You heard me say to you, `I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. (John 14:28)
The reason His followers believed Him, is because He appeared to them after being raised from the dead, I don't kow about you, but that would of done it for me. Do you believe all these people lied about seeing Him after He was raised from the dead?
I don't think they lied. I think one or more of them had visions of seeing the resurrected Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father.
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;
and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God." (Acts 7:55-56)
I think this understanding of the resurrection was spiritual at first.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)
The gospels were written decades after the events they describe, and not necessarily (tradition aside) by the original disciples. I think what was originally understood spiritually came to be understood literally. (Kinda like the Catholics understand John 6 literally).
You and I read the gospel accounts differently. You take all of it as literally true, and I don't. I don't know if this gulf can be bridged.