“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ” (1 Corinthians 15:3–8, ESV)

There are different ways to know things.

I know that 2+2=4. There is a way I know this that is logical and axiomatic. I know that George Washington was the first President of the United States on the warrant of the authority of reliable witnesses. I know that I love my wife. But my way of knowing this is different than the way I know arithmetic, or even the way I understand history. This way of knowing is subjective, relational, and intuitive. But, for being subjective, it is no less real and much more significant.

I know that Jesus is God in all these ways. On the warrant of the authority of reliable witnesses I trust in the account of events in the gospels. No other answer but the resurrection of Christ provides a logical explanation for the emergence of the early Church. 

While this kind of knowing satisfies the skeptic within, a deeper thirst would remain unquenched apart from experience. I know him. I have heard his voice. I have felt his presence. I have gazed upon his beauty.

He is risen indeed.