Evidence for the Resurrection of Christ

It is Passion week! This is the week Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the most important event to a Christians faith and really to all religions. You see, if Christianity is real and true it all rest on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. If Jesus rose from the dead then He is definitely from God, but it also means His claims to be the Son of God are all true.

Wilber Smith said, "Only a foolish man would go around talking about rising from the dead on the third day, only a foolish man, unless he knew that this was going to take place, and no one in the world has ever known that about himself except One Christ, the Son of God". Therefore, if this is all true then all the claims of Jesus must be true.

If He never rose from the dead then he is like every other religious leader/teacher. He is dead and we don't have to worship Him, we just need to learn how to live from Him. The Resurrection also gives us hope in what will happen to us when we die. Therefore, this week I want to write a couple of blogs on why I believe the Resurrection to be true.

Some will say I am a Christian because I grew up in a Christian nation and a Christian home. While that did provide the foundation for my faith, that is not why I am a Christian. For one, if my faith were based on the fact that I grew up in a Christian home my faith would be very weak. It would eventually succomb to the pressures of this life. My faith needs a greater foundation. That foundation is in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe He is God and that He conquered death, hell, and sin we died on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. He is the way to God! And I am grateful for His life and death for me.

As Peter Kreft said, "The resurrection is of crucial practical importance b/c it completes our salvation."

The question now is how do I know the resurrection really happened. Well that takes a careful and precise investigation. We can't prove this, much like we can't prove the George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War. We weren't there and so we take into account the testimony of those who were there. As we investigate the Resurrection of Jesus we see that there is a logical reason to trust the Bible and what it says about the resurrection.

"Christianity is an historical religion. It claims that God has taken the risk of involving Himself in human history, and the facts are there for you to examine with the utmost rigor. They will stand any amount of critical investigation." - (Michael Green)

And so I want to show you the five reasons why I believe in the resurrection to be true in the next couple of days. I will give greater detail to these reasons each day this week. But for now let me just give the five major reasons why I believe in the resurrection and therefore have placed my faith in trust in Jesus Christ.

1. The Empty Tomb.
2. The enemies of Christ did not refute the resurrection.
3. The disciples of Christ were transformed and preached the resurrection even to their death.
4. The Christian church came as a result of the resurrection and continues to grow and thrive despite numerous threats on it's existence.
5.  The lack of evidences to the refutes against the resurrection.