The Jews believed He was dead, that's why they demanded a seal and the guards, and placed Temple Guards at the tomb with the Romans whom they did not trust. There are recorded witnessings of His resurrection apart from the Romans, the Jews, and the women who went to the tomb on 'Easter' morning. The most impressive has to be James, the brother of Jesus. This man did not believe in Jesus while He was alive, even going so far as to plot to lay hands on Jesus and rescue Him from His 'madness' of His Rabbinical ministry, along with the rest of His family who did not even show up to help entomb Him! BUT, following the resurrection appearance James was converted!
The horrific deaths each of the disciples turned Apostles suffered without recanting their witness of the risen Savior attest to the truth they believed they witnessed and spoke of and a few wrote of. There is no explanation that can dismiss the power of their witnessing of what they saw, no swoon paradigm, no hallucenation explanation, no made up lie that can dismiss the massive witness to the things these people died to keep in remembrance. THEY SUFFERED THESE THINGS FOR US, when you get right down to the nitty gritty of it!
Then of course there is Saul of Tarsus, a man assigned to the task of squelching with malace the growing body of believers in Jesus. And he relished the task due to his Jewish zeal for the truth of the Torah. Yet this man, after seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus is converted and spends the rest of his life suffering a long list of beatings and tortures only to die a martyr for his witnessing of the truth. And the list of martyrs who died during the period from 35 AD to 250 AD for their belief in and trust for Salvation in Jesus Christ is to be ignored also by these wicked minds. As Jesus relayed in the story of Lazarus and the rich man, even WHEN one comes back from the grave, there are wicked minds who will dismiss the truth in order to not only believe a lie but promote the lie for others to stumble over it and suffer the same fate awaiting the wicked doubters and dissemblers.
It is true wickness to reject the ministering of God's Holy Spirit and seek to persuade others to reject Him also, and in rejecting His work there is no other provision left whereby Deliverance from the coming Judgment can be obtained. Men like Christopher Hitchens respond to this message with more wicked assertion, that promoting God is immoral, that warning of the coming wrath upon sin is immoral scare tactics. Men like Hitchens and Harris refuse to believe what God has conveyed of Himself, that He is completely sinless and righteous and that no sin can come into His presence because His righteousness will brun it up instantly. And rejecting God's explaining Whom He is, they construct an alternate scenario which is death just waiting to reach them ... their life and the lives of those they convince to reject God are begun and ended for better or worse in the flesh. Their argument is the hieght of self-righteousness, and is as filth in the sight of God, yet they love it so much they will kill the soul of others to promote their fallen state.
I know a Christian surgeon who regularly prays for and with his patients. He was regularly coming into church (at least once a month) with testimonies of miraculous healings, verified by scans and tests. At those times, he’d tell the patient that he had to go home because he was healed and there was nothing left to operate on.
Needless to say, it often had a profound impact on the persons spiritual life.
Because it goes back to Abraham's words, that even if the brothers saw someone raised from the dead, they still wouldn't believe.
Belief is never a matter of *can't*; but *won't*.