Apostle Paul begins his 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians (NIV) with the evidence for the resurrection of Christ. He says,

V3-4 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

The resurrection of Christ is not something that happened out of the blue. It was predicted in the Old testament several hundreds of years ago (Isa. 53 and Psa. 16). Here is an interesting point – There are close to 15 references in the whole of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) where Jesus predicted his own resurrection. In most of these cases, if not all – is that Jesus never predicted his death without adding that He would come back to life again.

So he rose from the dead, what is the evidence? See the following verses.

V5-7 and he appeared to Cephas [Peter], 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. Then he appeared to James, and finally to Paul himself.

Jesus made fifteen appearances after his resurrection:

  1. His first appearance was to Mary Magdalene, on that early Sunday morning. (Mark 16:9; John 20:10-18).
  2. Jesus appeared to the women returning from the tomb. (Matthew 28:9-10).
  3. Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:13-32; Mark 16:12-13).
  4. He appeared to Peter in Jerusalem. (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5).
  5. He appeared to his disciples and other followers, and also a second time to the two men from Emmaus, in a locked room in Jerusalem. The apostle Thomas wasn’t there at that time. (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-23).
  6. A week later, Jesus again appeared to his disciples behind locked doors, and this time Thomas was present. (John 20:24-29).
  7. Jesus appeared to seven of his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. (John 21:1-24).
  8. Jesus was seen by 500 believers at one time. (1 Corinthians 15:6).
  9. He appeared to James. (1 Corinthians 15:7).
  10. He appeared to eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee. (Matthew. 28:17).
  11. He walked with his disciples along the road to Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, and then ascended into Heaven. (Luke 24:50-53).
  12. He was seen by Paul on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:3-6; 1 Corinthians 15:8).
  13. To Stephen. (Acts 7:55).
  14. To Paul in the Temple. (Acts 22:17-21, 23:11).
  15. To John at Patmos. (Revelation 1:10-19).

The beauty of Jesus is that he still appears to people even today. I have heard of several testimonies of people coming to the knowledge of Christ through his appearances in visions and dreams, particularly in places where evangelism or the Bible are banned. What an amazing saviour we have. He is not dead, he is risen indeed!