Is Jesus’ Life Historical? All four gospel writers mention the triumphal entry. It reads like true history. • There are 7 real places and 7 different people or groups mentioned (two of them OT prophets). • R.V.G. Tasker says, “Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time in a manner which showed that He was none other than the Messiah, the Son of David, who was coming to Jerusalem to claim the city as His own.” Talking Jesus Survey In 2015 • 61% believed that Jesus was a real human being. • 22% believe Jesus is a mythical/fictional character. • 44% believed in the resurrection. In 2022 (seven years later, same survey) • 54% believed that Jesus was a real human being (only 49% age 18-24). • 28% believed Jesus is a mythical/fictional character. • 45% believed in the resurrection (17% don’t know, age 18-24) The Wall Street Journal Poll published this week: • in 1998, 62% - viewed religion as very important. • in 2023, 39% viewed religion as very important. If the dominate worldview of the classroom/university is progressive-cultural Marxism, then history as fact, as a discipline, will be discarded in the classroom. Carl Trueman in, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, quotes an expert on education who says, “Forgetfulness is now the curricular form of our higher education… this generation will be the first of the new barbarism, committed to the denigration, destruction, and erasure of the past.” • Higher education is now about historical amnesia. But, for the Christian, history doesn’t make sense without Christ, and Christ doesn’t make sense without history. Jesus is Lord of all time (past, present, and future) and HE will bring history to a close in His coming kingdom. Warner Wallace was an atheist. He once believed Jesus was a fairy tale. He didn’t trust the Bible to tell him the truth. He was a detective. Wallace began to investigate all the non-Christian testimony that prove Jesus existed as a real historical person. He investigated 10 sources from the late 1st to 5th Century. If you want to read all the quotes, go to the website, Cold-Case Christianity. What historical detail do we learn about Jesus from all these non-Christian sources, all written within the 1st – 4th centuries? Wallace summarizes: “Jesus was born and lived in Palestine. He was born, supposedly, to a virgin and had an earthly father who was a carpenter. He was a teacher who taught that through repentance and belief, all followers would become brothers and sisters. He led the Jews away from their beliefs. He was a wise man who claimed to be God and the Messiah. He had unusual magical powers and performed miraculous deeds. He healed the lame. He accurately predicted the future. He was persecuted by the Jews for what He said, betrayed by Judah Iskarioto. He was beaten with rods, forced to drink vinegar and wear a crown of thorns. He was crucified on the eve of the Passover and this crucifixion occurred under the direction of Pontius Pilate, during the time of Tiberius. On the day of His crucifixion, the sky grew dark and there was an earthquake. Afterward, He was buried in a tomb and the tomb was later found to be empty. He appeared to His disciples resurrected from the grave and showed them His wounds. These disciples then told others Jesus was resurrected and ascended into heaven. Jesus’ disciples and followers upheld a high moral code. One of them was named Matthai. The disciples were also persecuted for their faith but were martyred without changing their claims. They met regularly to worship Jesus, even after His death.” • Gary Haabermas says there are at least 17 non-Christian writings recording more than 50 details concerning the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus – plus details concerning the earliest church. • The truth is Jesus is the most significant person in ALL of history. In the Library of Congress there are 110 Million books (532 miles of books) . Jesus - 17,239 books • Shakespeare - 9,801 • Lenin - 4,492 • Lincoln - 4,379 • Napoleon - 4007 According to the Google Books Database, Jesus is still the subject of the most published books in the world with 109 million books. • The only people who deny Jesus existed, are those who for political reasons, nefarious reasons, want to erase Jesus from history. • To erase history is to erase Christ. • It is believed that philosopher George Santayana, was first to say, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” CONCLUSION: Luke 19:41, “When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known on this day, even you, the conditions for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will put up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground, and throw down your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” • Jesus wept as He was approaching Jerusalem, because He knew many would not recognize Him as their King. Instead, Jerusalem will attempt to erase their King from history on the cross. Jerusalem rejected God's conditions for peace, and that meant God’s judgment will fall on Jerusalem – just as Jesus said – in A.D. 70. CONCLUSION What is the right response to Jesus? • We must cry out to Him, Hosanna, “Save us now.” • We must recognize Him as God and King. • We must agree to His terms of peace – to repent and believe. • We must put our whole trust in Him by faith and worship Him as our Lord and Savior. Salvation Prayer: “Dear God, I know I’m a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son you sent to this dying world. I believe that He died for my sin and that You raised Him to life. I want to trust Him as my Savior and follow Him as Lord and King, from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do Your will. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.”