The genuineness of the Christian faith is contingent upon one event in human history; the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Skeptics would say that the resurrection is a myth or a cleverly devised fable. However, if Jesus did not rise from the dead then there would be no Christianity. Period. Our whole faith hinges upon the certainty of this one event in human history. The Apostle Paul underscored the importance of Jesus’ resurrection by saying,

¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. ¹⁵ And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave.

According to 1 Corinthians 15, if there is no resurrection then the following things are true…

1. Jesus is a liar – v. 13
2. Our preaching is empty and all preachers are liars – v. 14a, 15, and 32
3. Our faith in Jesus is empty because we are believing in something that never happened – v. 14b, 32
4. We are still living in our own sins (HUGE PROBLEM) – v. 17
5. There is no life after death since there is no real resurrection from the dead – v. 18-19

Now do you see how important the resurrection is to our faith? So…here’s the big question…

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION?

In this blog here are 5 concrete reasons as to why we can be assured that Jesus really did rise from the dead.

REASON #1 – THE PRECAUTIONS OF THE ROMANS

Matthew 27:62-66 says the Romans took at least 3 precautions in order to ensure that the myth/rumor of the resurrection did not spread. They knew that Jesus had predicted to resurrect Himself within 3 days and they are NOT about to let that rumor be spread throughout the Roman empire. Here they are precautions they took in an attempt to prevent this…

• The Stone – The stone that was used to guard the tomb was so big that usually it required several men to remove it. No one was getting in or out of that tomb without making a huge disruption.
• The Seal – The Romans put a seal across the stone adding an extra precautionary measure to ensure that the body was not tampered with or stolen. Because it had a Roman seal anyone who tampered with it could be executed according to Roman law.
• The Guard – The word “guard” is actually misleading. A Roman guard usually consisted of about 10-30 men. They would take turns at night watching the tomb to ensure the tomb was guarded at all times. These men’s lives were at stake if ANYTHING happened to the body.

REASON #2 – THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES

Just answer this simple question. If you were a first century Christian, would you risk your life preaching a message about the resurrection of Jesus if you truly knew in your heart that it was a phony story? Perhaps you knew your friends had stolen the body. Take a look at just some of the experiences the 1^st century apostles went through and ask yourself if you think they would’ve risked their lives for such a lie (cf. 2 Cor. 11:22-29; Acts 7:57-58; Heb. 11:35-36). Understand that the Bible says that these same men “all forsook Jesus and fled” shortly before His crucifixion (Mark 14:50). Where all of a sudden did they get this faith that cost many of them their very lives? Some were beheaded, sawed in two, stoned, etc. Why? Because they knew the truth. They had seen Him for themselves which leads to the third reason.

REASON #3 – POST-RESURRECTION APPEARANCES

The Bible says that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, Mary, Peter and John, 2 men on a road, the Apostles and then…the most convincing of all…

After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present…

Do you understand what Paul was saying? He was directing his readers to go and speak to actual eyewitnesses (i.e. people who saw the resurrected Christ) and speak to them personally so they could verify the certainty of the resurrection for themselves. Some who have tried to argue away the resurrection have said that these people were hallucinating. Really? All 500 of them? That’a stretch!

REASON #4 – SECULAR HISTORY BOOKS CONFIRM IT

Okay for those who feel as though using the Bible is mere circular reasoning, secular (non-Christian) history books also confirm this historic event in human history. Josephus, a Jewish non-Christian writer even wrote about this in his history book The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus. He wrote,

“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him man; for he was a doer of wonderful works…He drew over to him many Jews, and also many of the Greeks. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross…those who had loved him from the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive on the third day, the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him. And even now, the race of Christians, so named from him, has not died out.

Thomas Arnold, the writer of The History of Rome wrote,

The evidence for our Lord’s life and death and resurrection may be, and often has been, shown to be satisfactory; it is good according to the common rules for distinguishing good evidence from bad. Thousands and tens of thousands of persons have gone through it piece by piece, as carefully as every judge summing up on a most important cause. I have myself done it many times over, not to persuade others but to satisfy myself…I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort…than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.

More recently a man named Frank Morrison, best-selling author of the book Who Moved the Stone?, set out to write a book to disprove the resurrection. This is what he wrote concerning himself…

I had been brought up in a rationalistic environment, and had come to the opinion that the resurrection was nothing but a fairy tale happy ending which spoiled the matchless story of Jesus. Therefore, I planned to write an account of the last tragic days of Jesus…But when I came to study the facts with care, I had to change my mind, and I wrote my book on the other side. My first chapter is significantly called, ‘The Book that Refused to Be Written’.

So, you see, it’s NOT just confirmed in the Bible. It’s part of HIStory!

REASON #5 – THE MISSING BODY WAS NEVER FOUND

The greatest reason to believe in the reality of the resurrection is the proof that the tomb was empty. As they say, “the proof is in the pudding.” The only thing that the Jews and Romans needed to do in order to destroy Christianity forever from its inception is to produce the dead body of Jesus. If they simply could’ve produced His dead body then that would’ve put a quick end to any and all preaching of the resurrection. But they were unable to do so because Jesus really had risen. Need we say more?

SUMMARY

The fact of the resurrection is critical to the Christian for two reasons. First, and most importantly it strengthens your own faith. It assures you that you are not believing in some myth or fairy tale or something that your parents or pastors tell you to believe. No, you BELIEVE it in your heart. Secondly, it prepares you to defend your faith to others who may be skeptics and are genuinely looking for answers to some very difficult questions. I encourage you to continue to ask these hard questions and seek to find credible answers to curious questions.