Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus

There are many who still question if humans really landed on the moon. It is argued that the whole incident was staged and everyone was deceived into thinking that Neil Armstrong really walked on the lunar surface. However, this conspiracy theory has been debunked numerous times. The evidence includes the actual people who walked on the moon, the almost 400,000 people at NASA who supported these missions, material from the lunar surface, audio and video evidence, and many more.

These are historical facts, and they cannot be proven by a science experiment. Each landing is proven to be true by eyewitness accounts, and other historical-contextual evidence. Historians rely on tools different from scientists to conclude if an event occurred or not.

And when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus, we can use the same tools to show that He really did rise from the dead. Obviously, we do not have audio or video evidence; however, there were eyewitnesses, whose testimonies we have, and numerous other historical-contextual evidence that show beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus did not remain dead, but has risen.

Death

Jesus was put to death on a Roman cross after He was scourged and beaten. There were multiple eyewitnesses who saw His execution. Both Christian and non-Christian sources recount that Jesus was crucified. All four Gospels in the New Testament include various details of Jesus’ crucifixion. Various non-biblical writers including Josephus, Tacitus, and Lucian document that Jesus was executed. The Talmud also includes that Jesus was hanged on the eve of the Passover (hang on a tree per Deut. 21:22-23) .

Bart Ehrman, the agnostic-atheist professor, in his book, “Did Jesus Exist?,” notes that it was known by everyone everywhere that Jesus had been crucified. There is no question that Jesus died on the cross.

Eyewitness Testimonies

The disciples of Jesus testified that they saw Jesus alive in His body after His death. Jesus died and was buried in a tomb; but He appeared again to His disciples and to multiple others. A record of these appearances have been written down by Paul, a persecutor of the Christians (more on that below), in his letter to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 15:3-8.

Paul writes that he is passing on what he received and he qualifies it as a matter of first importance. This matter is the appearances of Jesus to Peter, and to James, and to all the Apostles. Jesus also appeared to more than 500 people at the same time. Finally, He also appeared to Paul. These verses are identified as a creed that the early church used to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus. The creed was developed very early within a span of 1 year after Jesus’ resurrection and it predated Paul. This is a very early eyewitness account that Paul received from other Christians, and wrote in his letter.

Paul was not the only one who documented the eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ appearances. Matthew and John were among the Apostles to whom Jesus appeared. According to tradition, Mark documented the words of Peter in his Gospel. And Luke investigated the life of Jesus thoroughly in his Gospel. All four Gospel writers document Jesus’ appearance after His death.

The fact that the disciples of Jesus claimed to have seen Him is undisputed among all scholars. The disciples not only claimed to have seen Jesus but they were emboldened in such a way as to be transformed from fearful, cowardly individuals into those who were willing to lay down their lives for this claim.

It sure forces one to question why people would die for something they did not believe to be true. The only explanation is that they truly saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, proclaimed this fact, and even died brutally for this truth.

James and Paul

It is one thing for loved ones to claim to have seen Jesus after His death; but it is a different matter when skeptics and persecutors also claim to have seen Him.

James was the brother of Jesus but he did not believe in Jesus’ words (John 7:5); he thought Jesus had lost his senses (Mark 3:21). However, James became one of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13, 21:18). In his letter to the dispersed Jews, he addresses himself as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ (James 1:1). How did this change take place? What happened that he went from being a skeptic to the leader of the church?

We learn about it in 1 Cor 15:7 – Jesus appeared to James after His death. And James knew that the Jesus he grew up with was alive again. James had seen for himself that Jesus rose from the dead and this changed his life completely. So radical was this change that James died a martyr (documented by Eusebius).

But the most radical change, and one that has most scholars and historians scratching their heads, is the conversion of Paul. We know that Paul (or Saul before his conversion) was a devout Jew. He was so zealous for the Jewish faith that he saw Christianity as a serious threat and was on a mission to destroy it. In Acts 7, when Stephen was martyred, Saul was an accomplice (Acts 7:58). And in Acts 8:1-3, Saul was ravaging the church, and persecuting the Christians. However, Paul wrote about half the books of the New Testament; he suffered great persecution himself and was finally martyred for his Christian faith. What caused him to change and why did he forsake his Jewish faith that he was so passionate for?

Paul tells this in his own words in Acts 22:6-11 and in 26:9-18. And Luke documents this event in Acts 9:1-19. Paul, while he was on his way to persecute the Christians in Damascus, saw the risen Jesus. It was not merely a vision but a real encounter with the physical Jesus, who Paul knew had been put to death. Paul attests to the bodily resurrection of Jesus in 1 Cor 15, and in verse 14 and 17, he pins the foundation of the Christian faith on the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

It was the bodily appearance of Jesus after His death that caused the skeptic James and the persecutor Paul to believe in the resurrection of Jesus. They did not need any other proof because they had seen with their own eyes that Jesus was not dead anymore; He was risen!

Empty tomb

A final piece of evidence, and one that has never been refuted, though poor attempts have been made, is the fact that the tomb was empty on Sunday morning. The tomb was protected by Roman guards (Matt 27:66), who were skilled warriors. However, the women who went to complete the burial rites early that morning, found the stone at the entrance of the tomb was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

Jesus’ resurrection was proclaimed in Jerusalem, the very same city in which He was put to death. All that had to be done to prove the resurrection false was to produce the dead body of Jesus. However, no one was able to do so. Instead, the authorities claimed that the disciples had stolen the body (Matt 28:13). It is unfathomable that unskilled ordinary men could overthrow the Roman guard.

Furthermore, to this day, the remains of Jesus’ body have not been found.

The only plausible explanation in light of all this evidence is that Jesus rose bodily from the dead!

What does it mean?

We can know the facts about the resurrection through historical analysis; however, the meaning of the resurrection can only be discerned through the words of Jesus and His disciples.

While on earth, Jesus predicted multiple times that He would be put to death and that on the third day, He would rise again (Mark 8:31; Matt 16:21, 17:9, 12, 22; Luke 9:22). Jesus knew this was God’s plan (John 12:27). And Jesus knew that this was the only way humans can be reconciled to the Father (John 3:14-15). It was through the death of Jesus that sin was judged and paid for (Rom 8:3-4). It is in the resurrection of Jesus that death was defeated (Acts 2:24), and because He lives, we will also live with Him forever (John 14:19).

Conclusion

As Christians, the resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. Without this historical fact, our faith is in vain (1 Cor 15:17). But this event is not an isolated event. It was predicted by the prophets; and in all of God’s dealings with humans, He pointed to this event (Luke 24:26-27). As Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:3-4, all of this took place “according to the Scriptures.” This was God’s plan even before the foundation of the world.

We should be assured that our faith is not in vain! We should be zealous in our love for Jesus. He who knew no sin was made sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21).

If you have not turned to Jesus for your salvation, then the resurrection is the ultimate proof that Jesus is Lord, and there is no life apart from Him. Be reconciled to God through Christ! (2 Cor 5:20) because God “has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

Further Reading