5 Reasons Jesus Rose from the Dead

In this article, I will share five reasons I believe Jesus' resurrection actually took place. 

You can remember these five reasons with the acronym:

R.I.S.E.N.

The first reason I believe Jesus' resurrection is a fact of history is… 

1. The RISE of Christianity in Jerusalem

It is an accepted historical fact that the Christian faith (a religion built upon the preaching of its leader's resurrection) originated in approximately A.D. 32, right in the very city of Jerusalem, where Jesus had been publicly crucified and buried. Historical sources outside the Bible have verified this. Now, this in itself is a good piece of evidence that the resurrection actually occurred. Why?

A message calling people to repent and put their faith in a risen man could never have gained any substantial following amongst the Jews if the tomb had not actually been empty and had the Jewish people not seen Jesus alive after His crucifixion.

'The message of a risen man could not have been maintained a moment in Jerusalem if the grave was still occupied,' Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, 232.

Remember that Jesus' disciples did not run off to Athens or Rome to preach that Christ rose from the dead, where the facts could not be verified. They returned to Jerusalem, where they would have been quickly exposed and disproved—if what they were teaching was false. The critics could have exposed the disciples as liars, and Christianity would never have got off the ground. The local authorities could have said, “Hey! Here is the grave and the body!” and squashed the whole movement.

But that never happened! Not only did Christianity originate in Jerusalem, but it also thrived there!

Luke, whose writings have been confirmed by numerous extrabiblical writings and archaeological discoveries, tells us that 3,000 people believed the first post-resurrection sermon preached a few minutes’ walk from the tomb, Acts 2:41. Later in the same chapter in Acts 2, Luke says that the church was growing daily, Acts 2:47. By Acts 4:4, Luke declares there were 5,000 believers comprising the early Christian church in Jerusalem. By Acts 6:7, Luke just says the number of disciples “continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem". He was apparently losing count!

Not only did Christianity originate and flourish in Jerusalem, but it also triumphed over several competing ideologies and eventually overwhelmed the entire Roman Empire.

By the early fourth century, when the Roman emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, historians say there were around thirty million Christians, Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity, 156; Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About Christianity, 297.

Here's a question for you. Is it reasonable to suppose that thousands of people within those early days following Jesus' death were actually deceived into believing a man rose from the dead? I don’t think so.

The best explanation for the immediate rise of the early church, right amid a community that had not only been hostile to Jesus but that demanded His crucifixion, is the resurrection. People had seen Jesus! Acts 1:3 says that Jesus “presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” 

The resurrection catapulted New Testament Christianity into existence. So, the first reason I believe in Christ’s resurrection is the rise of Christianity in Jerusalem. 

2. The INCREDIBLE Persecution and Deaths Endured by the Disciples

When Jesus was arrested and led away to be crucified, the Gospels tell us that His disciples…

• fled in fear (Matthew 26:56)
• went into hiding (John 20:19)
• lost hope (Luke 24:21) 

A short time later, we read that something amazing happened. These same fearful men went through a dramatic transformation. Within a few weeks of Jesus' crucifixion, these same men were standing face to face with the people who had crucified their leader, preaching that Jesus was alive, telling people that they needed to turn from their wicked ways and know that Jesus was both Messiah and Lord, Acts 2:36-38. 

To prevent this belief from spreading, the same authorities who had Jesus crucified…   

     

• threatened the disciples
• flogged them
• beat them
• imprisoned them
• and forbade them to speak the name of Jesus see  Acts 4:16-18, 5:28.

So, what did the disciples do? They returned and said to the Jewish leaders, “We must obey God rather than men, Acts 5:29.”

After saying, “We must obey God rather than men,” they went on “rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. Every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ, Acts 5:41-42.”

But their boldness had a cost.

Flavius Josephus, Eusebius, Tertullian, and other independent extrabiblical sources record for us that many of Jesus’ earliest followers, including the apostles, suffered intense persecution and even death for their ongoing belief and preaching that Jesus was Lord and had risen from the dead. These extrabiblical sources tell us that...

• Matthew was slain with a sword in a city in Ethiopia
• Mark died in Alexandria, in Northern Egypt, after having been cruelly dragged through the streets of that city. 
• Luke was hung upon an olive tree in the land of Greece
• John was tortured and banished to the Isle of Patmos, Revelation 1:9
• James, the brother of John, was beheaded in Jerusalem, Acts 12:2
• James the Less, as he’s called in Mark 15:40, was thrown from a pinnacle of the temple
• Philip was hung up against a pillar at Heiropolis in the province of Phrygia 
• Bartholomew was flayed alive
• Andrew was bound to a cross and left to die
• Jude was shot to death with arrows
• Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace Judas, was first stoned and then beheaded
• Barnabas was stoned to death by the Jews at Salonica
• Paul, after a variety of tortures and imprisonments, was finally beheaded in Rome 
• Thomas was run through the body with a spear in east India
• Peter was crucified upside down in Rome

All of this is very sobering, isn't it?

Here's a question for you. Were these men lying?

I find it very difficult to believe these men “made up a story” about Jesus and then spent years enduring persecution, imprisonments, and such, only to die these kinds of painful deaths. Nobody lies to get themselves into these kinds of predicaments! People lie to get out of these kinds of things!

Well, the fact that these men laid down their lives, unwilling to recant or admit falsehood in the face of beatings, stonings, and torture, is another reason I believe the resurrection actually took place.

How much do you value your life?

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Recently a lady took an oil painting by L.S. Lowry (1887-1976) to an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ to be valued. After inspection by a knowledgeable connoisseur of art she was informed that it could be worth £100,000. The lady was shocked and said, “I had no idea it was so valuable.” For years it had been in the house and few people even cast a second glance at it but the name of the artist so clearly visible at the bottom of the painting meant it was a treasure.

After reading this story I began to think of the people, many of whom have heard the gospel from infancy, who should know how valuable God’s salvation is, and who only discover its importance when it is too late to obtain it and they have found themselves in Hell, on the wrong side of the “great gulf fixed” of which the Lord Jesus spoke in Luke 16.26. For years they were deceived into thinking that salvation was something only for the religiously inclined, a pleasant addition to life but not absolutely necessary; to them it was a mere badge of respectability, but they never considered it a ‘must-have’ in view of an unending eternity.

My friend, you can live quite successfully and happily without salvation but you can never be in Heaven without it; that is a complete impossibility. The main reason for its importance is the name which is linked to salvation. It was the Lord Jesus Christ Who provided salvation at an infinite cost: the giving of His life. Only by accepting Him can you obtain the salvation of your soul. Salvation is not obtained in any place, practices, prayers or piety; it is linked to the Person of the Lord Jesus, God’s only begotten Son. To receive Him as personal Saviour is the only way by which your sins can be forgiven.

The Radical Claims of Jesus

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As you survey the New Testament, it’s easy to see that Jesus made history’s most radical claims (John 6:35,John 8:46, John 8:58, John 10:27-28, John 14:6, 9, Matthew 9:2, John 14:15). Even a cursory reading of the four Gospels reveals that Jesus claimed to be a whole lot more than a “good teacher,” “spiritual leader,” or a “prophet.”

Search the writings of the world’s religions, and you’ll never read anything like Jesus' claims on the lips of Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, Joseph Smith, or you name the leader. But anyone could say the things Jesus said. Saying those things doesn’t necessarily mean they are true. And Jesus knew that. So, Jesus didn’t just make the claims. He proved that what He said was true by…

• Fulfilling dozens of Old Testament prophecies
• Living a sinless life for which we even have the eyewitness testimonies of his enemies
• Opening the eyes of the blind
• Healing lepers
• Opening the ears of the deaf
• Causing the lame to walk
• Casting out demons

• Feeding 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread

Your personal advocate - 1 John 2:1-6

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you will no doubt get frustrated at the times when you make mistakes and you end up sinning. It can be so annoying! You don't intent to; in fact you mean to keep your mind clear but you get caught out. There are a couple of passages in the New Testament that deal with these situations.

But first, in the Old Testament we have some healthy guidance in about this topic. The overall lesson of the Psalm 119 is that the word of God is vital and essential to our survival. For instance verse 9 says 'with what shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word'. Verse 11 states 'I have hidden your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You'. This is all great advice to prevent a believer from sinning!

But what happens when we do sin!

That is where today's passage helps, as does yesterdays!

Yesterday we read in verse 9 - 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness'. On our part when we realise that we have sinned we should admit it (confess to God) and God will keep his part of the bargain - Forgive us and cleanse us!

Today we read in 1 John 2:1"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous'. This verse is teaching that when we sin the Lord Jesus draws along side His Father in heaven on our behalf. He is our advocate, that is the one who represents us before God. He (Jesus) is righteous. He, as a result of his death, made us righteous before God or right with God. On account of his sacrifice (that dealt with our sins) he also maintains our right standing before God.

My dear fellow believer do not give up in despair when you sin. The Lord Jesus who saved you will forgive and cleanse you when you confess your sins but before that even happens he has dealt with the issue in the presence of God. Your confession ensures that you consciously enjoy the benefits of what he has done for you.

1 John 2King James Version (KJV)

2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

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Before you come to a conclusion - check the evidence!

Not so long ago I read a piece on ‘The Bible Society’s debt to Arthur C Clarke' in the Independent Newspaper. The author had obviously carried out some good research about the society and highlighted some key statistics which would be very interesting to a number of people.

I was then quite amazed that the writer then chose to violently misrepresent the teaching of the very book that the society has spent so long translating and making available to the world. For example he chose to ignore that the Bible and Christianity had developed more education programs, opened more hospitals and changed more societies for the good than the current world atheistic belief has ever done. 

Societies that have been successful (in theory) in establishing an atheistic state have generally produced as corrupt societies as capitalist ones but they have neither been ultimately successful or survived in the long run. All of this however only looks at the outcomes of the opposing world views without actually discussing the validity or plausibility of the views. 

Consider for a moment the genuineness of the biblical documents; the writer called them ‘stories, myths, legends etc. I would have imagined that any intelligent person would accept the validity and historicity of the Bible. Even Professor Dawkins accepts the validity of the record and recommends that every child should read it (“Richard Dawkins, the atheist author of The God Delusion, believes that children should grow up reading the Bible”. The Times May 10th 2007) despite the fact that he does not like what it says. The biblical record has been consistently proven to be accurate in terms of history, archaeology and even in the realm of science despite the fact that the modern scientific world view is split between evolutionary belief and the biblical record of Creation (see The Genesis Enigma: Why The Bible Is Scientifically Accurate by Dr Andrew Parker, published by Doubleday). 

In terms of the New Testament record, especially regarding the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and the claims to his resurrection, there is clear evidence and logic that it speaks the truth even if many do not wish to follow through with the logical question that ‘if this actually happened what does it mean for me?’ Many clever people have attempted to discredit and disprove the historical accuracy of the account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ but have been persuaded by the evidence that he must have risen from the dead (A couple of examples come to mind; see the end of this article for details). How an individual responds to that information is up to them but I believe that the evidence is there to be found. 

As far as the conclusions regarding the Old Testament I do understand the concerns and issues unbelievers have with what seems to be the severity of the God of the Bible. I am not sure if you have read the whole biblical record and sought to understand the complete picture before coming to a conclusion. A careful analysis of the Bible will show that among many things God is both holy (just, righteous and morally pure) and loving. One characteristic does not cancel out the other; in fact his goodness and love of what is right demands that he deals justly with acts of sin and wrongdoing. 

Where people assume that God is acting out of order a careful analysis of the facts will persuade them that he was acting to maintain what is right. If a judge in our times was confronted with evil behaviour, child abuse, rape or one of a whole range of anti-social behaviours that were illegal and detrimental to the good of society we would not question his ‘goodness’ when he passed sentence and 

enforced a punishment that met the severity of the crimes. But when facing the examples of God’s judgment on nations who engaged in the very same activities we question his goodness because he acts justly and righteously to deal with behaviour which breaks his laws and damages society. I am not sure if we are being consistent in our approach to the issues.

Ultimately God has revealed Himself in the Bible and is warning us that we are in danger of his coming justice and judgment as a result of our moral defection and sin (all of us). He has made provision for us all to flee from his coming judgement through the sacrifice of His own dear Son, Jesus. His offer to clear the legal case against us and to offer us pardon, forgiveness and salvation is 

still on the table. That doesn’t sound like a vengeful, demanding, capricious, merciless and tyrannical God to me. 

This is the alternative argument to the atheistic viewpoint: people should know what it is so that they can decide for themselves where the truth lies. 

Note referred to: examples of legal minds who set out to disprove the resurrection and were convinced that it must be true – this is a limited list, there are many more examples. 

Dr. Greenleaf, Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University, was one of the greatest legal minds that ever lived. He wrote the famous legal volume entitled, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, considered by many the greatest legal volume ever written. Dr. Simon Greenleaf believed the Resurrection of 

Jesus Christ was a hoax. And he determined, once and for all, to expose the "myth" of the Resurrection. After thoroughly examining the evidence for the resurrection — Dr. Greenleaf came to the exact opposite conclusion! He wrote a book entitled, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice. In which he 

emphatically stated: "it was IMPOSSIBLE that the apostles could have persisted in affirming the 

truths they had narrated, had not JESUS CHRIST ACTUALLY RISE  FROM THE DEAD , . . ." 

(Simon Greenleaf, An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence Administered in the Courts of Justice, p.29). 

Dr. Greenleaf concluded that according to the jurisdiction of legal evidence the resurrection of Jesus Christ was the best supported event in all of history! And not only that, Dr. Greenleaf was so convinced by the overwhelming evidence, he committed his life to Jesus Christ!). 

Dr. Benjamin Gilbert-West and Lord Littleton were from Cambridge. They were so fed up with Christianity they wanted to destroy it, they took leave of absence to study and write books to refute both the resurrection and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. As a result of their study, they too became ardent believers and wrote: "Reject not, until you have examined the evidence." 

Dr. Frank Morrison, a lawyer and engineer, was brought up in a rationalistic background. He liked Jesus, but thought the resurrection was a myth that was tacked on. He, too, wanted to write a book to refute it, but in the process of writing, he like the others committed his life to Christ. His findings are in the book "Who Moved the Stone"?