62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
The soldiers guarded the tomb in 27:62-66. Matthew is the only gospel that includes this section.
27:62
On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,
The “next day” refers to the day after the crucifixion. The gathering would have taken place after six o’clock in the evening when, in the Jewish system, the next day began. This meeting would have been on the Sabbath.
27:63
saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’
This is the only place in the gospel where people call Jesus “deceiver.” Jesus’ deception according to them was that He misled people in saying He would rise from the dead three days after His death.
27:64
Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”
These religious leaders did not believe that Jesus would rise from the dead. They asked Pilate to place soldiers at the tomb so Jesus’ disciples could not steal His body and give the impression that He rose from the dead.
They calculated the timing based on Jesus’ statements about when He would rise from the dead. Evidently they thought that if they made a claim that Jesus rose on the fourth day, it would discredit His “three-day” statement. They were concerned about Jesus’ influence.
27:65
Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.”
There was a guard of Roman soldiers at the tomb already. Pilate had little interest in the issue of Jesus’ antagonists.
27:66
So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.
They attached official Roman seals to the stone at the tomb. Roman soldiers no doubt insured that Jesus’ body was present in the tomb before sealing it.
PRINCIPLE:
The tomb makes Jesus’ death official, which would validate the reality of His resurrection.
APPLICATION:
Many people clearly understand statements of Jesus but definitely reject them as true. Others go further in attributing manipulation to Jesus’ resurrection. God used the skepticism of religious leaders against them. The zeal of Jesus’ enemies to seal the tomb only proved its reality. With seals on the tomb and Roman guards outside the tomb, there was no chicanery possible. It is hard to argue, as some try to do today, that the disciples stole Jesus’ body.
