Did Jesus Arise from the Dead?

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#Resurrection

Men of world renown have built or destroyed empires, altered the course of history and changed millions of lives for good or evil such as Buddha, Confucius, Caesar, Muhammad, Marx and Hitler. But, they had no power to defeat death. Only Jesus showed this kind of power.

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If Jesus arose bodily from the dead, it visibly demonstrated life exists beyond the grave, God exists and acts in our world, Jesus is God, all he said is true, our world has meaning, our lives purpose, and we have opportunity for eternal life and fulfillment in him. This answers our most crucial questions, meets our greatest needs. But if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then we are  perishing animals that return to dirt without dignity, rights, freedom, absolute truth and ethics.

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Attempts to discredit Jesus’ bodily resurrection are leaky buckets. Unless we know everything, we can’t know there’s no God who can take on human form, die for our sins and rise again. Alternative explanations are improbable and no disproof. Jesus’ miracles always astonished his skeptical disciples since they knew nature’s laws. Eyewitness testimony established Christ’s resurrection. Dying and rising Savior-Gods based on nature’s vegetation cycles were just fertility myths. Some claim history unknowable yet claim to know dead unconscious chemicals have aligned themselves into men. Let’s be real!

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Intellectual integrity requires fair open-minded evaluation of this mountain of evidence. Study the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection--they’re natural, unpretentious, unembellished fact, not myths or made up stories—Matt. 27:35-28:20; Mark 15:15-16:18; Luke 23:26-24:43; John 19:17-21:23. If Jesus arose, it assures all humanity he alone is the truth and our only hope of salvation. How would you answer the following test questions?

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Were Jesus’ Deity, Death and Resurrection Predicted?

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Hundreds of years before Jesus, Jewish prophets predicted their Messiah would be God, virgin born, in Bethlehem, have a forerunner, live without sin, perform miracles, die for his people’s sins without a bone broken, and rise from the dead (Isa 7:14; 9:6; 40:3-5; 53; Ps. 22; 16:10; Mi. 5:2). Who alone could fulfill them but Jesus who said he had come to fulfill all the prophets said of him? Moreover, the odds against all these centuries earlier detailed specific predictions being fulfilled must be in the trillions.   

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Because of their unbelief, Jesus’ disciples couldn’t understand his predictions. Jesus predicted Judas’ betrayal, the disciples forsaking him and Peter’s denials when the roaster crowed thrice. Jesus said the chief priests and elders would condemn him and turn him over to the Romans for trial. They would beat, mock, and crucified him, but in three days, he would rise from the dead. How could any mere person predict such things?
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                                                     Was Christ’s Death Certain?

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Without food or sleep during his five long trials, a big whip with bits of metal lacerating his back, and his head pierced by the crown of thorns, Jesus lost much blood and became too weak to carry his cross. Spikes driven through his hands and feet brought excruciating pain and loss of blood. His work finished, he committed his spirit to the Father. When the soldier’s spear thrust his side, blood and water gushed out. These experienced executioners knew they didn’t need to break his leg to hasten death. Jesus’ disciple. Moreover, a cold stiff body makes it certain. John, his mother and two other women disciples watched him die on the cross.

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Pilate allowed Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus to take down Jesus’ body and bury him in Joseph’s private tomb as the women followed and watched. From his garden arrest until his sealed entombment, soldiers guarded Jesus. No substitution was possible—indeed, who could be identified or pose as a tortured crucified substitute?
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                                                    Was Jesus’ Tomb Secured?

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Having heard the rumor Jesus would rise the third day, Pilate ordered soldiers to guard the tomb under penalty of death. Joseph’s tomb was cut from solid rock. Inside it, the disciples bound Jesus’ body in cloth and spices. The watching soldiers sealed its entrance with a large heavy stone and placed upon it the Roman seal. Grave robbers dare not go against mighty Rome.

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.                               How Can We Explain His Empty Tomb at Jerusalem?



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Jerusalem was the place Jesus was crucified, buried and claimed to have arisen from the dead. Anybody could confirm whether Jesus was still in the tomb by a short trip outside the city. On the first day of the week, an earthquake occurred at the tomb and an angel rolled the stone from its entrance. The terrified soldiers fell down like dead men. Seeing the guarded tomb empty, they went into town and told the chief priests who never doubted what happened. The priests bribed the soldiers to say the disciples stole Jesus’ body and that if it gets to the governor’s ears, they would make it right. Neither friend nor foe had a motive to steal the body even supposing they could. The priests’ explanation that Jesus’ disciples stole the body is the first of a dozen or more failed attempts to explain away the resurrection.

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About sunrise, the four women brought spices to anoint Jesus’ body. They were surprised to find the stone roll away and Jesus’ body missing. An angel told them Jesus was not here but arisen as he told them he would. Mary Magdalene ran to tell the disciples they had taken the Lord from the tomb. Since Jewish law discount a Jewish woman’s testimony, this is an unmentionable event unless it occurred. 

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Peter and John ran to investigate. When John entered the tomb, he saw the grave clothes wrapped around as before but deflated with the headpiece folded and set aside—and he believed. No hasty grave robbers would leave these.  

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                                How Can We Explain Christ’s Many Appearances?

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Even though Jesus raised three persons from the dead, and claimed on many occasions he would die and arise from the dead his disciples didn’t believe. They didn’t know their Scriptures and Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they expected. What could have changed their incredibly skeptical minds?

During forty days, Jesus appeared a dozen times unexpectedly at different places under various conditions to both individuals and groups. As before, he drank and ate with them, explained the Scriptures. Scientifically minded Thomas said he wouldn’t believe unless he saw the nail prints

 and touched his spear pierced side. Jesus invited him to do exactly that and Mary clinged to his feet. No theory of ghost or hallucination or imposter is possible. Jesus appeared to Stephen, skeptical James and persecuting Saul. Do you think Christ’s followers would willingly endure painful tortures and die for what they knew to be a lie?
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                            How Account for Lives Transformed by the Gospel?

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At first terrified cowards who deserted Jesus, denied him and locked themselves behind closed doors, they later boldly proclaimed him a risen Savior. These early Christians were Jews—many were priests and defenders of Judaism--proudly worshipping the God of Israel who learned their One God is three personal distinctions. They forsook the sacrificial system for the true Lamb of God it symbolized, and the many prophecies he fulfilled. The Lord’s Supper replaced Passover, baptism supplanted circumcision, Sunday worship the Sabbath, and Christ service superseded Moses’ laws. To change ones religion for a Jew meant condemnation to Hell--this was a serious commitment. They risked family rejection, ridicule, threats, imprisonment and torturous death.

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You say martyrdom proves nothing. Muslims in holy war blow themselves and others up for Allah believing they will go to a sensual paradise and have 71 virgins. Yes, kamikaze pilots, suicidal cultists and Jihadist Muslims die for a cause they sincerely believe is true. But, would they die for what they know is a lie?

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Crucial differences exist between Muhammad and Christ. Muhammad said he was just a man (Sura 17:93) while Christ claimed to be God (John 5:18; 10:33; Matt. 26:63-65). Eyewitness saw Christ perform miracles; Muhammad denied miracles when asked to perform them to prove he was a true prophet (Sura 3:181-184; 6:8-9). Proof establishes truth--mere claims mean nothing. Islam spread by force and fear of the sword; Christianity by faith and love in the risen Savior. Muslims condemn Christians for the crusades when they were only taking back lands Muslims took from them. 

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Peter and the other apostles boldly proclaimed—

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“We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree . . . And we are his witnesses.” Acts 5:29-32.

“We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 2 Peter 1:16.

“I delivered to you first of all that which I received that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also as by one born out of due time.” 1 Corinthians 15:3-8.

This above statement of Paul is one of possibly 40 early church creeds (3-8 years after Christ) memorized,  passed on and later incorporated into the epistles as most persons of that day were illiterate and depended on oral communication. Some others are Rom. 1:3-4; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 1:15-18; 1 Tim. 3:16; 2 Tim. 2:8; 1 Pet. 3:18-22.

Saul, the worst persecutor of Christians, became Paul the greatest preacher of Christ. While the men traveling with Saul to Damascus saw the light and heard the voice, only Saul saw Jesus’ body and understood his instructions. Ananias confirmed this when he opened Saul’s blinded eyes (Acts 9). All Paul’s credentials he counted loss to gain Christ (Phil. 3:5-8). What can explain Paul’s transformation except that its fact he met Christ on the Damascus Road?

Are the Gospel Accounts Fiction or Fact?

 Do these accounts of Jesus’ life read like a once upon a time story in some far off land of one-eyed giants, snake-headed Medusas, golden fleeces, genies, flying carpets and moving statues?

Consider the Gnostic Gospel of Peter dated 100 years after the resurrection. It speaks of a large crowd going to Christ’s tomb, the entrance stone moving aside, two shining men entering and carrying out a third with heads that reached up to heaven with a walking talking cross following them. That’s the character of myth and magic, not history.

Matthew, Mark and Luke cite countless names, titles, places, circumstances, customs and events verified by historical research and archaeological discovery. This is real history published within 30 years or less while eyewitnesses still lived to testify to the facts. Believing the Bible the Word of God scribes meticulously copied manuscripts. Unlike other ancient documents, thousands more manuscripts and hundreds of years closer to the events make the New Testament documents the most accurate preserved documents of antiquity--99.5%. Copious writings of the early church fathers can confirm all but eleven verses. Besides, ancient secular writers mention Jesus such as Josephus, Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, Suetonius, Hadrian, Lucian and others giving details of his life.

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If you wanted persons to believe in Jesus, would you dare mention that persons called him a deceiver (Jn. 7:12), a blasphemer they almost stoned (Jn. 8:30-59), a drunkard (Matt. 11:19), demon possessed (Mk. 3:22, Jn. 10:20), “out of his mind” by his own family (Mk. 3:21, 31), who’s followers deserted him (Jn.6:66). Only persons deeply committed to honest reporting would dare mention such damaging incidents and misunderstandings.

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Do Jesus’ teachings seem like a human invention or the true God’s ethical standard? Don’t lust. Don’t swear. Don’t hate. Blessed are the pure in heart. Turn the other cheek. Love your enemies. Go the second mile. Be perfect. Store up treasures in heaven. Glorify God. Matthew 5-7.

Critics like to claim the New Testament is only one biased religious account. Then why do the Gospels record conflicting details and supplementary information? What did the superscription on the cross really say? Were two angels at the tomb or only one? Did the women come to anoint Jesus’ body in the darkness or early morning daylight? Such seeming discrepancies show four independent trustworthy accounts. Legal experts know independent accounts exist and truth is told when witnesses generally agree but differ somewhat in details that can be reconciled. Answers to such minor difficulties are found in Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe’s book, When Critics Ask. 

Secular historians consider one source can establish many facts as history, three agreed sources unimpeachable. The Gospels are four independent sources of Christ’s life. When we add the early sermons in Acts and many early creeds in Paul’s letters (3-8 years after Christ), we have six early-agreed sources. Furthermore, while hostile witnesses would quickly expose any inaccurate testimony about Jesus, his disciples openly reminded opponents they know it’s true. Could the real bias be with the critics? One superb book that should put doubts to rest is I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek.  

Could the only reason anyone would reject the risen Lord Jesus Christ is that he or she don’t want God in his or her life? That’s life’s most serious decision. And delay could prove fatal.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen.” If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John. 14:6; 8:24; Revelation 1:18
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