Before believing anything we always seek the evidence to trust upon that matter. This is true in the subject of God as well. The resurrection of Jesus brought a huge change in the lives of his disciples as well as in the society of the Jews. Because many Jews decided to follow Jesus forsaking the laws of Moses which caused them to suffer due to their faith in Jesus.
The sufferings, death, and resurrection were not some events that accidentally took place in the life of Jesus, rather these incidents were foretold long ago through the mouths of the prophets (Isaiah 53:10-11, Psalm 16:10).
Jesus also proclaimed that he came not to destroy the laws but to fulfill them which are written concerning him (Matthew 5:17). The majority of the Jews were failed to recognize their messiah so they ill-treated Jesus and conspired against him and finally, they hanged on the cross to die.
To accomplish the mission, Jesus formed twelve disciples upon whom he laid the burden to preach the gospel to the world. But out of the twelve disciples, Judas Iscariot betrayed him and delivered him upon the enemy’s hand (Matthew 26:14-16).
Jesus did not intend to set him free from them though he had the power to defend himself. But he knew that it was the plan of God, that’s why he remained silent.
Earlier, before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples about his resurrection that would be three days later. But they did not make it out of what Jesus actually told them. After the death and burial of Jesus, all of his disciples had lost their hope and decided to go back to their previous work fields in order to survive.
On the first day of the week, Jesus was raised from the dead according to the prophecy of the Old Testament and met with his disciples several times with his glorified body. The disciples who lost their hope got it back seeing Jesus alive.
There is some evidence that proves that Jesus was resurrected from his death. Let us see those evidence carefully to understand the resurrection of Jesus was a real incident.
The Empty Tomb Of Jesus
The empty tomb is the main evidence that bears the witness that Jesus has risen. The grave could not hold him. Jesus proved what he told his disciples prior to his death (Matthew 16:21).
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and it was quite dark at that moment. She found the tomb was empty and the body of Jesus was not there.
She ran to inform this message to other disciples and when they came they were surprised to see the tomb without the body of Jesus.
As Jesus bodily rose so they failed to find him in the tomb. Jesus gave hope to his disciples and as many who will receive him will have such victory over the dead and will receive a resurrected body (John 20:1-9).
Though skeptics might deny the significance of the empty tomb, it has tremendous importance in the lives of the disciples who witnessed Jesus while he revealed himself before them and stayed forty days on the earth before his ascension to heaven.
The Testimony Of Angel
The women who went to see Jesus met the angel who asked them the reason for their searching for Jesus among the dead. They were afraid at the beginning but when the angel directed them to notice the place where Jesus was laid.
As Jesus was risen according to the scripture so, they did not see his body also. The angel also asked them to inform the disciples about the good news that Jesus had risen so they could meet him according to what Jesus told them earlier (Matthew 28:5-7).
The words of the angel are another evidence to trust that Jesus was raised from the dead. The women followed the instruction of the angel and all the disciples were able to see the risen Jesus so, we can believe that the angelic testimony was real concerning the resurrection of Jesus.
The Rumour Of His Enemies
As the priests were determined to hide the news of Jesus’s resurrection, they gave some amount of money to the guards to tell a lie that his disciples came at night and stole his body.
The guards did so according to the instruction given to them and they announced it to the public. Here, one thing must be noticed that the disciples were afraid and frightened because Jesus was taken from them. On the other hand, Peter denied Jesus three times out of fear.
So, how it would be possible for them to steal the body of Jesus in front of those guards while they were sleeping holding the weapons in their hands (Matthew 28:11-15).
This claim of the priests ultimately helped to prove that Jesus was resurrected.
Many Infallible Proofs
Jesus also proved his resurrection with many proofs to his disciples. Jesus met with his disciples while they were assembled together in a room and the doors were closed as they feared the Jews.
All of a sudden Jesus appeared in their midst out of nothing and encouraged them to hold peace among them. At first, they were frightened seeing him with such a glorified body and when Jesus showed his hands to them, they believed him. They were so glad to get their Jesus alive who once was tortured to death.
At that time Thomas was not there so he didn’t believe that Jesus rose from the grave. He demanded to see Him and it was so, while the disciples were again seated together, Jesus suddenly appeared before them and asked Thomas to touch him to feel him (John 20:20,27;).
Luke also recorded the resurrection of Jesus in his writing and he mentioned how Jesus proved himself before his disciples and stayed forty days with them where he taught them many things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).
Apostolic Preaching
Another proof that proclaims the resurrection of Jesus is apostolic preaching. As the apostles were close to Jesus so they had experienced a lot and witnessed him with their naked eyes.
They did not forget to share the resurrection while they were preaching the good news to others. On the day of Pentecost, while the Holy Spirit came upon them, they got the power from the above (Acts 1:8).
Among them, Peter stood up and declared that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and all the disciples narrated the events that they spent their times with resurrected Jesus (Acts 1:22, 4:33).
This also adds the truthfulness of Jesus’s resurrection as they experienced Jesus since they got the hope and determined to preach the gospel into the world.