I have choose to believe that which has been tested by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament and 2,000 years of church history.
 
In the words of the classic Apostles' Creed, I believe Jesus was crucified, dead and buried; the third day he rose again from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus is not just a matter of faith, it is a matter of fact. It's not mystery but history.
 
"I serve a risen Savior, he's in the world today.
I know that he is living, whatever men may say.
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart."
 
At the Last Supper, Jesus promised his followers that he would not leave them alone. He would send his Spirit to live within them, to speak and teach and guide as Jesus had during his earthly life. The Holy Spirit brings the life of Jesus into the heart of every believer, giving us the ability to live Jesus' kind of life. "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." When we open our hearts to Jesus, he brings this fruit into our hearts. We feel a new life springing up within us. "Look," Jesus said, "I make all things new."

The resurrection is not just ancient history, it is current events and future hope. Paul concluded his sermon to the Athenians with these words: "God… now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead"
 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
31   Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
(Acts 17:30-31).
 
The gospels do not explain the miracle of the resurrection. The miracle of the resurrection explains the gospels. Without the resurrection there would be no believing apostles to write the gospels. As Paul said, "If Christ has not been raised from death we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe" And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
(1 Corinthians 15:14 )

When the risen Christ came to his disciples he appealed to their sense of hearing "Jesus met them and said,
 ''All hail." (Matthew 28:9).And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
 Dead men don't talk. Jesus did because he wasn't dead. He appealed to their sense of seeing. "Go to Galilee," he said, "there they will see me" (Matthew 28:10). Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.

He appealed to their sense of touching. "Look at my hands and my feet," he said, "see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have"
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
(Luke 24:39).
 
"How are the dead raised?" Paul asks, "With what kind of body do they come?" (But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
1 Corinthians 15:35)

He answers that question by explaining that our present bodies will be changed to our resurrection bodies just as a seed changes to a flower.

Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
37   And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38   But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
 (1 Corinthians 15:36-38).

It's the same body, but magnificently changed. Paul describes four great changes in terms of sowing and sprouting. I'm glad he spoke of planting, not burial. If I bury something I don't expect to see it again, but if I plant something I expect to enjoy it in another form. The body of your loved one is not buried but planted. Notice the changes in the body between the planting and the resurrection.

Our belief in the resurrection of the body is not based on some debatable theory or wistful hope, but on the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His resurrection is the pledge and pattern of our own.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
 (1 Corinthians 15:20)
He who demonstrated mastery over nature, disease and sin proved his power over death when he arose from the grave. All that death can do, he can undo. "We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus to life, will also raise us up with Jesus and take us… into his presence"
Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
(2 Corinthians 4:14)
Those who don't believe in Christ's resurrection can no more believe in their own resurrection.

The resurrection of Christ is current events. You have to make a choice. You can live as though Christ arose from the dead, or live as though he did not. To live as though he arose means you have to change your way of living, 

Give your life to the Lord (Excepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.)

  as Paul said, "repent." God raised Jesus from the dead not just as an allegation that you will go to heaven when you die, but as a declaration that Jesus is alive on planet earth. The resurrection places Jesus on this side of the grave, here and now, in the midst of life. He is not just standing on the shore of eternity beckoning you to join him there. He is standing beside you strengthening you in this life. The good news of the resurrection is not only that you will die and go home with him, but that he has risen and goes home with you.

The resurrection of Jesus is also a future hope. It tells you that death is not the end of life. It is a comma not a period. There is more to follow. Specifically, there is a day fixed on the calendar of eternity when God will judge the world in righteousness. Are you ready for that day?

John Chapter 20
The Empty Tomb
1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
14"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Jesus Appears to Thomas
24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
30Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31But these are written that you may[1] believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.