Miracles at the Crucifixion of Christ (v. 2)

Regardless of religious background, most people would admit that if supernatural events occurred at the crucifixion of Christ and if he actually rose from the grave, it would be the most significant event in history.

Christ's impact on history is profound. We even divide all of known history by his existence.

Did something amazing happen at Christ's crucifixion that led to the rapid expansion of Christianity around the

Middle East, then quickly around the globe? Let's take a look at what the Bible says about the supernatural events that occurred at Christ's death.

Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened.

And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

So when the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying,

Truly, this was the Son of God. This passage includes five events that can be evaluated historically.

Darkness covering the land for three hours, the temple veil tearing in half, a significant earthquake, many graves opening, and the dead coming back to life, and a

Roman centurion and his soldiers having on -the -spot conversions after seeing the miraculous events at his death.

Let's take a look at the first one, the three hours of darkness that occurred during the crucifixion, which was recorded by three of the gospel writers.

The accounts given by Matthew and Mark were very similar, and Luke, the physician, wrote,

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour, the sun failing.

Note that all three writers testify that darkness lasted for three hours and that it covered all the land.

Was this a natural event or a supernatural one? Actually, we believe it was a supernatural event because natural events that cause darkness, like storms and eclipses, just don't fit the historical descriptions of what happened.

While storms can create temporary darkness, they don't cause the sun to fail, and none of the historical descriptions of this event, biblical or secular, mention a storm or even rain.

Eclipses can also cause darkness, but only for minutes, not for three full hours, and history is clear that Jesus was crucified on Friday the 14th of Nisan during the

Jewish Passover, and Passovers only occur on full moons, making an eclipse impossible because the moon was on the far side of the earth away from the sun.

Before looking into the historical support for this event, let's first answer the question, why is it even important?

At the crucifixion, God the Father placed all the sins of mankind, including yours and mine, upon His Son Jesus Christ, and God poured out

His wrath upon Him. Jesus stood in our place and bore the punishment we deserve. Jesus cried out in a loud voice,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus was separated from His Father for three hours.

God signified this by blotting out the sun until Jesus had paid the price for sin in full.

So the sun being covered in darkness represented what was happening to the sun as He was covered by the darkness of our sin and judgment.

But is there any historical evidence to verify that three hours of darkness really happened? Actually, there is.

We'll quickly review just some of the highlights from dozens of ancient historians who documented this event, and we'll use both

Christian and non -religious sources. We've already reviewed the writings from three biblical authors who recorded them shortly after Christ's crucifixion.

Then, for centuries afterwards, historians continued to write about this supernatural event in ways that were remarkably consistent.

Let's review just some of these. Outside of the Bible, the oldest account was written by a historian named

Talas in A .D. 52. Scholars believe that Talas recorded the event in a way that minimized the supernatural, trying to explain it as just a natural eclipse.

Though we no longer have Talas' original writings, we have the quotations from his works made by later writers such as Julius Africanus, a leader in the

Roman Empire who was instrumental in setting up the public library in the Pantheon at Rome. Julius wrote the five -volume set titled

The History of the World in about A .D. 221. In this work, Julius wrote,

Talas, in his third book of histories, explains away the three hours of darkness as an eclipse of the sun, unreasonably as it seems to me.

For the Hebrews celebrate the Passover on the fourteenth day according to the moon, and the passion of our

Savior falls on the day before the Passover. But an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun, and it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction.

How then should an eclipse occur when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? The writing of Talas shows that the facts of Jesus' death were known and discussed in Rome as early as the middle of the first century, to the extent that unbelievers like himself thought it necessary to explain the matter of darkness as a natural event like an eclipse.

But Talas did not question the historicity of Jesus, nor the three hours of darkness that occurred at his death.

Rather, he affirmed it. At the time of his writing, anti -Christians had already been explaining the period of darkness as only a natural phenomenon, such as an eclipse.

Origen, for example, had written that this idea of it being an eclipse was an invention of the pagans to discredit the

Gospels. Phlegon of Tralis, a first -century Greek historian born not long after the crucifixion, wrote one of the most well -known books of ancient history, titled

Olympiads. Phlegon wrote, Phlegon's account reveals several key things.

The sun was darkened during Christ's death along with a great earthquake. The time of the darkness agrees with Matthew 27.

His entry also gives us the year of the crucifixion, with the 202nd Olympiad running from July AD 29 to June AD 33.

Also, several of the early church fathers quoted him, so there seems no reason to doubt his word.

Another historian, Philippon, confirms the historicity of Phlegon's statement by writing, It is clear that he did not know from his sources about any similar eclipse in previous times, and this is shown by the historical account of Tiberius Caesar.

Another well -known historian, Origen, when responding to Celsus, a critic of the supernatural elements in the

Gospels, wrote, But regarding these, we have in the preceding pages made our defense, according to our ability, adducing the testimony of Phlegon, who relates that these events took place at the time when our savior suffered.

Julius Africanus even wrote, Phlegon records that in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the 6th hour to the 9th, manifestly that one of which we speak.

Additional writers who refer to Phlegon's account of the darkness include, Together, this makes 7 ancient writers who directly quote

Phlegon, qualifying this fragment as one of the best attested ancient writings. Fourth century records from the early church fathers include the letter of Pontius Pilate, which he wrote to the

Roman emperor concerning Christ. Well -known historian, Justin Martyr, even referred to these records.

And the fear of the earthquake remained from the 6th hour of the preparation until the 9th hour. Tertullian, a jurist consul familiar with the

Roman archives, wrote in A .D. 197, At the same moment about noontide, the day was withdrawn, and they, who knew not that this was foretold concerning Christ, thought it was an eclipse.

But this you have in your archives, you can read it there. He continues, Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it was an eclipse.

Writing about the year A .D. 315, Eusebius, who was a historian of the emperor Constantine, wrote,

Also at that time, in another Greek compendium, we find an event recorded in these words,

The accounts of the darkness that occurred at Christ's crucifixion continued even into the 6th century A .D.

The historian Cassiodorus wrote, Isn't it amazing that so many references exist that testify to such an unusual event?

Next, we'll take a look at the second of the five events that the Bible says occurred at the crucifixion of Christ, the temple veil tearing in half.

Matthew states, The curtain referred to comes from the

Aramaic word paraket, which was a one -foot -thick piece of fabric covering the entrance of the

Holy of Holies in the second temple. The veil of the temple had always shown to people how approaching a holy

God was difficult for a sinful man. The only way a sinful man could approach God was through the high priest who would enter into the

Holy of Holies through the veil of the temple, only after making many sacrifices. The idea was that God cannot be approached by sinful man, lest he be destroyed.

That all changed when Christ, who was the perfect sacrifice, gave us access to God at the very moment he died.

So, how do we know this actually happened? Recent archaeological discoveries reveal that the temple in Jerusalem during King Herod's reign did in fact have a huge east -facing curtain, a veil, that was suspended on the eastern lintel in front of metal doors marking the entry of the holy place.

The AD 33 earthquake evidently displaced the temple's lintel, tore the curtain, and shifted the pivots for the metal doors.

Next, we have the earthquake. We don't have to do much research to find out there was an earthquake when Christ died.

Let's start with the federal agency, the National Centers for Environmental Information. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a

United States government federal agency. Their website has a database of major earthquakes throughout history.

According to their website, in 33

AD, the earthquake occurred at the crucifixion, that is, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

This account matches the historical record in the Holy Bible. Jesus Christ was about 33 years old when he was crucified.

There was an earthquake and the sun was darkened. According to their website, in the nation we today call

Israel, which was previously called Palestine, back in the year 33

AD, they showed that an earthquake occurred that destroyed a city, and in their words, it was at the crucifixion.

This is based on their references dating back from 1853 and 1985.

This matches the account given in the Holy Bible, which shows that Jesus Christ, when he was about 33 years old, was crucified.

The sun was darkened, and there was a great earthquake. Now when the centurion and they that were with him watching

Jesus saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,

Truly this was the Son of God. We've already covered many of the historical accounts that attest to both the darkness and the earthquake at Christ's crucifixion.

These include Phlegon of Traus, who said an earthquake occurred in Bithynia and overthrew a great part of the city of Nicaea, as well as certain places in Italy, Origen who noted the great earthquakes which took place during the crucifixion,

Pontius Pilate who said the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour, and of course

Matthew's account, which even many secular historians consider valid. Even Pliny the

Elder wrote an account of an earthquake occurring in the surrounding regions at that time. Leading up to more recent times, geological research dating back nearly a century has also documented earthquakes during this time in Jerusalem, Judea, and Bithynia.

Within the last couple of decades, geological studies published in several scientific journals document a significant earthquake occurring in that region in A .D.

33. These studies have been reported in mainstream media outlets like NBC News and others.

More recently, several geologists have studied the sedimentary layers of the Dead Sea and other areas surrounding where Christ was crucified.

They found geological markers for several earthquakes that occurred at times that correspond with dates indicated from historical documents.

Dr. Steve Austin explains. Now take a look at some sediment layers. You can see in the mud from the

Dead Sea the kind of gray layers which is clay mud. There we see clay mud.

We see clay mud here. And then we see the white layers which are calcium carbonate mud.

And that's a different kind of mud than the clay mud. And it creates this alternating light and dark layering that is very evident in the sediment layers and is undisturbed.

Now what is interesting about that is how little disturbance there is except for the earthquakes.

And this graphic shows the idea of how earthquakes create a record within the sediment layers of the

Dead Sea. So you have laminated sediment as shown here in the pre -seismic situation.

Pre -seismic Dead Sea sediment. And it's laminated. It's laminated right here.

Now what happens is an earthquake occurs and it shakes the sediment and the upper part of the sediment liquefies or becomes lofted during the earthquake and then recompacts to make a disturbed layer.

And then post -seismic after the earthquake that layer is buried. And so you have a record inside of the sediment layers of the earthquake.

Take a look at the detail of 33 AD. You can see the thin layer running right along here.

And then you can see the post -disturbance layer. And all that wrinkling going on there is the effects of the earthquake wave impacting that sediment.

The light layers are the chemical carbonate layers and the gray layers are the clay layers. And it looks like an earthquake of about magnitude 5 .5,

maybe magnitude 6 shook the bottom of the lake. It's amazing. There. Dr.

Osten's research has been published around the world. Check out these short clips from the Christquake movie where their team found solid evidence for the earthquake that occurred at Christ's crucifixion.

You'll see that there are two types, one dark and one light color. These are seasonal layers.

Each two of them were formed in one year. In the summer, we get the white deposits.

And in the winter, the flesh floods bring fine material that sinks to the bottom of the lake and forms a very smooth layer.

We call this type of layering varves. So if you were looking for evidence of a quake in Jerusalem, where would you look?

We would look in the Dead Sea because the Dead Sea is very close to Jerusalem. It's only 30 kilometers away.

Normally, strong earthquakes would affect regions of tens of kilometers away.

And because of this fine lamination, we can count the layers. So once we have an anchor in one place, we can count this fine lamina year by year.

It takes patience, but it's doable. As we walk, guys, take a look at the layers that are forming here.

They formed so long ago. They all settle down.

The dust settles down. The annual layers is set up. And then you see areas that differ that I want to show you more about over here.

See the areas that are not straight lines? Where they seem to tumble? Disturbed?

That's what we call a seismite. So we have varves. Those are the individual layers. Then you have disturbed areas where an earthquake has moved the earth so much that the layers are not yet hardened up.

They're kind of like mud. They have formed the seismite where it's tumbled.

Now, I want you guys to look. We've got these beautiful varves that are proceeding along unbroken.

And then suddenly you have the earthquake. And you see these broken varves? Yeah. And you also see these big whirls that form.

So this is a seismite. I just want to give you some access to see what it is. And what you're seeing is the layers, the sedimentation that's laid down horizontally.

When there's a bit of shaking going on as a result of an earthquake, it starts to fold. It starts to break in places.

The mud starts to flow. And this is basically what we're looking for. We're looking for either bent layers or broken fragments of aragonite that are in the mud, which also are indications for seismites.

And if that is the actium, what would you suggest is the best candidate for the 33 quake?

Just by going up, I'm going to have to say this one. I don't see anything. It's too thick. Yeah. But it's the only event that I see that's in the right place, more or less in the right place.

First, there had to be a means of recording that a quake occurred. That's the Dead Sea. Ideally, the recorder would be near the seismic activity.

The Dead Sea is 18 miles from Golgotha. Then the recorder would need to be capable of capturing the data.

The Dead Sea collects minerals from the Jerusalem watershed. Once we have that data, it has to be preserved for 2 ,000 years.

The Dead Sea does that because there's no water life to disturb the sediments. And we need access to that data.

The Dead Sea has subsided, exposing the seafloor. Finally, we need an index to the database so that we can find the relevant years.

That index is the Battle of Actium. The fact that all these factors have come together at one time is simply extraordinary.

Geologist Jefferson Williams worked with a team of scientists to investigate the sediment layers in the

Dead Sea and also found clear evidence of the crucifixion quake described in the Bible. Here are some highlights.

So in 1999, I made my first trip to the Dead Sea. And I spoke to Amit Zagnan of Hebrew University. He told me there was evidence of an earthquake from 33

A .D. in the sediments of the Dead Sea. Revital Bookman was working in Nazalim.

Claudia Migowski was working in Ein Gedi. And Elisa Kagan would later work in Ein Feshkar. Paleo -seismic studies started in Zealim on the

Ph .D. work of Revital Bookman. We were interested in this research because we found we can date earthquakes that happened in prehistorical times, which is exactly what

Revital did. When you look at the walls of the gullies, you see mostly horizontal layers, very thin layers, which we call lamina.

And every once in a while, you see that some of them are not horizontal, and they're actually quite deformed, mixed up, or folded in different ways.

And this indicates that at the time when these layers were actually on the lake bottom, something happened to them.

These deformations were caused by earthquakes. There are many historical catalogs all over the world.

And the ones here in the Middle East and in the Mediterranean are one of the best ones in the world because the civilizations have existed here continuously throughout the past 2 ,000, 3 ,000 or more years.

She found that these seismites, these deformations that she sees, were the same time as historical earthquakes, that she could compare them to historical earthquakes, and she could see that almost all of the historical earthquakes known from the historical record that historians have been collecting all these years, she could actually see them in the geological record.

There were several very strong earthquakes which anchored my matching.

And there was one earthquake which I estimated to 33

AD. I don't really feel comfortable talking about this specific earthquake, but what

I can say is that I looked at my geological records that I saw on the different sites, and I did not think about the historical earthquakes.

I dated them independently. I was not trying to find any specific earthquakes. In this table you can see for every seismite the different historical earthquakes that fit into this time period, right?

Those are the different options for that event. And then when I actually decide what to choose here,

I correlated to 33 AD. I don't know why you're... You want to see it?

We have clear evidence of an earthquake in the 10 -year time period of 26 to 36 AD. Clues in the text give us four possible dates for the crucifixion in the same 10 -year time period.

We can now work out the season of the year studying the pollen to see if it matches with the story on one of these dates.

There are two other documents which really specify this. One is what's called the

Report of Pilate, which is a report of Pilate about the crucifixion. And this report says at his crucifixion the sun was darkened and the moon was even turned into blood.

And then 400 years later, a very orthodox bishop writes that at the crucifixion the moon appeared like blood.

So we have three references to the moon being like blood. And scientifically, we know a blood -red moon is an ecliptic moon.

Next, we have the graves opening and numerous people being raised from the dead after Christ's resurrection.

Matthew recorded, Wow. If this really happened, it certainly would have set

Christ's death apart from any other in history. And it would have created quite a stir among the people of that time.

The apostolic father Ignatius records the earliest commentary we have on this event and his works have been widely trusted throughout church history.

Ignatius wrote to the Trallians, For says the scripture, He also acknowledged this event in a letter to the

Magnesians between A .D. 70 and 115. Early church fathers in the

East also verified the historicity of Matthew's account. Cyril of Jerusalem wrote, And is

Christ not risen? But in this case, both the dead of whom we speak himself arose, and many dead were raised without having even touched him.

For many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and they came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, evidently this city in which we now are, and appeared to many.

Finally, we have the letter of Pontius Pilate to the Roman emperor where he mentioned that people were terrified having seen dead men risen, as even testified by the

Jews. Many other biblical and secular scholars confirmed this resurrection event, including

Hilary of Potiers, Chrisostom, and even St. Augustine, St. Remigius, Thomas Aquinas, and John Calvin.

Finally, we have the centurion and those with him who witnessed the earthquake and other events who feared greatly and proclaimed, truly, this was the

Son of God. What type of events would it take to persuade a battle -hardened Roman centurion in charge of an execution to come to great fear and acknowledge that Christ was the

Son of God? Think about it. Here is a guy in charge of 80 soldiers that has moved to such fear that he admits, right in front of his subordinates, that the very person they are trying to execute is the

Son of God. There must have been extremely out of the ordinary things going on for this to happen.

So, there we have it. The darkness, temple veil, earthquake, dead people rising from their graves, and the same -day conversion of a

Roman centurion and his soldiers. These events were followed by Christ's resurrection and 2 ,000 years of changed history.

Seems to be on the miraculous side to me. Looking for answers about what the Bible teaches about creation, the fossil record, dinosaurs?

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