“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead” (Matthew 28:5-7 KJV).
The church has been celebrating Easter or the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave on the first day of the week for at least 2,000 years. The foundation of Christianity is built on the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus. “If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17).
The proof of Jesus’ “Deity” depended on His resurrection from the dead. He declared at least five different times that he would be crucified and then buried and would rise from the dead on the third day (Matthew 12:39-40; 20:17-19; 26:30-32; Luke 18:31-33; John 2:19-22). Paul says that Jesus’ resurrection was proof and demonstrated that He is the Son of God — “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a biblical fact. All four Gospels tell us that Jesus “gave up the ghost (spirit)” (Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30). It is certain that Jesus died and did not swoon on the cross and was later revived. The spear pierced His heart and blood and water poured out (John 19:34).
Roman soldiers watched and guarded Jesus’ tomb along with angels. The tomb was sealed. When on the third day Jesus rose from the dead the stone was rolled away, not in order that Jesus might come out, but that men might look in and see that it was empty.
On the day of His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples five times (John 20:11-18; Matthew 28:9-10; Luke 24:13-35; 36-48). Jesus showed Himself to 500 brethren at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). First Corinthians was written 27 years after Christ’s resurrection and the greater part of those 500 were still alive.
On Sunday, April 9, A.D. 30, the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea was found empty. The most thorough examinations have been carried out into the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and declared it flawless. Clarence Larkin says, “The Standard of God’s Power in the Old Testament was the Exodus. The Standard of God’s Power in the New Testament is the Resurrection of Jesus.” In observation as a testimony to the fact of Jesus’ resurrection, the church meets on the “first Day of the Week” (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:13-15; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20: 7; Revelations 1:10, 11).
“The Sabbath was given to Israel exclusively as a sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12, 19-21). Nowhere in the Bible do we find God finding fault with any nation or people or the church, only the Jewish nation, for not observing the Sabbath. The fact, then, is that the Church observes the ‘First Day of the Week,’ the day on which Jesus rose from the dead, as a day of rest and worship is a proof of the Resurrection of Jesus.”