This article is based on the sermon Four Evidences of the Resurrection.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ seems too much for any person with a half-functioning brain to believe. If someone told you today that someone was raised from the dead yesterday on the other side of town, you wouldn’t believe it. Dead people don’t come back to life. Period.
Concerning Jesus’ resurrection, in the gospel narratives even the disciples had trouble believing. If they had difficulty with Jesus’ resurrection, how can anyone today with two ounces of sense and a healthy dose of skepticism believe it?
Yet, as incredible as it is, the resurrection of Jesus is THE central aspect of Christianity. If Christ has not been raised, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, then we are still in our sins and most to be pitied. I’m wasting my breath. I’ve wasted my life. And you are wasting your time reading this and seeking to live for Jesus. If he has not been raised from the dead, Christians deserve to be pitied among all people.
But Christ has been raised! He was dead but is now alive!
But how do we know he’s been raised? Let me share with you four pieces of evidence presented in John’s gospel:
1. The Empty Tomb
First, we have the empty tomb. In the three synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—like John, mention Joseph of Arimathea asking for the body of Jesus and placing him in the garden tomb. In the other three gospels, all of them mention that the women saw where the body of Jesus lay. The women went to prepare perfumes, ointments, and spices for the body, but because of the Sabbath that had just begun, waited until Sunday morning. So on Sunday morning, Mary sees the empty tomb, runs and tells John and Peter, and they come and see the empty tomb.
Why is the empty tomb so important? Dead bodies don’t decompose into nothing in a matter of days. The empty tomb is consistent with the Christian message of bodily resurrection. This was not a “spiritual” resurrection. The body was gone.
Some have suggested that maybe the ladies were mistaken, and they went to the wrong tomb. But it wasn’t as if they walked into an empty tomb as if they got the wrong house address. They saw him wrapped in graveclothes and buried on Friday. Then they saw the empty tomb and the grave clothes on Sunday. Jesus was there, and now his body was gone. Not only that, but when Peter and the disciples began preaching that Jesus had raised from the dead, somebody could have checked that the tomb he was laid in was empty.
Others have suggested, like the Jews during Jesus’ day, that the disciples stole the body (Matthew 29:15). (This is a significant admission because the Jews explanation confirms that the tomb was in fact empty.)
It could be mentioned that the tomb was guarded or that the heavy stone sealing the tomb would have been a feat to move and so on. But what I find most compelling to answer this objection is that the disciples have zero motive to steal the body and fabricate a resurrection. None. Zip. Nada.
Jesus promised eternal life, forgiveness of sins, peace with God, new bodies, a kingdom, Eden restored—all of the things ushered in by the Messiah, God’s chosen King. The disciples, if they stole the body to fabricate a hoax, they would have known all of it to be false. Jesus was not the one. His lifeless body lay dead. They were swindled, conned. No eternal life, no forgiveness, no peace with God, no kingdom—Jesus was not the real deal. Does it make any sense that, knowing this, would hatch a plan to tell others Jesus was indeed the Messiah? They would steal the body, ditch it in a common grave without being seen or noticed, and tell the world that he is risen!
It sounds like a great plan! They would be famous! No, they were hated. They would live forever! No, they would be a corpse like their master. They would have power! No, they were outcasts. They would be right with God! No, they would be blasphemers and liars, and God certainly would punish them with eternal fire.
There is no motivation for the disciples. There is no reason for them to lie. There is no advantage to them to fabricate the resurrection. And every single one of them were in on this plan?
The fact that more than a dozen men would go forward with this terrible plan without any motivation is harder to believe than the resurrection!
Some might think the empty tomb is not enough evidence to believe in the resurrection. John 20:8 says that when John entered the tomb, “he saw and believed.” He saw the empty tomb, he saw the place where Jesus had been laid, he saw the grave clothes and the cloth which covered his face. He saw and believed that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
That was enough for him. Maybe it’s enough for you. The tomb is empty, Jesus is alive!
2. The Scripture
The second evidence mentioned in John 20:10, “for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.” That is, the disciples did not understand how the Scripture taught that Jesus, as the Messiah, must die and rise again from death.
To say it another way: Scripture provides sufficient warrant in its predictions of Jesus coming, life, death, and resurrection to believe. If they had understood the Scripture, they would have expected an empty tomb!
As John describes the death of Jesus (John 18–19), he says 6 times that this was to fulfill Scripture or the word that was spoken. In the gospel of Luke, Jesus appears to two disciples and explains to them from the Scripture that it was necessary for the Christ to die and rise again. There was a lack of understanding before Jesus’ death and resurrection, but when they had the Scriptures explained to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus.
So what Scriptures give evidence of the resurrection of Jesus?
Psalm 16:10, written 1000 years before Jesus and is quoted later in the NT in referring to Jesus’ resurrection says, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”
Isaiah 53:7–12, written more than 500 years before Jesus’ birth says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
This is why 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 says, “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.”
God speaks so that we know he is God. In Isaiah 48:5 God says, “I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you.” When announcing the coming Messiah in Isaiah 42 God says in verse 9, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” Why? Because he is the God and there is no one like him.
3. The Appearance of the Risen Christ
The third evidence to the resurrection that we see in the gospel of John is the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene, then to the disciples, then to Thomas, the over and over again appearing to hundreds of people at one time who were still living as the gospels and letters of the New Testament were being distributed. Acts 1:3 says, “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”
Can we trust the eyewitnesses? I’ve already mentioned they had no motive to propagate a lie about the resurrection. Rather, their testimony is backed up by their lives of devotion to Jesus.
All of Jesus’ disciples, except the one who betrayed him, witnessed Jesus alive after he had died. All of them maintained that testimony to their death. Some of the disciples died gruesome deaths as they were imprisoned, tortured and killed for proclaiming Christ risen from the dead.
Could they have been mistaken Jesus’ identity with someone else? Could every one of them who had lived with Jesus for three years be fooled? Impossible. Could they have made it up or lied? Would this band of men, waiting for the Messiah, all die for what they knew to be a lie?
It is true that some people die for a false cause. Suicide bombers exist in our world today. They are willing to die because they are convinced that they are on the side of truth. They are convinced they will be ushered into paradise and receive multiple virgins as their reward. Such teaching is Satanic and false—but they believe it to be true.
This fact doesn’t negate but establishes the beliefs of the apostles. People don’t willingly die for what they believe to be false. They are willing to suffer and die for what they are convinced is true. This is what it means to be a martyr. The word martyr means witness or testifier. The death of a martyr testifies to what they believe. So when the disciples of Jesus were tortured and died without recantation, going to their grave professing to have seen with their own eyes the resurrected Jesus—to have touched him, heard him, eaten with him—they validate their eyewitness account. A group of eyewitnesses willing to die and maintain their testimony under enormous opposition and pressure are true believers in what they say they saw.
4. The Convincing of the Holy Spirit
The fourth evidence to the resurrection of Jesus is a continuing and abiding witness. In John 15 as Jesus speaks with his disciples of the night of his betrayal tells them about the Holy Spirit. In John 15:26–27 he says, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
Jesus affirms that the disciples will be witnesses of his life and resurrection. But he also promises that the Helper, the Spirit of truth, or the Holy Spirit will witness about him.
The Holy Spirit does this today. In John 16 Jesus explains that he will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and judgment. Because he is going to the Father and you will see him no longer. The Holy Spirit will bear witness as Christ has borne witness. He will work to convince through the word preached that Christ is risen from the dead.
The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary but difficult to describe. Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus in John 3:8 and says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The Spirit works to illuminate the mind, to soften the heart, to grant faith, to confirm the word preached, to trust the word written. To read the Bible and conclude that these are the words of God, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. To read the gospel accounts of Jesus resurrection, to see the predictions of the prophets, the teaching of the disciples, the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus, and say, “Yes, I believe”—that is the work of the Spirit of God.
Christ is risen! The King is alive! Jesus is enthroned! Jesus is exalted! And because he is risen, alive, enthroned, and exalted, he can save. He can rescue. He can deliver. He can grant eternal life.
All that he said is vindicated. He said he was the Son of God, the Messiah, God’s anointed King. He said this word cannot be broken. He said this word would outlast heaven and earth. He said all who come to him, he will never cast out. He said he would give living water and eternal life. He said he will go and prepare a place that we may be with him also. He said he would return. He said his kingdom would have no end. He said he would defeat death and conquer the grave. All that Jesus said is true because he rose from the dead.
The Bible, all of it, from cover to cover, is sealed and guaranteed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All these promises are yours in Christ Jesus. They are yours by way of his death and resurrection and received through faith.
Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”