C.A.M. - Christian Apologetics Ministries; Minneapolis, St. Paul, MN
This article is about one of the central doctrines of the Christian Faith: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Though it is a doctrinal truth that is essential to orthodox Christianity, it is not merely a construct devised by theologians, but a fact of history. The apostle Paul emphasizes the importance of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. He begins the chapter by noting the resurrection’s central place in the Gospel of Salvation. He says, “Now, Brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved… For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
A little later Paul says, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). It is little wonder then, that this central doctrine of the faith has been attacked so vigorously by the forces of evil.
The first part of this article is an answer to critics of the Gospel accounts of the resurrection story. Skeptics frequently level attacks at the veracity of the resurrection by alleging contradictions in the Scriptures themselves. To be sure, real contradictions would be problematic. However, the Scriptures have stood the test of two thousand years of criticism, and have proven themselves to be what they claim to be; the very word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).
Therefore, I humbly offer the following harmony of the resurrection story as one possible approach. After reviewing much of the work of critics, and I believe that this chronology answers most of the common criticisms one is likely to encounter.
Order of Resurrection events
1. Women leave homes early (before sunrise). (John 20:1)
2. Resurrection occurs as dawn is breaking. (Mark 16:9)
3. Earthquake occurs. (Matthew 28:2)
4. Guards at tomb flee. (Matthew 28:4, 11)
5. Women on way to tomb wonder who will move stone (unaware that guards had been placed at tomb the day before). (Mark 16:3)
6. Women arrive at the tomb, finding stone rolled away and an empty tomb (Luke 24:2-3).
7. Mary Magdalene leaves other women at the tomb (at the moment when they are all perplexed by the absents of Jesus body, but before the angelic appearance (Luke 24:3), and goes to tell the disciples (Peter and John) about the absents of Jesus body from the grave (she has not been told of his resurrection). (John 20:1-2)
8. While Mary Magdalene heads back to tell the disciples about the empty tomb, the angels (only Luke mentions the second angel) appear to the other women (Mary the mother of James and Joses, Joanna, and Salome), and announces the resurrection of Jesus. (Matthew 28:5-6, Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4-8)
9. Following this angelic appearance, these women also head back into town (Matthew 28 has a gap that does not include this detail, and this visit should not be confused with a later similar visit of the same women in which Jesus appears to them) to tell the disciples about the angelic announcement of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (again Mary Magdalene was not aware of this having departed from the tomb before the other women). (Mark 16:9, Luke 24:9)
10. Mary Magdalene finds Peter and John and tells them Jesus’ body is not in the tomb. (John 20:2)
11. Mary Magdalene leaves to return to the tomb. (inferred from John 20:10-11)
12. Very shortly after Mary Magdalene leaves for the tomb, the other women arrive and tell the disciples of the angelic announcement of Jesus resurrection (Mary Magdalene, having just departed before the arrival of other women, does not hear about the angelic announcement of Jesus’ Resurrection). Mary Magdalene leaves before the other women)
13. Peter and John, having been told by Mary Magdalene first, quickly depart for the tomb. (John 20:3) Luke’s account (Luke 24:12) only mentions Peter by name, not mentioning that John was with him. However, Luke gives the account of the two on the road to Emmaus who remembering the events of the day say, “Then some of our companions (plural) went to the tomb” (Luke 24:24) no doubt reflecting Luke’s knowledge that John was with Peter investigating the empty tomb.
14. After looking into the tomb, Peter and John leave the tomb and go to their homes. (John 20:10)
15. Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb (her second visit of the morning), and Jesus appears to her (this is Jesus first appearance). (John 20:14-17) Following Jesus’ appearance to her, Mary Magdalene returns to tell the disciples of Jesus’ appearance. (John 20:18)
16. Not long after, the other women (Mary the mother of James and Joses, Joanna, and Salome), return to the tomb (their second visit of the morning as well). Jesus appears to them as well (this is his second appearance of the morning). (Matthew 28:9-10) (Mary Magdalene MAY have been with the women by this time. If she was, it is the second time she sees Jesus that morning).
17. The Lord appears to Peter. (Luke 24:34)
18. Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-32)
19. Appearance of Jesus to the 10 disciples (Thomas absent). (Luke 24:36-43, John 20:19-25)
20. Appearance of Jesus to the disciples (including Thomas) a week later. (John 20:26-31)
21. Appearance of Jesus to seven disciples in Galilee. (John 21:1-25)
22. Jesus appears and gives the great commission the eleven disciples. (Matthew 28:16-20)
23. Appearance of Jesus to “more than five hundred of the brothers.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
24. Appearance of Jesus to James. (1 Corinthians 15:7)
25. Jesus appears to the disciples to repeat the great commission and ascension. (Acts 1:4-9)
Notes on resurrection chronology.
Matthew’s account has significant gaps. The first is between 28:4 and 5 (leaving out Mary Magdalene’s departure ahead of the other women). The second gap is between 28:8 and 28:9 (leaving out women’s visit into Jerusalem to report to the disciples). Further, Luke’s account shows that there must be a gap in Matthew’s account between 28:8 and 28:9.
This is because (as Luke records in 24:22-24), the women only report the angelic announcement of Jesus’ resurrection to the disciples, but not Jesus’ actual appearance to them. It would make no sense for the women to report only the angelic announcement of the resurrection, but not Jesus actual appearances, unless there is in fact a gap in Matthews account, and that Jesus’ appearance to the women was later in the morning.
Mark 16:9 is part of the disputed ending of Mark’s gospel. Nonetheless, it (Mark account) is probably correct in reporting that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene.
Mark has a gap between 16:4-5, leaving out the first look into the tomb and Mary Magdalene’s departure.
Luke 24:22-24 is important in that it shows that the women’s first report only involved an angelic announcement of Jesus’ resurrection, and not Jesus appearance which followed later, after the women’s second visit to the tomb, of which the two on the road to Emmaus had not yet heard. So there were two visits by the women to the tomb. Matthew places this gap between first and second visit to tomb.
Mark 16:10-11 is questionable, but if true, fits after her (Mary Magdalene) second visit (not implausible that the disciples still doubted women until Jesus appeared to them personally).
Mark 16:9 affirms that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, which supports the idea that Mary Magdalene had separated from the other women, otherwise they would have been together for the first appearance.
Some see a discrepancy as to the time of the women’s visit to the tomb and try to pit John 20:1 “Early in the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. . .” against Mark 16:2 “Very early on the first day of the week,just after sunrise, they [the women] were on their way to the tomb.” There is absolutely no contradiction. When the women were getting ready and leaving their homes it was the dark just before dawn. By the time they all meet and head to the tomb, dawn is breaking and the sun is rising.
Some allege a discrepancy as to who went to the tomb. They pit John 20:1 “. . . Mary Magdalene went to the tomb” against Matthew 28:1 “. . . Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb.” and Mark 16:1 “. . . Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices. . . ” and Luke 24:10 “It was Mary Magdalene , Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them.” The solution is utterly obvious. All the accounts are true and complimentary. All the women were there, but each writer didn’t feel the need to mention each of the women in their accounts.
Some allege a discrepancy as to how many angels were at the resurrection scene (the tomb). Matthew 28:2-5 (see also Mark16:5) records the announcement of Jesus resurrection by an angel, whereas, Luke 24:4 records “two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning.” Again, the solution is obvious. As has often been pointed out, anywhere you have two angels, you have one. Each writer does not feel the need to mention each of the angels in their account.
Some allege a discrepancy between Mark’s account of an angel (young man) “dressed in a white robe sittingon the right side” and Luke’s account of “two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.” Critics claim a contradiction in that Mark has at least one of the “angels”sitting whereas Luke has them both standing. It is not at all difficult to imagine that the angel was sitting until he stands to make the announcement of the resurrection of Christ.
Some allege a discrepancy between Mark 16:8 which reports that after the angelic announcement the women “said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid” and Luke’s reports that following the angelic announcement of Christ’s resurrection, the women “told all these things to the eleven and to all the others” (Luke 24:9). This is only an apparent contradiction. Both statements are true, the women said nothing to anyone on the way back into town; they didn’t stop and tell anyone; they went directly to the disciples and told them. This agrees perfectly with Matthew’s account in that the angel commanded the women to “go quickly and tell his disciples: He has risen” (Matthew 28:7).
Some allege that Luke 24:9-10 contradicts the given chronology because it suggests that Mary Magdalene was with the other women when they reported the angelic announcement of Christ’s resurrection “to the eleven,” whereas the present chronology has Mary Magdalene arriving before, and separate from the other women, and also leaving before the other women arrive to share the angelic announcement with the “eleven and to all the others.” However, Luke seems to be summarizing the events at this point. It is true that all the women (including Mary Magdalene) did report what they knew, to the eleven and others, though not necessarily at the same time. Otherwise, Mary Magdalene’s behavior at the tomb a little later is incoherent in that she seems to have no idea of the resurrection (John 20:11-18).
Also, Mary Magdalene was probably passed (not necessarily on the same path) by Peter and John as they ran to the tomb, and by the time she arrives, Peter and John appear to have already left.
Some allege a contradiction in the gospel accounts that record Jesus’ (or the angels) promise that they (the disciples) were to go to Galilee and He (Jesus) would appear to them there (Matthew 28:7, 10, Mark 16:7), whereas in fact he appeared to them first in Judea, and only later in Galilee. It should be noted that Jesus did not say that he would appear to them first in Galilee, or only in Galilee. Jesus did exactly as he promised in that he did appear to them in Galilee and there is no conflict or contradiction. Also, it should be pointed out that the disciples stayed in Jerusalem through the end of the Passover celebration which accounts for the delay in their departure for Galilee at least a week following resurrection Sunday (John 20:26).
Some allege a contradiction between the apostle Paul’s account of the order of Christ’s post-resurrection appearances with that found in the Gospels. Critics will say that Paul was wrong in saying that Christ first appeared to the Peter, whereas the gospel say he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. It is true that Mark 16: 9 affirms that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, but it is absolutely false that Paul taught that Jesus appeared first to Peter. Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 is chronologically accurate but not exhaustive. In other words, the order is right, but not complete. Paul simply leaves out Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene (as he also leaves Jesus’ appearance to the other women (Matthew 28:9) and to the two on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32). Paul merely selected those appearances he wanted to emphasize.
Theories Opposed to the Bodily Resurrection of Christ
In this section, I will briefly review some of the common attacks on the resurrection of Christ and my responses to them.
1. He was not really crucified, but someone was crucified in his place.
This is a favorite theory of Muslims (see Surah 4:156-158). Islam has multiple and varying accounts of what or who was really crucified, but they all agree that it wasn’t Jesus that was crucified. Muslim theories generally have it that someone who was made to look like Jesus (perhaps Judas Iscariot) was crucified, while Jesus was taken up into heaven.
These theories are totally contradicted by the Scriptures, which Muslims claim to believe. Both the Old Testament (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53), and the New Testament (Matthew 27-28) declare the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
2. He wasn’t really dead, but swooned. He recovered in the tomb.
The so-called “Swoon-theory” was popularized by a seventeenth century critic named Venturini who suggested that Christ didn’t really die on the cross, but was placed in the tomb while still alive, and the coolness of the tomb revived him.
Amazing! He was repeatedly beaten, crucified (meaning he suffered a terrific loss of blood, bones out of joint, etc.) fooled the Roman executioners, and after all that, had the strength to move a large stone from within, and overcome a group of Roman guards. To believe this takes no more faith than to believe in the resurrection in the first place!
3. Schonfield’s Passover Plot (1965)
This is one of the favorites among critics of the last generation. Before Jesus died, he cut a deal with Joseph of Arimathea. After his death, Joseph was to take Jesus body and bury it in an unmarked grave to give his disciples belief in his resurrection. Schonfield believes that Christ purposely set out to fulfill messianic prophecies, and finally that the apostles were not in on the plot and hence really believed the story, even to the point of mistaking others to be the risen Christ.
This goes against everything we know about the kind of character Jesus possessed. If this theory were true, Jesus Christ would be the biggest liar and impostor in the history of the world. May it never be! Another problem with the theory is the impossibility of a mere man (in Schonfield’s view) to control events to ensure fulfilling in detail all the messianic prophecies (like where he was born!) Further, how would Joseph been able to steal the body that was under a Roman guard and sealed with an imperial seal?
4. The disciples stole Jesus’ body.
This theory alleges that the disciples stole Jesus’ body in order to fool people into thinking Jesus had risen from the dead. The motive is said to be that the disciples would have power in the new religion they would lead.
Again, this theory just flies in the face of the facts and common sense. The biggest problem with it is to believe that ALL of the disciples kept quiet about this secret their whole life, even to the point of dying as martyrs. The theory doesn’t explain how a cowardly band of defeated followers of Christ suddenly became fearless proclaimers of Christ that changed the world in one generation. Only the resurrection of Christ can explain that powerful change!
This theory also suffers with the problem of how the disciples were able to steal the body of Christ under a Roman guard. Some point out that the guard wasn’t actually placed at the tomb until the day after his crucifixion (Matthew 27:62-66), and suppose that Jesus body could have been stolen before the guard was placed. Again, a little thought exposes this lie for what it is. Surely the guard would make sure his body was in the tomb before sealing it, as that is the reason they are there. Further, there was great punishment for Roman soldiers who failed to do their duty (notice their fear after the resurrection, Matthew 28:14).
5. The believers went to the wrong tomb.
This is a good one. The women and the disciples all just went to the wrong tomb. It is obvious that all the enemies of the resurrection would have to do is go to the right tomb and show Jesus body. Doing so would have been the death of Christianity in its infancy. Are we expected to believe that Joseph of Arimathea couldn’t locate his own tomb! Further, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, were at the tomb when Jesus was entombed (Matthew 27:61), so it is ridiculous to suggest that they went to the wrong tomb.
6. Kirsopp Lake’s theory (a variation of the wrong tomb theory)
Norman Geisler describes this theory: “A famous liberal theologian, Kirsopp Lake, presented the theory that the women had gone to the wrong tomb. He suggested that the women went to the tomb early Sunday morning and asked the gardener where Jesus was laid. The gardener then responded ‘He is not here,’ and the women rushed off to preach the Resurrection before the gardener could turn to point and say, ‘He is over there’” (Norman Geisler and Ronald Brooks,When Skeptics Ask, Victor Books, 1990, p. 126).
The comments from the last point apply here as well.
7. Jesus rises in our hearts when we believe in him and live out his principles. A variation on this is the statement that it doesn’t matter if he actually rose from the dead. The Easter story is a symbol of life.
This view is quite deceptive because though it sounds good, it is not the meaning of the resurrection. If this is all one believes regarding the resurrection, he is lost forever. Note the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:13-17:
13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
8. The Hallucination Theory
It would truly be a miracle if so many could have the same hallucination. Paul said, “After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living. . .” (1 Corinthians 15:6). So, all those eyewitnesses could verify the reality of the resurrection. Also, it wasn’t like Jesus hovered over a crowd like alleged UFO’s. The disciples, including doubting Thomas, touched Jesus resurrected body and even placed their fingers in the nail prints of his hands (John 20:20, 27). Jesus ate with the disciples as well (Luke 24:40-43). He even said to his disciples, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see: a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).
9. He rose in a non-material spiritual body.
This is a favorite of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other false teachers. Due to its popularity, we will give it a more thorough treatment. The basic thesis of this view is that Jesus’ body did not rise from the grave, but rather, he rose spiritually.
The favorite verse for such advocates is 1 Corinthians 15:50 “I declare to you brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” They suppose that this proves that Jesus resurrection body must be only spiritual. The phrase “flesh and blood” is an idiom that stands for natural unregenerate man in contrast to the supernatural working of God. In other words, Paul was arguing that outside of the supernatural power of God, unregenerate natural (flesh and blood) man cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In order to inherit the kingdom, then, natural man must be changed by the supernatural power of God. “The perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53).
Paul further said, “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;it is sown a natural body,it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42b-44). Notice the repeated emphasis on the continuity between the body perished with the resurrection body, especially visible in the usage of the word “it.” In other words, the resurrection body is the same body that was laid in the grave. This then is not at all a denial of the physicality of Christ’s resurrection body, but an affirmation of it, as is Paul’s whole point in 1 Corinthians 15.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses (and like-minded heretics) also point to 1 Peter 3:18 where Peter says “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (RSV). They point to the phrase “in the spirit” and claim this as proof that Jesus died physically, but was raised only as a spirit. The confusion is easily cleared up by the New International Version’s rendering “He was put to death in the body but made aliveby the Spirit” or the King James Version’s “but quickened by the Spirit.” Peter’s point is not to deny the physical resurrection of Jesus body, but rather that it was the by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was raised from the dead. The context supports this understanding. Peter points out in the next verse (1 Peter 3:19) that it was by the power of the same Holy Spirit that Christ “preached to the spirits in prison.”
Jehovah’s Witnesses also argue that Jesus resurrection appearances were only temporary materializations of a body (since in their view the body of Jesus that was placed in the tomb did not rise). In support of this, they will point out that after the resurrection, Jesus could apparently move through solid walls (John 20:19-20, 26), or through his grave clothes (John 20:6-7). Therefore, they conclude, his resurrected body must have been spiritual and not physical (except for brief periods of materialization).
However, the text never says that Jesus walked through solid walls or doors, nor does it say he passed through his grave clothes. We can only speculate as to how Jesus was able to enter the locked room or leave his grave clothes. To be sure, these events were miraculous, but no more miraculous than when Jesus walked on water (Matthew 14:25). The fact that Jesus walked on water does not imply that his body was not real or physical, and neither does the miracle of leaving his grave clothes or emerging in a closed room imply that he was anything less than physical.
Another example is found in Acts 8:39-40. “When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared as Azotus and traveled about.” Would anyone argue that Philip was not truly physical, merely because he was moved in a supernatural way from one location to another? Would anyone argue that the bread Jesus multiplied was only illusory or immaterial, because of the miraculous way Jesus multiplied it (John 6:1-14)?
It may be that rather than moving through walls, Jesus was actually moving through “dimensions.” We should not let our limited understanding about the nature of reality force us into unwarranted and unbiblical conclusions about the nature of Christ’s resurrected body.
False teachers also point to Mark’s statement that Jesus appeared in different forms after the resurrection (Mark 16:12). It is important to keep in mind that this passage is in the much disputed ending of Mark’s gospel as the note in the New International Version indicates “The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20.” Therefore, we should exercise caution when appealing to this passage for support of a doctrine, especially when no other support is available for an idea, as would be the case with the Jehovah’s Witness understanding of the verse. None the less, we do know that Jesus appeared in a different form in the sense that his resurrected body was a glorified body.
Not to give up easy, the Jehovah’s Witnesses point to the fact that two of Jesus’ disciples didn’t even recognize him after the resurrection as he walked with them on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32). Jehovah’s Witnesses suggest that the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus because when he materialized temporary bodies, they did not look like Jesus had looked before the cross. But the text itself tells the real reason why his disciples did not recognize Jesus. It wasn’t because Jesus resurrected body had a different appearance than he had always had as they knew him, but rather, Luke tells us that the disciples “were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16), and later “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Luke 24:31). In other words, even after the resurrection, Jesus looked like Jesus! So much so, that his disciples had to be kept from recognizing him.
Again, the Jehovah’s Witnesses point to John’s account of Jesus appearance to Mary Magdalene (John 20:10-18). They point out that Jesus’ resurrection appearances must have been in temporary bodies that Jesus would temporarily materialize for the occasion, because instead of recognizing Jesus, Mary thinks he looks like a gardener (John 20:15). In response, one merely has to point out the reasons for Mary’s mistake.
To begin with, she thinks Jesus is dead and doesn’t expect to see him. Also, it is early in the morning, not the full light of day. Further, Mary has been crying (John 20:10). Most importantly, the text specifically says that Mary “turned toward Him” (John 20:16) when he said her name, indicating that she had not looked closely at him till then.
Also, it is noted by such false teachers that Jesus told Mary Magdalene, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father” (John 20:17). It is then falsely supposed that Jesus didn’t want Mary to touch him, because his body was not real, but only spiritual. The obvious problem with this view is that on the very same day (and a week later), Jesus was touched by other disciples (Matthew 28:9 and John 20:27). The context in John makes it clear that Jesus point to Mary Magdalene was not to prohibit her from touching him (as though he had no real physical body), but rather she would have to let Jesus go. Rather than to stay and cling to Jesus, she would have to “Go instead to my brothers, and tell them. . . That is to say that Mary had to stop clinging to Jesus and let him go in preparation for the time when he would leave for good and in his place send the indwelling Holy Spirit.
In addition to the above, to deny that Jesus actually rose bodily from the grave is to make Jesus a liar. For one, it would mean that the nail prints in his hands weren’t really made at Calvary, but were whipped up to fool people into thinking that the resurrected body was the same one that hung on the cross, when in fact it wasn’t.
Second, it would mean Jesus was a liar, because he himself said he would rise bodily from the dead. “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’ . . . But the temple he had spoken of was his body” (John 2:19, 21).
Occasionally, Jehovah’s Witnesses will throw out the red herring argument that the idea of a general resurrection of all believer’s bodies is non-sense because of the fact that at death our bodies are broken down and scattered; the elements of which are evermore present in the circle of life.
I note the opinion of the great early church theologian Saint Augustine:
«At the resurrection the substance of our bodies, however disintegrated, will be reunited. We maintain no fear that the omnipotence of God cannot recall all the particles that have been consumed by fire or by beasts, or dissolved into dust and ashes, or decomposed into water, or evaporated into air»(Saint Augustine, The City of God, 22:2, as quoted in The Great Quotations, Compiled by George Seldes, Castle Books, New Jersey, 1966, p. 70).
If God was able to create Adam from the dust of the earth in the first place (Genesis 2:7), we have no problem believing he can do it again. Further, if Christ’s resurrection was physical, so should all Christians be as well (1 Corinthians 15:20,49; 1 John 3:2).
Many scoff at the idea of the resurrection. I call this skepticism, «the arrogance of existence.»Let me explain. Our starting point is that we each exist. That is the basic truth brilliantly captured by the famous statement by the French philosopher Rene’ Descartes, «I think, therefore, I am.»Now, if we can accept the fact that we exist, or more importantly, that we can come to exist (unless one wants to argue that we are eternal), why is it so hard to believe that we can exist again, in other dimensions (like heaven) or at other times (like after our deaths). Is it any more a miracle to exist again, than it is to have come into existence in the first place?
This was stated brilliantly by another Frenchman, Blaise Pascal: «What reason have atheists for saying that we cannot rise again? Which is the more difficult, to be born, or to rise again? That what has never been, should be, or that what has been, should be again? Is it more difficult to come into being than to return to it?»(Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 24, as quoted in The encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Frank S. Mead, Ed., Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965, p. 380).
He is not here, He is risen.
He is risen indeed!