Did God raise his son from the dead, or did someone take the body?
The Jews didn’t take the body. They would have had to get past the Roman guard that they demanded be placed at the tomb for the express purpose of making sure no one breached that heavy, sealed stone. Besides, the last thing the Jews wanted was to get any kind of rumor started that Jesus left that grave. If they had taken the body, they surely would have produced it afterwards to stifle the beginnings of the “heretical” church.
The Roman guards did not take the body. To see what happens to soldiers who lose their charge, read Acts 12:18-19 where the guards who “lost” Peter were put to death. Besides, Matthew 28:11-15 tells us that the chief priests paid off the guard to keep them from telling of the resurrection. Matthew publicly reported this fact in a time when the story he claimed to be “widely spread” could have easily been refuted.
Did the apostles take Jesus’ body from the tomb? There was the guard, who would have killed them had they tried to do so. Why would these men have sacrificed so much only to spend their lives being persecuted and outcast to support such a lie when Jesus wasn’t even bringing in the kind of kingdom for which they had hoped according to Acts 1:6? No, it wasn’t the apostles for sure.
No one took Jesus’ body. God raised it up. The resurrected Jesus walked among his disciples for forty days as Luke wrote in Acts 1:3 & Paul in 1stCorinthians 15:3-8. He ascended to the right hand of his father where he reigns today, according to Mark 16:19 & Hebrews 1:1-3.
Jesus promised he would be raised from the dead (Mark records Jesus telling of this at least nine times in his gospel). He was raised. Having fulfilled this promise, don’t you know that he will also fulfill his promise to return?
Are you ready for Jesus’ return?