There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
Matthew 28:2
Before looking at the topic for the day, let’s review the time from Creation to Jesus. The Triune God had created man, who quickly fell into sin and therefore needed a way to be made right with Him. Our Creator chose the Hebrew people through whom to bestow laws to bring order. He atoned for sin through the sacrifice of innocent blood. Centuries later, God the Father sent His Son in human form to fulfill the law, bring the lifesaving message of the Gospel, die for the sins of the world, and be raised from the dead, so that the blood sacrifice could be made once and for all.
As we continue to celebrate the risen Savior today, we will dwell on further details found in Matthew 28:11–15. It is the only place that records what happened to the guards before and after the women came to the tomb.
Jesus was alive and had already vacated the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Guards had been assigned to watch over the closed entrance and were frozen in terror as an angel of the Lord came and, with earth-shaking power, rolled back the stone covering the entrance.
It is unclear what the guards did when the women came; perhaps they stayed incapacitated with fear. But after the women left, the men headed into the city to report what they had seen to the chief priests. This was a moment that could have changed the Jewish people for centuries to come. If only the religious leaders had believed instead of looked out for their own interests. They bribed the guards to lie. Jesus was once again betrayed for money.
The chief priests concocted a false story that, instead of a resurrection, there was a quiet invasion of body snatchers! The disciples were the guilty party, your honor. They had come in the night while the guards had fallen asleep on the job. They stole the body to make it look like Jesus had risen from the dead. This was the lie reported to the Roman governor and subsequently circulated among the Jews, who unfortunately believed it.
The reality then and now is simple: Jesus can only be one of three types of people. He was either liar, lunatic, or Lord. He cannot be a blend of the three choices. He couldn’t merely be a good man, rabbi, or prophet. He either lied about everything, was out of His mind, or He really was and is who He says He was and is.
Let me remind you again of the hundreds of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. The odds of Him fulfilling them all are simply astronomical. It’s a number our minds cannot fathom. He is indeed Lord!