The Resurrection

The bodily resurrection of Christ is one of the most important parts of the Christian gospel. "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day... " (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). Then Paul goes on to say, in verse 14, "And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith." The resurrection of Christ is essential to our Christian faith. Yet are we able to explain to others why it is reasonable to accept that this is a historical fact and not just an unsubstantiated belief of ours?

Only two alternatives
We only need to take a couple of logical steps. Jesus claimed that He was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and as such was God Himself, come to earth in human form. He also predicted His own death and subsequent resurrection three days later. There are therefore only two alternatives we can adopt:

1. Jesus was a liar or a deluded mad-man, and He never did rise from the dead.
2. He did rise from the dead and was all that He claimed to be—none other than God incarnate.

However, many people will take a middle option. They deny His resurrection, and say it could never have taken place, but accept that Jesus was a great prophet, on a par with other prophets in the past.

This, however, is not a viable option. No sane person, let alone a great and inspired prophet, has ever claimed to be God Himself. Prophets have always been sent by God, spokesmen on God's behalf, used by God, but have never claimed to be God Himself. Jesus is unique in this claim. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, all His claims to Godhood were in vain, and He should instead have gone down in history as an unfortunate, deluded mad-man. However, He did not. Why not? The short answer is because He did rise from the dead.

The eleven disciples return to Jerusalem
At the time of His crucifixion, Jesus was deserted by all His followers save John, His closest disciple, and a handful of women including His mother. Ten of the disciples fled in fear for their lives, and the eleventh, Judas, had betrayed Jesus and then hanged himself in remorse. Humanly speaking, that would have been the end of the story, a sorry end to a powerful and miracle-filled three year ministry. Peter went back to Galilee and started fishing again (John 21:3). Probably each of Jesus' followers would have eventually returned to the lives they had led before they met Him. However, they did not. Instead, they returned to Jerusalem and formed the beginning of Christianity. Why did they do this? Because Jesus really did rise from the dead. In doing so, He not only did what He had said He would do (John 2:19-22), He also confirmed that He was God Himself (John 10:33).

Jesus' half brother James became a believer
It is recorded in the gospels that Jesus was not believed by His own family: "For even his own brothers did not believe in him" (John 7:5). His brothers and sisters thought that He was mad (Mark 3:21) and sometimes tried to take charge of Him. Yet we find soon after His death that His brother James was a leader of the Christian movement in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13; 21:18), and His other brothers, including Jude (writer of the New Testament letter), became staunch believers. Why was this? Because Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them (1 Corinthians 15:7).

Joy and enthusiasm
Not only did the disciples quickly turn around from despondency to joyfulness after the crucifixion, their enthusiasm was so infectious that, after the feast of Pentecost, many thousands of Jews were converted to Christianity within a short time. This enthusiasm, this hope, this joyfulness, can only be explained by the resurrection. No pretence of Jesus' resurrection, no hiding of the body, no deceitfulness on the part of the disciples, or a small group of them, could have achieved this dramatic and sustained turn around in their emotions and behaviour. That Christ literally rose from the dead is the only explanation.

Perhaps Jesus never died on the cross
Some, in an attempt to get around the implications of the death and subsequent resurrection, have suggested Jesus never died at all. It is suggested instead that He was unconscious on the cross, and revived in the tomb. However, it has been demonstrated beyond doubt that no-one who had gone through what Jesus suffered could have survived. The final sword thrust in His side was proof enough. Roman soldiers were experts at crucifixion. They did not make mistakes. Even supposing He had miraculously survived, He was bound tightly in grave cloths, and would not have been able to escape from the tomb. If, as some suggest, the disciples had released Him, why would they have remained so joyful and intent, over many years, on preaching Christ's resurrection from the dead, knowing all along that it was a lie? Why would they all, without exception, suffer a martyr's death for a faith which was based on a falsehood, a deception of the greatest magnitude? In addition, how could a group of people maintain the truth of such an incredible deception for so many years without there ever being a single hint as to its falsehood? And also, why is there no record of Jesus Himself living on to a ripe old age? The answer is because none of this happened. The disciples' faith was based instead upon a solid fact of history—the fact of the resurrection of Christ.

The empty tomb
There is no getting around it. If Jesus died on the cross, and was placed in the tomb as recorded, then His body should have been there when the women went to the tomb. That the tomb was empty is a historical fact. The body could not have been stolen for both practical and psychological reasons. The tomb was guarded by soldiers who were threatened with death if they deserted their posts. A huge rock was rolled in front of the opening. It was effectively sealed. If the Jewish leaders stole the body, in order to disprove the resurrection story all they had to do was produce the body. Neither the women, nor the disciples could have stolen the body, for the reasons given above. And no unknown, impartial third party would have stolen the body, for the simple reason that they would have no reason to, and wouldn't know where it was anyway. Yet the tomb was empty. Again, the only logical explanation is that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.

Paul Althaus of the University of Erlangen, Germany says: "The resurrection could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned" (quoted in "The Resurrection Factor" by Josh McDowell, an excellent book giving an overwhelming number of reasons and evidence for the fact of Christ's resurrection).

Belief without seeing
We read that Thomas was not with the disciples when Jesus first appeared to them after His resurrection. So he refused to believe that they had really seen Jesus. However, when Jesus again appeared in their midst, and Thomas was there to see it, he fell down and worshipped Him, and called Him "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). Jesus told him that he had believed because he had seen, but "blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

We are among those who have believed without seeing, although we do have the testimony of many who did, and the benefit of recorded history. When all the details are studied, when all the alternatives are considered, there is only one logical conclusion. Christ is risen! Praise the Lord!