Q: Did Jesus actually rise from
the dead on the first Easter, or is it a myth intended to teach us
something? How can we know if it is
true?
The resurrection of Jesus is an actual historical
event which literally occurred approximately 1980 years ago, but it is not by
blind faith that we accept that this event (and the others of Jesus’ life)
actually occurred, but because they have been reported to us by reliable
eyewitnesses.
Five books of the Bible report the
Resurrection of Jesus and the events of the following 40 days, in which He
appeared to His follower alive. The
Gospels of Matthew and John were written by men who were first-hand
eyewitnesses to these events. The Gospel
of Mark was written by an associate of Peter, based on his eyewitness testimony,
and the Gospel of Luke along with the book of Acts were written by a doctor,
based on his interviews of the eyewitnesses.
The four authors who wrote these
books are reporting events which they witnessed or which they heard from the
witnesses, much like four television stations might all report the same news
event. Although some people today would insist
that these reports are mythical stories, the authors themselves do not portray
their reports as mere myths. Instead,
they wrote their reports as historical fact and make it clear that they intend
them to be read as such.
In this light, it would be only
reasonable to examine these four authors’ accounts by the same standards
applied to other pieces of historical literature of the time. When this is done, it is found that the
resurrection of Jesus actually has more eyewitness reports than many of the
major events of Greek and Roman history which we commonly accepted without
objection.
Not only do we have more eyewitnesses
to the resurrection of Jesus than these other events, but we also have more
copies available to verify that the reports of Jesus’ resurrection have been
accurately copied than we have of the reports of the other events. In addition, this great number of available
copies are older and more consistent than those of other events of the
time. In fact, I myself have had the
privilege of visiting the Special Collections Library at the University of
Michigan where I was able to read from copies of Biblical books that were
almost 1900 years old, and I still have a CD with images of several of these
pages.
Beyond the textual evidence for
Jesus’ resurrection, we also can examine the physical evidence. The founders of every other major religion
died and their tombs are visited by countless followers to this day, because
their bodies are still there. On the
other hand, the location where Jesus had been buried is uncertain, and nobody
has ever produced His body to refute the claim that He rose from the dead.
The Bible records that some of Jesus’
enemies claimed that the disciples stole His body, but His disciples were as
surprised as anyone when they did not find His body, and some thought it had
been moved by others. Additionally, what
would be the odds that a few unarmed Jewish fishermen could overpower the
trained Roman soldiers who had been assigned to guard the grave to prevent
against just such an occurrence?
Other modern objectors have claimed
that Jesus did not actually die, but merely passed out, but the details given
in the Gospels, especially by Luke, a doctor, clearly describe a man who has
died. Beyond that, Jesus was crucified
by Roman soldiers—the most proficient executioners in human history, who
certainly knew how to make sure that a man was dead.
Even more, if he had merely passed
out, he would not only have needed to survive two nights in a cold, sealed
stone tomb, but to do so wrapped in a few dozen pounds of spices and burial
cloths, and recover so well as to be able to unseal the tomb from the inside by
removing a stone that would typically require at least two men to move.
If all of this were not enough
evidence, His own mother and brothers, who would have known His actions most
closely, as well as some of His fiercest enemies, such as Saul (later re-named
St. Paul) worshipped Him as God. Only
something as miraculous as the resurrection could bring this about. Furthermore, even under the pressure of
torture, none of the disciples who witnessed His resurrection ever retracted
their claims.
There is simply no other explanation
to the resurrection of Jesus than that it actually occurred, just as He
predicted during His life.
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