Now there we are, the Jesus of history like to talk about this
for a little while here and how we present this lends itself to
using a PowerPoint here, which is that's a reason, obviously a
reason I use it here. But, you know, evidence for
Jesus outside the Bible is what we're talking about.
And the the thing we're obviously the thing was as
Christians were interested in is we believe in the Lord, but and
we have faith in him. We have faith in what the Bible
says about him is true. But there's these people in the
world here that say, yeah, this is a bit of fiction that you
have and that you're believing, putting your faith in.
And, you know, if people are, if he's a person of history, there
should be evidence for him outside of the book that you're
looking at here. And although the Bible is the
primary, is a primary source of, of evidence for the existence
and for the life of Jesus, I'd like to notice that there is
more than just what is in the Bible.
To start off. You know, Carl said he believes
in, he believes in George Washington because of history.
Well, I'm going to talk about the 16th president here, Abraham
Lincoln. We believe in him and we
understand that he's a character of history.
We understand facts, certain facts about him, about his life,
that he existed, that he lived, that he was president, and that
these certain things happen now about him and about people.
Sometimes there's things that are said about them that did not
happen, such as such as there was a movie made called Abraham
Lincoln Vampire Hunter. And so here you have a basis of
an actual person, true person, but then fictional things about
them. And sometimes the idea with
Jesus is, yes, he existed, but what did he do?
What did he do? What's the validity, What's the
truth about what he was? And so we understand there's a
couple of different levels of looking at a true character from
history and then looking at what he is, what he did and the, the,
the things that he, the, the things that history says that he
did. Now we're not going to notice
about Jesus, about him being a vampire hunter or about him
being about the things that he did.
That's actually a talk for another time and perhaps many
talks for other times there. But he was not going to rest
assured. There's no claim that he was a
vampire hunter by any means here.
But you understand 2 levels of talking about a real person and
then fictionalized accounts of that real person.
Now I want to look at another level here, and that is Spider
Man. There's nobody that says that
Spider Man is an actual character.
I don't think so. My some of my grandkids may.
I'm not sure. But anyway, there's nobody.
It's a fictional character. He's a fictional character.
There's no basis in history. There's a basis in fiction is
what it is. And so you see different levels
here, A true character, a true character and questionable
things about how he lived. And then the third level here is
a fictional character here. So what we're concerned with
this afternoon, we're concerned with talking about Jesus, on
which category he is really about this category or that
category. We're not talking about this
category at all here this afternoon.
We're talking about whether he is a true character of history
or whether he is not, because actually the Bible is a book
that talks about things that took place within space and
time. They had happened in a certain
place or in certain places that are are real places.
They're not fictional accounts. They're not fictional places.
And then at certain specific times it happened.
So these are actual events of history that are talked about in
the Bible. That is our claim as Christians.
And so if Jesus is a work of fiction, if the story of Jesus
is a work of fiction, then nothing we do here matters.
It really doesn't matter. We may as well really, even
though we like each other, even though we appreciate each other.
But if Jesus is a work of fiction, we may as pack it in
and go home and not show up anymore.
Because what we're doing and what we're basing our life on
and what we're basing the basing our faith in is simply a matter
of fiction. There's no use for it really in
that sense there. Here's what the Bible says.
First Corinthians 15, verses 14 through 17.
Yes, I have that here. Christ has not been raised.
Then you're preaching. Then our preaching is vain.
Your faith also is vain. Moreover, we are found to be
liars, false witnesses of God, because we testified against God
that he raised Christ, who he did not raise.
If in fact the dead are not raised, and if Christ has not
been raised, your faith is worthless.
You're still in your sins. In other words, if it's fiction
about the story of Christ as told in Scripture, then it's a
bunch of baloney what we're doing here really to pull it
down here. What Peter says but or what Paul
says here. But on the other hand, if Jesus
is true and if the things the Bible says about Jesus is true,
then nothing else matters. Then nothing else matters except
for what it says here. First John chapter 1 verses one
through 3. We looked at this in the this
morning. What was from the beginning
which we have heard, which we've seen with our eyes, which we've
looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of
life. The life was manifested.
We have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested to us that we
that what we have seen and heard we proclaimed to you so that you
may have fellowship with us. In other words, we told you
about this these things that we actually saw that we experienced
that we saw we were truly eyewitnesses of this.
We we revealed that to you. We testified to you and now you
can share in our knowledge and in our understanding with us as
well so that you can have fellowship with us in this so
testimony about Jesus. Second Peter one verse 16.
We did not follow cleverly devised tales.
We made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty.
These were not sometimes how people talk about being witness,
witnesses, witnesses of Christ. We don't have witnesses of
Christ today. They were witnesses here.
They were eyewitnesses. It's what the Bible talks about
there. We what we have today, we may
have witnesses of what we have experienced, but we have not
seen Jesus. They had seen Jesus.
They were first hand witnesses. They were not hearsay witnesses.
They were actual witnesses of the things that they talked
about here in this is what Peter testifies here in second Peter
one and verse 16 again Acts chapter 10 and verse 39, a very
similar passage. Peter himself is speaking again
and he says this. We are witnesses of everything
that Jesus did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They killed him, hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from
the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.
He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom
God had already chosen by us, who ate and drank with him after
he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the
people and testify that he is the one that God has appointed
to judge the living and the dead.
This is what Peter said to Cornelius and his household
there, there in Acts the 10th chapter.
So notice he says we are witnesses.
We saw him, we ate with him, we drank with him after he rose
from the dead. And we know that these things
happened here. So what does the Bible say
related to Jesus? Now, we're not going to put
everything in here because that's just simply not
reasonable here. But often times in making a case
and making a court case or making a case from an
evidentiary case, as far as as far as an investigation goes,
often times you want to make a profile of the one that you're
investigating that you're looking at and you want to look
at the evidence and see what the evidence says and the put the
profile together here. Now I, you know, I've never been
a law enforcement person. I have had investigative
training in investigating cemeteries and funeral homes.
I have had training on that and I know a little bit about that.
I you know a lot of things I don't know, but anyway, but an
investigator here in this when they're wanting to know
information about this, they're going to my Alex and Irene and
Cindy and Charlie Cat back there.
I heard y'all were coming. I just didn't see y'all here
until just now. Welcome, welcome dear people,
dear people from up Porterville now.
So anyway, So what does the Bible testimony about Jesus?
We want to put together a profile of him from selected
passages in Scripture. We're not going to have
everything about him, but we're going to look at some things and
then we're going to look at some things that are said as far as
in historical documents about related to this here.
Just following and we'll go along here.
So Bible testimony about Jesus #1 Matthew 2, verse one.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea in the days of Herod the
King. Now this is going to go pretty
quick here, so just hang on here.
Hang on and you'll see it here again.
During the reign of Tiberius, Luke 3 verse one says that's
one. He was born during that time.
Matthew one, verse 23 Behold, the Virgin shall conceive in
their birth to the Son. They shall name him Emmanuel,
which being translated is God with us.
Matthew 13 verse 55. Is this not the Carpenter son
they said at that time, Luke 13 and three, No, I tell you, but
unless you repeat, you will all perish.
This is Jesus said to the people of his day there Matthew 9
Matthew 9, verse 9 as Jesus went on from there, he saw a man
called Matthew sitting in the tax collector's office.
He said, follow me and he got up and he followed him there.
Galatians 3 verse 26 for you are all sons and daughters of God
through faith in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul says there.
Matthew our Mark 6 verse two. He began to each in the
synagogue and and the many listeners were astonished saying
Where did this man learn these things and what is the wisdom
that he has given to him and such miracles as as these
performed by his hands there the testimony Mark the 6th chapter
again John 8 verse 24 Unless you believe that I am he, you will
die in your sins. Jesus says on that occasion.
Mark the 2nd chapter verse 10. He says, but so that you may
know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive
sins. He says to the paralyzed man, I
say to you, go get up, pick up your pallet and go home.
John the 14th chapter verse 29. Now I have told you before it
happens, so that when it happens you may believe.
Matthew 22 verse 15. Then the Pharisees went and
plotted together how they might trap him in what he said.
Mark the 3rd chapter verse 19. Judas Iscariot also, who also
betrayed him. A reference here to one of his
disciples, one of the apostles there at that time.
Again John the 19th chapter verses 14 and 16.
That He was crucified on the ether eve of the Passover is
what it testifies to. There He was crucified by
Pilate. John 19 verses 15 and 16.
Matthew 27 verse 45. Now from the 6th hour darkness
fell upon the land, until the 9th hour.
Matthew 27 verse 51. And behold, the veil of the
temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook,
and the rocks were split. Luke 24 verses one through 3.
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they come,
and they were come to the tomb, breeding spices which they had
prepared, And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.
And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord
Jesus. John 20, verse 20.
And when he said this, he showed them both his hands and his
side. The disciples then rejoiced when
they saw the Lord in Acts 10, verses 39 through 42.
We read a portion of this a little earlier.
We are witnesses of all these things that He did, both in the
country of the Jews, in Jerusalem.
They also put Him to death, hanging Him on a cross.
God raised Him up on the third day, and granted that He might
be, that He be revealed not to all the people, but to witnesses
whom He had chosen beforehand, who had been chosen beforehand
by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He rose
from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to
the people, and to testify solemnly that this is the one
who has been appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.
Again. Titus 2, verses 11 and 12.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to
all people, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly
desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the
present age. Acts 2, verse 42.
They continue devoting themselves to the apostles
teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer. And so here is our profile that
we have put together concerning Jesus.
Born in Judea during the reign Tiberius season.
Born of a virgin carpenter's son.
Taught repentance, taught brothers, taught that their
brothers and sisters through faith wise.
He had wise new teachings and miraculous powers.
He claimed to be the Messiah and God.
He predicted the future. Persecuted by the Jews, betrayed
by Judas Iscariot, crucified on Passover Eve, crucified under
Pontius Pilate's authority. The sky grew dark at his
crucifixion Earthquake. There was an earthquake at his
crucifixion. The tomb was empty.
He appeared to his disciples and showed his wounds.
His disciples claimed he was resurrected.
The disciples claimed he had ascended.
Disciples followed a high moral code.
In this he had a disciple named Matthew.
Disciples were persecuted for their faith and the disciples
met to worship him. So this is a testimony.
This is a profile we have simply drawn from scripture here in of
Jesus. Now what if we erased the Bible?
What if it wasn't there? What would the pro, What would a
profile be that we could draw from historical documents, non
biblical writings, secular writings about him, testimony
related to Jesus. If it was gone, the Bible
testimonies rather than Jesus, what could there be?
So it's all been erased. It's no longer there.
So what could it be? Well, there is evidence for
Jesus outside the Bible. And the interesting thing about
evidence for Jesus outside the Bible being said, well,
Christians could write about him, you know, outside the Bible
and say these things. And people, people who are
members of the faith and believers in Jesus throughout
history could write about him and all this stuff.
That's not what we're talking about here.
We're talking about people who did not like him, people who are
hostile to Jesus. They were not Christians.
They were not at all. They were not at all.
Many of most of these were not at all amicable to the Christian
faith. They were against Christ and
against the Christianity and, and all of these things.
So this is what we want to look at here on this.
And so because oftentimes in a, in a, in a trial, they can take
somebody who's on trial and they can, they can interview them and
they'll tell their story there. But then they take somebody who
may be their enemy, who may be against them in the trial and
they're interview that person too.
And you know what, the person who is opposed to the to the
opponent in the trial, you know what the some of the things they
say will corroborate and verify the things what they testified
about. This is what we have here in
this. These are hostile witnesses.
These are hostile witnesses that we are building this case or
building a case for evidence of Jesus outside the Bible.
And so here we have our first category is hostile non biblical
Pagan accounts. These are not Bible based.
They are not Jews, they are not Christians.
These are pagans. These are people who were not at
all affiliated, not at all affiliated with the faith in any
ways, not even the Hebrew faith there Thallus in 52 AD Thallus
thallus was this is generally he was hostile, generally hostile
to Christianity and many writers denied the miraculous name of
nature of Jesus and the events of his life.
And so here Thalis is perhaps the earliest secular scholar
writer to mention Jesus. He is so ancient that his
writings don't even exist anymore.
So how do we know they decide anything about it?
Because somebody quoted him is why a man by the name of Julis
Africanus around 221 AD he writes and he quotes Thalis who
had tried to explain away the darkness that Jesus crucifixion.
Here's what he said here's what he said Thalis wrote.
He said on the whole on the whole world they're oppressed
the most fearful darkness and the rocks were rent by an
earthquake in many places in Judea and other districts were
thrown down this darkness. Thalis in the third book of his
history calls as appears to be without reason and eclipse of
the Son. So Julius Africanus said said
this. And so from Phallus's record
recorded by Julius Africanus, we understand Jesus lived, Jesus
lived. Notice Jesus lived, He was
crucified. There was an earthquake in
darkness at the point of his crucifixion.
So he was opposed to Jesus. But from his testimony, we can
understand, we can pull out these things from what he said
there. Another one, Tacitus in 56 to
120 AD Cornelius Tacitus, known for his analysis and examination
of historical documents. It was among the most trusted of
ancient historians. He was a senator under Emperor
Vespatian and also Pro Council of Asia.
In Tacitus annals in 1116 AD, he describes Emperor Nero's
response to the great fire in Rome and Nero's claimed claim
and efforts to blame it on the Christian.
Consequently, he wrote consequently to get rid of the
report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted most exile
exquisite tortures. Oh, Salas, let's let's come on.
Come on there, Testus. OK, as you said, as you said, as
Wade said, it may not work. So we're we're we're we're not
having that work anymore. OK, we're not using that.
I'll just use the arrows here and go there.
So consequently, in order to get rid of the report, Neil fasten
the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class
hated by for their ambition abominations called Christians
by the populace. Christus, as Christ, from whom
the name had its origin, suffer the extreme penalty during the
reign of Tiberius, at the hands of one of our procurators,
Pontius Pilate. And a most mischievous
superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out.
Not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in
Rome were all things hideous and shameful from every part of the
world. And their center.
And find their center and become popular.
So what can we understand from Tacitus testimony?
That Christus lived in Judea. Christ, if you will, lived in
Judea. He was crucified under Pontius
Pilate. His followers are persecuted for
their faith in Christ, and they were referred to as Christians
there by the populace. Another one, Merabar Sapion in
8070, wrote in 8070, Merabar Sapion.
Sometime after 8070, a Syrian philosopher, Merabar Sapion,
wrote to encourage his son, and he compared the life and and
persecution of Jesus with other philosophers who are persecuted
for their teachings and for their thought.
And so he was trying to encourage his son.
In that he demonstrates that Jesus is known to be a real
person and with this kind of influence and and with this kind
of influence is important an important person because he's
referring to him to encourage his son to endure the problems
that he was dealing with. He refers here in this writing
to Jesus as the wise king. What benefit?
Here's what he said. What benefit did the Athenians
obtain by putting Socrates to death?
Famine and plague came upon them as judgement for their crime.
Or the people of Samos for burning Pythagoras in in one
moment their country was covered with sand.
Or the Jews by murdering their wise king after their Kingdom
was abolished. God rightly avenged these men.
The wise king lived on in the teachings he enacted.
And so this would be after basically, basically after the
destruction of Jerusalem when he wrote this and he's telling his
son here, encouraging him and continuing on with even though
he has opposition under what he is believing and what he is
practicing here. So Meribahn Sapien said that
Jesus was a wise, influential man.
He died for his beliefs. The Jewish leaders were
responsible for his death and Jewish followers, Jesus
followers adopted his beliefs and lived their lives
accordingly. According to Meribahn Sapien
Felgian, another one Felgian was similar to Thalus.
Julus Africanus also mentions a historian, Fallegian who wrote a
chronicle of history around 140 AD.
Fallegian's history also mentions the darkness
surrounding the the crucifixion. Allegian records that in the
time of Tiberius Caesar at full moon there was a full eclipse of
the sun from the 6th to the 9th hour.
And interesting thing is that there's during the Passover,
during the Passover, there's a full moon out there.
And so you could not have an eclipse of the sun during the
time of full moon simply because they're on the wrong side of
the, you know, the sun and the moon are on the wrong side of
the Earth for that to happen there.
So the darkness at the time of the crucifixion was not, was not
a, was not a, what do you call those?
Yeah, I never mind. It was it wasn't where the where
the sun's covered up by the moon.
Sometimes I can't, I can't remember my words.
Forlegion also is mentioned by Origin.
Now Origin was a sympathizer to Christianity.
He was one who believed in Christ.
But he wrote about what Forlegion wrote.
Here's what he said. Now Forlegion in the 13th and
14th, in the 14th book, I think of his chronicles not only
ascribed to Jesus a knowledge of future events, but he also
testified that the result corresponded to his predictions.
In other words, Jesus predicted new future events and predicted
it and it happened. And with regard to the eclipse,
eclipse, that's the word I was trying to find with regard to
the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign
Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great
earthquakes which then took place.
Then again, he says Jesus while alive was of no assistance to
himself. In other words, he didn't defend
himself, but that he arose after death and exhibit the marks of
his punishment and showed how his hands had been pierced by
nails. And this was Origin and origin
was writing against the false teachings of Celsius.
There is what I was doing. So here we have from this that
Jesus accurately predicted the future.
He was crucified during Tiberius Caesar's reign.
He was resurrected and he showed his wounds to his disciples
there after that Pliny the younger 61 to 113 AD they he
said they the Christians now Pliny the younger a little bit
about him. Pliny the Younger, he is a non.
He was Blimey. The Younger wrote this in a
letter to the Emperor Trajan, and he describes the lifestyle
of Christians as what he is doing here.
He says they, the Christians, were in the habit of meeting on
a certain fixed day before it was light, and when they sang in
alternate verses a hymn to Christ as to a God, and bound
themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never
to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery.
Never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be
called upon to deliver it, to deliver it up.
After which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble
to partake of food, the food of an ordinary and innocent and
innocent kind. So plenty of the younger shows
that Christians believe Jesus was God.
Christians upheld a high moral code, and these earlier
followers met regularly to worship Jesus.
Now they have some other things in there which they misdescribe
about the the Lord and about the Christians.
But they do describe some elements that are simply
verified, verified Scriptures. In this Suetonius, about 69 to
140 AD. He was a Roman historian and
analyst of the imperial house under Emperor Hadrian.
He describes the treatment of Christians under Emperor
Claudius about the time 41 to 51 AD there.
Here's what he writes. Because the Jews at Rome,
because the Jews at Rome caused constant disturbances at the
instigation of Christus, that is Christ, he, Claudius, expelled
them from the city and from the city from Rome.
And that's referred to in in the book of Acts, if I'm not
mistaken there on that he goes further to say about Nero.
When Nero was emperor, Nero inflicted punishment on the
Christians, a sect given to a new and mischievous religious
belief as what Cetonius said. And so we can understand from
Cetonius that Christians were committed to their belief that
Jesus was God and withstood the torment and punishment of the
Romans. Jesus followers died
courageously for what they knew to be true.
So next we save we see Lucian of Salmon Salma Samosada 1:15 to
200 AD. Lucian was a Greek satirist and
he wrote very sarcastically about Christ and about
Christians. But in the process, this is a
this is an ancient comedian, basically what it was.
And but in the process, he affirmed that they were true.
He actually affirmed their their, their reality that they
were real people and never referred to them as fictional
characters. Here's what he writes.
The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day, the
distinguished personage who introduced them to their novel
rights and was crucified on that account.
You see, these misguided creatures start with the general
conviction that they are immortal for all time, which
explains the contempt of death and voluntary self devotion
which are so common among them. And then it was impressed on
them by their original lawgiver, that they are all brothers from
from the moment they are they are converted, and deny the gods
of Greece, and worship the crucified sage, and live after
his laws. All this they take quite on
faith, with the result that they despise our worldly goods alike,
regarding them merely as common property.
And so we understand from this what we can see is that we can
add to our description of Jesus that he taught about repentance
and about the family of God. These teachings were quickly
adopted by Jesus followers and exhibited all all around the
world to to all the world around them.
There the next one is 1 called Celsius.
And Celsius was very antagonistic to the claims of
the gospel. But his criticism unknowingly
affirms and reinforces the biblical author's testimony.
He writes extensively and alludes to at least 80 different
biblical quotes in his writings, confirming their early
appearance in history. And in addition, he admits the
miracles of Jesus were generally believed by the people.
And in the early 2nd century there.
Here's what he wrote. Jesus had come from a village,
Excuse me, I come from a village in Judea, and was the son of a
poor Jewish Jewish who has gained her living by the work of
her own hands. His mother had been turned out
of doors by her husband, who was a Carpenter by trade, on being
convicted of adultery with a soul, a soldier named Pantheria.
And now this was, this was something that was circulated
among the Jews apparently at that time.
And Celsius picked up on it there in his writings there.
And being thus driven away by her husband and wondering about
in disgrace, she gave birth to Jesus, a illegitimate child.
We'll just put it that way. Jesus, on account of his
poverty, was hired out to go to Egypt.
While he was acquired certain magical powers.
While he was there, he acquired certain magical powers which
Egyptians pride themselves in possessing, possessing.
He returned home highly elated at possessing these powers and
on the strength of them gave himself out to be a God.
Now this is someone who is antagonistic to the faith, his
interpretation of these things about Jesus sin.
So we understand from this that it was claimed that Jesus was
born to a virgin and he recognized that claim.
Celsius, an opponent even recognizes that claim.
His father was a Carpenter, he had unusual powers that is
magical powers and he claimed to be God hearing this and so those
were non Jewish. Those were pagans.
Now let's talk about some of the things just a few things here
that hostile non biblical Jewish accounts.
These are Jewish people who are writing about Jesus mentions the
things of Jesus here in their writings.
Now Josephus is probably the most popular one that we're that
we are aware of Josephus Josephus about in 37 to 101 AD
about his writings there he wrote it writes in more detail
than any other non biblical historian.
Josephus writes about Jesus and his antiquities of the Jews.
He was born just four years after the crucifixion of Jesus.
He was a consultant for Jewish rabbis at an early age, and he
became a Galilean military commander at the age of 16.
So he was a he was a prodigy. He was an eyewitness to much of
what he recorded in the 1st century.
Under the rule of the Roman emperor Vespatian, Josephus was
allowed to write a history of the Jews.
And this history includes at least three passages about
Christians, One which he describes the death of John the
Baptist, one which he mentions the execution of James, which to
whom he describes as the brother of Jesus the Christ.
That's execution we find in Acts 12 is when that happens.
There in a final passage which describes Jesus as a wise man
and the Messiah, There's a lot of controversy.
There's some legitimate controversy about the writing of
Josephus because the first discoveries of his writings are
late enough to have been rewritten by Christians who were
accused of making additions to the text and doctoring it up
there. So this is a actually a pretty
conservative, conservative reconstruction, stripped of some
of the scholarly reconstructions that were done there in
Christian embellishment. Now, here's what Josephus
writes. Now, around this time Live
Jesus, a wise man, for he was a worker of amazing deeds and was
a teacher of people who gladly accepted the truth.
He won over both many Jews and many Greeks.
Pilate, when he heard him accused by the leading men among
us, condemned him to the cross. But those who had first loved
him did not cease doing so. To this day, the tribe of
Christians named after him has not disappeared.
And so this is what this is what he said.
And so we can understand from him that Jesus lived in
Palestine. He was a wise man and he was a
teacher. He worked among, he worked
amazing deeds. He was accused by the Jews, He
was crucified under Pilot and he had followers who were called
Christians who who strongly believed in him and followed
after him. Now the Jewish Talmud from 400
to 700 AD wrote about Jesus many times.
While the earliest Talmudic writings of Jewish rabbis
appeared in the 5th century, the tradition of those rabbinic
authors indicates that they were faithfully transmitting
teachings from earlier from earlier periods.
And the scholars believe that there are a number of Talmudic
writings referring to Jesus, and many of these writings are said
to use code words to describe Jesus, such as called him balaam
or benstata, which means a certain one.
But of our for our purposes, we'll be conservative and limit
our examination to the passages referring to Jesus in a more
direct way. And so I want to go to these
notes rather than those notes because those notes contain some
things that aren't in there. And we don't want to get you off
track here. Here's what the Jewish Talmuds
writing Talmudic writing said Jesus practice magic and LED
Israel astray is what was said. Rabbi Hasda said that Rabbi
Jeremiah Barabba said what is that which is written No evil
will befall you, nor shall any plague come upon your house.
Psalm 91 verse 10, No evil will befall you means that evil
dreams and evil thoughts will not tempt you, nor shall any
plague come near your house means that you will not have a
son or a disciple who burns his food like Jesus of Nazareth.
So it speaks concerning Jesus and that all rabbis again
another writing. Our rabbis have taught that
Jesus had five disciples, Matthai, Matthew, Nakai, Nazer,
Brunei and Toda. Now I don't know who those other
four are, would not know that. But here's further what the
Taimitic writing says. It was taught on the day before
the Passover, they hang Jesus. A herald went before him for 40
days proclaiming he will be stoned because he practiced
magic and enticed Israel to go astray.
Let anyone who knows anything in his favor come forward and plead
for him. But nothing was found in his
favor, and they hanged him on the day before the Passover.
And So what we can understand from this, what we can glean
from this relative to the teaching of Scripture is that
Jesus had supernatural powers. He led the Jews astray away from
their beliefs. He had disciples who were
martyred for their faith, one named Matthew Mattathai and was
executed on the day before the Passover.
Then there's the Toledet Yeshua, which there's some extensive
writings on this. This is actually, this comes a
bit later there. Toledet Yeshua is a medieval
Jewish retelling of the life of Jesus.
It was completely anti Christian.
What they want to do is they want to tell the life of Jesus,
but interpret it differently, interpret it differently,
basically is what there. And here's a couple of selected
things from what they wrote about 1000.
A year after that, on the eve of the Passover, Yeshu, that's
Jesus accompanied by his disciples came to Jerusalem
riding on a donkey. Many bowed down before him.
He entered the temple with his 310 followers where that number
came from, one of them, Judah Iscariot.
Judas Iscariot apprised the sages that Yeshua was to be
found in the temple, that his disciples had taken a vow by the
10 commandments not to reveal his identity, but that He would
point him out by bowing to Him. You know, get some of the
stories of the gospel a little, a little misconstrued here.
So it was done and Yeshua was seized.
Yeshua was put to death in the sixth hour on the eve of the
Passover and of the Sabbath. Again writings.
On the first day of the week His bold followers came to Queen
Helene to report that he who was slain was truly the Messiah and
that He was not in His grave. He had ascended to heaven as as
He prophesied. So here we find from this from
these writings, even at a later date, the non biblical writings
is that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah.
He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
He was betrayed by a man named Judas Iscariot, Judas Escarito
and had followed had followers who claimed he was resurrected
and ascended and leaving an empty tomb.
So these are some things that we see about about there.
So if there were no testimony about Jesus, we could constrict
from writings hostile to Jesus. These things.
From Thallus that Jesus lived and was crucified.
From Tacitus he was called the Christ and followers are
Christians. They were executed under he was
executed under Barsapian that he was a wise king.
Phlegian that he predicted the future that Jewish and Jesus
rose after death. Pliny the younger followers
thought that he was God. Setonius Jesus was a real man.
Call and call the cry Christ and and caused Jewish Jewish
disturbance. Celsius allegedly born to
virgin. His father was a Carpenter, had
miraculous powers. Josephus, he was a wise man.
His followers reported reported the resurrection and then the
Talmud said that he was executed the day before the Passover and
had magical powers. These are some testimony outside
the Bible about Jesus. Now let's look here, Bible
testimony versus hostile testimony.
This is the profile that we made earlier about Jesus born in
Judea, Palestine. Oh, the hostile testimony says
that too. During the reign of Tiberius.
Yes, the hostile testimony says that.
Born to a virgin. Yes, verified Carpenter's son.
Taught repentance, taught brothers and sisters through
faith, taught wise and new teachings.
Miraculous powers. Claimed to be the Messiah and
God predicted the future. Persecuted by the Jews, betrayed
by Judas Iscariot. Crucifer on Passover eve,
crucified under Pontius Pilate's authorities.
Sky was dark. A crucifixion earthquake at
crucifixion. Tomb was empty.
Appeared to his disciples, Showed his wounds to his
disciples. Disciples claimed he was
resurrected. Disciples claimed he ascended.
Disciples followed a high moral code.
They say he had a disciple named Matthew.
He had a disciples. They, his disciples were
persecuted for their faith. Disciples met to worship him.
So we see that not only in Scripture, but we see that
verified. By writings even that were
opposed to Jesus, opposed to the faith.
So here you have the testimony of hostile witnesses that verify
what the testimony of the gospel writers say.
And So what do we see here? We see here a character from
history. I think we verify the
historicity, the truth of Jesus that he was indeed a true
character from history. Haven't said anything about what
he did, haven't said anything about what he did really there
some of the teachings, but what we have shown that he was not he
was not a made-up character like Spider Man there.
And that's really my lesson. It needed a little PowerPoint
because then it works a little better to throw it out there.
Now, I think Wade wrote all of that down as we did it there.
But no, actually leave it here on this and you can have it in
that sense here. We want to extend the Lord's
invitation. Thank you all for your good
attention here this afternoon while I went through this, went
through some of it rapidly, but just understand, understand this
to understand this is not all that there is.
There is more. There is more than this.
The Jews even in their Talmudic writings, the Talmudic writings,
they even confirm and refer to the fact that that Isaiah
foretold of Jesus. And that's what they say in some
of their some of their writings. They're not exactly their best
interests, but obviously it verifies what the truth is and
what we understand from Scripture to be the truth.
And so there's more that can be said, but this is enough for
today. Here on this, we want to extend
the Lord's invitation. If there are those who need to
obey the gospel or those who need to return to the Lord,
won't you come forward and we'll help you as we can while we
stand the same?