So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. Matthew 27:66
Jesus died. A rich Jewish disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, worked up enough courage to go and ask Pilot for Jesus’ body so that it did not have to remain publicly displayed through the Jewish Sabbath. He, along with Nicodemus, respectfully washed and wrapped their friend’s body and placed it in Joseph’s own newly dug tomb.
The next morning some of the Pharisees and Chief Priests remembered the prophecy of resurrection and grew concerned that someone might take Jesus from His burial site and claim He rose again. To assure the highest level of ‘integrity’ Pilate agreed to seal the entrance and post a guard.
Man tries to control and manipulate the physical world, thus reaching into things spiritual. But these efforts are in vain. Man’s mortar or military CANNOT measure against the power and will of God. The sealed tomb wasn’t about the portal between life and death, in this instance a huge bolder, two guards and some quickcrete. It’s about control: God or man? The end of the story speaks for itself.
He is Risen!
Gretchen