The Physical Evidence for Christ’s Resurrection
The resurrection of Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:14 the apostle Paul says:
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Although it is not founded on sight, the Christian faith is not a blind faith. It is not superstition. It is a reasonable faith, grounded in facts and sound arguments. In His mercy and providence God has left us the four Gospels. And if we take the trouble to fit together the facts they report to us, Jesus will once again “appear” to us as the risen and glorified Lord. This “vision” will come from the pages of the New Testament. And those who receive Him into their hearts will be truly blessed.
The irrefutable proof of Christ’s resurrection rests upon two main premises. The first is that the tomb in which the dead body of Jesus had been laid was found empty. Although it had been sealed on every side, the body of Jesus had vanished from it.
The second premise is that the grave-clothes in which the dead body of Jesus had been wrapped were also found empty — that is, they had remained undisturbed inside the tomb. The body had disappeared, but that in which it had been wrapped — its “wrapping” — was still in its place.
The first premise proves that Jesus had left the tomb; the second, that He did so without any outside intervention, for if someone had carried Him off, that person would have taken Him just as He was wrapped — together with His shroud.
The only explanation that can be given for these two paradoxical facts — the empty grave and the empty shroud — is that in some way the body of Jesus had taken on a new nature, a nature for which matter and space had ceased to be obstacles. In other words, Jesus rose with a changed, glorified, heavenly body.
The empty tomb and the empty grave-clothes are two silent and at the same time undeniable witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. Joined together, they form a proof that cannot be refuted.
The Tomb of Joseph
The tomb in which Jesus was laid after His crucifixion belonged to a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph. He was an influential man, a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest governing body of the Jewish nation. Joseph had not agreed with the decision of the majority to hand Jesus over to death (Luke 23:50-52).
Joseph’s tomb had been cut into a rock for the sake of greater security and protection against any future desecration or plundering of his mortal remains. It had no windows. It had only one opening, and that was its entrance. It had a locking mechanism that did not allow for unlocking, but only for a single locking. The door itself served as the lock. It was an enormous round stone — flat and rounded like a millstone. Weighing several tons, this round door was set in a sloping channel in such a way that, once its support was removed, it would be released, roll down the channel under the force of its own weight, and close the opening of the tomb forever. The closing mechanism was such that it locked without any particular effort — simply by pulling away the support of the round door. But it was impossible for a single man to return the enormous round stone door to its original position (Matthew 27:57-60).
57 As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. (Matthew 27:57-60)
The way the tomb was locked explains the worry of the women who went to anoint their Teacher on the first day of the new week. On the way they ask themselves the question (Mark 16:3):
and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (Mark 16:3)
Sealed and Guarded
Because of the explicit insistence of the chief priests and the Pharisees, the entrance of the tomb was not only locked with that enormous stone, but also sealed with a clay seal marked with the sign of the Roman governor, and guarded by a Roman watch (Matthew 27:62-66).
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63 “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 64 So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. (Matthew 27:62-66)
The Roman watch consisted of anywhere from four to sixteen exceptionally well-trained and disciplined professional soldiers. If even one of the soldiers fell asleep at his post, they were all put to death. A guard who allowed a prisoner to escape was subject to the very same penalty to which the prisoner entrusted to him had been sentenced. That is why the Roman guards were extremely careful and kept their eyes wide open.
What we understand from the Gospel account so far is that after His burial, the body of Jesus was so barred in, sealed, and guarded that no one, by any means whatsoever, could have gained access to it.
The Possible Thieves
Who might the possible thieves of the body of Jesus have been?
When she saw the stone rolled away, Mary at first thought that the opponents of Jesus had secretly carried off His body and taken it somewhere else. When she saw the stone rolled away, she ran to the house where Peter and John were and told them (John 20:2):
“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:2)
As we saw a moment ago, however, the enemies of Jesus were interested in His body staying right where it was. That is why they had taken care that the tomb be sealed and guarded securely. They were certainly not responsible for the disappearance of Jesus from the tomb. Otherwise, if they had stolen it, at the very first testimony of His resurrection they would have produced the dead body and put an end to Christianity.
The soldiers likewise had no interest in stealing the body of Jesus — that would have meant acting against themselves.
What shall we say about the disciples and friends of Jesus? They too had no intention of stealing the body. Chiefly for three reasons. First, they were downcast and afraid for their own lives, and they would hardly have wanted to get into trouble with the authorities. They had even locked the door of the room in which they were gathered on the day of the Resurrection, for fear of the Jews (John 20:19).
Second, the disciples had still not understood the words of Jesus — neither about His death nor about His resurrection (John 20:9).
9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) (John 20:9)
When they went to the tomb, the women close to Jesus were not coming to welcome their risen Savior; rather, they were carrying fragrant oils to anoint His dead body further (Mark 16:1).
Third, for the apostles the story with Jesus was over. They neither believed nor expected that Jesus would rise (Mark 16:9-14). At first the resurrection of their Teacher was an enormous surprise to them. The women’s words were to them “nonsense” (Luke 24:9-12). They were even more surprised by the resurrection than their enemies were. The leading Pharisees and priests at least allowed for the possibility that something unusual might happen — as is evident from the sealing of the tomb and the posting of the guard.
And so, once we exclude from the circle of possible thieves the enemies of Jesus, the guards, and His disciples, there remains no one who might have attempted to carry off the body.
The Rolled-Away Stone
If no human being was responsible for the disappearance of the body of Jesus, then who rolled the stone away from the entrance of the tomb? In his Gospel, chapter 28, verses 2-4, the evangelist Matthew gives us the answer — it was an angel of God.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. (Matthew 28:2-6)
The entrance of the tomb was opened by God’s supernatural intervention. But what is most astonishing in the whole story is that after the tomb was opened, no one came out from within! The angel did not roll the stone away so that Jesus could come out of the tomb, but so that people could go inside and see that He was not there. Jesus had left the tomb before it was opened! The rolling away of the stone did not take place during the resurrection itself, but after it had already happened.
The tomb had been left empty supernaturally — and that was a miracle!
The Empty Grave-Clothes
The body of Jesus had vanished not only from the tomb, but also from the grave-clothes. He was not there, but they were in their place.
What were the grave-clothes? According to the customs of that time, after a ritual washing, the body of the dead was wrapped and bound with strips of linen cloth soaked in a mixture of liquid and powdered aromatic substances. These burial garments formed something like a plaster casing, which could be removed only with great difficulty. After His death, the body of Jesus was wrapped in exactly such a shroud (John 19:38-40).
38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. (John 19:38-40)
When the chief priests and the elders heard from the guards about their failure to carry out their duty, about the angel and about the empty tomb, they bribed the guards to lie and say that the disciples had stolen the body while they were asleep (Matthew 28:11-15). But this hastily fabricated lie sounds utterly implausible, because the moving of the enormous rock that served as the door of the tomb would surely have woken them. And there remains the question: how did they know who had stolen the body, if they were asleep? Their lie, however, is completely exposed by the presence of the empty shroud.
What thief, if he went to steal a corpse, would first unwrap it from the grave-clothes, then arrange them in the very same way they had been while the body was wrapped in them, and after that take only the bare dead body? First, this would take far too much time; second, it would produce a horrible stench of decaying flesh; and third, it is practically impossible for a linen casing hardened by aromatic substances to be undone and then left in its previous position.
If we were to suppose (even though we have already ruled out this possibility) that someone had come and stolen the body of Jesus, then he would certainly have taken it just as it had been wrapped. But the grave-clothes were not only in their place. Having kept their shape and position on the stone slab, they looked as if the body of Jesus had been drawn out of them without their being unwrapped — something that, humanly speaking, is entirely impossible (John 20:3-5).
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. (John 20:3-5)
When he looks into the tomb and sees the grave-clothes in their place in the dim light, John perhaps thinks at first that the body of Jesus is still there and that the women simply did not see it. A little later, however, Peter comes running up, and together with him John goes in, right up to the very stone slab on which the body had been placed. What he sees astounds him (John 20:6-8).
6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (John 20:6-8)
The grave-clothes were in their place, and Jesus was not there. The only explanation that can be given for this fact is that the body of Jesus had, in some way unknown to humanity, acquired the ability and the power to pass through matter. Evidently, at the resurrection Jesus was transformed into His glorified, heavenly body and simply rose from the stone slab on which He had been laid. He passed through the grave-clothes, and they remained undisturbed and properly folded — like a discarded cocoon.
The Lord, in a manner like the change He had undergone on the mount of transfiguration, simply exchanged His burial garments for the garments of glory. There was no need for Him to be unwrapped, as Lazarus was when He raised him (John 11:44). There was no need for Him to roll the stone away from the entrance in order to come out of the tomb. He most likely simply passed through it, becoming invisible at that same moment to the soldiers who were guarding it. And the paradox is that it was precisely the soldiers, posted on watch by His enemies, who went on guarding the physical evidence of His resurrection — the empty tomb and the empty shroud.
Believe, You Too!
The empty tomb is proof that in some way Jesus left it. The neatly arranged grave-clothes remaining in it are proof that He was not carried out of there by any human being. The only logical explanation of these two facts (however implausible it may sound to our limited minds) is that God supernaturally raised Jesus from the dead. Then, with His glorified body, He passed through the grave-clothes and the round stone door and went out of the tomb.
When John saw the empty tomb and the empty shroud, he believed in the resurrection (John 20:8).
8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. (John 20:8)
Seeing the empty tomb and the grave-clothes in it, John believed. And you — will you believe? The answer to this question is exceedingly important. It is decisive, for according to the Bible unbelief brings condemnation, while faith in Christ’s resurrection brings salvation. It can bring you the forgiveness of your sins, justification, and one day the same resurrection as Christ’s.