04 May 2025

As noted in part 1, the tomb of Jesus Christ was found empty on Sunday morning. On that fact, there is no disagreement. Everyone present agreed that the tomb was empty: the Romans who executed Jesus, the Jewish Sanhedrin who condemned him, the entire populace of Jerusalem and the disciples. The question is—why was the tomb empty? That is what we will seek to resolve with a cumulative-case argument. We are going to continue examining evidence surrounding the resurrection that even skeptics should be able to agree with. Let’s pickup looking at 19 facts.

Fact 11: Despite the predictions of Jesus, nobody was expecting a resurrection. The disciples did not understand that Jesus was speaking of a literal bodily return from the grave. After the crucifixion, the disciples were in hiding on Saturday from fear of the Jews, not awaiting a resurrection (John 20:9). The women went to the tomb Sunday morning expecting to finish preparing the body for burial. At first they did not believe that a resurrection had occurred but that someone must have taken the body. After the report of the resurrection by eyewitnesses, Thomas refused to believe unless he saw the risen Jesus for himself and touched him (John 20:24-28). So unexpected was the Resurrection that some disciples still doubted even after seeing the risen Jesus (Matt 28:17). All the authorities had to do to quash the movement was to produce the body of Jesus. No corpse was ever produced.

Fact 12: Something changed the disciples overnight from cowards, hiding in fear from the Jews, to fearless proclaimers of a risen Jesus in the very city where Jesus was executed and among the people that condemned and crucified him. Eleven of the apostles would ultimately die a martyr’s death, proclaiming the Resurrection to their dying day.

Fact 13: Something ignited a surge in the early church population in Jerusalem shortly after the crucifixion with around 3,000 joining in just one day (Acts 2:41). A short time later as Jesus was being proclaimed risen from the dead, an additional 5,000 believed and were added to the growing church (Acts 4:4). All this took place in the city where Jesus was executed among the populace that witnessed his death.

Fact 14: The New Testament records 15 post-resurrection appearances of Jesus to the disciples.

• Early Sunday morning (April 9) to Mary Magdalene near the tomb at Jerusalem (Mark 16:9, John 20:11-18)

• To the women returning from the tomb (Matthew 28:9-10)

• To Peter (Cephas) near Jerusalem later that day (Luke 24:34, 1Corinthians 15:5)

• To two disciples going to Emmaus that day (Mark 16:12, Luke 24:13-31)

• That Sunday evening at Jerusalem to the apostles except Thomas (Mark 16:14, John 20:19-25)

• The following Sunday evening at Jerusalem to all the apostles especially Thomas (John 20:26-29)

• End of April to seven disciples fishing on Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-13)

• To eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-18)

• To Over 500 disciples at once –location uncertain (1Corinthians 15:6)

• To James, the biological brother of Jesus –location uncertain (1Corinthians 15:7)

• To the apostles (and probably others) during forty days prior to his ascension (Acts 1:2-3)

• At the Mount of Olives near Bethany at his ascension (Luke 24:50-51, Acts 1:6-12)

• After his ascension, to Stephen the martyr (Acts 7:55-56)

• To Saul on road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6, 1Corinthians 15:8-9)

• To John on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9-19)

Fact 15: Proclamation of the Resurrection was central to the gospel in the early church with many suffering persecution and martyrdom for their message that Jesus was alive.

Specific mention of resurrection in the Book of Acts:  Acts 1:3, 21-22; 2:24, 29-32; 3:15, 26; 4:2; 4:10; 4:33; 5:30; 9:40-41; 10:39-40; 13:30-37; 14:19-20; 17:2-3; 17:18; 17:31-32; 20:9-10; 23:6; 24:14-15; 24:20-21; 25:19; 26:7-8; 26:22-23. In addition to these specific explicit occurrences, there are also a considerable number of implicit references (i.e., Acts 8:37 where Jesus “is” [instead of “was”] the Son of God; Acts 9:5-6, 9:27; 22:6-8; etc.)

Fact 16: Something happened to Saul of Tarsus, changing him overnight from a zealous Pharisee and chief enemy of the embryonic church, into Paul the Apostle who became chief advocate for a risen Jesus (Acts 9.) Paul would ultimately write 2/3 of the New Testament. He tells us what happened to him in 1 Cor 15:8.

Fact 17: The early church in Jerusalem was composed of all Jews. The Jewish nation had strictly observed Saturday as the Sabbath for more than a thousand years. Something happened to cause a shift in these their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday—the day of the week when they claimed Jesus rose from the dead.

Fact 18: There is extrabiblical witness from ancient secular historians that the early church was proclaiming that a dead man (Jesus) was alive. The resurrection could not have been manufactured by later generations. Writings include Thalus (c. 55), Josephus (c. 93), ), Mara Bar Serapion (c. 73) Tacitus (c. 116), Pliny the Younger (c. 110), Suetonius (c. 120), Satirist Lucian (125-180), Celsus (175 AD), Phlegon (c. 140), Lucian of Samosata (c. 166).

Fact 19: James, also known as James the Just, was a biological half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3.)  During the lifetime of Jesus, James did not believe in his brother (John 7:1-5). In fact, he thought that Jesus was out of his mind (Mark 3:20-21). Something happened to transform James, the brother of Jesus, virtually overnight so so that he ultimately became the leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 12:17; 15:13-21; 21:18; Gal 2:9-12). Forty days after the resurrection, James and his other brothers are found praying with the disciples (Acts 1:14). James is also believed to have been the author of the NT book of James (Gal 1:!9).

In view of these facts, how then do we account for the empty tomb? What theories have been put forth through the centuries to explain the empty tomb? Any explanation for the empty tomb must account for these facts. Which theory is most plausible? In part 4, we turn to the various theories postulated to explain the empty tomb.

Part 4 is here.