Robert Gorham Davis was a professor of English at Columbia University. After his retirement he spent his energies writing letters to the New York Times Editorial Section. He wrote many letters, usually prompted by any favorable mention of Christian truth. Anytime the New York Times made some mention of Christianity, he protested with a letter.
In one such letter he wrote, “Plainly if there were such a God who really wished to reveal Himself to mankind, He could do so in a way that left no doubt.”
Well, He did. God revealed Himself to mankind through His Son, and God left no doubt as to the revelation of Himself to mankind by His Son rising from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most amazing way God could have revealed Himself to us. And the facts are clear, the evidence is conclusive: Christ is risen from the dead.
Satan hates the Resurrection. He tried to cover it up by the lies and scheming of religious leaders and Roman soldiers, and he still tries to cover up the resurrection today. As a result, the true meaning of Easter is covered up with bunnies, eggs, candy, and baskets. But we must be careful and vigilant not to allow the world to cover up for us what this blessed holiday is all about.
Sure, Sealed, and Set
“Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done” (Matt. 28:11).
Matthew records, “Now when they were going.” The “they” are the women who had come to the tomb on Resurrection morning. An angel had appeared to them at the tomb and told them to tell the disciples that Christ was risen from the dead as He said, and that He was going before them into Galilee where they would see Him (vv. 5-8). As they went from the tomb, the Lord appeared to the women. And then He too told them to tell the disciples that He was risen and would meet them in Galilee.
Thus, verse 11 says, “Now when they were going,” meaning that these women were obeying the Lord and were on their way to deliver to the disciples this message of good news from the risen Savior.
People were moving in different directions on Resurrection morning. The women were on the move toward the disciples’ location, and “some of the watch,” or the Roman soldiers, were on the move as well “into the city” of Jerusalem to find the Jewish chief priests. Strange, isn’t it, that Roman soldiers would seek out the Jewish chief priests?
To answer that question, first we need to learn about the orders given to these soldiers.
“Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
“Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while He was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
“Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night, and steal Him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
“Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
“So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch” (Matt. 27:62-66).
After Christ’s death on the cross, the chief priests and Pharisees remembered Christ’s words that He would rise again after three days.
They requested from the Roman governor, Pilate, a watch, or a Roman guard unit, to be stationed at the tomb to ensure that the disciples didn’t try to steal Christ’s body and claim He rose again. Pilate granted the watch. So the Roman soldiers “went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”
Now, Roman guards were serious about what they were put in charge of guarding, because if a Roman soldier failed in his duty as a guard, it was an offense punishable by death. They faced certain and immediate execution. This was why the Philippian jailor was about to kill himself after the earthquake when he thought Paul and all the prisoners had escaped (Acts 16:26-29).
The punishment for failing on guard duty was for the soldier to be “stripped of his clothes, then burned alive in a fire started with the garments.” The fear of that punishment made guards very alert and mindful of their responsibilities.
Christian apologist, evangelist, and author Josh McDowell wrote this about a Roman watch: “A Roman guard unit was a 4-to-16-man security force. Each man was trained to protect six feet of ground. The 16 men in a square of four on each side were supposed to be able to protect 36 yards against an entire battalion and hold it. Normally what they did was this: four men were placed immediately in front of what they were to protect. The other 12 were asleep in a semi-circle in front of them with their heads pointing in. To steal what these guards were protecting, thieves would first have to walk over those who were asleep. Every four hours, another unit of four was awakened and those who had been awake went to sleep. They would rotate this way around the clock.”
We know the guard unit in front of Christ’s tomb was a multi-man force because Matthew recorded how “SOME of the watch came into the city” (Matt. 28:11) after the resurrection. “Some” implies several men of the Roman guard unit.
Matthew 27:66 tells us that the Roman guards “made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone.” Application of the Roman seal to the stone was key because it was a public testimony that Christ’s body was actually there. Before that seal was applied, each member of the guard unit would go in and verify that what they were guarding was there. Their lives depended on that. That seal tells us that Christ’s body was in that tomb.
After verifying that Christ’s body was in the tomb, the stone was rolled in place, and a cord was stretched across the rock covering the entrance. The cord was fastened at each side with sealing clay. While still soft, the clay packs were stamped with the official signet of the Roman governor.
Trying to move the stone from the tomb’s entrance would have broken the Roman seal, and thus incurred the judgment of Roman law and power. And the consequences were severe, that is, “automatic execution by crucifixion upside down.”
After inspecting the tomb, rolling the stone into place at the entrance, and sealing the stone, the Roman guards then set the watch and got themselves in place.
A Powerful Angel
“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
“His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow” (Matt. 28:2-3).
When Christ died, there was a great earthquake. His death in payment for sin was of such magnitude that it shook the world (Matt. 27:50-51). In Matthew 28:2, we see that when He rose again in victory over death, the chains of death were broken forever, and this too was of such magnitude that it literally shook the world. His death shook the world. His resurrection shook the world. Verse 2 calls it “a great earthquake.” The word “great” is megas in the Greek, so we would say that it was a mega-quake. That is to say, it was a supernatural earthquake, and a severe one.
It wasn’t any shifting of the tectonic plates in the earth’s crust that caused the earthquake. It wasn’t any physical phenomenon at all. It was the result of the arrival of the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven to roll the stone away. The earthquake was not caused by Christ coming out of the tomb. It was caused by the arrival of the angel coming to the already-empty tomb. The angel did not come to let Christ out. When the angel arrived, Christ was already gone. He had already risen. In Christ’s resurrected, glorified body, He could simply move right through the rock, which He did when He left the tomb.
We learn that the angel didn’t move the stone to let Christ out. The angel moved the stone to let the world in, so all could see that Christ was gone. The angel moved the stone so that the women and the apostles could go in and give eyewitness testimony to the fact that Christ wasn’t there.
You gotta love this angel. When he comes, he comes in power, and there’s a great earthquake. He then single-handedly rolls that great stone some distance from the entrance of the tomb, and then he sits on it. That stone being removed from that door showed death had been conquered forever, that we are free forever from bondage through the fear of death (Heb. 2:15). That stone was a symbol of the sin that shut man in prison and condemned him to death. But now Christ had conquered sin and the grave. Nothing was going to change this fact. And in exultation at Christ’s victory, this angel sat on that stone. He sat on it as a divine testimony to Christ’s once-for-all, finished sacrifice for sin and His triumphant resurrection over death.
Shaky Soldiers
“And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men” (Matt. 28:4).
When the angel appeared and the earthquake occurred, and he moved the stone and sat on it, Matthew 28:4 records that the guards shook. The Greek word translated “shake” (seio) comes from the Greek word for “earthquake” in verse 2 (seismos). One could say that the guards had their own seismic experience. The ground quaked and then they quaked and shook out of sheer terror from seeing this heavenly angel.
Roman soldiers were acquainted with the terrors of battle. They were not easily shaken emotionally. But the angel’s shining countenance, coupled with the earthquake, paralyzed the “keepers,” the Roman guard. They were struck with such fear that they went into a comatose state, and they fainted “and became as dead men.” The angel never speaks to these guards. It was just his powerful presence that overwhelmed these rough and tough Roman legionnaires.
As soon as they regained consciousness, the soldiers checked the tomb, which they found empty except for the graveclothes lying as they were when they were wrapped around the Lord’s body, and the head napkin folded neatly to the side (Jn. 20:5-7). The soldiers saw and examined the entire scene.
“Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done” (Matt. 28:11).
Then some of the guards came into the city of Jerusalem to talk to the chief priests and to report to them all that had happened. Only “some” of them came because the others probably feared for their lives and were in hiding. The “some” who did come were shrewd. They did not report to their superior officers or to Governor Pilate; instead they reported to the Jewish chief priests. They reported to the men who were as anxious as they were to cover up what had happened.
They reported to “the chief priests all the things that were done.” And “all things that were done” included the earthquake, the appearance of the angel, the angel moving the stone away from the entrance to the tomb by himself and then sitting on it, and how, after this, they fainted. Then they reported that, after they came to, the tomb was empty, except for the graveclothes. The chief priests, therefore, received word of Christ’s resurrection before the disciples did. The religious leaders already knew while the women were still on their way to the disciples.
A Bribe and a Lie
“And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
“Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept.
“And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you” (Matt. 28:12-14).
In verse 12 we read, “when they [the chief priests] were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel.” The chief priests immediately called for a formal, emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin, the 70-man ruling body of the Jewish religious leaders. The firsthand facts from the soldiers were shared: the tomb is empty and they’ve got to do something about it. They assembled to consult together, that together they might come to a satisfactory resolution.
First they decided to bribe the soldiers to lie: “they gave large money unto the soldiers” (v. 12). They couldn’t have the soldiers going around saying there was an earthquake, an angel who rolled the stone away, and then that the tomb was empty. Today we would call this hush money.
The Greek word for money in verse 12 means silver coinage. The Jewish leaders gave the soldiers a large sum of silver money. They had bought Judas off for the sum of 30 pieces of silver; now they had to pay much more, but there was no price too high to buy a lie about this. This information could not come out. One would think that the resurrection would soften the hearts of the religious leaders to believe, but instead it hardened their hearts. They were determined in their unbelief.
Second, the Jewish religious leaders decided that, in return for the large sum of money, the soldiers were to spread a lie: “Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept” (v. 13). These religious leaders of Israel were desperate to come up with a story to explain the empty tomb and deter people from faith in Christ. The body was stolen. This was the only lie that worked. Nothing else works but this, because you have to offer a natural explanation for an empty tomb. But their cover-up proves the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The lie to be made known was “Well, we were all asleep when the disciples came in the middle of the night and stole His body.” However, the question that logically raises is “If you were asleep, how do you know His disciples came during the night and stole His body away?” You can’t have it both ways. You can’t be asleep and also know who took Him.
Another reason for the large bribe was that the religious leaders were asking the soldiers to incriminate themselves and to admit to sleeping while on guard duty in violation of Roman military law, which, as previously stated, was punishable by death.
For this reason, the third thing the religious ruling body decided was to assure the soldiers of their protection, telling them, “And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.” They were good at that, persuading Governor Pilate. Pilate was like putty in their hands. When Pilate was resistant to crucifying Christ, they kept working on him and worked the crowd into a frenzy against him: “the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend” (Jn. 19:12). As we know, the weak-kneed Pilate ultimately relented and commanded Christ to be crucified. Thus, if Pilate tried to take action to execute the soldiers, the chief priests knew they could go to him and keep the soldiers out of trouble.
“So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day” (Matt. 28:15).
Confident that the chief priests could do this and keep them safe, we learn in verse 15 that the soldiers took the large sum of money and did what they had been “taught.” The Jewish leaders had a number of soldiers that all needed to be telling the exact same story. They needed to go over the details of the cover-up and the lie so that one soldier wasn’t saying one thing and another was saying something different. As we say today, they needed to be on the same page. Thus, they were “taught” the lie carefully.
The leaders feared that the Resurrection was going to be preached and believed. They knew the news that the tomb was empty was going to spread, so they had to spread the lie quickly and widely. As Mark Twain once said, “A little lie can travel half way ’round the world while Truth is still lacing up her boots.” The Resurrection cover-up lie of the disciples stealing the body went out far and wide. Matthew, writing years later, confirms that it was still a prominent story believed by the Jews in that day, even though it was ridiculous.
The soldiers, who knew better, lied. The religious leaders, who knew better, lied. Satan, who is the father of lies, still propagates lies about the Resurrection today, and people still believe them.
Here are a few lies about the resurrection. There’s the “Wrong Tomb Theory,” that says the reason the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty was that the women went to the wrong tomb. However, two of the women had watched where He was buried the day of His crucifixion and knew where the tomb was (Matt. 27:61). This would mean that not only did the women go to the wrong tomb, but so did Peter and John when they ran to the tomb later (Jn. 20:3-4). And the right tomb would have been located after a while, especially by the Lord’s enemies who would have wanted to disprove the resurrection. Obviously, Joseph of Arimathea and the Roman soldiers knew which tomb contained the Lord’s body.
There’s the “Swoon Theory,” that Christ didn’t really die on the cross and just fainted from exhaustion. He was buried alive, and so later He came to and left the tomb on His own.
“A woman wrote [pastor and radio preacher] J. Vernon McGee, ‘Our preacher said that on Easter Jesus just swooned on the cross, and the disciples nursed him back to health. What do you think?’
“McGee replied, ‘Dear Sister, beat your preacher with a leather whip for thirty-nine heavy strokes. Nail him to a cross. Hang him in the sun for six hours. Run a spear through his heart. Embalm him. Put him in an airless tomb for three days. Then see what happens.’”
You may have heard the “Hallucination Theory.” This theory states that people only thought they had seen the resurrected Christ and had just hallucinated. However, mass hallucinations do not exist, and numbers of people together in the same place saw the risen Christ. There were too many different people in too many different places at too many different times and circumstances to be able to have that many hallucinations. And if the risen Christ were a hallucination, there would have been a body in the tomb.
Then there’s the “Stolen Body Theory” of Matthew 28:12-15 that began on Resurrection Day, a theory which is still believed by some. However, the disciples weren’t plotting how to steal the Lord’s body, they were hiding in fear of their lives.
He is Risen Indeed
What we have here in Matthew 28:11-15 is an account of Christ’s resurrection from the viewpoint of His enemies. The Holy Spirit, in the wisdom of God, gives us this angle as proof of the truth. Critics and doubters of the Resurrection may question the accounts by Christ’s friends, saying that of course they’re going to lie and say He rose again, because they were His friends. So unbelievers might dismiss the testimony of His followers. But it’s pretty hard to dismiss the testimony of His enemies! The last thing the Jewish leaders wanted was a resurrection and an empty tomb, but this is exactly what they got, and the elaborate cover-up is proof that the Resurrection really happened.
Christ’s followers give strong testimony to His resurrection in their eyewitness accounts, and His enemies give strong testimony to it in the plot to cover it up. Any and every way you look at it, Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Praise God that He did! His resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. The fact that Christ came out of that tomb is an everlasting proof of the sufficiency of His sacrifice for our sins and that our sin debt was paid in full, and that we will spend eternity in the heavenly places. As we are reminded in 2 Corinthians 4:14,
“Knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus.”
