Why is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ More than a Tale?

Resurrection Sunday 2019

The New Testament writers were convinced that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and resurrected on the third day. Having read through the four Gospels, even listening to them read on the audio Word of Promise, I found they tell of Jesus Christ prophesying about His own death, burial and resurrection. After the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, the Lord predictions in events surrounding the Passion Week and Resurrection Sunday.

The Apostle Paul wrote,

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. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed (1 Cor. 15:3-11).¹

Likewise, the Apostle Peter said,

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses (Acts 2:29-32).

This belief is the crux of Christianity. Without an actual resurrection, Christianity loses its very reason for existence. The first followers of Jesus who preached their Lord had risen from the dead would have been delusional, and everyone who embraced their story about Christ risen from the grave would have essentially bought into the lie, and the institution perpetuating the lie would be the Church. All Christians would be the most pitiful of humans. However, I am convinced that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, that there is good reason to believe in the resurrection, and the reality of the resurrection makes all the difference in the world.

There are several evidences for the resurrection of Jesus. First, the empty tomb. Jesus died by crucifixion, a Roman soldier trusted a spear through His heart as away of insuring death had occurred, the corpse was placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and the tomb was secured on Friday evening, but on Sunday morning the tomb was found empty. Second, there are the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Lord. The Gospel writers tell us that Christ first appeared to Mary Magdalene and several other women, but this would have been a peculiar thing to mention given the testimonial of women was never of any value for the ancient tribunals. The resurrected Lord also appeared to Peter, the other disciples, and many others including the Apostle Paul. Finally, there is the transformation of the disciples. The eleven who abandoned Jesus in Gethsemane before the Passover were transformed into an unstoppable evangelistic force by Pentecost). What else could explain their change of heart but the resurrection?²

I am currently going through the Homilies on Matthew given by John Chrysostom (AD. 354-407). Chrysostom was the Bishop of Constantinople and known for being a masterful orator. He said this concerning the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

For that they were neither willing nor able to feign a resurrection, that did not take place, is plain from hence. He discoursed to them much of a resurrection, and continually said, as indeed these very men have stated, “After three days I rise again.” If therefore He rose not again, it is quite clear that these men (having been deceived and made enemies to an entire nation for His sake, and come to be without home and without city) would have abhorred Him, and would not have been willing to invest Him with such glory; as having been deceived, and having fallen into the utmost dangers on His account. For that they would not even have been able, unless the resurrection had been true, to feign it, this does not so much as need reasoning.

For in what were they confident? In the shrewdness of their reasonings? Nay of all men they were the most unlearned. But in the abundance of their possessions? Nay, they had neither staff nor shoes. But in the distinction of their race? Nay, they were mean, and of mean ancestors. But in the greatness of their country? Nay, they were of obscure places. But in their own numbers? Nay, they were not more than eleven, and they were scattered abroad. But in their Master’s promises? What kind of promises? For if He were not risen again, neither would those be likely to be trusted by them. And how should they endure a frantic people. For if the chief of them endured not the speech of a woman, keeping the door, and if all the rest too, on seeing Him bound, were scattered abroad, how should they have thought to run to the ends of the earth, and plant a feigned tale of a resurrection? For if he stood not a woman’s threat, and they not so much as the sight of bonds, how were they able to stand against kings, and rulers, and nations, where were swords, and gridirons, and furnaces, and ten thousand deaths day by day, unless they had the benefit of the power and grace of Him who rose again? Such miracles and so many were done, and none of these things did the Jews regard, but crucified Him, who had done them, and were they likely to believe these men at their mere word about a resurrection? These things are not, they are not so, but the might of Him, who rose again, brought them to pass (Homilies on Matthew 89.1).

I believe there are far too many good reasons to believe in the resurrection from the dead, and very little reason to suppose that the central belief of all Christian could have been established without a bona fide resurrection from the dead. It is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that I am reconnected to the Triune God of the universe and it is within this union with God that I am being daily transformed into the image of Christ. Moreover, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that I have hope for the future, for even if my body should be destroyed and my life come to an end, just as the Lord has risen from the grave, I too will have a place among those resurrected to eternal life in the age to come.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

— WGN

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1. All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
2. The line of evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is further explicated in books like Resurrection (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2000). I also found to be very helpful the chapter on The Resurrection of Jesus in Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987) by J.P. Moreland. Other very worthwhile resources I have read are The Case for Christ: A Journalist Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998) by Lee Strobel, and The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (Joplin, MO: College Press, 2003) by Gary R. Habermas. A couple of the in-depth technical treatments on this subject that I have been blessed to read are The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003) by N.T. Wright and The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2010) by Michael R. Licona.