Context: Jesus has died and his death was verified by a soldier's spear in his side. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. There was a huge earthquake which caused tombs to break open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. The centurion guarding Jesus exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
Text:
57As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. 58Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 59Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 63"Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."
65"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
taken from www.biblegateway.com
I find it interesting that the guards were more aware of Jesus' clalim that he would rise again than the apostles were! The apostles all seemed to be very surprised by the resurrection.
I wasn't sure how the Romans would seal a tomb, so I looked it up in the book, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict. This is a compilation of research and commentary designed to provide factual evidence that Christianity is truth. I thought maybe they poured a type of wax or sealant around the opening of the tomb to secure the rock in place. But apparently this was more of a mark of government protection. It is reported by many of the writers in this book that a seal over a tomb was more like a rope or ribbon that was stretched across the rock horizontally and was well secured on either side of it. This was then 'sealed' with the rings of the government official, sort of like the old sealing wax seals on envelopes. This seal marked the fact that the government was protecting this area and that no one should move the rock at the risk of punishment.
In addition, they posted a guard to protect the tomb. They took a proactive stance to ensure no one stole the body -- a chance to prove once and for all that this band of disciples were intent on deceit.
The government couldn't hold Jesus back then, and, as we see in many countries where Christianity is illegal, they can't hold him back now!
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