12 Apr 21 Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Reason #5
This is an excerpt from Pastor Mark’s new book “Alive: 21 Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ” as we count down to Easter. To get your physical copy, CLICK HERE to give a gift of any amount in the month of April to RealFaith to help us get more Bible teaching out. For a FREE digital copy, CLICK HERE. Thank you in advance for your generosity to help us tell more and more people about Jesus.
Matthew 27:65 – Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.”
Reason #5: Jesus’ tomb was guarded by the Roman government.
From what we read in Matthew 27, Pilate, who conceded to the crowd that wanted Jesus sentenced to death, went to extra lengths to guarantee that Jesus’ tomb was not tampered with.
As the governor, he ordered that a large stone that would be very difficult to remove be rolled over the tomb. Then they affixed the Roman seal on it meaning that it was property of the government and tampering with it was a federal crime. Lastly, soldiers were posted on guard in front of the tomb.
This is what Matthew says about the process, “Pilate said…‘You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.’ So they went out and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard” (Matthew 27:65-66).
In the end, any attempt to discredit Jesus’ resurrection with accounts of someone stealing the body or otherwise tampering with the tomb clearly ignores the facts.
Imagine what Jesus’ followers thought when they realized that this tomb, which was being guarded by the government, was empty. Read John 20:1-10 to learn more about this.
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