People Don’t Die for a Lie!

Wade L. Webster

Haddon Robinson made the following argument for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus:

Men have preached a lie, knowing it’s a lie if, in preaching it, they have put gold in their pockets. Men have preached a lie, knowing it’s a lie if, when preaching it, they have achieved power and authority. But men do not preach a lie, knowing it’s a lie if, every time they preach it, they are courting imprisonment, persecution, poverty, and death. Men do not preach a lie, knowing it’s a lie if, every time they preach it, they are pounding nails in their caskets. Men do not preach a lie, knowing it’s a lie, if it means that they will be crucified upside down as was Peter, or that they will be beheaded as was Paul, or that they will be stoned to death as was Stephen. It is contrary to all human experience for men to go out and spend their lives preaching a lie, knowing it’s a lie, if every time they preach it, they are ostracized from the community, hounded by the authorities, and turned into the laughingstock of society. And yet that is precisely the penalty the early Christians paid for preaching the resurrection.

Luke records that with “great power” the apostles gave “witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 4:33). The willingness of these men to suffer for this doctrine should give us great confidence that the tomb was found empty and that Jesus is reigning at the right hand of God today.