It's True--Jesus Rose from the Grave

 As you read this column today, we find ourselves in the middle of Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of you reading this article have grown up in Christianity, so the claim that Jesus came back to life on the third day after he died is second-nature to you; it is old hat; it is so common that it has likely become mundane and ordinary—which is sad, ironic, and spiritually dangerous all at the same time.

 It is hard for us to understand that for many people in this world, the claim that Jesus rose from the grave is utterly ridiculous and silly. To them, the claim is as outrageous and unbelievable as a claim that Elvis Presley stepped out of a UFO in my backyard last night to give me a private concert—with Bigfoot on the bass guitar! To most of these people, the claim that Jesus was resurrected is simply a useful fiction rather than the truth. What’s the difference between a useful fiction and the truth? Consider Santa Claus—telling your children that Santa will reward them for being good might cause them to refrain from hitting their siblings once or twice a year. In that sense, the story could be useful, but of course, it’s not true—and when we all inevitably learn that it’s not true, the story ceases to have any motivating power in our lives.

 It is vital that we understand that our claim that Jesus rose from the grave is not simply a useful fiction. It is the truth, plain and simple. To say that Jesus rose from the grave is simply to state what actually happened one brisk Sunday morning in Jerusalem in the early 30s AD. Why should we think this is so? Because believing this claim is not only agreeable to faith in the God who created us and who spoke to us through the Bible—it is also agreeable to reason because it is the best explanation of the facts of the matter. Consider just four facts, facts that are affirmed by even the most vocal critics of Christianity:

 1. Jesus died by crucifixion at Jerusalem during the governorship of Pontius Pilate

2. Jesus’ disciples sincerely believed that Jesus came back to life and visited them

3. James, the biological half-brother of Jesus, suddenly converted to faith in Jesus after Jesus had died

4. Saul of Tarsus suddenly converted to faith in Jesus after Jesus had died

 What is the best explanation of just these four facts—the explanation that can account for all of them in the most convincing way? The most common explanation from critics has been that the disciples made up the whole story of the resurrection to gain a following for themselves—and perhaps fame and fortune with it. But this explanation struggles to explain why James converted to faith. Why would he have wanted to go along with such a scheme? Why would the disciples have invited him into their scheme and taken the risk that he would expose them? Furthermore, this explanation utterly fails in explaining why Saul of Tarsus was converted. He was doing quite well in his life as a Pharisee by persecuting Christians. Why would he have become one if the Christian faith was just a story made up by the disciples? He had nothing to gain by converting and everything to lose. Moreover, we must remember that the disciples all went to their graves proclaiming that the Resurrection was true—and nearly all of them were ushered to their graves by violent hands that made martyrs out of them. It’s outlandish to think that not one of them would have come clean about a hoax in the face of such a fate.

 Other explanations have been suggested which we cannot consider here for lack of space, but the most reasonable explanation is simply that Jesus died and then came back to life. It explains the facts of the matter perfectly. And when we remember that these facts came to be in a world created by the God who had already revealed himself through all of His dealings with the people of Israel as recorded in the Old Testament, it is no surprise at all that God raised Jesus from the dead. It is simply the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!