So many security precautions were taken with the trial, crucifixion, burial, entombment, sealing, and guarding of Christ's tomb that it becomes very difficult for critics to defend their position that Christ did not rise from the dead.

FACT # 1: BROKEN ROMAN SEAL

The first obvious fact is the breaking of the seal that stood for the power and authority of the Roman Empire. The consequences of breaking the seal were extremely severe.

Once the seal was violated, the 'FBI" of the Roman Empire was called into action to find the person or persons who were responsible. If they were apprehended, it meant automatic execution by crucifixion upside down (where your guts ran into your throat). People feared the breaking of the seal.

The disciples after the crucifixion of Jesus were an unlikely group to risk such an act.

They were afraid for their lives. Remember that even before the Crucifixion, when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, they left Him and ran away. Peter denied that he knew Jesus three times in one night. Only John and some of the women were with Jesus when He died. They spent the next few days behind closed doors "for fear of the Jews" (John 20:19).

FACT #2: EMPTY TOMB

Another obvious fact was the empty tomb.

The disciples of Jesus did not flee to Athens or Rome to preach that Christ was raised from the dead. Rather, they went right back to Jerusalem, where, if their claims were false, the falsity would be evident.

The empty tomb was "too notorious to be denied." The burial site was well known not only to Christians and Jews but also to the Romans. This is why Dr. Paul Althaus states that the Resurrection "could not have been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned."'

Both Jewish and Roman sources and traditions admit an empty tomb. Those sources range from Josephus to a compilation of fifth-century Jewish writings called the Toledoth Jeshu. Even the Jewish leaders acknowledged that the tomb was empty.

Dr. Paul Maier calls this "positive evidence from a hostile source, which is

the strongest kind of historical evidence. In essence, this means that if a source admits a fact decidedly not in its favor, then that fact is genuine.'

Please keep in mind that the earliest Jewish reaction to the proclamation of Christ's resurrection was an aggressive attempt to explain away the empty tomb, not deny that it was empty.

Dr. Ron Sider puts it this way: "If the Christians and their Jewish opponents both agree that the tomb was empty, we have little choice but to accept the empty tomb as historical fact."

Dr. Maier observes that "if all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to the canons of historical research, to conclude that the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea, in which Jesus was buried, was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources, epigraphy, or archaeology that would disprove this statement." Dr. D. H. Van Daalen concludes that "it is extremely difficult to object to the empty tomb on historical grounds."

FACT #3: LARGE STONE MOVED

On that Sunday morning the first thing that impressed the people who approached thetomb was the unusual position of the one-and-a-half- to two-ton stone that had been lodged in front of the doorway. All the Gospel writers mention it: The stone had been rolled away--not just away from the entrance to the tomb, but away from the tomb itself.

Now, I ask you, if the disciples had wanted to tiptoe around the sleeping guards, roll the stone away, and steal Jesus' body, how could they have done that without the guards' awareness?' Those soldiers, even if asleep, would have to have had cotton in their ears, with earmuffs on, along with a heavy dose of knockout pills, not to have heard that huge stone being moved.

FACT #4: ROMAN GUARD GOES AWOL

The Roman guards fled. They left their place of responsibility. How can their dereliction of duty be explained, when Roman military discipline was so exceptional?

The Justinian Code, compiled in the sixth century, mentions in Digest No.49 all the offenses that required the death penalty under Roman law. The fear of their superiors' wrath and the possibility of death meant that Roman soldiers paid close attention to the most minute details of their job. Falling asleep on duty, leaving one's position, and failing in any way resulted in severe discipline.

One way a guard was put to death was by being stripped of his clothes and then burned alive with a fire started with his garments. If it was not apparent which soldier had failed in his duty, then lots were drawn to see which one would be punished with death for the guard units failure.

Certainly the entire unit would not have fallen asleep with that kind of threat over their heads. Dr. George Currie, a student of Roman military discipline, wrote that fear of punishment "produced flawless attention to duty, especially in the night watches."

Dr. Bill White is in charge of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. His responsibilities have caused him to study the Resurrection and subsequent events. Dr. White makes several observations about the fact that the Jewish authorities bribed the Roman guards to say that Jesus' disciples had stolen His body:

If the stone were simply rolled to one side of the tomb, as would be necessary to enter it then they might be justified in accusing the men of sleeping at their posts, and in punishing them severely. If the men protested that the earthquake broke the seal and that the stone rolled back under the vibration, they would still be liable to punishment for behavior that might be labeled cowardice. But these possibilities do not meet the case. There was some undeniable evidence which made it impossible for the chief priests to bring any charges against the guard. The Jewish authorities must have visited the scene, examined the stone, and recognized its position as making it humanly impossible for their men to have permitted its removal. No twist of ingenuity could provide an adequate answer or a scapegoat, and so they were forced to bribe the guard and seek to hush things up.

FACT #5: GRAVE CLOTHES TELLATALE

In a literal sense, against all reports to the contrary, the tomb was not totally empty because of an amazing phenomenon.

After visiting the grave and seeing the stone rolled away, the women ran back and told the disciples. Then Peter and John took off running. John outran Peter and upon arriving at the tomb did not enter. Instead, he leaned over, looked in, and saw something so startling that he immediately believed.

He looked over to the place where the body of Jesus had lain, and there were the grave clothes, in the form of the body, slightly caved in and empty-like the empty chrysalis of a caterpillar's cocoon. That's enough to make a believer out of anybody. John never did get over it.

The first thing that stuck in the minds of the disciples was not the empty tomb but the empty grave clothes.

FACT #6: JESUS' APPEARANCES CONFIRMED

Christ appeared on several occasions after the cataclysmic events of that first Easter.

When studying an event in history, it is important to know whether enough people who were participants or eyewitnesses to the event were alive when the facts about the event were published. To know this is obviously helpful in ascertaining the accuracy of the published report.

If the number of eyewitnesses is substantial, the event can be regarded as fairly well established. For instance, if we all witness a murder, and a later police report turns out to be a fabrication of lies, we, as eyewitnesses, can refute it

More than 500 witnesses. Several important factors are often overlooked when considering Christ's post-resurrection appearances to individuals. The first is the large number of witnesses who saw Him after that resurrection morning.

One of the earliest records of Christ's appearing after the Resurrection is by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. The apostle appealed to their knowledge of the fact that Christ had been seen by more than 500 people at one time. Remember, as Paul emphasized, the majority of those people were still alive and could be questioned.

Dr. Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, emphasizes:

What gives a special authority to the list [of witnesses] as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St Paul says in effect, "If you do not believe me, you can ask them." Such a statement in an admittedly genuine letter written within thirty years of the event is almost as strong evidence as one could hope to get for something that happened nearly two thousand years ago.'

Let's take the more than 500 witnesses who saw Jesus alive after His death and burial and place them in a courtroom. Do you realize that if each of those 500 people were to testify for only six minutes, including cross examination, you would have an amazing fifty hours of firsthand testimony? Add to this the testimony of many other eyewitnesses and you could well have the largest and most lopsided trial in history.

Variety of witnesses. Another factor often overlooked is the variety of situations and people to whom Jesus appeared.

Merrill C. Tenney, former professor at Wheaton College, writes:

It is noteworthy that these appearances are not stereotyped. No two of them are exactly alike. The appearance to Mary Magdalene occurred in early morning (John 20:1); to the travelers to Emmaus in the afternoon (Luke 24:29); and to the apostles in the evening, probably after dark (Luke 24:36). He appeared to Mary in the open air (John 20:14) [but to the disciples in a closed room (John 20:19)].

Mary was alone when she saw Him; the disciples were together in a group, and Paul records that on one occasion He appeared to more than five hundred at a time (1 Corinthians 15:6). The reactions were also varied. Mary was overwhelmed with emotion (John 20:16-17); the disciples were frightened (Luke 24:37); Thomas was obstinately incredulous when told of the Lord's resurrection (John 20:25), but worshiped Him when He manifested Himself. Each occasion had its own peculiar atmosphere and characteristics, and revealed some different quality of the risen Lord.

Hostile witnesses. A third factor crucial to Interpret Christ's appearances is that He also appeared to those who were hostile or unconvinced.

Over and over again I have read or heard people comment that Jesus was seen alive after His death and burial only by His friends and followers. But that line of reasoning is so pathetic it hardly deserves comment

No author or informed individual would regard Saul of Tarsus as being a follower of Christ The facts show the exact opposite. Saul despised Christ and persecuted His followers. It was a life-shattering experience when Christ appeared to him on the Damascus road. Although he was not at that time a disciple, he later became the Apostle Paul, one of the greatest witnesses for the truth of the Resurrection.

Also consider James, the brother of Jesus (not James the apostle and elder brother of John). History indicates that Jesus' brother was anything but a believer (John 7:3-5). Yet James not only became a follower of his brother but also died a martyr's death. What caused that change in his attitude and eventually his life?

According to his presence with the followers of Jesus as mentioned in Acts 1:13, his conversion must have occurred very shortly after Jesus' resurrection. 'Me only historical explanation is what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:7--Jesus had appeared to James.

The argument that Christ's appearances were only to followers is an argument for the most part from silence, and arguments from silence can be dangerous. It is correct to say that all to whom Jesus appeared eventually became a follower. This is perhaps the best explanation of the conversion of so many of the Jerusalem priests (Acts 6:7).

THE CONCLUSION

Professor Thomas Arnold, for fourteen years a headmaster of Rugby, author of the famous History of Rome, and appointed to the chair of modem history at Oxford, was well acquainted with the value of evidence in determining historical facts.

This great scholar said:

I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead.3

Brooke Foss Westcott, an English scholar, said:

Taking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it

One man who was highly skilled at dealing with evidence was Dr. Simon Greenleaf. He was the famous Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University and succeeded Justice Joseph Story as the Dane Professor of Law in the same university.

Greenleaf examined the value of the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ to ascertain the truth. He applied the principles contained in his three volume treatise on evidences.

He came to the conclusion that, according to the laws of legal evidence used in courts of law, there is more evidence for the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for just about any other event in ancient history.

REAL PROOF: THE DISCIPLES' LIVES

But the most telling testimony of all must be the lives of those early Christians. We must ask ourselves: What caused them to go everywhere telling the message of the risen Christ?

Had there been any visible benefits accruing to them from their efforts-prestige, wealth, increased social status, or material benefits-we might logically attempt to account for their actions, for their wholehearted and total allegiance to this "risen Christ."

As a reward for their efforts, however, those early Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to the lions, tortured, crucified. Every conceivable method was used to stop them from talking.

Yet they were peaceful people. They forced their beliefs on no one. Rather, they laid down their lives as the ultimate proof of their complete confidence in the truth of their message.

It has been rightly said that they went through the test of death to determine their veracity. It is important to remember that initially the disciples didn't believe.

But once convinced-in spite of their doubts-they were never to doubt again that Christ was raised from the dead.

Do you know the odds of twelve men, all knowing something was a he, not cracking under the torture and pressure to admit their deception?

AN EXAMPLE OF A CAVE-IN

Charles Colson, of Watergate scandal fame, writes that the Watergate cover-up revealed the true nature of humanity under pressure-the survival instinct Ironically, his learning as an attorney and his years of experience in politics convinced him that Watergate demonstrates that the resurrection of Christ must be true.

This is how Colson arrived at his conclusion: A "thinly disguised panic began to sweep the plush offices of the stately old building that houses the most influential and powerful men in the world."

Yet he saw that even "with the most powerful office in the world at stake, a small band of hand-picked loyalists, no more than ten of us, could not hold a conspiracy together for more than two weeks. Think of the power at our fingertips: A mere command from one of us could mobilize generals and cabinet officers, even armies; we could hire or fire personnel and manage billions in agency budgets."

But yet with all this power, prestige, and their personal reputations and the luxury of their offices at stake, this group of men could not contain a lie.

However, Colson asks: "Was the pressure really all that great at that point? There had certainly been moral failures, criminal violation, even perjury by some. There was certain to be keen embarrassment; at the worst, some might go to prison, though that possibility was by no means certain. But no one was in grave danger, no ones life was at stake.

"Yet after just a few weeks," observes Colson, "the natural human instinct for self-preservation was so overwhelming that the conspirators, one by one, deserted their leader, walked away from their cause, turned their backs on the power, prestige, and privileges."

How does all this relate to the Resurrection? One criticism of the veracity of Christ's resurrection is that His twelve disciples conceived a "Passover plot" They secretly stole away the body of Christ and neatly disposed of it and then to their dying breaths maintained a conspiratorial silence. Colson concludes that

If one is to assail the historicity of the Resurrection and therefore the deity of Christ, one must conclude that there was a conspiracy-a cover-up if you will-by eleven men with the complicity of up to five hundred others. To subscribe to this argument, one must also be ready to believe that each disciple was willing to be ostracized by friends and family, five in daily fear of death, endure persons, live penniless and hungry, sacrifice family, be tortured without mercy, and ultimately die-all without ever once renouncing that Jesus had risen from the dead!

This is why the Watergate experience is so instructive to me. If John Dean and the rest of us were so panic-stricken, not by the Prospect of beatings and execution, but by political disgrace and possible prison term, one can only speculate about the emotions of the disciples. Unlike the men in the White House, the disciples were powerless people, abandoned by their leader, homeless in a conquered land. Yet they clung tenaciously to their enormously offensive story that their leader had risen from His ignoble death and was alive-and was the Lord.

The Watergate cover-up reveals, I think the true nature of humanity. None of the memoirs suggest that anyone went to the prosecutor's office out of such noble notions as putting the Constitution above the president or bringing rascals to justice--or even moral indignation. Instead, the writings of those involved are consistent recitations of the frailty of men. Even political zealots at the pinnacle of power will save their own necks in the crunch, though it may be at the expense of the one they profess to serve so zealously.

Is it really likely, then, that a deliberate cover-up, a plot to perpetuate a lie about the Resurrection, could have survived the violent persecution of the apostles, the scrutiny of early church councils, the horrendous purge of the first century believers who were cast by the thousands to the lions for refusing to renounce the Lordship of Christ? Is it not probable that at least one of the apostles would have renounced Christ before being beheaded or stoned? Is it not likely that some "smoking gun" document might have been produced exposing the "Passover plot?' Surely one of the conspirators would have made a deal with the authorities. Government and Sanhedrin probably would have welcomed such a soul with open arms and pocketbooks!

Take it from one who was inside the Watergate web looking out who saw firsthand how vulnerable a cover-up is: Nothing less than a witness as awesome as the resurrected Christ could have caused those men to maintain to their dying day that Jesus is alive and Lord.

The weight of evidence tells me the apostles were indeed telling the truth.