Evidence 2

The second evidence for resurrection of Jesus is the empty tomb.  About 75% of the scholars who deal with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus believe that the tomb was indeed empty. Here are the two reasons why they believe that: 1) The Jerusalem Factor: The disciples did not run up north to Galilee or anywhere else to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord. They did it right where the Lord was crucified and killed, in Jerusalem. If the Lord Jesus’ body had been in the tomb, all that the Jewish authority had to do was produce the body and that would have put an end to Christianity. But, they did not because there was no body to produce. In fact, the Jewish leaders claimed that the disciples stole the Lord Jesus’ body. That also shows that there was no body to produce. Also Celsus, a second century Greek philosopher and a critic of Christianity in his critic of Jesus’ resurrection mentions nothing about a body being there to prove the Christians wrong. The tomb was indeed empty. 2)  The Testimony of Women: Secondly if the disciples made up the story they certainly would not have added data that would have damaged the credibility of their story such as the women as the primary witnesses.  If the gospels were made up then the person who made them up was not very smart. In our culture when a lawyer fights a legal battle he or she tries to find witnesses who would be found credible. If one can discredit a witness in a legal battle one can pretty much undermine one’s opponent’s case. Therefore, if the disciples of the Lord Jesus were trying to make a false case for resurrection, why would they use the testimony of women as a proof when women were not considered credible witness in that sexist culture? Jewish historian Josephus in Antiquities forbids letting the testimony of women being admitted (Ant. 4.8.15) and the Rosh Hashanna, the text of Jewish laws compared a woman’s testimony to that of a robber.[1] But, all the gospels despite the reputation of women in that culture mention that the women were the first witnesses to the empty tomb. The reason why the gospel writers use women as their prime witnesses is simply because that’s exactly what happened. Therefore, we can trust their account that the tomb was indeed empty.  

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[1] Habermas, Gary L. Licona, Michael R. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, pp. 70-72.