From  Br. Sabin Jose a bond slave of Lord Jesus Christ  :-

        The aim of this article is to prove that Our Lord Jesus Christ resurrected as He said before his death; and it is not any myth like  in some religions. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the greatest miracle  of all, and the truth of the resurrection is absolutely essential to the Christian faith. In fact, according to 1 Corinthians 15, the Christian faith stands or falls on the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Is there evidence that Jesus Christ really rose from the dead? Yes- there’s plenty of excellent evidence! Many skeptics who tried to disprove the resurrection actually became Christians when they started to look seriously and honestly at the evidence.

A.   EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE

        We have the reliable reports of at least three eyewitnesses - mathew, mark and John! Of course it is in the Bible; which is the most reliable historical document-more accurate, in fact, than other ancient books. The true scholars in the field of history have allready admitted and counting that the Bible is most trustworthy historical record.

1.       Historical Record of the New Testament Documents

 a.     Gospels :     The four Gospels give detailed accounts of eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus Christ. Eyewitness accounts are important   evidence  that would    be accepted in courts of law today.

 b.     Acts :   The preaching of the Apostles stressed the resurrection, and there is no record that anyone ever came forward to dispute or deny their teaching. See Acts 2: 23-24;  4:2; 4:33; 17:

c.      Epistles   :     The apostle Paul states that many people saw the risen Christ- on one occasion, over 500 people at once (1 Corthians 15:3-8)! Many of those eyewitnesses were still alive to corroborate Paul’s statement because 1 Corinthians, a letter sent to the Christians at Corinth, was written only about 25 years after the resurrection. When Paul wrote this letter, he knew his readers accepted and believed the resurrection of Jesus without reservation. The letter of 1 Corinthians would never have been accepted as undisputed truth if indeed the resurrection had not taken place.

2.       Old Testament Prophecies about the Messiah   

          All the Old Testament prophecies (preditctions) about the Messianic Kingdom assume that the “King Messiah” will live forever. Two examples of Old Testament prphecies about the death and resurrection of the Messiah are the following :-  

a.      Psalm 16  : ” For you will not my soul in sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16 :10). Jewish rabbinical tradition believed that this passage was speaking of the Messiah. While speaking to Jewes, the apostle Paul used Psalm 16:10 as an example of an Old Testament prophesy which was fulfilled by the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah (Acts 13:34-37)!

 b.       Isaiah 53 :   Isaiah 53 gives a detailed prediction of the death (v 5-8), burial (v9), and resurrection (v 10-12) of the Messiah.

B.         EVIDENCE FROM OTHER SOURCES

1.     Tradition of the empty Tomb

 Over the past 2000 years , skeptics have made many attempts to explain away the weight of the tradition of the empty tomb. Some of these attempts are as follows :-

  a.    “Story ” explanation

  Skeptic  :  “Christians made up the story- the empty tomb is just a legend”.

   Answer   :     These skeptics are ignoring a lot of solid historical evidence. Remember, there were many non-Christian eyewitnesses of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus of Nazareth, including Roman soldiers. Probably at least four guards kept watch over the tomb,  either Roman soldiers, Jewish Temple guards, or a combination of both. It was illegal to break the official Roman seal which sealed the tomb, but the men who guarded the tomb reported to Jewish leaders that the tomb was open and empty. Neither the guards nor the Jewish leaders were followers of Christ, so they would certainly have denied a false “story” and produced the body if the tomb was not really empty. How can all these details of the tradition be explained away if the empty tomb is only a legend? The evidence is overwhelming for the fact that there was a tomb where Jesus was buried after His crucifixion, and that it was empty a few days later.

 b.    “Swoon” explanation

 Skeptic  :   ” Jesus didn’t really die, He only swooned (temporarily lost consciousness), but later He revived and recovered in the cool tomb.”

 Answer   :   The Roman soldiers who were in charge of the execution were all too familiar with death. They would have made sure that Jesus was really dead. In addition,it’s absurd to suggest that a man who had been tortured, crucified, pronounced  dead and encased in  stiff graveclothes could not only survive, but recover sufficiently (without medical treatment) to extricate himself from the graveclothes, get up, single-handedly push aside a one-ton stone, elude a detachment of Roman and/or Temple guards and walk away!

 c. ” Stolen” explanation

  Skeptic : “Jesus disciples stole His body”.

  Answer  :    How could a small group of frightened men pull it off? A heavy, noicy rolling stone closed the mouth of the tomb, which was guarded by Roman soldiers or Jewish Temple guards (or both) and sealed with an official Roman seal. Would men who ran away in fear when Jesus was arrested suddenlyy become courageous enough to steal His body from a tomb that was guarded by armed Roman soldiers? Not likely! And how could the disciples have kept a stolen body-and the story-hidden? The authorities certainly had ways to recover stolen property! Furthermore, all but one of the disciples were eventually killed for being followers of Jesus. Would they have been willing to give up their lives when they knew that the resurrection was a hoax? Not likely!

 d.     “Slow-witted” explanation

   Skeptic :  ” The followers of Jesus were slow-witted, uneducated peasants, and they went to the wrong tomb!”

   Answer  :    Many intelligent people observed the burial of Jesus in the tomb of a wealthy , well known Jewish leader. Would everyone have gone to the wrong tomb? Surely Joseph of Arimethea would have known the location of his own tomb! The Roman guards and Jewish leaders certainly knew the location of the tomb, and would have quickly and easly produced the body from Joseph’s tomb to prevent the followers of Jesus from spreading the “rumor” of the resurrection!

   e.    “Stoned” explanation

   Skeptic:  ” They hallucinated -they only thought they saw a resurrected Jesus Christ!”

    Answer  :   Was the empty tomb a hallucination, too? Why didn’t the Jewish leaders stop the rumor that people had seen a risen Christ by producing the body of Jesus? More than 500 people at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6)  saw the risen Jesus after the resurrection-could they all have imagined it?

f.    “Spiritual” explanation

Skeptic :  ” It was a spiritual resurrection-not a bodily resurrection.”

Answer :    If it was not a bodily resurrection, why didn’t the authorities produce the body? Does a “spiritual” resurrection leave graveclothes without a body? Or is this another detail that just happened to “sneak into”the accounts of the resurrection that were accepted by evewitnesses and contemporaries of the writers? Besides, many physical details (Jesus was touched; Jesus ate) were given by the eyewitnesses. All these details must be explained away if the resurrecton was only “spirit”.

g.   “Something ” explanation

Skeptic :  ” Something happened-we don’t know what-but certainly not a resurrection, because miracles don’t happen!” This is the response of the typical skeptic today.

Answer  :     The evidence of the empty tomb is so strong that some skeptics have to acknowledge that “something” happened. All the evidence points to a resurrection, but skeptics will not admit to the possibility of supernatural events, so they come up with the vague explanation that “something” happened-but certainly not a miracle!

h.    “Supernatural” explanation

        The evidence for the resurrection is so strong that it is very hard for an honest investigator to deny it. The only reasonable explanation for the tradition of the empty tomb (and all its associated details which must be explained away if it’s not a factual tradition) is that the tomb was really empty because Jesus left it by the miracle of the resurrection.

2.      Transformation of the Apostles

         The disciples of Jesus changed abruptly from a scared bunch of cowards to courageous preachers! All but John died as martyrs. Men who ran away when Jesus was arrested were now willing to die. What caused the change? A stolen body? Not a chance! They changed because they knew Jesus Christ their master was alive!

3.       Change in Jesus’ family

          According to the Scriptural record, the family of Jesus went from unbelief (John 7:5) to faith in Him (Acts 1:14) so soon after His death that only a major event-like a resurrection!-would have changed them. James and Jude, the half -brothers of Jesus, wrote books of the New Testament. James became a leader in the Christian church in Jerusalem (Acts 15:13).

4.       Conversion of Paul

           Saul of Tarsus  the brilliant young Jewish rabbi who was completeley convinced that Christianity was a heresy, became Paul, the Christian apostle and a leading proponent of Christianity! This man possessed one of the finest minds in history and was well-versed in the prophecies of the Jewish Scriptures . He  became fully convinced that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, who had risen from the dead! Only an amazing experience can account for such a radical change in such a man. In Acts 9:1-9, Paul tells the story: He saw and heard the living Jesus Christ!

5.        Records of the Early Christians

a.         Their Bible :     Early Christians never questioned the accuracy of the historical events and records of the New Testament. There is no evidence that the New Testament records have ever been altered or changed in any way.

b.        Their writings   :   Letters, commentaries and written church services all attest to the resurrection. These documents form a continues overlapping “chain”, linking early Christian writings back to the Apostles, who were eyewitnesses of the risen  Christ.

c.        Their growth  :   The Christian community grew at a phenomenal rate, in spite of severe persecution. Only the strong certainty of the truth of the resurrection could explain this. Not only that, a large number of Jewish priests were among the earliest believers (Acts 6:7), Almost certainly they knew of the “stolen body” tale and they didn’t beleive it. They believed that Jesus Christ was risen and alive!

d.        Their Zeal  :     The early Christian were convinced that their message was authentic and vital. Would they have been so excited about spreading the gospel if they suspected it might be a hoax?

e.       Their death   :    The apostles and many early Christians suffered cruel and agonizing deaths rather than renounce their faith and deny that Jesus was the living LORD. Polycarp, an early Christian leader, knew the apostle John personally and would certainly have questioned John closely about the details and historical accuracy of the resurrection. In 156 A.D. persecution broke out in Polycarp’s province. At the age of 86, Polycarp would not renounce his faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, crying out in the public arena, “For 86 years I have been His servant and He has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme the King who saved me?” Polycarp was burned to death for his faith in the risen  Jesus Christ.

6.       Writings of Josephus

          Josephus Flavius was a non-Christian Jewish historian in the first century. In Antiquities of the Jews, he wrote the following about Jesus. ” He appeared to them (His followeres) alive again on the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold….” . Critics have tried to suggest that Christians inserted this statement in the writings of Josephus in the 3rd  or 4th century A.D! However, there is not a shred of evidence to support the idea that the writings of Josephus were” re-worked” and this quote was inserted! Where are the manuscripts that do not have this quotation? All the manuscripts of Josephus contain this quote, including all the early manuscripts which were translated into othere language. The idea that an ” insertion” could have been made in all the manuscripts is extremely unlikely!

7.        Origin of the Church

          The Christian Church was founded on belief in living Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament Scriptures (Acts 2:22-24). Remember, the earliest Christians were Jews (Acts 6:7), who expected a Messiah who would live forever. They would never have believed in, followed and died for a Messiah who was dead. 

8.        The Christian Ordinances

            Baptism portrays the death and resurrection  of Jesus. ” Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life” (romans 6:4). The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a commemoration of the death of Jesus on our behalf- in view of the fact that he is no longer dead! It is to be celebrated  ” till He comes ” (1 Cornthians 11:26)-and it should be celebrated with joy because Jesus is alive and coming again!

9.        Origin of Resurrection Sunday (”Easter”)

           Although the name “Easter” derives from pagan Spring festival, the annual celebration of the resurrectionday dates back from earliest times to the Sunday following the Jewish Passover. |In facts, every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection!

10.       Phenomenon of Sunday as the Day for Christian Worship

            The earliest Christians were Jewish. They argued about many things circumcision, the Sabbath laws, feast days, dietary laws-but they never argued about Sunday worship! Jewish people would never have begun to worship on any day other than the Sabbath (Saturday) without  a major reason. The only reason for instituting  another day of worship is that the resurrection took place on Sunday, the “first day of the week” (Luke 24:1). Jesus never taught that the day of worship should be changed. His followers started to worship on Sunday to celebrate His resurrection day. Christian worship on every Sunday since then (more than 100,00 Sundays!) has been a celebration of the resurrection! The skeptic has a very hard time  explaining how Jewish people started worshiping on Sunday, apart from recognizing that a very significant event must have taken place on Sunday, the first day of the week.

C.       INADMISSIBLE EVIDENCE

 1.       Visions

            For evidence that would stand the test in a court of law, we must have eyewitness testimony of the bodily risen Jesus, not “visions”. For evidence of the resurrction, we didn’t even use the vision of John the Apostle in Revelation. However , we did use the testimony (not a “vision”) of the apostle Paul. Paul claimed that, as an unbeliever, he had an eyewitness experience (not a vision) of the risen Christ when he was traveling to Damascus to persecute and kill Christians (Acts 9).

2.       “Near Death” Experiences

            We should be skeptical of reports of “near death” experiences because much of the details of these so-called “out-of-body” phenomena doesn’t  line up with scripture. For example, even unbelievers have experiences of “light” and  “joy” yet Hebrews 9:27 emphatically states, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Furthermore, there is great variation in accounts of ” near death” experiences, depending on many factors.

3.        The Shroud of Turin

            The Shroud of Turin is purported to be the burial shroud of Christ, with an “image of Christ” made by a “radiation scorch” at the time of resurrection. The Shroud of Turin is probably not authentic because radioactive carbon testing dates the cloth to the Middle Ages (1260 A.D to 1390 A.d.) and traces of paint have reportedly been found on the Shroud. Even the Roman Catholic Church, which preserves the Shroud in Turin, Italy, has never been completely convinced  of its authenticity. However, some authorities claim that the radiocarbon dates are in error because of faulty testing. Furthermore, at present there is no completely satisfactory natural explanation for the image on the Shroud. Further testing will likely be done, but the Shroud of Turin would not be solid evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

         As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, many skeptics have ended up becoming Christians because of the undeniable evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

         The eminent British philosopher and author, C.S. Lewis, admitted that he was forced to become a Christian against his will  because he couldn’t deny the evidence for the resurrection.

         Lew Wallace, the author of Ben Hur, started out to write a book disproving the resurrection, but ended up becoming a Christian after investigating the evidence!

        Simon Greenleaf was a 19th century Harvard law professor whose legal writings are still used today. He tried to prove that the resurrection never occured, but became a Christian as he examined the evidence. He then wrote a book entitled An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. Simon Greenleaf put the evidence for the resurrection on trial. Verdict; the resurrection won, on the basis of indisputable evidence!

       Early in the 20th century, a non-Christian attorney named Frank Morrison was convinced that the resurrection was no more than a “fairy tale ending” to the “Christian Legend”. He planned to write a book to disprove the resurrection-until he began to examine the evidence himself! He became a Christian and ended up writing a very different book; Who Moved the Stone?The first chapter, entitled ” The book that refused to be written”, is a description of the book he had planned to write before his mind changed by the evidence for the resurrection!

       My dearest reader I was also a man who believed in all gods of this world. But when I could read the Holy Bible, my view had changed and I came to knew that there is only One Great God and Saviour, that is Jesus Christ. He had done a great miracle in my life that is He transformed my callouse heart to a fleshly heart. He changed my life on that very day,I repent and accept Him as my Lord and Saviour.  He is not an output of anyone’s imagination. Really  He was, He is and He will . Put your trust upon Him, accept His Lordship and believe that He died as ransom for your sin on the cross of the Calvary. He is faithful to save you from the eternal Hell and  it’s agony. Remember death is not the end of your life but a door to eternal life; there the Creator is waiting for your account. “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment”  (Hebrews 9:27). But “Therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ” (Romans 8:1).So please place your faith upon Him. May God Bless you. Ammen.

                                                     By

                                                     Br. Sabin Jose Bishop Auckland

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