“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised” (1 Corinthians 15:12-15).

 All of Christianity hinges upon the resurrection of Christ. Paul argues that if he has not been raised, we are still in our sins and are completely misrepresenting God. But if he has been raised, Paul argues in Acts 17:31, everything he said and did, including his perfect life and sacrificial death, is vindicated. Therefore, it is not a stretch to say that if we do not have confidence in the resurrection, we cannot have confidence in our salvation.

But Christ has been raised! We can and should be confident in his resurrection. Here are seven reasons why:

1. The Empty Tomb

Jesus was buried in a known location. His tomb was owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin. It was also guarded by Roman soldiers, who must have been told which tomb to guard and where it was. If the tomb was occupied, Jesus’ body could have been easily produced by the Roman guards or the Jews. Everyone who went there found the exact same thing- an empty tomb.

2. The Soldiers’ Response

Matthew reports that the guards immediately reported to the Jewish leaders. That’s interesting in and of itself. Why didn’t they go to Roman leaders? Because they would have been killed! The Jewish leaders paid the soldiers to spread the lie that Jesus’ disciples stole the body in the night. They told the guards, “if this [the empty tomb] comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble” (Matt 28:14). The soldiers’ lives were on the line. Yet they “took the money and did as they were told” (Matt 28:15).

Here’s the question. Why would the Roman soldiers trust the Jewish leaders who promised to “satisfy”  the governor and keep them out of trouble? They didn’t have that much influence. And the soldiers knew that. But they had no other option. The tomb was empty. Their life was in danger. Their best bet was to take the money, spread the lie, and take their chances on the Jewish leader’s protection. They had no other option.

3. The Early Claims

Claims of Jesus’ resurrection began days after his death. Once again, if these claims were false, why did no one prove it? Critics will say that resurrection claims camemuch later, even decades after Jesus’ death, too far from his death to really prove such claims false. But 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 proves this such theories false. Paul writes,

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

Many scholars believe that verses 3-5 are an early creed that dates immediately after Jesus’ death up to five years later. And Paul is quoting this creed in his letter written in the 50s, only two decades after Jesus’ death. So we can be confident that the claims regarding his resurrection did not arise later. They began as early as the day the women discovered the empty tomb.

Continue reading “Seven Reasons to be Confident in the Resurrection of Jesus” →