2 Samuel 19-20 | Luke 18:1-23

“[The disciples] were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. [Jesus] said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones…’” Luke 24:37-39

Why was the tomb of Jesus empty? If Jesus’s body was not stolen and He did not resuscitated in the tomb, the last of the four plausible reasons contends that the tomb of Jesus was actually not empty. The fourth explanation says that those who saw Jesus either saw a ghost or a spirit, or they were just hallucinating. This theory stems from what the disciples thought when they first saw Jesus. Luke 24:36-39 tells us, “Jesus Himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’” The disciples were not expecting the resurrection so seeing Jesus, their thoughts were: “He looks like Jesus. He sounds like Jesus. He must be a ghost or a spirit!” 

Yet, Luke 24:41-43 continues, “While they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, [Jesus] asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it in their presence.” Ghosts and spirit do not eat, but when Jesus ate food, they believed. 

Others claim that people who saw the resurrected Jesus were just hallucinating. Yet, hallucinations are usually in the form of seeing things that one either would like to see or would expect to see. The disciples, however, were not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. Additionally, hallucinations are extremely subjective and personal; two people, side by side, do not hallucinate at the same time about the same thing in the same way. Scripture records, “[Jesus] appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:5-6). There were eyewitnesses to attest that Jesus had a physical body. 

The late British lawyer and professor Norman Dalrymple Anderson wrote a book entitled The Evidence for the Resurrection. He said, “Easter is not primarily a comfort, but a challenge. Its message is either a supreme fact in history or else a gigantic hoax….If it is true, then it is the supreme fact of history; and to fail to adjust one's life to its implications means irreparable loss.” 

From the evidence presented, Jesus literally and bodily resurrected from the dead! How will we live in light of this truth?

PRAYER

Blessed Jesus, no claim can deny the fact that You have literally and bodily resurrected. Because of this truth, I have confidence to face the day. Thank You, Lord.