Christians have great reasons to celebrate Easter! Jesus’s resurrection justifies us before God (Rom. 4:25), gives purpose to our preaching (1 Cor. 15:14), and value to our faith (1 Cor. 15:17). Many of us often forget, however, that the resurrection does a whole lot to show that Christianity is true. After all, if God raised Jesus back from the dead, it shows that God exists and Jesus can be trusted.
But can we show that the resurrection really happened? We weren’t there to see Jesus’s death, to visit the empty tomb, or to witness Jesus alive after his execution. But there are other ways to show that these three events took place. As you will soon see, they are crucial for building a strong case that the resurrection really happened.
Fact 1: Jesus Died by Crucifixion
Christians proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus from the beginning of church history in the very city that watched Him die (See Habermas, On the Resurrection, 437–479, 698–705). But what if Jesus never really died? What if Jesus merely passed out and woke up later before leaving his tomb and appearing to his followers? To know whether this is possible, we need to know more about what was actually reported. The death of Jesus is mentioned in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 32, and John 19. The means of death was crucifixion, a horrific and shameful death reserved for criminals. The fact that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were allies of Christianity makes it highly unlikely they would have made up such an embarrassing demise of their beloved leader. Several ancient non-Christians also reported the death of Jesus. (Josephus, Antiquities 18.64; Lucian, Death of Peregrine 11–13; Tacitus, Annals 15.44).Related: Crucifixion Details of the Resurrection of ChristWhy stress death by crucifixion? Because crucifixion is not the kind of execution that someone could live through. Roman executioners knew how to kill people. Victims had their hands nailed to a wooden beam and were suspended on a vertical post such that it would be difficult to breathe. When they ran out of energy, they would suffocate to death. In the case of Jesus, he died relatively quickly, so a Roman executioner thrust a spear through his side to be extra sure Jesus was dead (John 19:31–34). Even if Jesus merely passed out on the cross and somehow survived it (a theory that even non-Christian scholars of Jesus don’t take seriously), he would have been a disaster case on the verge of death. This hardly explains why the first Christians called Jesus their triumphant king whom God raised back from the dead.
Fact 2: The Tomb Was Found Empty
Rather than saying Jesus never really died, some critics of Christianity claim that the early followers of Jesus merely thought they saw Jesus alive. Maybe they hallucinated Jesus, or they simultaneously went through a severe stage of denial in their grieving process. While there are several problems with this theory, one big problem is this: it does not explain why the tomb of Jesus was empty. But how can we know that the tomb of Jesus was empty? Well, by the time the resurrection was proclaimed, Jesus’s corpse would still be in recognizable shape (See Habermas and Licona, Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Chapter 4, footnote 32). This means any enemy of Christianity could have easily ended the movement by uncovering the dead body of Jesus. The fact that Christianity is still around means they were unable to do so.Related: Empty Tomb: Details of Christ’s ResurrectionHow, then, did the enemies of Jesus respond? There’s an interesting detail near the end of Matthew where he responds to the non-Christian argument that the body of Jesus was stolen. The fact that Matthew (a follower of Jesus) responds to the argument that the disciples stole the body is strong evidence that critics were saying the disciples stole the body. There is no reason critics would say this if the body of Jesus was still in the tomb. Also, all four gospels say that women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb. At that time, female testimony was not considered reliable (Babylonian Talmud: Sotah 19a, Kiddushin 82b, Rosh Hashanah 1.8; Josephus, Antiquities, 4.8.15). If the empty tomb was a lie from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, why would they tell it from the perspective of women? The best explanation is that the tomb really was empty.
Fact 3: Followers of Jesus Claimed They Saw Jesus Alive
At this point, critics of Christianity are running out of options, but there are still a few points they could make. What if the followers of Jesus went to the wrong tomb? Or what if somebody moved the body of Jesus to a different location without telling anyone? This theory struggles when we consider another important fact: the followers of Jesus claimed they saw Jesus alive.Related: The Resurrection of Christ: The Disciples’ ReactionIt’s not hard to prove this third fact. We simply look at what they wrote. Look at Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20–21. Look also at 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, where Paul mentions himself and 500 other witnesses. Importantly, Paul gives several names in case his critics want to investigate further. And, if anyone still thinks these appearances can be explained by hallucinations or grief stages of denial, John says that he and others saw, heard, and even touched Jesus (1 John 1:1). It’s important to understand that these claims—seeing, touching, and talking with the resurrected Jesus over an extended period of time—are not the kinds of claims someone could accidentally come to falsely believe. If Jesus never resurrected, then the people claiming to have seen Jesus alive must be knowingly lying about Jesus. The problem is that they were willing to die for their claims, and many of them did. People die for all sorts of crazy beliefs, but nobody dies for something they know is a lie.
The Easter Opportunity
We have seen that Jesus died, his tomb was found empty, and the followers of Jesus claimed to have seen Jesus alive. Taken together, these three facts of history make a strong case that Jesus resurrected from the dead. They’re also just three facts. It’s not hard to remember. I highly encourage you to take a few minutes to write them down and internalize them. If you do, you’ll be more equipped than most Christians to talk about Jesus during a season when everyone is thinking about Him. What better time to tell someone in your life about the resurrection of Jesus than this Easter season?
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