Why Christ’s Resurrection Must Be True

Have you ever seen a bad movie? I’m sure we all have. One thing that makes a movie unbearable for me is when no one’s motives make sense. The bad guys need a reason to do what they’re doing the way they’re doing it. If they have a complicated scheme, it had better be clear why it needs to be so complicated. The good guys also need clear motives for how they act and go about defeating the bad guys. Action or drama without motives is boring and makes no sense.
If Jesus’ resurrection did not happen, nobody’s motives in early Christianity would make any sense.
For example, consider the Christians: why would they promote worshiping their leader who let them down and didn’t rise like He said? Why would they be willing to lose so much or even die in persecutions for someone they would have known was a fraud? Even if they wanted to start a new religion, why would they need to make Jesus’ resurrection such an important part of it if it didn’t really happen? Why wouldn’t they have just made up a religion without it?
The motives of the Christians’ opponents would also make no sense if Jesus wasn’t raised from the dead. A modern assertion of people who deny the physical resurrection is that Jesus would have been eaten by dogs from the cross because supposedly people who were crucified weren’t even taken down and buried. If that were true, why didn’t the opponents just say that Jesus’ resurrection was impossible because he was eaten by dogs? Why would anyone in Jerusalem have even given Christianity a second thought, let alone converted to that faith, since they would have known better? Wouldn’t it have been laughable, then, for Peter to assert that Jesus was the “Holy One” prophesied not “to see decay” (Acts 2:27)? If Jesus’ resurrection was false, Christianity’s opponents would have squashed the early church with loads of evidence. Yet, in reality, Christianity became a real threat to their beliefs because Jesus’ resurrection was true!
In spite of the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, we can never by our own power and reasoning prove that Jesus lives or cause people to believe in Him. Think about those people who deny that the United States’ space program ever landed on the moon. There is evidence in the form of eyewitnesses, the spaceships that were built, moon rocks, and even the recorded videos. I doubt that any additional moon rocks or videos would convince the skeptics. Likewise, there will never be enough evidence to prove the certainty of Jesus’ resurrection to the satisfaction of skeptical hearts, even our own sinful, doubting hearts.
The Holy Spirit is the only One who can truly convince people’s hearts. Paul makes that clear when he writes, “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). The Holy Spirit must come to us through God’s Word and Sacraments to create and strengthen faith in our hearts. When He hits us with the Law, showing us our sin, we see our desperate, helpless situation. When He comes to us as Comforter in the Gospel, we see our Savior, Jesus. Through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection for us, we find joy and confidence in our restored relationship with God and the heaven He promises us.
The evidence we have for Christ’s resurrection is a great comfort. After all, the Bible continually stresses how Jesus rose again “with many convincing proofs” (Acts 1:3). In that same Word, the Holy Spirit works on our hearts to believe in Christ’s resurrection and salvation. He gives us our lasting Easter confidence and joy!
Nicholas Proksch is pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Holland, Michigan.