The New Testament part of the Bible contains several letters which were written to explain certain things about what Christians believe. In one letter written to emphasise the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we read:

“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.” (1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 3)

The writer of this letter, Paul, introduces his subject by pointing out that he is passing on information that he has been given, in other words not his own ideas but things he has been told to say. This begs the question ‘Who gave him this information?’ Christians believe that the subject matter came from God, for they believe that the Bible is inspired by God.
Looking at the content of the lines quoted above, we discover that Christ died and was buried. So is there evidence for this? Here’s a summary of contemporary historical accounts in the first four books of the New Testament, Matthew (chapter 27), Mark (chapter 15), Luke (chapter 23) and John (chapter 19).
Jesus was heard to cry out with a loud voice and ‘yielded up His spirit’, an expression that means He voluntarily and in complete control laid down His own life.
There were witnesses:

• the centurion, and those with him, who were guarding Jesus
• many women
• the Jews did not want the bodies of Jesus or of the two criminals who were crucified with Him to remain on the crosses on the Sabbath, so they asked Pilate to arrange for their legs to be broken. When they came to Jesus they saw that He was already dead
• a rich man called Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, who had presided at the trial of Jesus, took time to confirm that Jesus was really dead before releasing His body. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his new tomb which he had cut out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb. A man called Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews
• two women, both called Mary, were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

The evidence is overwhelming: Jesus really did die and, as we shall see tomorrow, rose again. These are indisputable historical facts and they have vital significance for each of us.