5 Facts About the Resurrection of Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:14 says: "If Christ has not been raised from the dead, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

In other words, the Bible presents the resurrection of Jesus as the singular most significant event in the whole Christian faith, in life. It all rests on whether Jesus actually raised from the dead or not. Any other evidence when it comes to Christianity is secondary to the resurrection of Jesus.

If Jesus rose from the dead, everything about God and the Bible is true.

If Jesus didn’t raise from the grave, everything about God and the Bible is false.

It’s as black and white as that.

The resurrection is the pinnacle that the whole Christian faith stands upon. And SO – for anyone exploring the Christian faith, studying the evidence for the resurrection is really important, because that’s how you conclude if God is real or not.

If Jesus Christ rose from the dead, He is who He says He is, He is God, and everything that we read about in the Bible is true.

Therefore, I want to present to you, 5 factual evidences about the resurrection to help you come to your own conclusion.

Just before we talk about the resurrection… some people argue that perhaps Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross…

1. Roman soldiers don’t make mistakes… they did this for a living, crucifixion was a very common death penalty, they did everyday.
   
   

2. Medically speaking, no one survives crucifixion. Your body gives up out of lack of strength.
   
   

3. And just to make sure Jesus was dead, Romans stabbed Him in His side with a spear, and when they did, both blood and water flowed out simultaneously. The Bible tells us this. Which is crazy because the writers at the time would have had no idea, that medically speaking, that proves Jesus was dead. It was just a seemingly insignificant detail they included, and yet professionals today tell us that it was medically significant.

So Jesus really did die… So let’s talk about the resurrection!

Facts about the Resurrection of Jesus: #1 (Eyewitnesses)

The life of Jesus Christ as a human is a fact of history. No historian would deny the fact a man called Jesus lived in and around Nazareth. Jesus’ death and resurrection is as widely reported as His actual existence. No one had ever survived crucifixion before, and Jesus was stabbed in His side with a Roman spear to make sure He was dead as it is!

There were many eyewitness accounts of Jesus being alive after his burial. Two different Mary’s saw Jesus at the tomb; A few disciples saw Jesus before a larger whole group did (Acts 1:3-9); A couple of men on their way to Emmaus carried on an extended conversation with Jesus (Luke 24:13-35); and even larger groups of several hundred saw Jesus after his resurrection at the same time! (1 Corinthians 15:4-8). The likelihood of several hundred people hallucinating the same thing at the same time certainly doesn’t convince me. So the eyewitness accounts are really powerful evidence.

It’s worth noting, that Jesus resurrection ALONE is more documented in history than the entire life of Julius Ceaser… and no one would deny the fact that he lived… food for thought...

Facts about the Resurrection of Jesus: #2 (Historical Prophesy)

There are ample historical texts that date back some 500-700 years before Jesus was even born that talk about Him as the Lord (God), and how He was to die and rise again so that He would conquer death and offer eternal life. 

The ancient scroll of Isaiah (dated around 700 years before Jesus was even born), records that Jesus would be cut off from the living and then be brought back to prolonged life. Many of the texts in the historical poetry book of Psalms talk extensively about the death and resurrection of the Christ (Jesus).

Jesus then when on to quote from these very texts while He was on the cross, thus fulfilling their very meaning. These, and many other texts were written about Jesus Christ before He was even born and He fulfilled them, surely that’s worth contemplating…

Facts about the Resurrection of Jesus: #3 (The Protected Tomb)

The tomb of Jesus Christ was protected in 3 documented ways which helped ensure that the followers of Christ would not steal His body. The Romans gave special care to this so that it could not be claimed that the resurrection was an elaborate hoax. And trust me, the romans do NOT make mistakes!

It seems many historical documents go into great detail helping us know the facts surrounding the resurrection of Jesus. First, there was a large stone set in front of the tomb (Matthew 27:66) – this would have weighed 1-2 tons, and would have taken several men to roll the stone in place. Second, Roman guards were stationed at the tomb entrance ensuring no one could get near it (Matthew 27:64-66). And the third thing that was done to protect the tomb was a Roman seal – meaning if anyone was found guilty of tampering with the tomb, they would be sentenced to death by crucifixion. It is therefore logical that the body was not stolen by anyone. 

Facts about the Resurrection of Jesus: #4 (The [not completely] Empty Tomb)

The tomb of Jesus Christ was not completely empty. A man named John, who wrote several historical documents around the time of Jesus, some recorded in the Bible, was careful to explain to us in his Gospel account (historical life of Jesus in the Bible) that the grave clothes of Jesus were still in place (John 20:1-7).

Not only did the grave clothes lay there empty as if Jesus’ body lifted right out of them, they were folded in a specific way and put to one side. If the body had been stolen, it is very unlikely that the thieves would have taken the time to remove the grave clothes and laid them out so carefully.

Furthermore, this specific act of folding linen is recorded in a historical Jewish tradition that gives the message “I’m not yet finished with my meal” (perhaps indicating that Jesus had not yet finished with His life).

Facts about the Resurrection of Jesus: #5 (A Global Following)

Following the witness of the resurrected Jesus, the historical book of Acts records how thousands upon thousands of people believed in Jesus as the one true God and started meeting together as ‘church’, in the following weeks and months and years afterwards. 2,000 years later there is now around half the world’s population, who call themselves Christians who profess that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is truth and climax of all of life.

Is it reasonable or logical to suggest that the worlds biggest following could really have started on a lie or trick? Many of the most accurate historical texts and documents we have from before, during and after the life of Jesus make up the world’s most famous book (the Bible), which has been translated into more languages than any other book in the world and sent to more countries that any other book in the world. It is both the best selling book of all time, and the most stolen book of all time. If it wasn’t really true, would it really have reached this far?

Read Matthew 28:1-10

Will you respond the resurrection of Jesus with FEAR or FAITH?