The central claim of the Christian faith is that Jesus rose from the dead.
If Christianity is true, this cannot be mere wishful thinking in the mind of the believer. If Jesus did not rise from the dead as a fact of history, then the entire Christian faith is destroyed.
Thankfully, there is very good reason to believe in the historicity of the resurrection. The following is an attempt to show that the most logical (not merely religious) conclusion of the evidence is to state that the resurrection was a fact.
There is no doubt that Jesus was a real historical person who lived 2,000 years ago in the Middle East. There are multiple primary sources apart from the New Testament attesting to Jesus’ existence and what he was known for, and they agree in broad strokes with the account provided by the Gospels.
For example, Josephus (36-100 B.C.) was a Jewish historian who lived and died as a pious Jew but who also wrote about the life and actions of Christ. Most notably, he stated that Jesus was a miracle worker and great teacher who was executed by the Romans.
Josephus also noted that Jesus’ closest followers claimed that he rose from the dead on the third day. He said that the body of Jesus was never found and that Christians continued to increase their numbers by the day.
After Jesus was tortured and killed on a cross by the Roman Empire, hundreds of people attested to having seen Jesus risen from the dead. Many of the people who saw the risen Christ were convinced that they should spend the rest of their lives telling everyone about Jesus. Countless eyewitnesses even went to their deaths refusing to deny the fact that Jesus rose from the dead.
The details concerning Jesus’ burial are essential for showing the truth of his resurrection. First, according to Matthew 27:57-66 Jesus was placed in a new tomb that had never been used before for burial.
Scholars estimate that the rock in front of the entrance to Jesus’ tomb would have weighed roughly 3,000 pounds and 8 to 10 feet tall. In front of the rock would have been the ancient equivalent of police tape: a metal chain attached to a piece of clay that had Caesar’s face on it. Since Jesus was convicted of a capital crime, messing around with his grave would be deemed a capital offense. If you broke this barrier, you would also be crucified.
We also know that a Roman Guard was placed there because the Jewish hierarchy was afraid that Jesus’ followers would steal his body. A Roman guard consisted of four highly trained Roman soldiers (a modern equivalent would be Navy Seals).
If the disciples had stolen the body, they would have agreed to commit a capital offense (tampering with the tomb of a criminal killed of a capital crime). Then they would have had to disarm four Navy Seals; move a 3,000-pound, 10-foot rock; and then take Jesus’ body and discard it in a way that no one (over 2000 years) could find. Not only would they need to succeed in the cover-up, but then they would have committed to traveling the world—at great personal risk—to convince people that Jesus was, in fact, risen from the dead despite knowing that it was a lie.
The historical record is also clear on another point: All of the Apostles (except for John) died for their faith. They were not just killed, however. These first followers were burned alive, boiled alive, filleted alive, and crucified (upside down, in Peter’s case). They were killed in some of the most gruesome ways in history, and yet they were willing to do so. None of them said that they had lied, despite the fact that doing so would likely have meant safety.
This is because what they saw transformed everything. What they saw was the truth.
This is critical. Think about the character of a liar. A liar is mischievous because he is selfish. He only cares about himself and what is best for himself. Therefore, a liar (actually, hundreds of liars) were willing to reject their selfishness and die for a lie?
Why die in such a brutal way for a lie? How is it possible that no one ever slipped up and told the truth rather than be tortured? How come no one has ever found Jesus’ body?
Isn’t it more reasonable to believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead, appeared to his closest friends, and so inspired them that they were willing to do anything to talk about his life (even give their own lives)?
The answer is obvious. The resurrection is a fact of history. The evidence is overwhelming in its support.
All history is dependent on eyewitness testimony. We count on it the court of law and in the transmission of events passed down over history. In the case of the resurrection, the testimony of the eyewitnesses continues to empower Christians today to know and believe that sin, evil, and death was defeated by Christ, and that Jesus is truly alive—truly risen.
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