Joel Kontinen
When Jesus’ tomb was empty and the early disciples went to tell others of the unexpected news,
some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. (Matthew 28: 11–15, NKJV.)
A soldier caught sleeping while he was supposed to do guard duty would have been executed, so the conspiracy theory was by no means credible.
It was a desperate attempt to explain away the obvious, i.e., that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.
Moreover, if He had truly risen, He had to be God.
Throughout the centuries, sceptics have invented many excuses for not taking the eyewitness accounts in the gospels as real history.
But these attempts (for instance, Mistaken Identity, Swoon Theory, Body Moved, Visions, Annihilation) fail to account for the consequences of the resurrection.
Before the resurrection, the disciples were hiding behind locked doors. Visions or make-belief could not transform them into bold witnesses who “turned the world upside down”. Even sceptics like Paul and Jesus’ brother James joined their ranks.
Rejecting Jesus’ resurrection amounts to denying history.
Source:
Chaffey, Tim. 2014. Resurrection—No Doubt About It . Answers 9 (2). Answers in Genesis (March 11).
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