Every rational being must, at some point, ask this question: “How can we know that the resurrection of Jesus Christ truly happened?”
“For the Bible tells me so…”
If you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then “because He said so” may be more than satisfactory to you. But our belief is in a real person who walked the earth at a real point in time. This means that the claims Jesus made about Himself, and the testimony of those who knew Him, if true, must appear in verifiable historical records, religious and anti-religious alike. A man does not rise from the dead without drawing significant public attention.
Secondly, to ask, “How can we know?” is not to diminish our belief in Scripture’s authority. It is because we believe it is truly the Word of God that we do not flinch to look into how the secular world attempts to explain the mystery of resurrection by humanistic standards. Since there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc. 1:9), whatever objections have been raised in the past will be raised again, and we are instructed to be ready for such questioning.
“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”
1 Peter 3:15
Established Historical Facts
Those who would deny the resurrection of Jesus must provide another explanation for the empty tomb because there has not been one serious historian in 2,000 years who denies
1) that Jesus Christ lived (was the son of a carpenter, said to have been born of a virgin, lived in Nazareth, etc.)
2) performed miracles
3) claimed to be God
4) was crucified
5) confirmed dead
6) buried in the tomb of a wealthy Jew and member of the Sanhedrin named Joseph of Arimathea
7) His tomb was found empty on the third day
8) thousands of people claimed to see, hear, and touch Jesus after the tomb was found empty.
Neither the Romans nor the Jews could produce Jesus’ body or explain where it went. Not even they denied that the tomb was empty; they could only offer alternate explanations as to why it was so. Let us look briefly at the most reasonable of those alternatives.
Alternate Theories
Apparent Death Theory. After being beaten to the point of disfigurement, Jesus was nailed to a cross, hung there suffocating for three hours, and fainted from His injuries. Four professional executioners each examined His body and mistakenly concluded that He was dead. He was then wrapped tightly in 100 pounds of linens and laid in the tomb. Days later, having no food, water, or air, He roused Himself, unwrapped His mummified body, and broke the clay seal. Despite having no leverage from inside, He managed to roll the 3,000 to 4,000-pound stone out of its divot and up the sloped groove, evaded the 16 Roman guards, and then presented Himself to thousands as the resurrected (and healthy!) Son of God.
“Since 1835, no serious scholar has been willing to support the idea that Jesus merely swooned and was revived after being taken down from the cross.” (Evidence That Demands a Verdict, 276)
Theft Theory. This is the oldest of the alternative theories, as recorded in Matthew 28:11-15. The disciples, who had previously run away in fear for their lives, drew up a scheme in which they were emboldened to fight off the professional soldiers, steal Jesus’ body, hide it, and then persuade everyone that He had been resurrected. They went on to start the Church based on that lie and went to their deaths defending it as truth.
Chuck Colson quipped: “I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world–and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks. You’re telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
Hallucination Theory. Jesus’ alleged post-resurrection appearance to a crowd of more than 500 people at once (1 Cor. 15:6) was nothing more than a mass hallucination resulting from a hyper-realistic vision that Peter, then Paul, and later through the enthusiasm of religious contagion, a crowd of more than 500 experienced what they believed was a real “appearance” of the risen Christ. What Christians call “evidence” of the resurrection was fabricated and added to the Bible later to make the lie more convincing.
“While arguably the most widely held naturalistic theory for the resurrection, the hallucination theory lacks the most evidential support–more than any of the other theories.” (Evidence, 289)
“First, not just one person but many saw Christ appear. Second, they saw him not individually but together. Third, they saw him appear not just once, but several times. Fourth, they not only saw him, but touched him, conversed with him, and ate with him. Fifth and decisively, the religious enthusiasm hypothesis fails to explain the non-production of the body. It would have been impossible for Jesus’ disciples to have believed in their master’s resurrection if his corpse still lay in the tomb.” (Craig, RF, 338).
Wrong Tomb Theory. The women and disciples–including Joseph of Arimathea, who owned the tomb–accidentally went to the wrong tomb. When they saw it was empty, they were convinced that Jesus had been resurrected.
“No sources support the wrong tomb theory. If the women and disciples had gone to the wrong tomb, all that the Roman and Jewish authorities would have had to do would have been to go to the right tomb, exhume the body, publicly display it, and clear up the misunderstanding.” (Habermas and Licona, CRJ, 97-98).
These attempts to discredit the biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection are so absurdly improbable as to make the claims of scripture seem perfectly reasonable by comparison. If He is God, as He claimed to be, then why should we be surprised that He has power over death? With all the saints who have gone before us, we confess that He is the risen Lord of all!