Today being Easter morning, billions of people around the world are remembering the resurrection of Jesus Christ, nearly 2000 years ago. The New Testament neither describes nor prescribes such a practice, and as such we do not have any worship practices different from a typical Sunday.

That said, I would like to discuss the Resurrection this morning. I have recently come to believe that the strongest argument for God’s existence is not the majesty of the heavens or the intricate detail in all the plants and animals God has designed, but the resurrection of Jesus. While I’m probably an outlier for thinking so, the resurrection is one of the most provable facts in all of history.

In this morning’s sermon, we’re going to look at some of the facts and how we can know for a fact that Jesus is alive and risen today.

According to Scripture, these are the facts:

At 3pm on Friday, April 3, 33 AD, the Jews and Romans executed Jesus of Nazareth for blasphemy. Immediately after, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea took the body, bound it in spices, and buried in a new tomb Joseph owned.

On Sunday, April 5, 33 AD, several women who once followed Jesus (Mary Magdalene; Mary, the mother of James and Joseph; Joanna, wife of Chuza; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Salome, the mother of James and John) went to His tomb to anoint His body with spices and oils. Arriving at the tomb, they found the large stone door rolled away. They immediately summoned Simon Peter and John.

When the disciples stepped inside the tomb, they found it empty except the grave-clothes lying inside.

Many atheists have attempted to cast doubt upon these facts, but I suggest that they are harder to disprove than at first glance.

Christ’s tomb emptied.

The first element of evidence is the empty tomb itself. The gospels plainly tell us that the tomb was empty when the disciples found it.

“But,” someone might say, “that’s because the disciples stole the body themselves.”

This is a very old theory going back to the Jews’ claim in the first century:

“Now while they were on their way, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and took counsel together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, ‘You are to say, “His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.” And if this is heard before the governor, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.’ And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.” (Matt 28:11–15)

However, this immediately falls apart. The disciples were followers of Jesus, who taught extremely high moral standards. It makes no sense that they would steal the body and lie about the basis for an entire religion based on extreme morality and ethics.

Furthermore, the disciples went on to suffer persecution for their beliefs. They would never have submitted to that kind of suffering for a conspiratorial lie. They truly believed in what they had seen.

“But,” someone might say, “maybe the disciples just made up the empty tomb.”

This idea is even more ludicrous. The events of the New Testament took place within a single century. When the disciples first began to preach the gospel, Jesus had just died a few weeks earlier. If the tomb was not empty, the Jews would have pointed that out immediately. Instead, they circulated a theory that the disciples stole Jesus’s body.

The tomb was accessible and the people of Jerusalem could see that it was empty.

“Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SET one OF THE FRUIT OF HIS BODY ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER FORSAKEN TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SEE CORRUPTION. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2:29–32)

Christ’s body appeared.

The second element of evidence involves the numerous appearances of Jesus after His resurrection.

The Gospels record several of these, but the best evidence is actually from Paul in 1 Corinthians.

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. After that, He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (1 Cor 15:3–8)

The dates of the Gospels are hard to pinpoint, and many scholars put them fairly late in the first century. On the other hand, 1 Corinthians was almost certainly composed around AD 54—only 21 years after Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Paul mentions several prominent individuals in the church including Peter and James the brother of Jesus. Both of these men were still alive at the time of Paul’s writing. Paul also mentions explicitly that several of the 500 people are still alive.

Good evidence is verifiable. Anyone with a copy of Paul’s letter could easily “fact check” him. If Jesus never appeared to these individuals, surely the truth would have leaked out and the claim of resurrection would have died off immediately.

At this point, the protest changes to: “But what if they were all hallucinating?”

This is extremely unlikely and a weak objection. Mass hallucinations are virtually unheard of. It’s possible for a single person to have imagined it all, but not 500. Additionally, one does not hallucinate things they have never thought of.

Christ’s church grew.

There is simply no explanation for the existence of Christianity without the resurrection. It was not a concept in existing Jewish belief:

The Old Testament describes people who came back from the dead, but they did not experience true resurrection. They still died again. In the Jewish mindset, the only time people were supposed to rise and never die again was at the end of time.

They had no concept of a man dying, resurrecting, and never dying again as a singular event in the middle of history.

Furthermore, the disciples did not understand any of Jesus’s sayings about his resurrection. Yet they came to believe in it with incredible and indescribable fervor. Yet, as Paul stated, the resurrection was the core tenet of Christianity. Without the resurrection, Christianity is meaningless.

“Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we bore witness against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (1 Cor 15:12–19)

Christ’s disciples follow.

Jesus taught that all people will be raised, both righteous and wicked:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” John 5:25–29)

The resurrected righteous will live forever, yet those who were wicked will die again. If you are faithful to Jesus, He will raise you up, just as He was raised. In that state, you will live with Him forever:

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thess 4:13–18)

This resurrection involves bodily transformation. Our bodies will change into a form that incorruptible by time or temptation; by sin or by shame.

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible puts on the incorruptible, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the word that is written,

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?‘

Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor 15:51–57)