Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Fiction?
At Easter, some might wonder what all the fuss is about. Who cares? What difference does it make if Jesus rose from the dead?
It makes all the difference in the world. If Christ did not rise, then thousands of believers have died as martyrs for a hoax.
If he did rise, then he is still alive and can offer peace to troubled, hurting lives.
Countless scholars–among them the apostle Paul, Augustine, Sir Isaac Newton and C.S. Lewis–believed in the resurrection. We need not fear committing intellectual suicide by believing it also. Where do the facts lead?
Paul, a first-century skeptic-turned believer, wrote that “Christ died for our sins…he was buried…he was raised on the third day…he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve (Disciples). After that, he appeared to more than five hundred…at the same time, most of whom are still living.”
Consider four pieces of evidence:
1. The explosive growth of the Christian movement. Within a few weeks after Jesus was crucified, a movement arose which, by the later admission of its enemies, “upset the world.” What happened to ignite this movement shortly after its leader had been executed?
2. The Disciples’ changed lives. After Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, most of the Disciples fled in fear. Peter denied three times that he was a follower of Jesus. (The women were braver and stayed to the end.) Yet ten out of the eleven Disciples (Judas committed suicide) were martyred for their faith. According to traditions, Peter was crucified upside down; Thomas was skewered; John was boiled in oil but survived. What turned these cowards into heroes? Each believed he had seen Jesus alive again.
3. The empty tomb. Jesus’ corpse was removed from the cross, wrapped like a mummy and placed in a solid-rock tomb. A one-and-a-half to two-ton stone was rolled into a slightly depressed groove to seal the tomb’s entrance.
A “Green Beret”-like unit of Roman soldiers guarded the grave. Sunday morning, the stone was found rolled away, the body was gone but the graveclothes were still in place. What happened?
Did Christ’s friends steal the body? Perhaps one of the women sweet-talked (karate-chopped?) the guards while the others moved the stone and tiptoed off with the body. Or maybe Peter (remember his bravery) or Thomas (Doubting Thomas) overpowered the guards, stole the body, then fabricated–and died for–a resurrection myth.
These theories hardly seem plausible. The guard was too powerful, the stone too heavy and the disciples too spineless to attempt such a feat.
Did Christ’s enemies steal the body? If Romans or Jewish religious leaders had the body, surely they would have exposed it publicly and Christianity would have died out. They didn’t, and it didn’t.
The “Swoon Theory” supposes that Jesus didn’t really die but was only unconscious. The expert Roman executioners merely thought he was dead. After a few days in the tomb without food or medicine, the cool air revived him.
He burst from the 100 pounds of graveclothes, rolled away the stone with his nail-pierced hands, scared the daylights out of the Roman soldiers, walked miles on wounded feet and convinced his Disciples he’d been raised from the dead. This one is harder to believe than the resurrection itself.
4. The appearances of the risen Christ. For 40 days after his death, many different people said they saw Jesus alive. Witnesses included a woman, a shrewd tax collector, several fishermen and over 500 people at once. These claims provide
further eyewitness testimony for the resurrection.
As a skeptic, I realized that attempts to explain away the evidences run into a brick wall of facts that point to one conclusion: Christ is risen.
The above does not constitute an exhaustive proof, rather a reasoned examination of the evidence. Each interested person should evaluate the evidence and decide if it makes sense. Of course, the truth or falsity of the resurrection is a matter of historical fact and is not dependent on anyone’s belief. If the facts support the claim, one can conclude that he arose. In any case, mere intellectual assent to the facts does little for one’s life.
A major evidence comes experientially, in personally receiving Jesus’ free gift of forgiveness. He said, “I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him (or her).”
Worth considering?
Take a next step:
WATCH: Can we be sure that Jesus rose from the dead?
Read the Easter story
Who is Jesus Christ?
©1997 Rusty Wright. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Your argument would have been more believable if you left out the TWO TON grave stone or the 100 POUND grave cloth or the EXPERT executioner or the SPINELESS disciples. Understatement would have worked better when you are talking about God’s Son. Grandstanders and approval seekers are what Christians have become not what Christ was.
Hi Joe, I appreciate your desire to make sure the account of Jesus’ resurrection is accurate. Rusty’s claim about the weight of the stone covering the tomb that Jesus was laid in is probably pretty accurate. Given the size of the opening of the traditional tomb in Jesus’ time, the stone covering it would have only been about 4′-6′ in diameter. Most of those stones were only 1″ thick and held into place by a track of rock that would allow it to be rolled open and closed but not fall forward (you can see some pictures and read some descriptions of 1st century tombs in Jerusalem at http://theosophical.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/the-size-of-the-stone-covering-jesus%E2%80%99-tomb-2) Given those dimensions stone tomb coverings weigh anywhere from 2000-4000 lbs or 1-2 tons.
Also, according to John 19:39-40, Jesus’ body was wrapped in linens and 100 pounds of aloes and myrrh (roman pounds were 11.3 ounces so the weight was closer to 96 pounds). So for Jesus to untie Himself would have meant somehow manoeuvering out of the tight wrapping weighed down by all the spices.
In regards to the expert executioner, crucifixion was used as a means of public, shameful punishment for those who rebelled against Rome. It was intended to inflict maximum pain and act as a warning to others who contemplated rebellion. The province of Palestine was not a peaceful Roman occupation and there had been many who had attempted to incite a national Jewish rebellion. The fact that Jesus was crucified with at least two other criminals that day lends credence to the idea that the Roman garrison posted in Jerusalem had troop specially assigned to efficiently carrying out these executions. I think you would be hard pressed to find examples of people who survived a Roman crucifixion which attests to the expertise that these troops had in this area.
Now you may have a point that calling the disciples spineless is hyperbole, but there certainly is plenty of evidence that the disciples hardly seemed in any frame of mind to attempt the theft of the body of Jesus. Their actions leading up to that point seems to suggest they were more intent on saving their own lives rather than risking Jesus’ fate by trying to fabricate a story of His resurrection.
There is no need to exaggerate the details of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It was a horrendous treatment that He received and words could never accurately capture the pain and suffering He experienced. Also, the miracle of how He came back to life after experiencing such a death is equally beyond our ability to comprehend or explain. What is hard to swallow is the attempts that people have made to discount the reality of this historical event in order to absolve themselves of having to face the reason that Jesus allowed Himself to be put through this anguish and the life giving hope in the meaning of His resurrection: namely, that He died to pay the penalty we owe for our rebellion against God and that His resurrection gives us hope that we too will be raised to live with Him for all eternity if we accept His offer of forgiveness. No grandstanding, no exaggeration, just the truth that we all can either choose or reject.
Hey Joe – I actually agree with your main principle, as I understand it – that Christians should not overstate their case. As an apologist myself, I know that this this is a common temptation. However, in this particular case the author, Rusty Wright, whom I know, has actually not exaggerated the evidence. The “TWO TON grave stone” and the “100 POUND grave cloth” and the “EXPERT executioner” and the “SPINELESS disciples” are all accurate and essential components of the story. They all point to difficulties with alternative theories to the resurrection hypothesis. Wright was not grandstanding or trying to seek approval. He was merely reporting accurately the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, something which I think Christ would approve of. You might be interested in my current blog post on the resurrection at p2c.com/michaelhorner. I would be interested in your comments on it.
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Thank you Rusty for that excellent article which God has and is using to bring many to the historical knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection. May God continue to bless and use you to His honor and glory, amen.
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Just another proof that God never sleeps or takes a vacation. He continuously uses all means possible to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s praise him today!!