The Resurrection Day

Why do Christian people believe that Jesus rose from the dead? 1. The people who had crucified Jesus could not produce his body even after a thorough search of the entire area. The disciples whom they accused of stealing Jesus' body were still there. They preached that Christ is resurrected. All that their opponents (the Powerful Romans and Jews) had to do was to recover Jesus' body and present it before the people. However, they failed despite their absolute power and authority because Jesus had risen from the dead.  

2. More than 500 people claimed to see Jesus alive over 40 days after the Resurrection Day. It happened in separate incidents, lest we hastily call it a group hallucination. Most of them got no privilege by claiming to see Jesus resurrected, lest we say they did it to show off their spirituality or to make some monetary incentive. Instead, many of them were Persecuted by the Jewish and Roman authorities for making such a tall claim. Still, they did not count their lives more precious than their witness of Jesus Christ raised from the dead. Who will be willing to give up their life for a religious lie, knowing all along that it is a big fat lie and has positive effects only in the afterlife? That is why their witness seems more credible. 

 

3. Jesus prophesied about his death and resurrection according to his friends and enemies. The enemies (religious Jews) wanted to secure Jesus' tomb because they feared he would rise again. They took special permission from the Roman governor to seal Jesus' tomb. If Jesus is a true prophet like Jews, Christians, and Muslims claim, how can he utter a false prophecy? 4. Roman writer Tacitus and a Jewish guy, Josephus, also wrote about the Christian claim of Jesus' resurrection. It was a popular event of the day. Otherwise, why would they waste their ink writing about a person condemned to die on a cross? 

 

5. Jesus had raised three people from death while he was alive. They were Jesus' friend Lazarus, a Widow's young son, and a Synagogue ruler's little daughter. They all lived their full lives in ordinary physical bodies and died again. However, Jesus' resurrection was unique. He rose up with a new body that would never perish. Jesus' body could defy gravity and fly through the sky. Jesus' risen body could also eat food and digest it. It was physical yet metaphysical and incorruptible. Why would the disciples invent such a bodily resurrection? Their story would be more credible if Jesus rose like Lazarus or the widow's son and gathered them together for a war against Rome. 

 

Furthermore, the religious Jews also believed in the physical resurrection of all people at the end of the age. If the disciples wanted to conform their accounts of Jesus' resurrection with contemporary Jewish beliefs to make the story more credible, they could have said something like this. Jesus is risen. We saw him and touched his body. He would come with a powerful physical army and deliver the Jews from Roman power. He will be King, and we shall rule with him. However, they preached about a physical body that could walk through the walls. Why make such a fantastic claim? It simply means they couldn't fathom what was happening with Jesus' resurrection and recorded all of it as they saw it. The disciples did not fabricate Jesus' resurrection account.