178. Guards placed at
the tomb- Matt. 27:62-66
-The religious leaders, the chief priests and Pharisees,
went on the Sabbath to Pilate with concerns about the disciples stealing the
body of Jesus due to His claims that He would rise in three days. From this
statement we can see that the message Christ gave before His death on
resurrection was clear, even to the pompous and arrogant leaders of the Jewish
manmade traditional system of the time. Jesus had effectively and accurately
perpetuated His true gospel so that there was no doubt as to what He had said
and what He meant. Christ’s ultimate sign was obvious (Matthew 12:38-42, Luke
11:16-32, John 2:18-21) and these doubting men wanted to make every effort to
avoid heresy and fraud by what they thought to be an impostor, which is
understandable.
-Pilate gave them a group of guard soldiers, presumably the
same military guard assigned to oversee the temple area security, to make the
tomb as secure as possible. So they went and sealed the stone over the grave of
the Lord and set guards over it (Matthew 27:66; 28:4). After the resurrection,
these men were paid off to keep the raising of Jesus a secret, which was widely
reported in the region (Matthew 28:11-15).
-*Application* The incident with the guards is yet another
opportunity missed to receive the truth of the gospel for the religious
leadership. It is kicking against the pricks and foolish to be faced with such
an obvious truth, yet reject it. We should not have stubborn hearts in pride that
are hard and inflexible. When God reveals Himself to you, don’t rationalize and
talk yourself out of His miracles. It is easier to do than we think. Receive all
His Spirit has for you and accept His Word spoken over you for fullness of joy.
Don’t be like these religious leaders who never could understand the ways of
the Lord and made excuses until it was too late.
Verse to Memorize-
Matthew 27:66
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