Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
His enemies remembered His promise to return to life on the third day even as they dismissed Him as a fraud. On the day after the preparation they went to Pilate and asked for the tomb to be secured until the third day, claiming His followers might steal the body and declare Him risen. Stone, seal and soldiers could not hold the Lord of life, and God turned their very precautions into the strongest proof that the rising had taken place. He had plainly foretold both His death and His rising, yet while His enemies remembered, His disciples forgot and buried their hopes with Him in sorrow and despair. He rose on the morning of the third day, and because He lives His people have hope that they will live also.
Enemies Remember, Guard Tomb
The chief priests and Pharisees remembered that Jesus while still alive said that after three days He would rise again, yet they called Him a deceiver. They recalled His prediction that He would rise after three days, and His words troubled them even as they spoke of Him with contempt. They came to Pilate on the day after the preparation day, the day after the crucifixion and burial, to report what they remembered. On that day after the crucifixion they went to Pilate because they remembered that Jesus while still alive had said He would rise after three days.
They told Pilate they feared His disciples would steal His body and claim He had risen, making what they called the last error worse than the first. Fearing that the disciples would take the body and say He had risen, they asked Pilate to secure the tomb until the third day. Their recollection led them to secure His tomb against a supposed attempt by the disciples to steal His body. Beyond fear of theft, they feared He might come to life and escape them, and even after His death they feared His power. Their fear that He might come out of the tomb led to preparations to prevent the claim of a resurrection, for they were afraid His body would come to life and they feared He might stand before them as their accuser. The resurrection of Lazarus had already shown them that He could raise the dead, and the possibility of His coming out of the tomb filled them with terror.
At their urging the tomb was closed with a great stone, sealed with the Roman seal, and set with a Roman guard. Great precautions were made to keep the disciples from stealing the body from the grave, and the disciples themselves saw those precautions. Their warning to Pilate against deception by the disciples over the body meant Pilate would not grant Joseph of Arimathea's request for burial until he sent for the centurion in command at the cross. Pilate would not grant the request until he had heard for certain from the centurion's own lips that Jesus was dead, with the centurion recounting the fearful scenes of Calvary in corroboration of Joseph's testimony. Conflicting reports about the events of the crucifixion had reached Pilate, but knowledge of Christ's death had been purposely kept from him, so he first learned for certain that Jesus was really dead when Joseph asked for the body and he sent for the centurion in charge at the cross to confirm the death and to hear an account of the scenes of Calvary.
Guard Fails, Resurrection Proved
Their counsel to hold Him in death was weak and useless, for stone and seal and soldiers could not confine the Lord of Life. Roman guards and Roman arms were powerless against Him, and the hour of His release was near. God was glorified by their action, turning the very efforts made to prevent the resurrection into the most convincing arguments in its proof. The seal and the guard made fraud harder to claim and the truth more fully established, so that the greater the number of soldiers placed around the tomb the stronger the testimony that He had risen.
The prediction was fulfilled when Jesus, whose body had been laid in Joseph's tomb under guard, rose on the morning of the third day. The Roman guards saw Him come forth alive, and He proclaimed Himself the resurrection and the life. When a mighty angel rolled away the stone, the Roman guards fell as dead men before the angel's glory. After the resurrection the rulers recognized that His word had been fulfilled but tried to keep people from knowing it, bribing the Roman guards to claim that the disciples had stolen His body while they slept.
Their taking counsel together against Christ fulfills what was declared hundreds of years before through the psalmist. The heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, the kings of the earth set themselves and rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. While they do so, He that sits in the heavens laughs and holds them in derision.
Disciples Forget, Believers Hope
Christ had plainly foretold both His own death and His resurrection on the third day, and since the suffering came exactly as He said, the rising on the third day was to be fulfilled just as surely and just as truly as the events of His suffering and death.
His enemies did not forget that disclosure, but the disciples forgot it, did not believe it, and were perplexed to know what rising from the dead could mean. When He was buried their hopes were buried with Him, leaving them in sadness and disappointment, in hopelessness and despondency, in sorrow and despair under the shadow cast across their horizon. They themselves saw the great precautions taken to keep them from stealing His body, and those precautions made strange impressions on their minds that they dared not frame into words.
They should have remembered His words and expected the resurrection instead of remaining sad and disappointed. If while He lay in the tomb they had believed His word and searched the Scriptures to see what was written concerning Him, they would have been saved much sorrow and would have found comfort and hope. After He ascended and was seen and glorified before them, they remembered the words He had spoken.
The sealed tomb was not His final state, for Christ is risen and reigns as King, guarding His people amid the turmoil of nations. His followers therefore should not look to that sealed tomb or to the empty sepulcher, and should not mourn as those who are hopeless and helpless, because Jesus lives. His resurrection gives believers hope that they will live also, because He is a living Savior who makes intercession for them, not a dead Savior lying in Joseph's tomb.
His enemies remembered His promise to return to life on the third day even as they dismissed Him as a fraud. On the day after the preparation they went to Pilate and asked for the tomb to be secured until the third day, claiming His followers might steal the body and declare Him risen. Stone, seal and soldiers could not hold the Lord of life, and God turned their very precautions into the strongest proof that the rising had taken place. He had plainly foretold both His death and His rising, yet while His enemies remembered, His disciples forgot and buried their hopes with Him in sorrow and despair. He rose on the morning of the third day, and because He lives His people have hope that they will live also.
Enemies Remember, Guard Tomb
The chief priests and Pharisees remembered that Jesus while still alive said that after three days He would rise again, yet they called Him a deceiver. They recalled His prediction that He would rise after three days, and His words troubled them even as they spoke of Him with contempt. They came to Pilate on the day after the preparation day, the day after the crucifixion and burial, to report what they remembered. On that day after the crucifixion they went to Pilate because they remembered that Jesus while still alive had said He would rise after three days.
They told Pilate they feared His disciples would steal His body and claim He had risen, making what they called the last error worse than the first. Fearing that the disciples would take the body and say He had risen, they asked Pilate to secure the tomb until the third day. Their recollection led them to secure His tomb against a supposed attempt by the disciples to steal His body. Beyond fear of theft, they feared He might come to life and escape them, and even after His death they feared His power. Their fear that He might come out of the tomb led to preparations to prevent the claim of a resurrection, for they were afraid His body would come to life and they feared He might stand before them as their accuser. The resurrection of Lazarus had already shown them that He could raise the dead, and the possibility of His coming out of the tomb filled them with terror.
At their urging the tomb was closed with a great stone, sealed with the Roman seal, and set with a Roman guard. Great precautions were made to keep the disciples from stealing the body from the grave, and the disciples themselves saw those precautions. Their warning to Pilate against deception by the disciples over the body meant Pilate would not grant Joseph of Arimathea's request for burial until he sent for the centurion in command at the cross. Pilate would not grant the request until he had heard for certain from the centurion's own lips that Jesus was dead, with the centurion recounting the fearful scenes of Calvary in corroboration of Joseph's testimony. Conflicting reports about the events of the crucifixion had reached Pilate, but knowledge of Christ's death had been purposely kept from him, so he first learned for certain that Jesus was really dead when Joseph asked for the body and he sent for the centurion in charge at the cross to confirm the death and to hear an account of the scenes of Calvary.
Guard Fails, Resurrection Proved
Their counsel to hold Him in death was weak and useless, for stone and seal and soldiers could not confine the Lord of Life. Roman guards and Roman arms were powerless against Him, and the hour of His release was near. God was glorified by their action, turning the very efforts made to prevent the resurrection into the most convincing arguments in its proof. The seal and the guard made fraud harder to claim and the truth more fully established, so that the greater the number of soldiers placed around the tomb the stronger the testimony that He had risen.
The prediction was fulfilled when Jesus, whose body had been laid in Joseph's tomb under guard, rose on the morning of the third day. The Roman guards saw Him come forth alive, and He proclaimed Himself the resurrection and the life. When a mighty angel rolled away the stone, the Roman guards fell as dead men before the angel's glory. After the resurrection the rulers recognized that His word had been fulfilled but tried to keep people from knowing it, bribing the Roman guards to claim that the disciples had stolen His body while they slept.
Their taking counsel together against Christ fulfills what was declared hundreds of years before through the psalmist. The heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing, the kings of the earth set themselves and rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. While they do so, He that sits in the heavens laughs and holds them in derision.
Disciples Forget, Believers Hope
Christ had plainly foretold both His own death and His resurrection on the third day, and since the suffering came exactly as He said, the rising on the third day was to be fulfilled just as surely and just as truly as the events of His suffering and death.
His enemies did not forget that disclosure, but the disciples forgot it, did not believe it, and were perplexed to know what rising from the dead could mean. When He was buried their hopes were buried with Him, leaving them in sadness and disappointment, in hopelessness and despondency, in sorrow and despair under the shadow cast across their horizon. They themselves saw the great precautions taken to keep them from stealing His body, and those precautions made strange impressions on their minds that they dared not frame into words.
They should have remembered His words and expected the resurrection instead of remaining sad and disappointed. If while He lay in the tomb they had believed His word and searched the Scriptures to see what was written concerning Him, they would have been saved much sorrow and would have found comfort and hope. After He ascended and was seen and glorified before them, they remembered the words He had spoken.
The sealed tomb was not His final state, for Christ is risen and reigns as King, guarding His people amid the turmoil of nations. His followers therefore should not look to that sealed tomb or to the empty sepulcher, and should not mourn as those who are hopeless and helpless, because Jesus lives. His resurrection gives believers hope that they will live also, because He is a living Savior who makes intercession for them, not a dead Savior lying in Joseph's tomb.