What proof do we have that Jesus was really resurrected?

Let’s begin with some facts that even secular scholars agree on:

1. After Jesus was crucified, He died and was buried in a tomb.
2. Jesus’ disciples were in despair, and they went into hiding.
3. Three days after Jesus’ crucifixion, His disciples experienced what they believed were literal appearances of Jesus.
4. At the same time as these occurrences, Jesus’ disciples stopped hiding and started to proclaim their Risen Messiah.
5. The Christian church began to flourish.
6. Two skeptics, Paul and James (Jesus’ brother) became Christians after experiencing what they believed was the risen Jesus.

Could the disciples have stolen Jesus’ body?

There was no way they could have stolen Jesus’ body. The Roman guards posted in front of Jesus’ tomb were rigidly trained soldiers who faced the death sentence if they failed to do their job. Also, can you imagine the timid, scared disciples concocting such a plot, risking their lives to steal Jesus’ body, hide it, and then proclaim a lie to the world? There would be no purpose in this action. 

All of them, according to tradition, except the apostle John, died horrible deaths. Simon Peter was crucified upside down. Andrew, James and the other Simon were crucified. James was beheaded by Herod (Act 12:1,2), Bartholomew was flayed to death, and Philip, Thomas, Matthew and Jude all died in martyrdom. Would they all have been willing to face persecution, hardship, alienation, even death, for a concocted lie?

The Pharisees and Sadducees tried to bribe the Roman guards into saying that the disciples had stolen Jesus’ body while they were asleep. They were even guaranteed that they would not be punished for doing so (see Matthew 28:11-15). There was just one problem of logic with this story: If the guards were sleeping, how did they know that the disciples stole Jesus’ body?

Some argue that Jesus’ disciples were hallucinating when they “saw” Jesus, risen from the dead. Here again, we have a problem. One, even two people can hallucinate, but how can more than five hundred people hallucinate about the same thing? (see 1 Cor 15:6)? Even atheistic experts agree that this many people can not hallucinate about the same thing at the same time.

Others say that the story of Jesus’ resurrection is a legend, fabricated centuries after the fact. A few years ago, Professor E.L. Sakenik, a Jewish archaeologist, excavated a Christian tomb in the clay limestone hills around Jerusalem. The tomb housed ossuaries (stone boxes) containing the bones of dead people. On all four sides of these ossuaries, he found charcoal-drawn crosses. In the tomb, pottery was found of a type known as Herodia, as well as a coin minted by Aggrippa I in the year 41 A.D. This is evidence that this was a Christian tomb, dating 41 A.D., just 10 years later after Jesus’ crucifixion. 

Two of the ossuaries had the name Jesus inscribed on them. On one ossuary the name Jesus was followed by iou, which is the Greek version of Yahweh, the name of God. In other words, the inscription read:” Jesus is God”. The other ossuary that bore the name Jesus had the Greek letters aloth following it. This is a Hebrew word written in Greek letters, meaning ascended one. In other words: “Jesus, the ascended one” or “Jesus, the
Risen one”. 

This then, is proof that ten years after Jesus’ crucifixion, Christians were buried with the belief that Jesus was God, and Jesus was resurrected! This is undeniable proof that believers in the first century believed and proclaimed that Jesus was risen from the dead! Jesus’ resurrection is not a legend. It is not a myth. It is not a fabricated lie. It is a fact.

After witnessing their Risen Savior, Jesus’ scared disciples could no longer be silenced. They were all willing to die horrible deaths, for they knew that they, too, would soon be resurrected at Jesus’ Second coming! Are you willing to die for your Risen Savior?

P.S. See our Bible Study about this at: http://answers2prayer.org/bible_studies/jesus/resurrection.html

Rob Chaffart    
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“The proof we have is ourselves, the love, joy and tears we feel when we think of him and what he has given for us. This is what I believe to be the proof.” 
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“It is stated in the Bible: After the third day, Jesus was resurrected. Today all kinds of miracles are being performed in Jesus name, if not already performed. All those testimonies is more than enough proof that Jesus was resurrected.”

Dave
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“The proof that He rose is right there in the Bible. First of all, He was not in the tomb & nobody had taken Him. He rose & left. He then walked with some of His apostles. He appeared before hundreds of people. He joined His apostles in a room & they were able to touch his nail-scarred hands & feet & feel the wound in His side. He then ascended into the clouds & many saw this. To me, if the Bible says it, it’s proof enough for me.”

Bee
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“After Jesus arose, he appeared to Mary Magdalene{John20:11-18}, the other woman {Matt. 28:1-10}, Peter {1 Corn.15:5, the two on the Emmaus Road {Luke 24:13-27}, 10 of his disciples,{ Judas was dead and Thomas wasn’t there, in John 20:19-24} and eleven disciples 8 days later {Thomas was there, in John 20:26-29}. According to John 21:1-23, he met with 7 disciples, and 1 Corn. 15:6 tells of 500 followers seeing him at once. He appeared to James{1 Corn. 15:7}, all the disciples at the Ascension {Acts 1:3-11} ,Paul {1 Corn. 15:8} and finally the apostle John {Rev. 1:9-18}

All this proofs he was resurrected. How else could all 500 at the same time imagine it if it wasn’t true? Its very impossible all these can imagine the same thing, no matter how grief stricken they were. The grave was empty, no body stole his body, he was seen and he was touched, he ate with them, he talked with them. Jesus said he would rise and he did. His resurrection assures our resurrection.

There would be still be the sting in death if he remained dead. He was the first fruits of resurrection{1Corn.15:20} for he paved the way for us. If He had remained dead we would have nothing. We have no hope, no faith and no comfort. Praise God, he is alive today. There no way you could feel what we do if he was dead.”

Jeane
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“First of all there is a documentation record that goes back to within one generation of the Apostles. That is, the originals of these documents and or parts of them, are in modern man’s possession. This refutes claims that the story was ‘made up’ in somewhat latter times.

We have the biblical record itself which is consistent with the
ancient documentation that has been discovered.

Then, there were about 500 living witnesses – people who saw and spoke to Jesus AFTER the resurrection, and bare witness of this fact to thousands of others. The documentation record is consistent with the verbal record passed on by these thousands who formed themselves into churches.

There are ‘holes’ in the accounts given by the Jews at the time. For a Roman soldier to sleep at his post meant death. Yet the Jewish rulers convinced the soldiers to make that admission publicly. It is unlikely they would have done so if they had not already been told by their superiors that ‘it would be alright’ The soldiers would not of their own volition ‘make up’ a story that would get them executed. This was just a desperate attempt by the leaders to cover up the truth.

The tomb was not only guarded by soldiers but had been sealed by the Romans. To break a Roman seal meant death and to do so in front of soldiers would be quite foolhardy.

The circular ‘cover’ of the tomb weighed about 4 tons and its removal would not be quietly achieved. Even if the soldiers WERE asleep (highly unlikely), the noise made by a team of horses and or the grunting of a significant group of men would have awakened them. They would have been CLOSE enough to the tomb for their rather short range weapons, a pilum (spear), to be used if necessary.

Consider also that the ‘seal’ included a stout iron spike driven into the rock of the cliff face preventing the tomb ‘cover’ from being moved. Any attempt to remove that spike would have also been noisy.

The tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea in which Jesus was laid has been discovered and identified by his markings within. The round slab of rock used to cover the tomb was also discovered lying flat on the ground nearby (weighed 4 tons). The ruins of what appeared to be a stone hut type building of Roman design was shown to have been built around the slab and it was speculated that perhaps the Romans secured the site since it would have been rather important to early Christians. All this was excavated from under about 15 ft of rubble fallen from the cliff and had not been seen or touched for many centuries.

Perhaps most significantly, the rusted remains of the iron spike sealing the tomb (fairly well preserved because of the dry climate) was still in the cliff face and had been sheared off. An engineer calculated a force in excess of 80 tons would be needed to shear an iron spike of that thickness. Actually this is another ‘proof’ of the correct identification of the tomb. There was no manmade tool of that day that could have done this.

To my knowledge there are only two other explanations for the lack of a body in that tomb apart from the biblical record of a resurrection. One, that the whole story was made up – disproven by the documentation going back to within one generation of eye witnesses. Two, the one offered by the Jews that the disciples spirited the body away while the soldiers slept – and they lacked a bulldozer and stun grenades.

The biblical record claims an angel came in all his glory, made the earth quake when his feet landed, rolled the stone aside without apparent effort and sat on it, putting the wind up the soldiers to such an extent that they fell on their faces and trembled with fear.

If there is another plausible explanation I would like to hear it.”

Lance
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“The holy scripture tells us He rose on the 3rd day. We accept on faith that the Scripture is inspired by GOD and the HOLY SPIRIT reaffirms that in our hearts. FAITH IS SOMETHING WE BELIEVE BUT NOT SEEN BY MAN’S EYES accept it by faith. scientists themselves cannot dispute the word of GOD as being a myth. we know HIS HOLY SPIRIT IT IS TRUE. IN HIS NAME”

Iris