Evidences for the Resurrection of Christ

The entire Christian faith either stands or falls based on the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Cor. 15:14). His resurrection proves several facts about Christianity: Christ truly is the Son of God; His word is truth; His death paid in full for our sins; His resurrection guarantees ours.

Either prove or disprove the historical event of the resurrection and you have proven or disproven everything about the Christian faith. This writing consists of a simple list of evidences for Christ’s resurrection with a hope that it will stimulate your own personal faith. According to Dr. John Ankerberg and Dr. John Weldon:

Indeed, other religions in the world are believed in despite the lack of genuine evidence for their truth claims; only Christianity can claim credibility because of such evidence. Regrettably, what is often overlooked in the field of comparative religion today is that no genuinely historical/objective evidence exists for the foundational religious claims of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, or any religion other than Christianity.2 As scientist, Christian apologist and biblical commentator Dr. Henry Morris observes, "As a matter of fact, the entire subject of evidences is almost exclusively the domain of Christian evidences. Other religions depend on subjective experience and blind faith, tradition and opinion. Christianity stands or falls upon the objective reality of gigantic supernatural events in history and the evidences therefore. This fact in itself is an evidence of its truth."3

http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/ATRJ/truth/ATRJ1203-EV-1.htm


The empty tomb

The first and still unanswerable evidence for the resurrection is that of the empty tomb. Those who question the resurrection cannot deny the fact that the tomb is empty. In fact, so formidable is this proof that because of it many false theories have been proposed to explain it away. An empty tomb, of course, means that no body has ever been produced.

The grave clothes

The tomb, actually, was not quite empty; the body was gone but the graveclothes remained behind. What is so remarkable about these linen wrappings is that they had not been distirbed as if someone had unwrapped the body (John 20:5-7). Not only this, the napkin that had covered His face was folded neatly and placed by itself. It goes without saying that grave robbers never would have taken the time to unwrap the body and then neatly fold some of the cloths. The clothes were left behind in such a way that it caused John to believe the Lord had risen (John 20:8).

The stone

The great stone that was moved from the opening of the tomb is a testimony of the resurrection. Not only was the stone in place but it was sealed and guarded (Matt. 27:66). Unwittingly, by securing the tomb to this degree the Romans lent even more evidence to the resurrection once it happened. The Pharisees understood that Christ said He would rise from the dead on the third day (Matt. 27:63). Therefore, they convinced the Roman leadership to take every precaution to prevent His disciples from stealing the body and staging a hoax (v. 64).

The seal over the stone is very important because it declares the full power and force of the Roman Empire. Anyone disturbing those seals would be put to death. Is it likely that the fearful disciples would risk such a feat as stealing the body, knowing the consequences for doing so?

The stone, seal, and guards made it nearly impossible for anyone to tamper with the tomb. Consequently, the only explanation for the stone being moved is the power of God displayed in raising Christ from the dead. It has been said that the stone was moved not so Christ could get out but so that the people could get in and see that He was not there.

Appearances of Christ

Around ten different appearances of the resurrected Lord are recorded in the New Testament. There can be no greater proof that He is alive than to have many witnesses to this fact. Even if there had been only two or three witnesses it still would have been established as an historical event. But actuallly there were more than 500 witnesses on just one occasion (1 Cor. 15:6).

Thomas often gets a bad rap because he doubted that the other disciples had seen the Lord (John 20:24-29). But on the contrary, he is one of the strongest witnesses we have. Here was a man who was anything but gullible because for over a week the other ten disciples could not convince him of what they had seen. He would have been the last one of the bunch to hallucinate and be deceived. He demanded proof and he got it.

The boldness of the disciples

During Christ’s trial, Peter denied that he even knew Him and after His death the disciples cowered in fear of the Jews (John 20:19). These men were anything but bold after the loss of their Lord. The only explanation for their changed behavior throughout the book of Acts is that they knew He was alive. They boldly proclaimed the resurrection and testified as His witnesses on several occasions (Acts 2:32, 3:15, 4:33, 5:32, 10:41). They risked their lives and many of them were martyred because of it.

But, you might ask, is there any difference between the apostles giving their lives and Muslims today who have done the same thing? There is a big difference. Muslims and people from other religions give their lives for something they believe to be true but are actually deceived. The apostles and other Christians in the early church such as Stephen (Acts 7), gave their lives for what they knew to be true. They were eye-witnesses of the resurrected Lord. They didn’t just believe what someone had told them they saw Him with their own eyes and were willing to stake their lives on it.

Old Testament prophecies

The Old Testament includes several prophecies concerning Christ’s resurrection (Psalm 2:7, 16:8-11, 68:18, 110:1). Besides direct prophecies predicting the resurrection there are also legitimate types in the Old Testament such as the offering up of Isaac (Gen. 22:3-14), and Jonah in the belly of the fish (Jon. 1:17; Matt. 12:40).

The prophecies of Christ Himself

On several occasions Christ predicted He would rise again (Matt. 12:40, 17:23, 20:19, 26:32; Mark 9:31, 10:34; Luke 18:33; John 2:19). But His disciples simply did not understand what He was saying (Mark 9:32). This indicates that they were not expecting a resurrection so they certainly would not have been plotting a hoax to fool the world.

The event of Pentecost

We shouldn’t neglect the day of Pentecost as further evidence for Christ’s resurrection. He had to be alive in order to send the Holy Spirit down from Heaven as He had said He would (John 16:7). This monumental event happened in public and was accompanied by the sign of speaking with tongues. The point is that these miraculous events would never have taken place had Christ still been in the grave.

The conversion of Paul

Saul of Tarsus was certainly not trying to become a Christian. In fact, he was doing everything he could to eliminate Christianity and establish Judaism. When Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus, he was not on his way to church but headed to persecute Christians. There can be no other explanation for his miraculous conversion than a genuine appearance of the resurrected Christ.

Miracles by the apostles

The first miracle of the apostles recorded was the healing of the impotent man at the Beautiful Gate (Acts 3:1-11). It is notable that the Jewish leaders could do nothing but threaten them not to preach any more (Acts 4:14-18). Certainly they would have destroyed the entire Christian faith right then and there if they had only produced Christ’s body for all to see. The fact that they had to resort to violence showed their own impotence.

Miracles throughout the book of Acts attest to the resurrection of Christ. Because why would God keep sending signs, miracles, and wonders to confirm the eye-witness testimony of the apostles’ preaching if no resurrection had ever happened? They kept declaring that they were witnesses of Him and the signs following proved it.

The existence of the church

The very fact that the church even exists is tremendous testimony to the resurrection because Christ said that He would build His church (Matt. 16:18). How could He build anything if He is still dead? As we said at the beginning, the Christian faith either stands or falls based on the resurrection. Therefore, the continuation of the church unto today testifies to it.

The observance of the first day of the week

What accounts for the fact that the day of worship changed from the last day to the first day of the week (Acts 20:7)? No church council met to decide this. Only an event so miraculous as the resurrection on that day can explain it (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1).

The silence of critics

The silence of history in opposition to the resurrection speaks almost as loudly as all of the evidences. If there ever was an opportunity to disprove this event it would have been near the time when it took place. Not only was no history written otherwise but also false theories were developed to explain it away. This further indicates the helplessness of the critics.

False theories

The fact that false theories about His resurrection have been proposed through the years is indirect proof of the actual event. We won’t go into detail about each theory but simply list the most prominent ones: the swoon theory; the Hallucination theory; the impersonation theory; the spiritual resurrection theory; the wrong tomb theory; the legend theory; the stolen body theory. Of all these, the one that is even halfway plausible is the stolen body theory. Since this theory was even proposed by the Jewish leaders shortly after the event (Matt. 28:13) indicates this was the best idea they could come up with at the time. It seems to be the most reasonable of the theories but still has its share of problems. One major question that arises is how could His disciples preach and die for a gospel they knew was not true if in fact they had stolen the body.

Conclusion

As we quoted at the beginning, “Indeed, other religions in the world are believed in despite the lack of genuine evidence for their truth claims; only Christianity can claim credibility because of such evidence.” Truly, other religions are not grounded in miraculous events that are proven historically. They expect “blind faith” from their followers. Only Christianity has been proven once and for all by the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.