He saw, and Believed

John's succinct comment on the beloved disciple's (John himself?) response to the empty tomb (John 20.8). I find the comment fascinating. Obviously, when the disciple witnessed the empty tomb everything that he had seen, witnessed, and heard from Christ came rushing back and he understood; he perceived; he believed.

The beloved disciple is the only one in the gospels who is described as believing at the sight of the empty tomb (although it appears to be implied that Peter also believed at that point). Everyone else would need to understand the empty tomb AND see the risen Christ. As one commentator put it: "The beloved disciple, however, is here viewed as the model for the church."

The Resurrection is Everything

This from 1 Cor 15.17-19 (a favorite chapter of Scripture). Paul does not mince words here. He is short and to the point. If Christ has not been raised, Paul writes, futile (worthless) is your faith. He emphasizes futile by putting it first in the clause. He doesn't want us to miss this. Everything rests on the resurrection. If Christ is still dead, then we should stop wasting our time and eat, drink, and be merry, because we will die tomorrow and that will be the end of that. Fortunately, as Paul points out, Christ has been raised; our faith is not vain; we have hope in our resurrection to be with Christ in glory!

Eyewitnesses to the Resurrection

So Peter describes both himself and the rest of the disciples in Acts 2.32. Christ has been gone only about 50 days and central to the testimony and preaching of his followers is that he rose from the dead; that he is not in the grave, but ascended into heaven and will return. Christ's followers will never change their testimony. He has risen; they were eyewitnesses of that fact.