I had been a Christian for six years by the time I was twenty-one. I began to deeply doubt my faith. “How do I really know this is really true,” I asked myself. As I grew in my intellectual journey, I came to a place where I needed solid evidence or proof for my faith in Christ. My doubts were plaguing me. On the first Easter morning, all of Jesus’ followers were in the same place but with a multiplied intensity. They had given all of their lives to Jesus; they left everything. From the perspective of the earliest hours of Easter morning, it all proved to be untrue. After the terrifying events of the crucifixion, they fully expected Jesus to do what we all expect deceased people to do: stay that way. There was no one at the tomb counting 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, in anticipation of Jesus rising from the dead. But something happened to them which happened to me: the unexplainable encountered the undeniable and their lives were forever reframed. In my deep doubts, I encountered the evidence for the resurrection, and my faith became strengthened.
You may ask, “How do I know this is true?” “How do I know there is real hope beyond death?” “How do I know that good will conquer evil?” “How do I know that what we are ultimately investing our lives in really matters?” The answer to these questions are found in the events which occurred on the original Easter Sunday.
Why Believe in the Resurrection?
There are four solid reasons:
- Evidence # 1: The empty tomb.
- Evidence # 2: The credibility of the eye-witness accounts.
- Evidence # 3: The resurrection appearances.
- Evidence # 4: The start of the church.
To examine this evidence, let’s look at the record from the Gospel of John 20:1-21.
Evidence # 1: The Empty Tomb
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
John 20:1
The events of Good Friday took Jesus’ followers by storm. Since the crucifixion, they spend the next couple of days in heads spinning grief and confusion. It is now past the Sabbath (Saturday), and not one of them assumed a resurrection. The story continues…
So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
John 20:2
Historians agree that Jesus was a messianic or a significant religious figure; he developed a committed following, and he was crucified. They also agree that the tomb was empty. Where there is a departure in thought is how it became empty. There are those who do not accept that it became empty due to a resurrection. They assumed what Jesus’ early followers assumed: there must be a natural explanation because dead people stay that way; they don’t rise. Thus Mary exclaimed, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Let’s assume, then, there are natural explanations. Here are three theories which are offered:
Natural Explanation # 1: The disciples stole the body.
This would make Christianity the greatest hoax of all time. The overwhelming obstacle with this theory is that perpetrators of a religious hoax seek to gain something for themselves, like money or power. What did claiming the resurrection get the disciples? Instead of wealth, many times they accepted poverty for the sake of proclaiming the message of Christ. Instead of power, every single one was tortured and killed for their proclaiming Jesus. This was not a hoax.
Natural Explanation # 2: The Jewish leaders stole the body.
The significant obstacle with this theory points to motive. Why would they have done this? The established Jewish community were fierce opponents of Jesus and the church. They would have gladly produced the body to shut the growing movement of Christianity down.
Natural Explanation # 3: The Romans stole the body
The problem remains the same. They would have gladly produced the body, as well. This would show that Jesus was not greater than Caesar.
Evidence # 2: Authenticity of Eye-Witness Accounts
So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
John 20:3-4
The disciples apparently do not go as a group least they be arrested. The two disciples were racing to the tomb, and Peter is the slow poke. The humor in this detail is quite striking. This is a life changing message, and the writer points out that the “other disciple” reached the tomb first. Why? Is it the last one to the tomb is a rotten egg? No. John is bringing his readers into the very unfolding of the events as he remembers everything so vividly. This reads like someone who had really been there because he was there.
He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for? ”Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”)….Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!”
John 20:5-16,18
Mary Magdalene was the first to witness and tell others about the resurrection of Jesus. In the world of first century Palestine, a woman’s testimony was not recognized as legally binding. Frankly, it would have been an embarrassment for the first century church according to the existing social standards to have the resurrection first declared on the testimony of a woman. The story would not have been told this way unless it was in fact the truth. If embarrassing details are added to a story, it is done so because they are true.
Evidence # 3: The Resurrection Appearances
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
John 20:19-20
Again, some people resort to natural explanations as an alternative to the resurrection. Here are a few:
Natural Explanation # 1: Jesus did not actually die. (Swoon Theory)
Here is the correspondence of a woman wrote J. Vernon McGee: “Our preacher said that on Easter Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed him back to health. What do you think?” McGee replied, “Dear Sister, beat your preacher severely. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours. Run a spear through his heart. Embalm him. Put him in an airless tomb for three days. Then see what happens.”
The Romans were masters at crucifixion and verified his death as the blood and water ran from his side when they speared him. (John 19:34)
Natural Explanation # 2: Maybe the disciples hallucinated.
Here is the problem: hallucinations are like dreams. They’re individual events that can’t be shared between people. During the next 40 days Jesus appeared at least a dozen times to a total of 515 different individuals. He talked with people. He ate with people. He even invited one skeptic to put his fingers in his hands where the nail holes were, and to put his hand in his side where the spear had been thrust into him. One person said, “If you had 515 people all having the same hallucination at the same time, that would be a bigger miracle than the resurrection itself.”
Evidence # 3: The Early Church
Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”
John 20:21
No one was going to launch a movement in Jesus’ name if Jesus did not rise from the dead. Nobody was going to repeat His teachings, his stories, his parables, if he had only died. That is because Jesus claimed too much about himself. (Matthew 17:22-23, Mark 8:31-33) And if it was possible for him to be arrested and crucified, then he was not who he claimed he was. But the resurrection changed all of that. His claims about himself were vindicated.
Reframing Your Life
You have an undeniable hope for the future.
I have performed hundreds of funerals. Some people may not think a lot about God or what happens after we die. As soon as someone dies, it becomes a much more significant issue. We sometimes feel that we’re indestructible. Eventually we recognize that we’re not. In those times we often go to what could be called a feel good theology. “He’s gone onto a better place. Now, he’s an angel in heaven.” “Now, grandma is in a better place looking down on us.” I don’t know about you, but just to be honest, there’s certain times of the day I don’t’ want grandma looking down on me from anywhere, just saying. Quite frankly, we guess and make things up to comfort our fears about death. But, it is too important a question to leave to guess work. This is the vital truth of the resurrection. Jesus did not have a near death experience. He had an actual death experience and came back to tell us what is on the other side. Because of these credentials, I will trust what he has to say. “I will go and prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)
The undeniable hope in the present.
Many people cry out, “I can’t believe in a world where a God allows bad things to happen to good people.” But the early church never voiced that complaint. They saw the worst thing happen to the best person of all. Yet, out of that came the reversal of destructive evil and pain. The resurrection brought an entire reframing of life. The first followers of Jesus saw that there is purpose in the pain; there is renewal in the loss. As Jesus was resurrected by the strong arms of the Father, so those arms will bring resurrection power today.
- Whatever bad news you face; his arms will pick you up.
- To the devastated husband whose wife has left you; you feel betrayed and alone, his arms will pick you up.
- To the frightened parents of a depressed child; his arms will pick you up.
- To the anxious worker who has lost their job; his arms will pick you up.
- To the guilt-ridden addict hiding in the shadows; his arms will pick you up.
- To the lonely young person longing to be loved; his arms will pick you up.
The Father’s arms are plenty strong. They have not lost any of their power, and they will pick you up. Resurrection is coming.
Postscript: What If You Don’t Believe the Bible?
Some may respond to the evidence by saying, “I don’t believe the Bible as a divinely inspired book, so I can’t accept the above as evidence.” You don’t have to believe in the Bible as a divine book or the Word of God to consider the evidence above. Just take John’s account as a historical record. Compared to all ancient literature, the Gospel of John has the strongest proof of being authentic. Most ancient writings (e.g., Herodotus, Plato, Homer, etc.) have their closest copy from 600 to a 1000 years after the original. Many of these consist of a dozen copies or less. The Gospel of John has parts or fragments as early as 30 years away from the original. Beyond that there are thousands of copies. We can be certain that the story gives an accurate account of the events which originally happened. More on the authenticity of the accounts in the next blog.