You can be confident the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened. Here’s why

With the most significant day in the Christian calendar approaching, Andy Witherall unveils five undeniable facts supporting Jesus’ resurrection

In Jesus The Jew: A Historian’s Reading Of The Gospels, Bible scholar and sceptic Géza Vermes writes, “When every argument has been considered and weighed, the only conclusion acceptable to the historian must be… that the women who set out to pay their last respects to Jesus found to their consternation, not a body, but an empty tomb.” Let us look at three pieces of evidence for the empty tomb:

● The empty tomb is an early tradition

This fact is really important. Mark, our earliest source, is generally dated around 70 AD putting it within a generation of Jesus’ death. The creed which Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 which implies an empty tomb, is dated to within no later than five years after Jesus’ death. This allows for the possibility of eye-witness testimony and for the people to check for themselves.

● Jesus’ tomb was discovered by women

Again, this is significant. In Jesus’ culture the testimony of women was seen as invalid. If someone wanted to invent a story that would have been believed, using women would have been a very odd choice.

● No body was ever produced

The Jewish authorities were completely opposed to the early church. All they had to do was to produce the body and Christianity would never have got going. The fact that they never did is strong evidence that there was no body to produce.

What Explanation Fits The Evidence?