I heard a great radio program the other day. The folks were discussing evidence of Jesus’s resurrection. It was rather amazing, informative and empowering. For those of us who feel that we must constantly defend our faith in this day and age, it was pretty neat to hear.

Our first, and probably strongest, piece of evidence is the empty tomb itself. Of course, there are unbelievers who will say someone either stole the body or the women who discovered the empty tomb simply went to the wrong place.  The burial cloths were neatly folded inside the tomb, hardly something robbers in a hurry would do. No one really had a motive for stealing the body, but those who were against His ministry would have surely produced the body to stop those resurrection rumors.

The ladies who reported the empty tomb had watched His body being laid to rest. They knew where they were going.

Women were second class citizens in those days. If the writers of the Gospels had thought the story was made up, they certainly would not have recorded a silly story made by some silly women. Jesus chose these ladies to be the first eyewitnesses.

The apostles were terrified after Jesus was killed, hiding behind locked doors, afraid they would be executed next.  They stayed hidden. However, suddenly they all began boldly going out, preaching the Gospel. This change of attitude, this new boldness, could only have been as a result of a major influence.

It is widely known Jesus’s own brother, James, was a skeptic. Growing up with Jesus, he most likely had many reasons to doubt his brother was the Messiah. After the resurrection, James became a courageous leader of the Jerusalem church, eventually being stoned to death for his faith. However, his work caused an explosion of the early church. James and the apostles, all zealous eyewitnesses to the risen Christ, went out and spread the Word. We are still being affected by those missionaries thousands of years later.

A large crowd of 500 witnesses, in addition to smaller groups of folks, saw the resurrected Christ. Even modern day scholars will tell you it would have been impossible for 500 people to have the same hallucination. Others touched Him and watched Him eat. Most were still alive when Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians in 55 A.D. There were many reports of seeing Jesus. Yet, after the Ascension, the reports stopped.

Paul’s own conversion should be noted as another changed life as a result of seeing the risen Savior. Once a persecutor of the early church, Paul was drastically changed after meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. Even while enduring floggings, beatings, shipwrecks, a stoning and years of ridicule, Paul remained a determined missionary. Ultimately losing his life after Nero had him beheaded, Paul never stopped sharing his faith.

Ten of the original apostles died as martyrs. Thousands died in the Roman arena.

Through the ages, many have died because they believed the resurrection to be true. Yes, there are isolated groups of people who have died in cults and various religious groups for their beliefs, but Christians have died all over the world and in large numbers, defending their faith for thousands of years. Pretty amazing.

I know Easter has come and gone, but I think this is all worth repeating. I believe with every fiber of my being that Jesus rose from the dead, but I need to be reminded constantly of the proof and what people have been willing to do to defend the truth.