The high point of the entire New Testament is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain ... and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14-17). It is the greatest of Christ's miracles and his personal guarantee to the world that he is God. Why? Because only God has power over life and death.

Over the centuries, the resurrection of Jesus has been disputed. Some have said that Jesus’ disciples stole the body of Jesus and then lied about the resurrection. Others have claimed that Jesus’ disciples were delusional. Some suggest that Jesus never really died on the cross at all. Thinking through the historical account reveals the unlikelihood of each of these scenarios and points to the conclusion that, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead.

Jewish leaders were the first to sow seeds of doubt about the resurrection. They claimed that the disciples stole the body out of the tomb and then lied about seeing Jesus alive (Matthew 28:12-15). This cannot be simply because Jesus’ disciples did not understand that he was to be resurrected. Scripture records that, after Jesus’ death on the cross, his disciples scattered, fearing for their lives. They were mourning the loss of their friend and Lord, the one they hoped would finally liberate them from their subjugation to Rome. The disciples were in no state of mind to plot the greatest deception of all time, much less take on the Roman empire.

Besides the fact that lying goes against what Jesus taught, the disciples had no motive. If they were lying, look what they got for their lie. They were persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, exiled and eventually killed. Under torture, people sometimes even confess things they don' do, not to mention things they are actually guilty of. The apostles, on the other hand, preached all around the world that they had seen Jesus alive, spoken with him, touched him and even eaten a meal with him. It makes no sense that they would have gone to such an extreme in order to gain nothing.

Another theory is that the disciples, being so distraught at Jesus’ death, invented his resurrection in their minds. In other words: They were hallucinating. This idea might be plausible had Jesus been seen by only one person. But, on the contrary, more than 500 people saw the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15:5-7 and Acts 1:3-11).

The greatest evidence of the Resurrection in Scripture is to be seen in the transformed lives of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus sent them the Holy Spirit. Only 40 days after his death, Jesus’ ragtag band of defeated followers became an indomitable group of leaders with a single-minded focus: making disciples of all nations.

Peter, who had denied Christ out of fear, boldly proclaimed him before a large crowd at Pentecost as well as the Sanhedrin. He eventually went on to establish the Church in Rome. James founded the Church in Jerusalem while Philip preached all over Samaria. Paul began intensely persecuting Christians and then saw a vision of the resurrected Christ. He immediately became a believer and founded churches throughout all of Asia and Macedonia. All but two of the 12 apostles (Judas and St. John) accepted martyrdom for their faith rather than deny what they had seen with their own eyes.

To this day, the resurrection of Jesus Christ still continues to transform people's lives. People who place their faith in Jesus embrace a love and joy like they have never known, and a peace that goes beyond all understanding. May the power of the Risen Lord be yours as well, “that believing you, too, might have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Christina Mills writes from

Eugene, Oregon.