Happy Easter, Mars Hill. We are really excited to have you join us today as we examine and celebrate the most important event in the history of the world: the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death in victory over sin for all who trust in him.

Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:17, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” We sin against God. All of us sin against God. The result, consequence, or wage of that war is death, and God comes into human history as the God-man, Jesus Christ. He lives the life we have not lived, the life without sin. He dies the death that we should die, the death for sin. And he rises to give the gift we cannot earn: forgiveness of sin, conquering of death, and eternal life in loving relationship with God, our creator.

Paul rightly says that if Jesus did not rise, then our hope is in vain, and our faith is futile. And so of all that we can know, this we must know, did Jesus rise from death? And to help you come to your own personal conclusion on this extraordinary event, we went to Israel, and we examined the actual locations for the events surrounding the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus as faithfully recorded in the Scriptures. We want you to see for yourself the facts, the truth, because Christianity is based on an event in history, not an idea of philosophy.

So to set up this clip, you will see the Garden of Gethsemane, the prison where Jesus was held, and also Barabbas’ arch where he was handed over to his murder.

Surrounding me are trees that are two thousand years old from the very time of Jesus. Behind me is the Mount of Olives. Behind my back is the location of what was previously the temple and the holy of holies where every year the high priest would enter on one day, the high holy day, Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement, and as an intercessor and advocate on behalf of the people he would offer a sacrifice, and blood would be shed for the forgiveness of sins. That was ultimately foreshadowing the coming of Jesus, our high priest who himself is the temple and very presence of God, who offers his body as a sacrifice by shedding his blood in our place for our sins.

And where did he shed his first drop of blood? Right here at a place called the Garden of Gethsemane, where in great anguish and agony and distress, Jesus prayed, literally sweating drops of blood, knowing that his crucifixion was coming, and that very event happened on this very soil amongst these very trees.

As we read the Scriptures, we do know that Jesus was held in the house of the high priest. The Bible also tells us that Jesus was retained for a bit of time in addition to that in essentially a holding cell, that’s where we are at present. This is roughly the place that Jesus was held, and this is where the soldiers would have kept guard over Jesus. This is, possibly, if not probably, where he would have undergone a beating, where he would have been mocked and spit upon and disrespected and disregarded. It’s a horrible place where Jesus was mistreated, and where he was utterly alone, awaiting his impending execution. And so we get some idea here of Jesus collecting himself, final prayers, thoughts, moment with the Father. We can assume he was bringing to recollection Scriptures that he had memorized, preparing himself emotionally and physically for the agony of the cross.

On site at one of the most tragic moments in the city’s history, just above me is the arch that is, I’m told, original from the days of Jesus. It was under this arch that the crowds cried out, “Give us Barabbas.”

Jesus suffered greatly. We know from the Scriptures that a crown of thorns was pressed deeply into his brow. We know as well that he was flogged or scourged with a cat of nine tails or a scorpion’s whip, something akin to this replica. His arms and legs were exposed, and his arms were tied or chained above his head so that his body was leaning forward, and his back and his shoulders and his legs were exposed. And they would take a whip like this with long straps of leather that had hooks made out of metal or glass, also potentially having balls to tenderize the flesh so that when the prisoner was whipped across the back, the internal organs would be severely damaged, that the skin and muscle and tendons would be tenderized so that the hooks could sink deeply into the flesh, and then the executioner would literally rip the flesh off of the man’s body. Jesus suffered horrendously. Many men simply died from their scourging, and Jesus committed no sin. He, instead, suffered for our sin.

After his brutal beating that Isaiah said would have him disfigured beyond human likeness, Jesus was then forced to carry his cross bar. This would have been incredibly heavy resting on his broken, barren, bloodied back. The Bible says that in carrying the cross, he was so destroyed physically—despite being in good shape—and the cross bar was so heavy on his exposed shoulders that he fell. Medical doctors report that this would have caused a chest contusion and aneurysm. This would have been the equivalent of a high-speed car wreck where the body is thrust into the steering wheel without the deployment of an air bag. At this point, blood starts to leak out of the heart. The body is taxed. The flesh is literally hanging like ribbons off the body. There is help for Jesus to carry his cross. I will show you where that happened in a moment.

And what we ultimately know is that Jesus was taken to the cross, that he was hung at roughly eye level, that spikes were driven through the most sensitive nerve centers of the body, through the hands and the feet, and with the flesh hanging off his body with a pool of blood and sweat and tears gathering beneath him, with a crown of thorns above him, Jesus Christ suffered.

Now let me show you where he carried his cross through town, and also where he was ultimately crucified. And in saying this, I want to thank God and share with you the miracle that he did so that we could obtain this footage. The place of Golgotha is absolutely obstructed in terms of view by a bus barn, and so you can’t get a clear shot of Golgotha, the place of the skull, where Jesus was crucified. Above the bus barn there is, in fact, a bank, and for many of years, people have tried to get on top of the bank, on top of the bus barn for the clear footage of Golgotha, and they have been rejected repeatedly. Tour companies, business owners have tried repeatedly. And in the grace of God, our Jewish tour guide convinced the Muslim bank owner to allow the Christian film crew from Mars Hill Church to get atop of that structure to get an unobstructed view of that place, and we’ll debut it for you now so that you can see where Jesus Christ died for your sins.

Via Dolorosa, the place where Jesus walked to his place of murderous, barbarous execution, crucifixion. As you will be able to see, it is to this day very tightly packed, so when the Bible says in other gospels that Jesus was beaten, that mobs spit on him, that people came out of the shops and restaurants to mock him, in some ways, this is a contemporary version in the exact location of exactly what he faced and endured. And we are moving rather quickly to give you a bit of a panoramic scope, but you can imagine in the days of Jesus this being packed with people who had come out to mock him, to spit on him, to beat him.

Now that we are at the top of the Via Dolorosa, the place where Jesus walked to his place of crucifixion, this archway above us is all original, two thousand years old from the days of Jesus. The doorway has been filled in. This is the second place that Jesus fell, and as we read in Luke’s Gospel, the help that Jesus received from Simon of Cyrene happened all the way down that corridor. He helped Jesus carry the cross up the Via Dolorosa as you see it.

Wanting to explain to you a very important historical site. Now in the day that Jesus was crucified, it was the most horrendous, disrespectful way to die. And amazingly, that same ethos still permeates the location in which he was crucified. You can see below me the bus transfer station, people coming and going. You can also see a mosque. To the left of the mosque, you’ll notice the rock formation. If you use your imagination, to my right, you can see two eyes and a nose. In the days of Jesus, this place was called Golgotha, meaning the place of the skull. Tradition holds, and you could see from the details why this place would be presumed as the site of the execution of Jesus. In addition to a few historic details, just on the other side of this bus transfer station is a very busy road and thoroughfare that dates all the way back to the time of Jesus. That is mentioned in the Scriptures, as well as the fact that this location is outside of the city. And so this does fit all of the biblical criteria for the location of the crucifixion of the Son of God, and it would have occurred at the top of the hill, which to this very day remains, appropriately enough, a graveyard.

At that place, on that hill, Jesus Christ died. He died being crucified by his enemies. While being crucified, he spoke lovingly to them and prayed for them. Jesus’ death was confirmed by a professional executioner, who declared him dead, running, in fact, a spear under his rib cage, puncturing his heart sac so that water and blood—showing the absolute destruction of his heart—flowed from his side.

At this point, Jesus’ body was taken from the cross and prepared for burial. It was wrapped in linen and spices, weighing as much as a hundred pounds. His body was taken to a tomb in fulfillment of the prophecy given seven hundred years prior through Isaiah that he would be buried with the rich in his death. Now Jesus was poor, but his burial site was gifted to him postmortem by one of his followers, a man named Joseph of Arimathea. And Jesus’ body was laid in that tomb.

Now to be honest, we don’t know exactly what tomb Jesus was laid in because he’s not there, so we can’t confirm it. But this tomb that I will now show you is either the resurrection tomb of Jesus or much like and near the resurrection tomb of Jesus.

It, in fact, meets the biblical criteria for that place. It is outside of the city walls. It is outside of the gate. It is along a busy thoroughfare. It is near a common site of crucifixion. It is a stone tomb hewn out of rock. It was owned by a rich man. It was near Golgotha, the place of the skull, which was next door. The burial chamber was to the right of the entrance. The door is short, and we are told in Scripture that the disciples had to stoop upon entering, and lastly it, in fact, is empty. Jesus was buried in a tomb like that, if not that very tomb.

Why can we not confirm exactly where Jesus was buried? Answer: he’s not there! That’s the whole point of Easter. Jesus is God. He said repeatedly, emphatically, clearly, “I am God become a man. You have sinned against me, and I have come to forgive you.” Jesus lived without sin as our God. Jesus died in our place for our sins as our substitute. Jesus rose from death, conquering Satan, sin, hell, death, and the wrath of God.

And today we do not go to a tomb, as those who are Muslim do, to commemorate their dead leader, Mohammed. We do not go to a tomb to commemorate our dead founder, like the Jews do, at the grave of Abraham. We do not go to the tomb of our dead teacher, like the Buddhists do, at the tomb of Buddha. We do not go to the place of Jesus’ burial because Jesus is not there. He’s alive. He’s risen. He’s ruling. He’s reigning. He’s victorious. He’s saving. He’s serving. He’s forgiving. And one day he will return. One day he will establish a never-ending kingdom. Death will be no more. Rebellion will be no more. Sin and Satan and sinners will be no more. And those whose faith is in him will rise to be with him. They will rise to be like him! They will rise to glorify him!

And on this fantastic day, we encourage you to give your sin to Jesus, and to receive his salvation, to let this day, the glorious resurrection Easter Sunday, the day that we commemorate and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we desperately want this to be your day of salvation, the day when you open your heart and your life and your mind and your eternity to the God who has loved you, loved you perfectly, loved you well, loved you through death, and loves you right now. His name is Jesus.

Happy Easter, Mars Hill, and I want you to celebrate with me the resurrection of Jesus. As we get out of our seats, we’re remembering the resurrection of Jesus. As we raise our voice, we are shouting in proclamation and triumph, the victory of Jesus together. Jesus is alive, so we are alive. Jesus is alive, so our hope is alive. Jesus is alive, and our church is alive.

Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are God. We thank you that you came into history. We thank you that you said no to sin every single opportunity that it was presented to you. We thank you that you died in our place for our sins. We thank you for every lash. We thank you for every insult. We thank you for every drop of blood that was spilled. We thank you for the fact that you did rise from death, and that you evidenced that to your friends, to your family, to your enemies, to five hundred people at a time over the course of forty days. We thank you that you ascended into heaven, that you hear our prayers, that you change our lives, and that right now, you are in every way conscious of every hair on our head, every day of our life, every sin of our past, every need of our future, every longing of our heart, and you are willing to continually humbly serve us, not because we are great, but because you are. And Jesus, all we can say is thank you. You are worth our lives because you gave your life for ours.

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Note: This sermon transcript has been edited for readability.