3.  Did Jesus really rise from the dead? And even if He did, what difference does it make to me? 

The Christian faith rests upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Without the resurrection, the whole Christian faith comes tumbling down. In his book He Walked Among Us, Josh McDowell wrote, "The resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted upon the minds of humanity . . . OR . . . it is the most important fact of history."  

Not like any other religion

No other religion claims that its founder rose from the dead. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then He is just like any other religious teacher, such as Mohammed or Buddha. 

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then He lied and Christians are wasting their time believing in Him. However, if Christ did rise from the dead, then we must seriously take His claim when He said whoever believes in Him has eternal life, and whoever rejects Him is under God's wrath (John 3:36). The apostle Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. . . .And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:14,17). If Christ never rose from the dead, the apostle Paul added, "we [Christians] are to be pitied more than all men" (vs. 19). 

An empty tomb

It is historical fact that Jesus was crucified on a cross in the Roman province of Judea when Pontius Pilate was the governor, sometime around a.d. 29–33. The Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historian Tacitus (neither of whom were Christians) both mention His death by crucifixion. The four Gospels, however, record His resurrection, agreeing that three days after His death, the tomb where Jesus lay was empty.  

If Jesus was not resurrected, then what happened to the body? 

It is significant that the Jewish authorities never denied that Jesus’ tomb was empty. If the tomb was not empty, then Jesus' body would still be in the tomb; they could have shown His dead body to disprove the resurrection claim. Yet they never did. It's worth noting that after burying Jesus, they even put Roman guards in front of the tomb, for fear someone would come to steal the body.  

Several theories of what happened to Jesus’ body have been put forth over the years:

1) Jesus’ disciples or His followers stole His body

Why would they? Even the disciples at first did not believe Jesus rose from the dead. They became unsure of their beliefs and feared for their own lives (Luke 22:61). When the disciples heard the women say that Jesus rose from the dead, "they did not believe them" (Mark 16:13). For example, during the trial of Jesus, one of Jesus' disciples, Peter, three times denied even knowing Jesus. He was afraid that they would also kill him for having been a disciple.  

2) The women went to the wrong tomb

This kind of a “mistake” would have gone no further than the disciples coming to this wrong tomb and pointing out the error. Moreover, the women had been present at Jesus’ crucifixion and saw the tomb in which His body was laid (Mark 15:47). 

3) Jesus did not die on the cross; He merely passed out, and when He came to, He let Himself out of the tomb

While crucifixion was meant to let the victim linger several days on the cross and die a slow, agonizing death, Jesus died more quickly, possibly from the shock of the whipping He received and the other suffering He endured. And to make certain He was dead, a Roman soldier stuck a spear into Jesus’ side (John 19:34). Even if Jesus would have survived crucifixion, He was put in a tomb sealed with a large stone, large enough to keep out animals and grave robbers. Imagine a person who had somehow survived being beaten and crucified suddenly being able to get up and roll away the stone from His tomb and walk out. Not likely. 

4) People did not see a resurrected Jesus, but rather a vision of some kind

The Gospels and Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians are full of eyewitness descriptions of Jesus appearing to several groups of people and at several different locations, including more than 500 people at the same time (1 Cor. 15:6). Jesus ate with the disciples several times and let them touch the wounds on His body (John 20:19-29; 21:1-23).  

So why didn’t He appear to His enemies, like the Jewish leaders or Pontius Pilate? Wouldn’t people then have believed in Him? Remember that many people had seen His miracles and still did not believe. And Jesus Himself said that seeing someone come back from the dead would still not be enough for some people to believe in Him (Luke 16:31). 

So what really happened?

The most important evidence in favor of Jesus’ resurrection is the change in His disciples. After the Resurrection, something happened in the lives of these disciples that instantly changed them! The same Thomas who said he wouldn't believe until he felt Jesus' nail-pierced hands was later killed for proclaiming the Resurrection! And Peter, who denied even knowing Jesus, was eventually crucified for his faith. The 11 disciples and hundreds of others were tortured, killed by sword, or stoned to death. Why did these disciples all abruptly change their mind and become willing to die for their belief in the Resurrection? What event could possibly explain this profound change in their lives? The answer is simple: they were eyewitnesses to the living, breathing body of Jesus Christ after His death!

If the disciples stole the body, they would have known the Resurrection was a lie. Maybe there have been people who have died for something they believe to be true, but how many people do you personally who have died for something they know to be a lie?  

So if Christ rose from the dead, what difference does that make to me?

Jesus' resurrection proved that He has overcome death and won the victory over sin for us. And because He rose from the dead, we also have the hope of eternal life after death. If you go to Buddha's tomb, his body's there. If you go to Mohammed's tomb, his is also there. But if you go to Jesus' tomb, it's empty! If Jesus still remains in the grave, what good is a dead Savior? Other religions have leaders that still remain in the grave. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And because He lives, You can have eternal life as well.

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