The first theory assumed that the women who reported the body missing mistakenly went to the wrong tomb. If so, the Apostle Peter who went to check up on Mary’s claim must also have gone to the wrong tomb.

I don’t think they would have forgotten which tomb Jesus had been laid in such a short period of time. Indeed, Jewish authorities would have lost no time in producing the body from the proper tomb.

Another ‘natural’ explanation postulates that every appearance of Jesus after the resurrection was simply a hallucination.  Modern psychological principles governing hallucinations do not support this theory.

There’s also the ‘swoon theory’ claiming that Jesus didn’t really die. This is also the claim by the Islamic Quran.

“Everyone thought he was dead,” they say, “but later, he revived in the cool tomb and the disciples mistakenly thought he had risen from the dead.”

But just when Christians couldn’t think up a suitable reply, along came another sceptic to lend a hand. David Strauss wrote:

‘It’s impossible that anyone who had stolen half-dead out of a tomb, creeping about weak and ill, seeking medical treatment and bandaging..... could have given the disciples the impression that he was a conqueror over death and the grave.... an impression which lay at the heart of their future ministry.”

Another ‘natural explanation’ as to why the tomb was empty was that someone stole the body. After Jesus’ arrest and execution, the disciples were seriously depressed and afraid.

It was highly unlikely that in such a mood they’d suddenly become ‘brave enough’ to face up to the guards at the tomb and steal the body. More importantly, they’d have had to lie to the world about what they had done.

If Roman authorities had moved the body, they too could have silenced the disciples by displaying Christ’s dead corpse.

Every believer in Jesus Christ can have confidence that our faith is based not on myth or legend but on the solid historical fact of the risen Christ and the empty tomb.