Christians all believe that Jesus Christ resurrected after He was crucified and his body placed inside a tomb that was sealed by a large stone. That is the foundation of the Christian faith.
But the question begs to be answered: Who opened that tomb that Sunday by rolling away the stone that sealed it? Jesus Christ Himself? The angels? Jesus' disciples? Who?
New York Times bestselling author Lee Strobel, who wrote "The Case for Christ," posed the question to renowned Christian apologist William Lane Craig, The Christian Post reports.
Strobel asked Craig two questions. First, he asked the expert: "How secure His (Christ's) grave was from outside influences? How protected was Jesus' tomb?"
After describing how first century tombs looked and worked, Craig said "it would require "several men" to roll the stone back up to reopen the tomb. "In that sense it was quite secure," he said.
Strobel then asked Craig: "Was Jesus' tomb guarded?"
The common belief was that Roman soldiers were there to keep watch over Christ's tomb since there was fear that the body could be stolen from the tomb, perpetuating the belief of a risen Saviour among followers of Christ.
"Are you convinced there were Roman guards?" Strobel asked Craig.
The expert gave a surprising answer. "Only Matthew reports that guards were placed around the tomb ... I don't think the guard story is an important facet of the evidence for the Resurrection," Craig said.
"The idea that the empty tomb is the result of some hoax, conspiracy or theft is simply dismissed today. So the guard story has become sort of incidental," he added.
Strobel cited differing views on this matter as pointed out by Boston University's Dr. Michael Martin.
In the Gospel of Matthew when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arrived at the tomb at dawn, there was a rock in front of it. But after an earthquake an angel descended and rolled back the stone.
However, in the Gospel of Mark, two women arrived at the tomb at sunrise to find that the stone had been rolled back. Luke basically said the same thing, but with a small difference: When the two women arrived at dawn, they found the stone already rolled back—with two men already inside.
But despite the differing views of the apostles, Craig said, "The core of the story is the same: Joseph of Arimathea takes the body of Jesus, puts it in a tomb, the tomb is visited by a small group of women followers of Jesus early on the Sunday morning following His crucifixion, and they find that the tomb is empty. They see a vision of angels saying that Jesus is risen."
Strobel concluded his inquiry by saying that the Bible is a mystery that may never be fully understood.
