Empty tombs and witnesses

A quick question on this Resurrection Sunday. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then why didn't the people that were following Him just go back to their everyday lives? Why didn't they get mad over being duped by a madman? Why would they commit their lives to a lie and not recant that lie as they were being tortured and executed? Why would they choose to be enemies of the countries they lived in and remain loyal to a myth? These weren't people that were believing some second-hand story or pie in the sky promise. They were people who had lived alongside Jesus everyday. They had eaten with Him, walked countless miles with Him, slept on the ground in the cold, dusty desert alongside of Him. If He had not risen from the dead, they would have slipped quietly away and denied Him, just like they did the night He was tried. They would have stayed hidden away and disappointed, just like they did the day He was crucified. But instead, they went to every place they could reach, telling people of the hope that was to be found by putting faith in Jesus Christ as the saviour, by trusting Him for the forgiveness of sins. Of the original 12 disciples, 10 were martyrd. They were given the choice to recant their story about Jesus or die. They all chose death. The 11th killed himself, because he had sold Jesus out to the authorities and then realized that he had chosen the wrong side. The 12th, the Apostle John, died in exile on the isle of Patmos, he wouldn't recant his story either, but God kept him alive so he could write the book of Revelation as an old man. By the way, the man that replaced Judas, the traitor, was a man that was one of those authorities that sought Jesus death, Saul of Tarsus. We know him as the apostle Paul. He wrote the majority of the New Testament. He was a learned man, in line to be a ruler in Israel. But, on the way to kill some Christians, he saw Jesus. He was convinced and never looked back. He was beheaded by the Romans because he wouldn't deny that Jesus had risen.
The law of God requires two or three witnesses in a criminal case. This is so the facts can be established. One of the ten commandments deals with those that would be false witnesses. God is serious about legal proceedings. The Bible provides us with the information that over 500 people saw Jesus alive after His resurrection. Yes, He is alive and He is seated at the right hand of God the Father. His work was finished. He will return and if we believe that He is the Christ, the Savior of the world, then we will live with Him. But in His own words "if you believe not that I am He, then you shall die in your sins". There's no other time like the present to believe what God has testified of His Son.