Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. John 20:6-7Jesus Christ was beaten. He was scourged. He was nailed to a wooden cross and raised into the air to die. And when it was over his friends removed his body from the cross, wrapped him in a burial cloth, and laid him to rest in a tomb. And it was done. But what his disciples found when they returned that first Easter morning changed the world. The tomb was empty. Except for one thing. The piece of fine white linen in which they’d placed his body…it was still there.
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Today an ancient artifact exists that many believe to be that cloth. Others disagree. But no one knows for sure, because its origin remains unknown. The Roman Catholic Church considers it a holy relic, others a clever hoax. It’s a true mystery. It’s called The Shroud of Turin.
“What we are doing here,” said Dr. John Jackson, U.S. Air Force Academy, leader of the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), “is seeking the truth…we want to apply the scientific method.”
And they did just that. Forty specialists traveled to Turin, Italy from all over the world. They unloaded crate after crate of scientific equipment, and spent five exhausting days examining the Shroud. They used microscopes and spectrographs. They removed pollen samples from the threads. They used visible light, ultraviolet, x-ray and infrared. Produced undistorted photographs, as precise as optics allow. And they applied the scientific method, never stopping to rest, while the weight of global responsibility weighed heavy on their shoulders. And in the end their work proved priceless, for what they found dazzled the world.
The Shroud is a well-preserved linen cloth 14’ 3” long and 3’ 7” wide. It bears the sepia-colored image of a nomadic shepherd, an anatomically correct likeness of a man tortured in every way consistent with the scriptural account of Christ’s passion. At arm’s length the form appears hazy and indistinct, but from a distance it takes on the shape of a man, his face and bodily features remarkably real, riddled with bloody wounds that paint a ghastly portrait of death.
Upon completion of their work, Jackson and his team took their findings back to their research facilities and labs, and over the course of three years developed the following statement:
“We can conclude for now that the Shroud image is that of a real human form of a scourged, crucified man. It is not the product of an artist. The bloodstains are composed of hemoglobin and also give a positive test for serum albumin. The image is an ongoing mystery and until further chemical studies are made, perhaps by this group of scientists, or perhaps by some scientists in the future, the problem remains unsolved.”
Could the Shroud be the burial cloth that covered the Lord Jesus Christ? Well over the next few weeks I will share with you some of my discoveries. Knowledge I gained on a journey that began thirty years ago when, for sixteen remarkable weeks, I worked in the shadows of geniuses—Dr. John Jackson, Leader of STURP, and Professor Vernon Miller, Brooks Institute of Photography, the Chief Scientific Photographer for STURP. These two remarkable men took me under their wings, taught me the meaning of scientific discovery, and shared with me riches I will treasure the rest of my life.
The Shroud of Turin—Is It The Lord?
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