The truth about the resurrection of Christ

If you are skeptical of biblical teaching, assuming that there is only a fraction of truth and the rest is speculation, or if you believe that the Bible is more of a socially useful but fictional story, or if you are an agnostic or atheist, I have something for you that will help you think seriously about the meaning of the Holy Scriptures.

"Okay," you could say, "I'll present you with some additional evidence that the death of Jesus Christ on Calvary and His resurrection were not a fairy tale created for people," to give you a tool for thinking about how important this is for each of us.

This is true, but first of all I seek to provide logical and consistent arguments that this not only really happened, but that it was of enormous importance for the future fate of believers and humanity in general. The Apostle Paul writes:

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Just imagine what an impact Christianity had on the development of civilization (my separate long branch of research). I do not mean the spread of Christianity by military means - that is, through the imposition of faith with political intentions, or crusades, which do not have a Christian character. I mean the influence of the first Christians – the early church of Christ, which taught people of different cultural backgrounds, often acted contrary to its own nature and the political institutions of that time, the apostles who carried the Good News of the risen Christ, that is, the Gospel, proclaiming it to other peoples, not even fearing martyrdom for their faith.

And the significance of Christ's resurrection was truly great. Let's try to think about it: let's take into account this enormous impact on the history of mankind and the potential for numerous good changes and deeds on the part of people. Will people just believe in the resurrection, in such a "fantastic" event of all time, just because someone somehow documented it? Even if I say that I saw a UFO yesterday, my story will most likely not be reliable and I will not be able to make a million people believe that this UFO really exists. Even if I say that besides me, my brother saw a UFO at the same time, and once before my classmate at another time, most of those who hear me will probably assume that this was the effect of something – some unexplored phenomena in people's minds or hallucinations. Even if this is not an isolated phenomenon, there could be many assumptions, and the more there are, the more reasons to question the veracity of the retelling of such stories (say, this is really a hallucination that occurs in this way).

The resurrection of Jesus Christ was more incomprehensible, but at the same time it has enough evidence to be true. As John Lennox, a mathematician and Christian apologist from Northern Ireland, described Christ:

He gave peace and forgiveness to the people of the whole world. He was able to do this because, although he was a man, he was uniquely not only a man, but God who became man. The main proof of this impressive statement is His historical resurrection from the dead, which launched Christianity in the world. This is undoubtedly a very important question, ladies and gentlemen. If Jesus rose from the dead, then death is not the end, and atheism is false. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is false.

If death is not the end, then there is some other reality beyond death. The Bible teaches that it will be infinitely comforting for some, and vice versa for others.
Therefore, the question of the resurrection of Christ is so important that it cannot be ignored.

Consequences of what was seen

A great many Jews witnessed the death of Christ after the crucifixion of Christ. From the sacred texts we know that the multitude first cried out for Christ to be crucified for identifying himself with God. Hearing that Jesus had already died, Pontius Pilate was surprised and called the centurion, who confirmed the death of Christ. Jesus was indeed dead, since a spear was inserted into his side, and blood and water came out. Jesus' death was accompanied by a strong earthquake. Many people saw this. Then Joseph of Arimathea, a councilor of the Sanhedrin, took the body of Jesus, wrapped Him in a thin shroud and laid it in a new tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. The tomb itself was his property and he donated it to bury Jesus in it. He closed the entrance to the tomb with a large stone, as was customary at the time. (Mark 15:42-46, Luke 23:50-53, Isaiah 53:9) [3] [4]

Empty tomb

One of the important studies that confirms the resurrection of Christ is the fact of the empty tomb where Jesus' body was placed after the crucifixion. After all, we know from the biblical story that when the women who went to the tomb with spices on the first day of the week did not find the body. (Luke 24:1-3) Several theories have arisen regarding this. [2]

The first is that the body could have been stolen by the disciples. But this theory does not stand up to criticism, because then, in the conditions of the spread of Jesus' teachings, the disciples could quickly refute the teaching of the resurrection of Jesus, having His dead body. In addition, the tomb was guarded by a guard. Let's also look at other weighty arguments inherent in the Jewish culture and beliefs of that time:

1. According to Jewish doctrine, the resurrection from the dead was an event that would occur at the end of the world;
2. У євреїв не було поняття про Месію, який буде страченим і знівеченим.

Another theory is that Jesus did not actually die, but fainted, after which he regained consciousness. But this theory is also not justified, because [add a study from the Law of God on Research] this was not possible. As mentioned above, the centurion checked whether Jesus really died. Dr. Zigube investigated the process of torture of Christ, and came to the conclusion that Jesus had a cardiac arrest and He died on the cross from hemorrhagic shock. In addition, Jesus endured quite a lot of torture before the crucifixion. So the theory that Jesus survived the torture does not find a rational justification.

There is also an opinion, which is also not justified, that Joseph of Arimathea could temporarily place the body of Jesus in his tomb, while the disciples invented his resurrection themselves. But Jewish law forbade moving corpses after burial. And as we noted earlier, this expensive tomb carved into the rock was Joseph's property. The burial itself was not a problem, since the cemetery was nearby. Joseph was captivated by His death, after the crucifixion He realized that this was the Messiah, which is why he sacrificed his tomb for the body of Jesus. Also, if the disciples claimed a resurrection that did not happen, Joseph would have exposed their lies.

What happened afterwards?

The Holy Scripture say that the disciples who followed Jesus, after the crucifixion of Jesus, were in despair over what had happened and fled to their homes, fearing for their lives. All this continued until the resurrected Jesus appeared to each of them.

The resurrected Christ was seen by over 500 different people, believers and unbelievers, as the Scriptures testify, including the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:6). After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-29), and Jesus was eating with the disciples at the same table when he came to them (Luke 24:41-49). It is obvious that these disciples did not believe at first that Jesus had risen. We see this from their conversations.

So this was not some ephemeral event, considering that so many people saw the resurrected Christ. And considering how realistically the events are depicted. For example, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus could not fully believe that Jesus was with them until He Himself opened the Scriptures to them. (Luke 24:27) Similarly, the disciples, upon seeing the resurrected Jesus in Jerusalem, did not fully believe Jesus until He said: “Look at My hands and My feet, that it is I myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” (Luke 24:39) If this had been a hallucination, it would not have led the disciples to believe in a bodily resurrection.

One of the apostles of the early church, Paul, wrote: [2]

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, although some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

We have every reason to trust this text. Paul here assures the locals from Corinth that the death and resurrection really take place and that there are living witnesses to this. In this passage, Paul mentions the skeptic James, the brother of Jesus, who, according to the testimonies in the Gospels, did not believe that his Brother was the Messiah. Paul also shows his humility by referring to himself as an apostle, of whom he says "not worthy to be called an apostle." After all, he had previously persecuted the first Christians (including the apostles) until Jesus appeared to him in the form of a blinding light from above.

The Great Commission

After Jesus appeared to the brothers, He commissioned them to go and preach the good news – "that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47), to convert people to God.

Let's think: if all this had not happened, the apostles would most likely not have gone to die for their faith and preach the Gospel among the nations. We know that only John died by his own death, the other disciples of Christ were waiting for a martyr's death. Paul and Barnabas traveled many lands in order to bring the Gospel to the pagans.

Truthfulness of testimony

From the history of the transmission of these details, we see that quite a short time had passed for the information to be distorted. In his epistle, the apostle Peter writes: "For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." Peter addresses the people, the congregation, calling them eyewitnesses of what had happened, and the congregation could not deny him. Other similar texts that testify to this: Luke 1:1-3, Luke 3:1, John 1:3.

When Peter and the other apostles said "You yourselves have seen and heard these things," this meant that the people had really seen and heard these things, so they could not deny either Peter or the other apostles. Paul, who at first arrested Christians, after the resurrected Jesus appeared to him, became an active Christian and evangelist. Paul himself suffered insults and suffered for his testimony. When he defended himself before Festus, he said: "I am not fooling, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking words of truth and soundness. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am not persuaded that any of these things was hidden, for this was not done in a corner." [1]

There is a view that the text of the Gospels should not be taken literally. However, the details described in the four Gospels (Matthew, Luke, Mark, and John), such as the precise indication of the owner of the tomb, the presence of women who knew the exact location of the burial, and the presence of a guard guarding the entrance to the tomb, indicate that the events described were real and not fictional. Also, the testimony of five independent sources about the burial of Jesus, which are sufficiently early to be considered historical sources, as noted by William Craig. [5]

Conclusion

Thus we see that the Scriptures are true, accurate, and infallible. It is not without reason that many books have been written about the Resurrection of Christ, many songs have been composed, and the history of the Kingdom of God is built on Jesus' foundation, beginning with His life on earth.

John Lennox recalled the words of the brilliant Norman Anderson, a legal expert who had studied at Cambridge. He had analyzed the evidence for the resurrection from a legal perspective. As a talented lawyer, Anderson concluded his speech by saying:

The empty tomb of Jesus is the real rock against which all rationalistic theories of the resurrection crash.

Used sources:

1. Josh McDowell's book "More than a carpenter" (1992 edition), chapter "The Bible: Can It Be Relied On?".
2. Article "Elementary, Watson. He is Risen!"
3. The Burial of Jesus
4. Joseph of Arimathea
5. Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus? The Craig-Ehrman Debate