Is there any evidence for the resurrection of Jesus?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is essential to the Christian faith. Christianity is all about having a relationship with Jesus Christ and you cannot have a relationship with a dead man. The Bible puts it this way:

If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 1 Corinthians 15:14.

The empty tomb

Logically the empty tomb does not make sense without the resurrection. The Bible says that the grave was closely guarded by Roman soldiers and had a huge boulder across the mouth of it. His enemies would not have taken His body, as this would only lead to claims that He had been resurrected; the very thing they were trying to avoid. The stone and the soldiers would have stopped any rescue attempt. A supernatural resurrection is the only possible explanation.

Personal encounters

The Bible says that Jesus appeared to many people after His resurrection.

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, He was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all He was seen of me also. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

In this passage Paul is trying to show the Corinthians the importance of the resurrection and he shows that at the time of writing he knew many people who were witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Paul had just made this up then his words would have no power.

The Bible also says that Jesus ate and drank with His disciples, proving that they were not just hallucinating.

The birth of the church

Shortly after Jesus' death the church was born. The main force of Peter's first speech to the Jews is that the one that they had crucified was risen. The evidence was so clear that many thousands became Christians. In order to disprove these claims all the authorities had to do was to produce the body, but they couldn't.

Changed Lives

Before Jesus' death the disciples were afraid and deserted Him. Afterwards they were discouraged and thought that all was lost. Then suddenly they gained great boldness and went out preaching. These same men turned the world upside down. They preached that the same Jesus that they had seen crucified was now alive. Clearly something had happened, and what could it be but the resurrection? Most of the 12 disciples ended up giving their lives for what they knew to be true. People do not give up their lives for a lie. They had either seen a risen Jesus or they hadn't, and the fact that they died for what they believe shows that Jesus must be alive.

He still changes lives today

The whole essence of Christianity is a living relationship with a living Man. Countless people have had their lives changed through a relationship with this Man. From personal experience many can say that He blesses and enriches the lives of those who trust and obey Him. I know many people who had empty fruitless lives who found real life through this risen man.

Expert's Opinion

Many great scholars have studied the evidence for the resurrection. Simon Greenleaf, an expert on legal issues at Harvard University made the following statement about the gospel writers:

It was therefore impossible that they could have persisted in affirming the truths they have narrated, had not Jesus actually risen from the dead, and had they not known this fact as certainly as they knew any other fact.

The journalist and skeptic Frank Morison set out to prove that the resurrection was a myth, but his findings only led him to believe conclusively that the Bible record is correct and he himself came into a living relationship with the very man whose resurrection he had been trying to disprove.

John Singleton Copley, a British legal expert once said:

I know pretty well what evidence is; and I tell you, such evidence as that for the resurrection has never broken down yet.

Read the Bible's account of the resurrection here.