Next there is the evidence of the empty tomb, coupled with the evidence of the moved stone and the undisturbed graveclothes. How are we to account for these things? Some have imagined that either Joseph of Arimathea or the Roman or Jewish authorities moved the body. But not only was there no reason for this to have been done—it would have involved violating the officially sealed tomb—it is also inconceivable that the true circumstances would not have been revealed later after the disciples had appeared in Jerusalem to proclaim their belief in Christ’s resurrection.
It would have been easy to produce a body, had there been one. On the other hand, the disciples did not steal the body of Jesus, for they would hardly have been willing to die (as most of them later did) for such an illusion.
It is also possible to add the changed character of these men as an evidence, for whatever happened turned them from disillusioned cowards to mighty proclaimers of the Christian message. What but a resurrection can account for it?
Then too, we must add the appearance of Jesus, not just to one or two women in a garden under somewhat eerie circumstances, but to a wide variety of people in a wide variety of circumstances. Paul lists many of these appearances in 1 Corinthians, noting that at one point Jesus even appeared to five hundred believers at one time (1 Cor. 15:6).
One of the greatest evidences of the resurrection was the quite unexpected and unnatural change of the day of worship from Saturday, the Jewish day of worship, to Sunday in Christian services. Nothing but the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week explains it.
Well, what are we to say about the force of these evidences? I believe that it is not at all overstating the case to say, as Thomas Arnold once did, “The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best attested fact in history.” Lawyers in particular have found this to be true. In fact, some of the best books on the resurrection that have ever been written have been written by lawyers, some of whom originally set out to disprove it. I am thinking of men like Frank Morison, Gilbert West, J.N.D. Anderson, and others. Sir Edward Clark, another English jurist, once wrote, “As a lawyer I have made a prolonged study of the evidences for the first Easter day. To me the evidence is conclusive, and over and over again in the High Court I secured the verdict on evidence not nearly so compelling. As a lawyer I accept the gospel evidence unreservedly as the testimony of men to facts that were able to substantiate it.”1
This is why the resurrection of Jesus Christ is good news, not because it is a nice story which gives us an opportunity for a holiday once a year, but because it is true. As truth it is one of the most amazing and important facts in history.
1Quoted in Michael Green, The Day Death Died (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1982), 45-46.
