Did Christ Rise from the Dead?

Did Christ really rise from the dead? So much depends on the answer to this question. The reliability of the Bible. The answer to your search for meaning. The destiny of all people. It all depends on whether or not Jesus is alive. Did His body ever leave the grave?

Both friends and enemies of the Christian faith have recognized the resurrection of Christ to be the foundation stone of the faith. Paul, the great apostle, wrote to those in Corinth, who in general denied the resurrection of the dead: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Cor. 15:14). Paul rested his whole case on the bodily resurrection of Christ. Either He did or He didn’t rise from the dead. If He did, it was the most sensational event in all of history. If Christ rose, we know with certainty that God exists, what He is like, and how we may know Him in a personal experience. On the other hand, if Christ did not rise from the dead, Christianity is an interesting museum piece—nothing more. The attack on Christianity by its enemies has most often concentrated on the Resurrection because it has been correctly seen that this event is the crux of the matter.

Greenleaf concluded that according to the jurisdiction of legal evidence the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the best supported event in all of history! And not only that, Dr. Greenleaf was so convinced by the overwhelming evidence, he committed his life to Jesus Christ! What changed his mind? What evidence did Dr. Greenleaf encounter that so drastically turned him around? What facts did he discover that he could not rationally ignore?

Let's go back to that scene nearly 2,000 years ago. That eery night in the garden of Gethsemene, as a blood-thirsty mob came and arrested Jesus Christ. He was brought before Pilate, and there in plain view, Jesus Christ was spit upon, cursed, he was laughed at, whipped, beaten. He was branded a blasphemer. And He was sentenced to die by the most extreme, shameful form of capital punishment ever devised — crucifixion. Galatians 3:13 reads, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree". Jesus Christ died a curse. He died as a criminal. He died in open shame and disgrace. In the eyes of the world, Jesus Christ died a total disgrace! And there stood His apostles — in stunned unbelief. Here was their hope. Here were 11 men that had forsaken all and followed this man. They believed in this man for 3 years. Can you imagine what was going on in their minds? Didn't He heal the sick? Didn't we see Him walk on water? Didn't we see Him raise people from the dead? Didn't we see Him still the raging storm? And to end like this? THAT NIGHT, THERE STOOD 11 DEFEATED AND CONFUSED MEN! They had given up everything for naught. And then to die like He did. Beaten. Smitten. Humiliated. Guilty. Blasphemer. A complete disgrace! Mark 14:50, says, "And they all forsook him, and fled".

There was the apostle Peter, the one who boasted, just days earlier,"Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." (Matthew 26:35) There he was that night, standing in the mob, defeated, confused, and hurt. Jesus was dead! He was crucified as a blasphemer! One of the women saw Peter and said, "you were one of them, you was with Jesus of Nazareth". The Bible says "he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak." (Mark 14:71) Three times Peter denied the Lord, cursing and swearing, "I know not this man".

"And they all forsook him, and fled!"

Something happened to that small band of frightened and humiliated men.. . Less than two months later — they went back into Jerusalem boldly preaching, at the threat of death, that — JESUS CHRIST WAS ALIVE! What had these men seen that they would eventually died a horrible death for? There's only one event in the history of this universe that could explain such a change. The resurrection of Jesus Christ! To deny to resurrection of Jesus, two facts must be explained by the believer and unbeliever alike. They are the empty tomb and the alleged appearances of Jesus Christ. To explain these two facts, let’s look at some theories put forward that attempt to explain the facts away.

Matthew describes the reaction of the chief priests and elders when the guards told them the body of Jesus was gone. (Matthew 28:11-15). That story was so obviously false that Matthew didn’t even bother to refute it! The disciples never understood that Jesus was to rise again, they never would have thought of stealing his body to perpetrate such a hoax. It was against their character. Not to mention the Roman guards and large stone in front of the tomb. How would they have gotten past those two facts? Furthermore, each of the disciples faced the test of torture and martyrdom for his statements and beliefs. Men will die for what they believe to be true, though it may actually be false. They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie. If the disciples had taken the body, and Christ was still dead, we would still have the problem of explaining His alleged appearances.

Why? Having put guards at the tomb, what would be their reason for moving the body? Both the Jews and Romans had every motive to produce the body publicly in order to humiliate the disciples and nip their movement in the bud. And since the scene in question was right at Jerusalem, it was completely within their power to locate the corpse should it still have existed. Yet to their dismay, no such body was ever produced. If the Jews had the body, they would have wheeled it in at the day of Pentecost when all Jerusalem was in an uproar because of Peter's sermon on the Resurrection of Christ.

• The Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' legs, because they "saw that He was already dead" (Jn. 19:33).
• The soldiers plunged a spear into Jesus' side, and from it came both water and blood (Jn. 19:34). Medical experts say that if He were not already dead, this in itself would have killed Him. Others have concluded that the pouring out of water and blood from His side was proof that Jesus was no longer alive.
• When Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Christ so he and Nicodemus could bury Him, Pontius Pilate ordered a centurion to verify that Jesus was dead (Mk. 15:43-45). The Roman governor would not release the body to Joseph until the centurion was certain that all signs of life were gone. You can be sure that an officer in the Roman army would not make a mistake about an important matter like this in his report to such a high official as Pilate.
• Joseph and Nicodemus prepared the body for burial according to Jewish custom. This included wrapping it "in a clean linen cloth" (Mt.27:59), anointing the body with "a mixture of myrrh and aloes" (Jn.19:39), and placing it "in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock" (Mk. 15:46). It seems obvious that any sign of life would have been detected by these bereaved friends. Surely they would not have buried a breathing Jesus.
• The Pharisees and chief priests met with Pilate to discuss what had occurred. They made such remarks as "while He was still alive" (Mt.27:63). Soldiers were ordered to secure the grave with a seal. In addition, guards were placed on duty to prevent the disciples from coming to "steal Him away" (v.64). The Jewish leaders and the Roman authorities knew beyond doubt that Jesus was dead.

For the same reasons that the empty tomb cannot be explained on the basis of lies or legends, neither can we dismiss the statement of the appearances of Christ on this basis. This is testimony given by eyewitnesses fully and profoundly convinced of the truth of their statements. How do non-believers explain this? Their explaination is a little hard to believe.

1. The large number of witnesses (hundreds) (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)
2. Covering the spectrum of personality types (e.g., John 20 -- Peter, Thomas, the two Marys, etc.), contradict the theory of hallucinations which, by definition, are not shared experiences
3. There is no such thing as a vision appearing to a crowd. It's generally received only by one person at a time, and that person must be expecting the vision and be in a highly emotional state. As the Bible shows, none of Jesus' followers expected him to rise from the dead. Luke said that when Jesus appeared to the disciples, "They were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit" (Luke 24:37).
4. Mistaken identity can not be the explanation, either. Certainly the disciples would recognize the person they had been with every day for more than three years.
5. The substantial, permanent, and positive change in lifestyle of many of the converted overthrows any theory of hallucination. Jewish scholar Dr. Pinchas Lipide, has written, "When this frightened band of apostles suddenly could be changed overnight into a confident mission society... Then no vision or hallucination is sufficient to explain such a revolutionary transformation." Although Lipide is an Orthodox Jewish rabbi who does not accept Jesus as the Messiah, he concedes the inescapable evidence that Jesus must have risen from the dead.

To Mary Magdalene At The Tomb (Jn. 20:11-18). Mary had been standing outside the empty tomb crying because, as she said, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him" (v.13). His death, combined with her fear that His body had been stolen, had engulfed her in heart-wrenching despair. But when Jesus startled her into recognizing Him by calling out, "Mary!" she rushed to Him in joy and relief. Then she ran to tell the disciples that she had seen the Lord.

To Several Women As They Ran From The Tomb (Mt. 28:9-10). These women had already heard that Jesus was alive, even though they had not yet seen Him. They had just left the tomb, where an angel had told them that Jesus had "risen from the dead." When they saw the Lord, they "held Him by the feet and worshiped Him" (v.9). Jesus told them to spread the news that He was alive and to tell the disciples to meet Him in Galilee.

To Two Disciples On The Emmaus Road (Lk. 24:13-32). Imagine the drama of this scene. Two disciples were walking the 7 dusty miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus when a fellow traveler caught up with them and struck up a conversation, asking what they were talking about. Apparently, they had been discussing the death and entombment of Jesus, because they were surprised that the stranger wasn't familiar with their topic. They said, in effect, "Do you mean to say that you don't know about Jesus' death?" The two then explained why they were so sad--that though some women had seen the empty tomb and claimed that Jesus was alive, they had not yet seen Him. These disciples would not believe without seeing the evidence for themselves. An exciting surprise awaited the pair when they arrived at Emmaus. The three of them stopped to eat, and as they ate, the disciples' "eyes were opened" and they recognized that this mysterious stranger was Jesus. But before they could speak again, He "vanished from their sight" (v.31).

To 11 Disciples In The Upper Room (Jn. 20:26-31). It must have been a long week for Thomas. The other 10 disciples had met with Jesus in the upper room, but he had not. Surely they had spent time trying to convince Thomas that they really had seen Jesus. But he reacted the same way they had when they heard from the women who first saw Jesus. They were not convinced without hard evidence, and Thomas wanted the same advantage. Now he was about to get it. Jesus suddenly appeared to the men and said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands" (v.27). Then Thomas believed, exclaiming, "My Lord and my God!" (v.28).

To Seven Men At The Sea Of Galilee (Jn. 21:1-25). Things had begun to return to normal for the disciples. They had gone back to work. Some went on an all-night fishing trip on the Sea of Galilee. But the fish weren't cooperating, and the men had an empty boat. As daylight broke over the water, they saw a man standing on the shore, shouting advice to them. The seven seamen did what He suggested and nearly capsized their boat with all the fish they dragged ashore. When John informed Peter, "It is the Lord!" (Jn. 21:7), Peter dove in and swam to shore. When they all arrived on the beach, they saw that Jesus had prepared a hot breakfast of fish and bread for them. Jesus then offered to cook a few of the fish they had just caught.

To 11 Disciples On A Mountain (Mt. 28:16-20). This is the first planned meeting between the disciples and Jesus recorded after the resurrection. Matthew wrote that the disciples proceeded "into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them" (28:16). There He met with the Eleven, and probably some others. Perhaps this included the "500 brethren" mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:6. What is significant is that even though the Eleven worshiped Jesus when they saw Him, "some doubted" (Mt. 28:17). Although it is possible that a few of these men were still doubting Jesus' resurrection, it is more probable that the skeptics were disciples who didn't have the advantage of touching Jesus and eating with Him. They would naturally have been more hesitant to believe that this was the same man who had been crucified a few weeks before. Yet the fact that doubters are mentioned shows that the disciple who wrote the account was not afraid to talk about the skepticism of some of the observers.

To His Disciples Near Bethany (Acts 1:9-12). The final appearance of Jesus to His disciples ended with His disappearance. As He stood talking with them about the command He had just given them to be His witnesses, "He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight" (v.9). This turned out to be a commencement of sorts for the disciples. Just a few weeks earlier, they had been a disheartened group whose leader was dead. Now they were enthusiastic evangelists. They "returned to Jerusalem with great joy" (Lk. 24:52), and "they went out and preached everywhere" (Mk. 16:20).

Finally, there is the evidence for the Resurrection which is contemporary and personal. If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He is alive today, ready to invade and change those who invite Him into their lives. Thousands now living bear uniform testimony that their lives have been revolutionized by Jesus Christ. He has done in them what He said He would do. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The invitation still stands. "Taste and see that the Lord is good!" The avenue of experimentation is open to each person.