Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Matthew 27:65-66
This was the attempt by the enemies of Jesus to protect against the fear of a faked resurrection through a stolen body. The Jewish authorities actually did everything they legally could to STOP the resurrection of Christ. In so doing, they made the actual resurrection a much more compelling truth. They got a contingent of Roman soldiers from the governor to guard the tomb and they sealed the door of the tomb with a large stone, setting this guard over it. The stone was sealed and watched.
And the next time we read about that stone in Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 28:2), the stone has been rolled back from the tomb with an angel casually sitting on top of it! The guards are nowhere to be seen, and Jesus has risen from the dead, just as He said! They may have tried to stop it, but no way could they stand against the plan of God to raise His Son from the dead and complete the gospel for our salvation!
This completion of Jesus’ saving work was unstoppable because it had been God’s plan, revealed all through scripture, to accomplish our salvation forever. His love for us is unshakeable. Our redemption if full and complete and death is no longer the end of us for what our sins deserve. We have new life... eternal life... abundant life in our resurrected Savior Whom no stone could hold in a tomb and whose resurrection was unstoppable. And the new life He gives is also unstoppable. He will complete the good work He starts in us until they day when we stand before Him in resurrected bodies like His. Praise Him!
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