After a thorough study, Greenleaf concluded that Jesus' resurrection was supported by better and fuller evidence than any other event of antiquity. He wrote a book on his investigation called "The Testimony of The Four Evangelists," which is still available in most University legal libraries.

It is a recognized fact that the validity of Christianity stands or falls with whether Jesus Christ came out of his tomb bodily alive three days after his death.

This is not something that Jesus' followers set up -- Jesus himself threw down this gauntlet in front of his most dedicated enemies. Jesus, unlike any other religious leader in history, staked the validity of everything he taught, lived and died for on the single condition that he would rise from the dead bodily on the third day. He bet it all on that one proposition. This, more than any other factor, makes him unique among all other religious founders.

One of the first evidences to consider is whether the written accounts of the resurrection can be trusted. The very animosity of the religious leaders, who forced his execution, is one reason we can trust that they are true. We know that this message about Jesus' resurrection was preached in the streets of Jerusalem within a couple weeks of his death. The religious leaders had every motive to produce evidence to disprove their claims. They could have easily ended the claim either by producing his body, or the bodies of his followers who were killed stealing Jesus' body from the Roman soldiers. But no evidence was ever produced.

The political ambitions of Pontius Pilate certainly carried enough motive and determination to end this claim if it were false. He knew that this movement would greatly harm his career if allowed to stand. This is why he condemned Jesus to be crucified after he had pronounced him innocent.

Here is part of Matthew's account of the events surrounding the resurrection:

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.

"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how."

So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Now remember the motives of each group to make certain that tomb was secure. Jesus' enemies testified that he had claimed he would rise bodily alive after three days.

I consulted the best historical account of the practices of the Roman legions for this era to find out details of what would have been done in a maximum-security case like this -- "The Institutes of the Roman Legions" by Vegitius.

In such a case, they would have posted a "quaternion," or four squads of soldiers, to each watch. So 16 battle-tested soldiers of 10th Legion, which was one of Rome's best, were posted as guards at Jesus' tomb. If attacked, a quaternion would form a square and could stand off an army until reinforcements arrived. This same formation is used in Acts 12:4 in another case of the same magnitude.

When it says they made the tomb secure, it means they made sure the body they were charged to watch was there, then rolled the large round stone (about a ton in weight) into place until it dropped into a notch that was cut out of the stone floor. The stone was hard against the solid rock face of the tomb. The penalty for failure on watch in the Roman legion was instant execution, so we can rest assured they did everything according to the book.

A centurion, according to regulations, regularly checked watches. If he caught a soldier cat-napping, he would first light his toga with his torch, then put a sword down the offender's neck to his heart.

This tended to give soldiers insomnia.

In spite of all these precautions, three days later the tomb was empty. The stone was miraculously rolled back. When the soldiers checked and found no body, they fled in terror. Some deserted. Some went to the Jewish religious authorities and told them what happened. The only explanation ever given by the Jewish religious authorities was that the disciples of Jesus came and stole his body while the soldiers slept.

This explanation could never stand up in any courtroom. How did the cowering disciples, who hid when their leader was arrested, get the courage to stand up against the Roman soldiers? What would have been their motive? How could all 16 soldiers be so sound asleep when they knew it meant death if caught? If they were asleep, how could they have remained so when a one-ton stone was ground across the rock face to open the tomb? The noise would have roused the dead.

How could the disciples have the courage to go to terrible martyrs' deaths because they wouldn't renounce their testimony that they had seen Jesus alive and that he had conquered death? Not one out of over 500 witnesses recanted of that testimony.

The very transformation that took place in Peter and the other disciples shows that Jesus must have come back alive and empowered them by His spirit -- as He promised He would.

Thank God Jesus is still transforming lives in the same way today. We just have to believe that he died to purchase a pardon for our sins, and then receive the pardon personally. I did, and now I am certain He is alive.