#1 The Resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that the Bible is trustworthy.


An event like someone coming back from the dead can’t just be made up without instantly being discredited. If there’s no evidence, no one would ever believe that such an amazing thing could happen!

So is there any evidence that this actually happened? Actually – there’s quite a bit of evidence. Here are 3 compelling pieces of evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ…

Evidence of the Resurrection #1) Thousands of eye-witnesses.
Thousands upon thousands of people, living in Jesus’ time and area believed He rose from the dead… were they all delusional fools? Were they all liars? Or is it more reasonable to believe that there must have been some very good evidence to convince that many people of such an incredible idea?
<1 Corinthians 15:4-8>

In making the case, the Bible cites specific names of people (who are still living as the Bible is being written) who saw Jesus alive after his crucifixion, and lists the places where he appeared. This kind of evidence is very easily discredited if not true.


Of course, the primary eyewitness testimony comes from Christ’s disciples. Is it possible they were all liars? No! In fact, all the evidence points to the fact that Disciples of Christ were very trustworthy sources.

Evidence of the Resurrection #2) The Disciples are VERY credible historians.
A) The Disciples appealed to people that would have loved to disagree with them… and showed that their claims were widely known and recognized as true.


People like the Jews in the nation of Israel who were trying to get them to be quiet!
Acts 2:22
"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

And even the Roman rules that had put Christ to Death!
Acts 26:24-28
Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!" But he said, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner.


B) The Disciples included details a liar would have left out! Details like:

The competition of Apostles for high place in the kingdom (Matthew 20)
Their fleeing in terror after Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14)
Peter’s Denial of Jesus (Matthew 26 & Mark 26 & Luke 22)
Christ’s asking not to go through with the cross in Gethsemane (Luke 22)
Christ’s despairing cries on the Cross (Matthew 27 & Mark 15)


C) Of the Apostles (the 12 and those who wrote the scriptures) All but one died for what they said!!

This is Not the mark of liars! Why would anyone lie, if it’s almost certainly going to gain you nothing but a gruesome and horrible death?
Peter – Crucified
Andrew – Crucified
James, son of Zebedee – Beheaded (Acts 12:1-2)
John Son of Zebedde (the Beloved) – Banished to Patmos (only natural death in the group)
Philip – Crucified in Hierapolis, Turkey
Bartholomew – Crucified in Armenia
Thomas (doubting) – Shot with Arrows in India
Matthew – Killed with the Sword in Ethiopia
James, son of Alphaeus – Crucified in Egypt
Jude aka Thaddaeus – Killed by an Axe in Armenia
Simon the Canaanite – Crucified in Persia
Matthias (replaced Judas Iscariot) – Crucified

Luke, the physician – (only Gentile author!) unclear. In Prison with Paul.
Barnabas – Stoned
Paul – Beheaded in Rome
James, the brother of Jesus (author of James) – Stoned by the Jews

Clearly, the Disciples and Apostles of Christ not only passionately believed in what they were saying – they were willing to suffer unbelievable persecution and then death in the most awful ways that evil men have ever invented. It’s clear from their writing that these men weren’t suicidal lunatics. Much of their writing is recognized even by non-believers as some of the most beautiful prose in all of literature. What motivated these highly gifted and often highly educated and sometimes wealthy men to give it all up and die? The only honest and only logical answer is that they had their lives changed by the Risen Jesus Christ.


D) Scriptural account supported by outside writings and archeology at every point.

Many other historical authors also mention the life and activities of Jesus – they are much less detailed, but do confirm the historical nature of Jesus Christ. He’s mentioned by authors such as Josephus, Suetonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, The Talmud, and Lucian.

Archeology also confirms the Biblical account in sometimes amazing ways! Not only is the Biblical account constantly proved to be stunningly accurate by new discoveries, but in places where the skeptics charge an error – the Bible has always been shown to be correct. For example, for many years skeptics said the Biblically mentioned town of Capernaum didn’t really exist. Then, in 1838 it was discovered by American Explorer Edward Robinson! Not only was the town’s ruins discovered, but also the temple that the Roman Centurion in Luke 7 built for the Jews AND Peter’s house where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law in Matthew 8 were all identified and excavated!

Evidence of the Resurrection #3) There was no BODY!
What happened to the body of Jesus Christ? After the crucifixion of Christ, the Jewish and Roman leaders that had put Jesus to death had every reason to keep a close eye on His body.

Matthew 27:62-66
"62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. 65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch."
(IF this wasn’t true – it would have been widely known)

Clearly the enemies of Jesus were expecting some kind of trouble with Jesus, even after his death… so they took some very concrete steps to make sure that no resurrection story would have any chance of being believed. They had the tomb of Christ sealed with a great stone and guarded by the most fearsome soldiers the world had ever seen – Roman Centurions.

Both the Roman and Jewish leaders knew they could squash any rumors of the troublesome followers of Christ by just parading the body of Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem if the disciples started making any claims about the resurrection.

But that NEVER happened! Why not? What happened to the body?

Of course, the most common objection is that the body was stolen! Who could have done such a thing? The Romans had no motive and (in fact) spent a lot of time, gold, and effort trying to stamp out Christianity. The Jewish leaders were in the exact same boat – they certainly had no motive. But what about the Disciples? Most commonly, people will accuse the Disciples of stealing the body in the night… but there's some major problems with this theory.

After Jesus was crucified, the Disciples were thoroughly demoralized. They were in hiding, and fearful of every knock at the door! After all, the leader they had followed all this time had just been executed by the Civil and Religious authorities of the day. Even if the Disciples had somehow managed to get organized enough to form such a daring plan, the tomb was still blocked by a Stone that was exceedingly difficult to move. More than this, the tomb was sealed with cord and Roman seal – the punishment for breaking a Roman seal was upside down Crucifixion! Still, even if the Disciples had figured out a way to move the stone and worked up the courage to risk their lives after earlier fleeing – They still had to contend with the well trained and highly motivated Roman Guards that had been set to Guard the tomb. The notion the Disciples were able to sneak past these guards while they slept and move an enormous stone without being caught is clearly ridiculous. Not to mention, history records that any Roman guard that fell asleep on duty received the death penalty… that's pretty good motivation for staying awake!

So there's no one with the motive and opportunity to steal the Body… what happened to it? Three days later when people started publicly proclaiming the resurrection, why didn't anyone produce the body of Jesus and kill Christianity right at the start?

The only logical conclusion is that the body was gone. There's no natural
explanation for how that could have happened.

And this is one of the things that makes Christianity so unique!
Without trying to be morbid – consider this…
Buddha died and stayed dead.
Mohammad died and stayed dead.
Every Hindu Swami that has died, stayed dead.
Moses and Abraham died and stayed dead.
Joseph Smith died and stayed dead.
Einstein died and stayed dead.
Charles Darwin died and stayed dead.
The list goes on and on…

So what does this tell us about the credibility of the Bible?
When taken together, the thousands of eye-witnesses, the great credibility and accuracy of the Disciples, and the incredible inability of anyone to produce the body of Jesus – there really is a tremendous amount of evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, of course, it’s still a matter of faith. But the evidence is on the side of those that believe!

Only Jesus Christ ever came back from the dead – and thus demands that we take what he said very seriously.

What did Jesus say about the Bible?
Jesus told us clearly and repeatedly that we could trust the Bible. Speaking of God's Word, Jesus said, "Thy Word is Truth" (John 17:17) and He also said that, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35), and to the Disciples, "the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

If we're going to take seriously the only person to have ever conquered death, then we need to take seriously the Bible also.

But that's just ONE (very big) reason we should trust the Bible…
Keep reading for some other reasons:
#1 - The Resurrection of Jesus Christ proves that the Bible is trustworthy
#2 – Fulfilled Prophecy proves that the Bible is trustworthy
#3 – The Bible's factualness & candor prove that it is trustworthy
#4 – The Bible's survivability proves that it is trustworthy
#5 – Jesus Christ believed in the Bible, and told us it is trustworthy