The same God Who rightly expects His human creation to examine the evidence and come to a knowledge of Him without ever literally seeing Him is the same God Who expects man to follow the facts that lead to the resurrected Jesus without ever personally witnessing His resurrection. No one believes in God because they can put Him under a microscope and see Him. We cannot use the five senses to prove the actual essence of God (John 4:24; Luke 24:39). What we have at our fingertips, however, is a mountain of credible evidence that testifies on God’s behalf. The very existence of finite matter testifies to a supernatural, infinite, eternal Creator. The endless examples of complex design in the universe bear witness to a grand Designer. The laws of science (such as the Law of Biogenesis) testify to God’s existence.
A reasonable faith in Jesus’ resurrection is, likewise, based upon a mountain of credible testimony. Just as trustworthy testimony (and not firsthand knowledge) has led billions of people to believe, justifiably so, that Alexander the Great, Napoleon, and George Washington were real people, millions of Christians have come to the logical conclusion that Jesus rose from the dead.
- Nineteen-hundred-year-old eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection exist in the most historically documented and accurate ancient book in the world— the New Testament.
- The event was foreshadowed and prophesied in the Old Testament (Psalm 16:10; Jonah 1:17–2:10; Matthew 12:40).
- Though very serious preventative steps were taken to keep the lifeless body of Jesus buried (Matthew 27:62–66), the tomb was found empty on the exact day He promised to arise.
- The body of Christ was never found (and, no doubt, first-century skeptics, especially the impenitent Jews who put Him to death, would have loved nothing more than to present Jesus’ dead body to early Christians).
- The once fearful and skeptical disciples quickly transformed into a courageous, confident group of Christians who suffered and eventually died for their continual belief and teachings regarding the resurrected Lord.
- Hundreds of early Christians were able to testify to having seen Jesus firsthand after His resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:5–8).
- Tens of thousands of once skeptical Jews, including Saul of Tarsus, examined the evidence, left Judaism, and confessed Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Acts 6:7; 21:20).
- What is more, these same Jews changed their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1–2).
As with evidence for the existence of God or the inspiration of the Bible, the logical, cumulative case for the resurrection of Christ from credible testimony lies at the heart of a fortified faith.
—Eric Lyons
