Happy Easter everyone! In honor of today, I will explain some of the theological significance of the resurrection of Jesus and several of the basic arguments that this event truly did occur in 1st century Israel.
According to Christian theology the resurrection finalized the demonstrations of Christ's supremacy over creation and his power over sin. To this event the truth of Christianity is inseparably attached. By living righteously Christ resisted sin; by dying he satisfied the penalty of death for sin; by resurrecting he silenced the universal byproduct of sin that death embodies. The latter, of course, is what Easter celebrates. This miraculous feat serves as an example of what will happen to all Christians. Eventually God will raise the bodies of believers just as he did to Christ. In this sense, the resurrection of Jesus exemplifies the fate of all Christians in the future.
But according to Paul, the author of much of the New Testament, the very veracity of Christianity stands on whether or not the resurrection actually occurred. As Paul admitted in 1 Corinthians 15, if Jesus did not resurrect then Christianity amounts to nothing more than a failed ideology whose followers have hopelessly deluded themselves (the falsity of the resurrection would not affect the validity of Judaism and the Old Testament). Thus knowing the significance of and evidence for the resurrection is something of no small necessity for a seeker of truth. An inspection of accepted historical facts from 1st century sources combined with a rational emphasis on normal human behaviors will reveal a great deal of historical support for the resurrection, with abbreviated summaries of some notable arguments for the resurrection including the following:
1). There was no material or other personal benefit for the 12 apostles to fabricate a story that would attract the wrath of almost all non-Christians at the time. Why would they invent a tale and then not concede its falsity when others slandered, tortured, and executed them? Of course later converts might die and submit to torture for something they earnestly believed based on subjective feelings or personal preference, but how likely is it that a group would intentionally contrive the entire resurrection story and not abandon the tale when persecution started?
2). No Jew or Roman--both of which constituted members of groups that initially despised Christianity--ever produced documentation that Jesus' corpse was in the tomb after his followers reported his resurrection. There is historical documentation of the existence and crucifixion of Christ, though (see Josephus, Tacitus, the Babylonian Talmud, etc), but not of his body being in the tomb after his disciples claimed otherwise.
3). It is extremely unlikely that a group of 12+ people would all have the same mass hallucinations of a resurrected Jesus. Apart from hallucinations, the most plausible possibility is that the early Christians lied about the return of Christ from the dead, yet I already mentioned some severely improbable ramifications of that position. That means that if they weren't lying and weren't hallucinating, then the most defensible and probable position is that they told the truth when they asserted that Christ had risen from the dead.
Ultimately, if it happened, the resurrection is a thing of incredible importance. If you are a Christian, why not familiarize yourself with what the Bible and historical apologetics say about it? If you are a non-Christian, why not acquaint yourself with the historical evidence and arguments for the resurrection of Christ and consider its historicity? If the historical evidence for the resurrection testifies to legitimate facts, then it is far more probable that Jesus resurrected than remained deceased and entombed. Either way, why not contemplate the ramifications of and evidence for the resurrection of one of the most controversial figures in history? If true, the resurrection story verifies the status of Jesus attested to by Christians and reminds us of what will happen to Christians at a future point. But it has great significance either way, for it has either deceived millions or it has secured the spiritual redemption of millions.
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