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     Regarding the resurrection of Jesus, we have ascertained that He was dead and in a guarded tomb (so His body could not be stolen in an attempt to say the empty tomb proved His resurrection).  The certainty that Jesus rose is further substantiated by “women” who were the first to discover the empty tomb (Matthew 28:1, 5-6; Mark 16:1-7; Luke 24:1- 3; John 20:1-2).  Without knowing the first century Jewish culture, this does not seem significant.  Although the status of ancient Jewish women was higher than in the rest of the world, it was lower than by modern Western standards.  Women’s testimony was not acceptable in court.  Yet, it is the testimony of women that all four gospel writers record for all of mankind to read.
     Had the resurrection been a legend, the writers would have selected one of the leading disciples, such as Peter, James or John, not women, to discover the empty tomb.  The ancient readers would have scoffed at women being the witnesses.  The genuineness of the gospels’ account is attested to by the fact that women discovered the empty tomb.  If this was legend, the disciples, who would have been embarrassed by it, would have sought to change it so they or at least “men,” not women, had discovered the empty tomb.  However, the empty tomb does not necessarily mean that Jesus rose from the dead but is certainly corroborating evidence.
     That no one witnessed the “moment” Jesus rose does not prove that He not rise.  The scriptures inform that there were no less than 10 occasions when Jesus appeared to people after His resurrection (Matthew 28:8-10; 16-20; Luke 24:13-52; John 20:10-30, 21:1-14; Acts 1:4-9; 1 Corinthians 15:5-8).  On one occasion, there were over 500 eyewitnesses.  Paul wrote that the greater part of these eyewitnesses were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6).  That First Corinthians was written in less than 25 years after Jesus’ resurrection and that eyewitnesses were still living, would provide the opportunity to prove there was no resurrection if in fact it was a lie.  Matthew, Mark and Luke were also written within 20-30 years of Jesus resurrection, thus if they were not accurate, they would have been challenged to correct their mistakes.  Aside from the chief Jewish priests’ and elders’ (Matthew 28:11-15) immediate attempt to deny His resurrection, there was no attempt to refute it during the life of the eyewitnesses.  This fact rules out the accusation that Jesus’ resurrection is legend.  Legends usually develop not less than 100 years after an event, after all of the eye witnesses and those who heard their testimony have died — there would be no one alive to challenge the legend’s validity.
     The New Testament’s continuous existence from its beginning, and the fact that no ancient document has been found to disprove it, point to its truthfulness.  If Jesus had not risen from the dead, supposed eyewitnesses would have refuted claims that He had risen.  Although the eyewitnesses were important for all people to know the certainty of Jesus resurrection, there is one other important fact testifying to Jesus’ resurrection — the apostles themselves!

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