There have been many attempts to explain away the resurrection of Jesus because to do so successfully would make the Christian faith null and void. Thankfully there is ample evidence to support the resurrection of Jesus. The disciples didn’t expect Jesus to rise from the dead even though Jesus tried to tell them He would. When Jesus did rise from the dead the disciples didn’t believe it easily. They had to be convinced.
The risen Christ appeared 10 times and in 10 different places over a 40 day period. In one instance Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at once. Some people claimed that the disciples took Jesus’ body out of the tomb. The Jewish authorities feared that and had Pontius Pilate assign Roman soldiers to seal and guard the tomb of Jesus. A Roman soldier caught sleeping on guard duty was immediately put to death so it’s unlikely someone snuck in under the noses of the guards and stole Jesus’ body. The Roman soldiers were as surprised as everyone else at the empty tomb of Jesus.
If the disciples had found a way to steal Jesus’ body they would have known Jesus wasn’t the Son of God and there is no way they would have then died a martyr’s death for their faith (all except John). People will die for what they mistakenly think is true, but they won’t die for what they know is false. Evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is conclusive. We have the empty tomb. We have the changed lives of the disciples because they were eyewitnesses to the risen Christ.
We have the establishment of the Christian church which would not have happened without the resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone of our faith. The Lord’s Day of worship was changed from Saturday to Sunday because of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. We have the transformed lives of countless people today who have met and been given new life by the risen Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:17 – And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.