Was Jesus really dead on the cross or did he somehow survive that beating? I personally believe that he was alive and that’s why he came out of the tomb days after.
To believe that Jesus did not die on the cross is to disregard the witness of two thousand years of Christian testimony – what G. K. Chesterton called “the democracy of the dead” – that says that Jesus did die on the cross. Who is more likely to be right? All orthodox Christians over the past two thousand years or a few controversialists who started pushing the claim less than two hundred years ago?
To believe that Jesus did not die on the cross also requires disproving the Gospels’ status as historical documents, something that has never been done. The Gospels are unequivocal that Jesus did die, with John (an eyewitness) insisting that a Roman centurion thrust a spear into Jesus’ side to make sure that he was dead (cf. John 19:32-37).
I recommend reading Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison. In the book the Anglican author, originally a skeptic of the Resurrection, takes apart the various theories that purport to disprove the Resurrection.
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