It was early Sunday morning when Mary Magdalene made her way to the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid to rest. To her great surprise and distress, she found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb and the body of Jesus missing. What had happened? Where could he be? Who would do such a thing? These, and a dozen other questions, must have flooded her mind as she rushed to tell the other disciples of her discovery (John 20:1-23).

What she did not know but would soon learn was the startling revelation that Jesus Christ was alive. The devil had been defeated. Death had been unable to hold him. Christ had conquered all. It was resurrection morning, and Jesus was alive. Because of his victory, all can be victors. His resurrection was the crowning miracle of his ministry. It was the "good news" of the Gospel. By it, he demonstrated the scope of his sovereign power.

Doubters deny, scoffers scoff, skeptics question and critics seek to controvert it. But the fact remains; there is no viable explanation for the empty tomb other than the resurrection. Consider these questions. 1) If his enemies had taken his body, why did they not produce it? 2) If his disciples had removed his body from the tomb, how did they do it without being detected by the guards. 3) If his disciples had taken his body, they would have known that the Gospel was fabricated on a lie. Would they have sacrificed and died for something which they knew was not true? 4) How were so many witnesses fooled into believing they saw him alive following his crucifixion (1 Corinthians 15:5-8)? 5) How do we explain the conversion of Saul (Acts 9, 22, 26)? 6) Where is his grave? 7) What happened to his body?

If the resurrection story is a hoax, then Christianity rests on a lie, and Christians are the sorriest of the sorry (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). But could it be that there is no explanation for the empty tomb beyond the resurrection? Given the available evidence, it takes far more faith to deny the resurrection than to believe it. Because he lives, we shall live with him some day. That knowledge restores hope to lost souls. Doubt or disbelief offers nothing.