sinned against us in the hope they’ll apologize and make forgiving easier. Tim Keller explains why: “Only if you first seek inner forgiveness will your confrontation be temperate, wise, and gracious. Only when you have lost the need to see the other person hurt will you have any chance of actually bringing about change, reconciliation, and healing” (The Reason for God, 197). Yes, Jesus said to talk to Christians who’ve sinned against us (Matthew 18), but we must forgive first.

The next step is to pray to forgive in the way Jesus taught: “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). The prayer’s order is essential: confessing and forgiving.

Confessing and Forgiving: “Forgive Us our Debts”

When I need to forgive someone, I begin by confessing my own sins. This reminds me of the grace I need and thus prepares my heart to offer grace. Without regular confession, pride slithers in, and pride doesn’t forgive.

1) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal Recent Sins

I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal my sins, and then I allow my mind to skim over the events of the last day or so. If anything causes a twitch in my conscience, then I stop and ask the Holy Spirit to show me if I’ve done wrong. I ask him to remind me of verses that might apply.

If I’ve sinned, then I name the sin and confess it to my heavenly Father along with a Scripture that applies: “Father, I took up a reproach against Kathy. But Psalm 15 says those who draw near to you must not take up a reproach against a friend. I confess this was wrong and I ask for your forgiveness.”

It’s important to name the sin so I don’t treat it lightly.

2) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal Similar Sins

Jesus taught confessing and forgiving

The Hundred Guilder Print, by Rembrandt

Next I ask the Holy Spirit to show me if I’ve ever committed the same sin I’m about to forgive. Most often I have. If not, I look for similar sins.

With my mother, some offenses I had surely repeated, but no, I’d never committed some of the worse offenses. I had, however, intentionally hurt others. One example rushed to mind: at twelve I lied to my friend Kathy’s mother to get her in trouble.

Initially, I wanted to excuse this because I was retaliating. She had told our schoolmates that she had seen my mother hitting my head as I tried to get out the door on the way to school. She told them that there must be something terribly wrong about me for my mother to hate me like that. I was furious and wanted to pay her back by proving her mother hated her too. Was that a good excuse? No. God judges us by how we judge others, not how we judge ourselves. I had intentionally tried to hurt someone. I needed grace, and I needed to give it.

Besides, retaliation is itself a sin. Kathy may have hurt me unintentionally when she gossiped (at twelve, she may not have known her words would wound). But I believed it wrong; when I retaliated, I did what I believed was wrong. That’s always sin:

For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
Romans 2:1

3) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal Associated Sins

I ask the Holy Spirit if I have sinned in any way that is associated with the sin of the person I want to forgive. For instance, if there was a disagreement, did I misspeak in any way? If so, I need to not only confess that to God, but I need to apologize to the person for my part in the difficulty, no matter how small.

In the case of my mother, at the moment I discovered she had known her actions were wrong I hadn’t reacted in any sinful way. But something was nagging me about Kathy. I remembered that when my mother saw Kathy watching her, she ducked behind the kitchen cabinets. I had realized then that she knew her actions were wrong. There was another time, too, when a security guard threatened to call the police if he ever saw her speed around hairpin mountain roads with us in the back of the car again: she turned red and hung her head in shame.

Speaking Truth in the Heart

In my heart, I had known she wronged us intentionally. Why then had I grabbed so quickly to my teacher’s explanation that abusive parents were either ignorant or abused? Besides, it didn’t even make sense biblically. Jealousy drove Cain to kill Abel, not ignorance or wrongful hurts. My teacher was wrong: ignorance and hurt aren’t the only reasons people hurt others; we can, like Cain, choose sin.

I’d lied to myself and to God. Why? Partly because I held the false belief that thinking bad things about people made me a horrible person. But also because I believed good Christians forgive and good Christians aren’t filled with rage. Clinging to the lie pushed the anger underground and let me believe I was a good Christian doing the right thing.

I confessed my lie and the presence of anger and rage I knew shouldn’t be there.

My prayers changed that day: I started examining my emotions as I prayed so I could be utterly honest about what was inside me. Such honest prayer was humbling: it forced me to admit I’d thought too highly of myself.

Confessing and Forgiving: “As We Forgive our Debtors”

When I’ve confessed my sins, I pray, “Forgive me my sins as I forgive those who sin against me.” Then in prayer I move to forgive those who’ve sinned against me.

1) Ask the Holy Spirit to Reveal the Truth about What I’m Forgiving

Rather than brushing all sin under the carpet of unintentional, I now try to understand whether the evidence supports intentional or unintentional sin. Because “Love … believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7), I give the person the benefit of the doubt based on the actual evidence. I refuse to judge hidden motives:

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts
1 Corinthians 4:5

This helps me forgive what actually happened. Forgiving something that didn’t happen isn’t true forgiving. Scripture calls sin a debt, and we can err on both sides of the debt equation. If someone owes me $1,000 dollars and I accuse her of owing me $10,000, then I will have a difficult time forgiving because doing so demands that I hold to a fantasy of having been wronged more than I have. On the other hand, If someone owes me $1,000 and I offer forgiveness for $100, the hundred is easier to forgive, but it requires I hold to the lie that the other $900 wasn’t taken.

Christ preaching on confessing and forgiving

Christ Preaching (La Petite Tombe), by Rembrandt

Either way, the truth has a way of poking through lies.

Those who wish to dwell with God must speak truth in their hearts (Psalm 15:2). If what we’re forgiving is unintentional sin, then we must forgive it as such. If we’re forgiving intentional, even malicious, sin, as much as it hurts, we must acknowledge it.

2) Name the Person and the Sin

When in prayer I forgive someone, I name the person and the sin:

  • “God, I forgive Kathy for gossiping about me”
  • “I forgive my mother for driving at high speeds around hairpin turns while drunk with us in the backseat”

Naming people individually keeps me from letting this be a flippant exercise rather than part of worship. Naming the sin ensures that what I’m forgiving is an actual sin. If I cannot name the sin according to what it’s called in the Bible, then I confess that I have held something against someone that was not a sin and ask the Holy Spirit to show me why I’ve done so. Naming the actual sin often leads to meditation on why God calls that action sin. It also leads me to the next prayer part.

Confessing and Forgiving: Ask God to Forgive Me as I Forgive

I then ask God to forgive me as I forgive this person: “I forgive my mother as I want you to forgive me; I give her the grace you’ve given me.”

This prayer does not mean forgiving others causes God to forgive me, as if I must pay for forgiveness (a paltry payment indeed, compared to what really bought my forgiveness). Rather, it reminds me of what my Lord wants me to do so I may do it at once.

***

In most cases, confessing and forgiving as I’ve outlined here is all I need do. But if I’ve suffered a great loss, I must pray three more prayers.

Confessing and forgiving are linked because true forgiving requires true repentance Share on X

Forgive Intentional Sin—Don’t Just Manage Emotions | In this series: 
  1. What Forgiving Isn’t: 5 Stand-ins that Masquerade as Forgiving
  2. Must I Forgive THIS Sin?
  3. What Makes Confessing and Forgiving Inseparable
  4. Four Sins that Require Faith to Forgive
  5. The Ultimate Reason Behind Unforgiveness
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