READ: LUKE 23:50–24:12, 36-48; JOHN 20

The resurrection is vital to the Christian faith. It proves that Jesus is both fully God and fully human. But did Jesus really come back from the dead? Or did someone steal His body? Let’s look at some facts.

The Roman soldiers guarded the tomb day and night. Nobody could get past them. Even if they had fallen asleep, a huge rock that took several men to move was placed in front of the opening and sealed. Anyone attempting to move it would’ve been heard. After Jesus rose, the Jewish leaders who had plotted to kill Jesus couldn’t produce a body to prove He was deceased. Instead, they bribed the guards to lie, saying they fell asleep and the grave was robbed.

Also, women discovered the tomb was empty. In that culture, women were treated as second-class citizens. The Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were men, yet they recorded how women found out the important news, and then the men didn’t believe it until they saw the empty tomb and the risen Jesus for themselves. Admitting this fact would’ve been humiliating for them. If they fabricated the story, surely they would’ve made themselves look good. How many of us would record a story that made ourselves look bad unless it was true?

On top of that, after Jesus rose again, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene and then to groups of His disciples, showing them He was not a ghost but that He was truly resurrected. He ate and drank with them and let them feel His wounds. He even appeared to five hundred people at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). Some claim these people hallucinated and thought they saw Jesus. But five hundred people experiencing the same hallucination is highly improbable.

Besides all that, every apostle was killed or exiled because they preached about a crucified, resurrected Lord. If it was all a lie, they would’ve dropped it as soon as the persecution began. Instead, they were willing to die for their resurrected Savior.

Nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26; Luke 1:37). Jesus did rise again. As Christians, we serve a living Lord who conquered the grave to save us! • Morgan A. Mitchell

• Why is it important to know that Jesus really did rise from the dead? If you want to know more about this good news, see our "Know Jesus" page. And if you want to dig deeper, read 1 Corinthians 15.

Suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Luke 24:4-5 (NIV)