The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian faith. After Jesus was crucified and buried, He rose from the dead on the third day, appearing to many people over a 40-day period before ascending into heaven (Acts 1:3). However, some wonder why Jesus only appeared to certain disciples and followers after His resurrection, rather than revealing Himself to unbelievers or larger crowds.
There are a few key reasons outlined in Scripture that explain why Jesus only appeared to His followers after the resurrection:
1. God’s principles of faith and revelation
Faith is a key principle in Christianity. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith requires belief in something that cannot be physically seen or proven. If Jesus had appeared to the masses after His resurrection, people would be more compelled by visible, physical proof rather than exercising faith in the unseen. But God’s plan operates on faith.
In Luke 16:31, when the rich man in Hades asked Abraham to send someone to warn his living brothers, Abraham replied: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” This exchange shows that even a resurrection appearance may not convince unbelievers. God must grant revelation for people to recognize truth.
1 Corinthians 2:14 also explains, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Spiritual truths require God’s revelation for understanding rather than just visible proof. Similarly, Jesus did not appear to those lacking eyes of faith.
2. God’s principles of justice and mercy
Appearing to hostile unbelievers would have aligned more with compelling proof, undermining faith. It could also be seen as inconsistent with God’s justice since He did not reveal resurrection proofs before their rejection of Christ. Thomas had already believed in Christ when he doubted His resurrection, so Christ showed him proof. But those opposing Christ before the cross did not deserve special revelation after rejecting Him. Christ said in Luke 16:31, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”
Conversely, Christ’s followers had already demonstrated faith in Him, so His appearances after the resurrection rewarded and strengthened their existing faith. Hebrews 11:6 declares, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Jesus rewarded His followers’ faith by appearing to them after His resurrection.
3. Jesus commissioning His disciples as witnesses
After His resurrection, Jesus used His appearances purposefully to commission His disciples as eyewitnesses. Acts 10:41 says, “He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” He prepared them to bear witness to His resurrection with authority and conviction as they took the Gospel across the world.
Jesus’ followers could testify they saw Him alive again after His death. Their boldness even in persecution was evidence they were fully convinced by Christ’s appearances (Acts 4:20). Since Jesus equipped His disciples as witnesses, He focused His appearances on those He commissioned rather than the masses. The disciples’ eyewitness testimony then conveyed the resurrection to others.
4. Jesus’ mission as Messiah was complete
After rising from the dead, Jesus’ earthly mission as the Messiah was complete. There was no need to reveal His resurrected glory universally across the world. After defeating sin and death, His next stage was returning to the Father (John 17:4-5). As Hebrews 9:28 declares, “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
So Jesus focused on commissioning His disciples to spread the Gospel across the world until His return. He remains hidden from the world until the Father’s appointed time for His return. But believers have the Holy Spirit’s witness of Christ in their hearts in the interim (Romans 8:16).
5. Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances were physical and literal
Jesus did not appear as a vision or hallucination after His resurrection. The bodily resurrection was physical, and His appearances underscored that physical reality. His followers could touch Him and watch Him eat food (Luke 24:39; John 20:27). His resurrection body was real yet glorified, no longer limited by earthly constraints. But these encounters were clearly physical, not visions.
When Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul’s companions also witnessed the event. They did not see Jesus Himself but experienced the external effects of a literal appearance (Acts 9:7). The visible manifestations of these post-resurrection appearances verified they were real interactions, not visions. Yet the glorified Christ was only visible to those with opened eyes.
6. The sufficiency of Christ’s appearances is affirmed through Scripture
The eyewitness testimonies recorded in the Gospels provide a firm historical record of Christ’s resurrection appearances. The disciples clearly confirmed that Jesus appeared to them physically, dispelling any notions of imaginary visions. Rather than directly recording every single appearance, Scripture focuses on the meaningful testimonies of key witnesses.
The Gospel writers carefully conveyed how Jesus appeared to various disciples under different circumstances after rising from the dead. These accounts offer a concise but sufficient testimony of those who saw the resurrected Christ with their own eyes. The Holy Spirit inspired the recording of these authoritative eyewitness accounts that continue testifying to the truth of Christ’s resurrection.
7. Jesus dispelled doubts by those in His inner circle
The Gospels record how Jesus deliberately dispelled doubts of His resurrection among His closest followers. John 20 highlights Jesus strengthening the faith of Thomas, who doubted the testimony of the other 10 disciples who had already seen Jesus (John 20:24-29). Christ also countered His disciples’ doubts when they thought He was a ghost (Luke 24:38-39). He ate with them and invited them to touch His resurrected body to prove its physical reality.
Jesus knew that dispelling doubts among His inner circle would instill them with boldness to testify as eyewitnesses. The unbelief of those outside Christ’s close followers did not require the same personal treatment. But Jesus helped cement the faith of those central to His commissioning as authoritative witnesses to the resurrection.
8. Hostile witnesses lacked receptiveness
Outside of Christ’s disciples, the Jewish leaders and unbelievers had already hardened their hearts against Jesus and wanted Him dead. Their hostility toward Jesus made them unreceptive to His resurrection appearances. They had refused to believe when hearing of Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead, so seeing Jesus alive again likely would not have changed their minds (John 12:10-11).
These hostile witnesses lacked openness toReceiving the risen Christ requires humility and receptiveness. Jesus once praised His Father for hiding truth from the wise and learned and revealing it to little children (Luke 10:21). Christ focused His post-resurrection appearances accordingly on those receptive in faith like children.
9. The risen Christ remains veiled to unbelieving eyes
No one can see the glorified Christ today as He sits at the Father’s right hand in heaven. Believers cannot see Christ with physical eyes until His return. Per 2 Corinthians 5:7, “we walk by faith, not by sight.” Faith relies on what is unseen. So even sincere unbelievers cannot see Jesus until granted the eyes of faith. Seeing the risen Christ requires spiritual eyes opened by God Himself.
The disciples could see the risen Christ because they already had faith in Him. Most of the Jewish leaders who rejected Christ lacked that existing faith, so they remained unable to see Him resurrected. Even their physical eyes alone could not impart the spiritual revelation necessary to behold Christ’s glorified body.
10. The Holy Spirit’s testimony offers the present witness of Christ
While Jesus’ resurrection appearances were limited to faithful followers, the Holy Spirit now bears witness of Christ to all. Jesus said the Spirit would testify about Him and guide believers into truth (John 15:26; 16:13-14). Whereas living eyes of faith were required to see the risen Christ then, the Spirit now enables faith within unbelievers’ hearts to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” The Spirit provides present witness of the living Christ beyond the historical eyewitness accounts. Jesus said it was actually to the disciples’ advantage for Him to go so the Spirit could come (John 16:7). The Spirit’s testimony opens unbelieving eyes just as seeing Christ’s resurrection appearances did for the disciples.
In summary, Jesus deliberately appeared alive to His followers after His resurrection for very specific purposes. His appearances affirmed God’s justice and mercy, strengthened the disciples’ faith and commissioned them as authoritative witnesses, dispelled doubts among devoted followers, and revealed the risen Christ to receptive eyes of faith. The Holy Spirit empowers faith in Christ today among those previously unbelieving, just as seeing the resurrected Jesus did for His followers.
