Now
on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
Matthew 27:62-66
Matthew 27 [50.] Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
Matthew 27 [55.] Many women were there watching from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. When evening had come, a rich man from Arimathaea, named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus’ disciple came. This man went to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given up. Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed. Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb. Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
Matthew 27 [65.] Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone.
Matthew 28 [1.] Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”
Meaning:
Jesus had been buried late on Friday in Joseph’s rock tomb, with a great stone rolled across the door, while Mary Magdalene and the other Mary watched (Matthew 27:56-61). Only Matthew tells what happened next, and his account prepares for the story of the guards after the resurrection (Matthew 28:11-15).
- “the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day”
The Preparation Day was Friday, when everything was made ready for the Sabbath. So this meeting took place on the Sabbath itself. The chief priests and Pharisees, who had accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, now went on the holy day to a Gentile governor to arrange a military guard.
- “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive”
They call Jesus “that deceiver,” yet they remembered his words better than his own disciples did. Jesus had said publicly, “as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). He had also said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). To his disciples he had spoken even more plainly that he would “be killed, and the third day be raised up” (Matthew 16:21).
- “lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away”
The leaders feared a story of resurrection, which they would call “the last deception.” Ironically, the guard they requested would make a stolen body even less believable. Later, when the tomb was found empty, they would bribe the soldiers to spread the very story they had foreseen: “Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” (Matthew 28:13).
- “You have a guard. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
Pilate’s reply may mean that they could use their own temple guard, or that he granted them Roman soldiers. They sealed the stone, probably with a cord fixed with clay or wax across the stone and the rock, so that any tampering would be seen. Centuries earlier, when Daniel was thrown to the lions, a stone was laid on the den and the king “sealed it with his own signet” (Daniel 6:17).
The seal, the stone and the soldiers were the best security that human power could provide. But as Proverbs says, “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh” (Proverbs 21:30). Peter would later preach that God raised Jesus “because it was not possible that he should be held by it” (Acts 2:24).
The Significance of Matthew 27:62-66
- Unbelief remembers but does not trust
The leaders knew exactly what Jesus had promised, yet they worked to stop it instead of considering whether it might be true. Knowing the words of Jesus is not the same as believing them.
- God’s purposes cannot be sealed in
No seal or guard could hold Jesus then, and no argument can hold him now. Their precautions became evidence that he had risen.
Cross-References:
Matthew 12:40: "so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The promise the leaders remembered.
Matthew 28:13: "Say that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept." The story they later spread.
Daniel 6:17: "the king sealed it with his own signet," Another sealed stone that could not stop God.
Conclusion: On the Sabbath the chief priests and Pharisees asked Pilate to secure Jesus’ tomb, because they remembered his promise to rise after three days. With Pilate’s permission they sealed the stone and set a guard. Their precautions only made the coming resurrection more certain, for no human power could hold the Son of God in the grave.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible