Evidence # 1: The Empty Tomb

The first reason I believe in the resurrection is because the evidence of the Empty Tomb. Usually the Roman Soldiers would leave a prisoner on the cross for a few days and allow the birds and beasts to prey on the body. But the Biblical account tells us that a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus to bury in his tomb. The tomb itself was most likely a cave cut out of rock and according to Scripture, no one had ever been lain in before (Luke 23:53).

Our best account of the empty tomb comes from the witnesses who wrote the Bible. One can disregard this evidence if they choose to believe the Bible is a bunch of fables and made up stories. But that would be too easy. You see, there outside Biblical accounts from other historians like Jospehus (a Jew), Pliny the Younger, and more that help us piece together the entire story. These other historians testimony only confirm the Biblical account. So for one to deny to the Biblical account simply because they think the Bible is untrustworthy... well they still need to explain why the tomb was empty.

Here is what we know. Because of who Jesus was all the Jews and Romans living in Jerusalem knew where the body of Jesus was laid. We also know that there was a large stone rolled in front of the tomb and sealed shut. (Matthew 27:64-66) This seal would keep man and beast out of the tomb. This sealing would take place in the presence of Roman guards who would then guard the tomb. It would take many strong men to move that stone.

Jesus had predicted that he would rise from the dead and they wanted to prevent His disciples from stealing His body and claiming that Jesus was alive, so they placed guards around the tomb. Unfortunately, this plan backfired on the Jews as they provided additional witnesses to Christ resurrection.

The first witnesses to find the empty tomb were women who were not strong enough to move the stone away on their own. Also, the point needs to be made that in a Jewish court a woman's testimony was not allowed. It would make no sense the authors of Scripture to say it was the women who first found the empty tomb unless it was a true. It would only undermine the credibility of their testimony.

Finally, it is vitally important that we understand that the Christian church began in the very city where Jesus was crucified and buried. All one had to do to stop the Christian church was go to the tomb where Jesus was laid and point out that he was still there.

J.N.D Anderson, a lawyer and professor of oriental law at the University of London, made a very important point. He said, "Have you noticed that the references to the empty tomb all come in the Gospels (first four books of the N.T.), which were written to give the Christian community the facts they wanted to know? In the public preaching to those who were not believers, as recorded in the book of Acts of the Apostles, there is an enormous emphasis on the fact of the resurrection but not a single reference to the empty tomb. Now, why? To me there is only one answer There was no point in arguing about the empty tomb. Everyone, friend and opponent, knew that it was empty."

But it wasn't the empty tomb that made the disciples believe in the resurrection of Jesus. If there was only an empty tomb, but no sightings of Jesus, no one would have concluded that Jesus rose from the dead. Also, if there were only sightings of Jesus but no empty tomb, then we would conclude that the people were having hallucinations. But because there was an empty tomb and sightings the church started and the disciples concluded the Jesus rose from the dead. We will look more at the testimony of the disciples later, but the fact of the matter is - no reliable historian argues that the tomb of Jesus is empty. The Christian church would have never come about if the skeptics would have just went and produced the body. But that never happened because the tomb was empty!