Read John 20:1

Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. (John 20:1 NASB1995)

Imagine yourself a member of the jury in a courtroom, preparing to decide one of the oldest cases in history: The People vs. Jesus of Nazareth.

The case regards Jesus’ claim that He died and was miraculously and bodily raised from the dead. For centuries, people have disputed this claim, basing their prosecution on one of three theories.

First, the swoon theory claims that Jesus did not actually die on the cross but was in such a state of exhaustion due to loss of strength and blood, that He “swooned” into a coma. Believed to be dead, He was taken down and put into a tomb where He later revived.

Second, the kidnap theory says that Jesus did actually die, but in the middle of the night, someone took His body. Unseen by the soldiers guarding the tomb, the kidnapper or kidnappers pushed back the stone, stole the body, and hid it where it would never be found.

Third, the hallucination theory, borrowed from the kidnap theory, claims that Christ died and His body was hidden away. And those disciples who later claimed to see the raised Christ actually had hallucinations. In other words, the person they claimed to be the resurrected Christ was a figment of their imaginations.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John offer eyewitness testimony. Everything in their case begins with the fact that Jesus did die. He didn’t swoon. He wasn’t kidnapped. The disciples weren’t hallucinating.

For centuries, that empty tomb—Jesus’ resurrection—has transformed countless lives. Will you remain in the darkness or step out into the dawn of new hope?

Neither could the gates of death,
Nor the tomb’s dark portal,
Nor the watchers, nor the seal
Hold Thee as a mortal.
—John of Damascus, 8th century.

Adapted by Insight for Living staff from The Darkness and the Dawn by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com