By Joel Wier
SCRIPTURE
Matthew 27:57-66
When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered for it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the Tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
OBSERVATION
Earlier in Matthew 27 Jesus has been crucified. He is dead. Prophecy fulfilled. Now Pontius Pilate, the governor of Roman Judaea, gives the body that once was Jesus’ body to Joseph of Arimathea. In Matthew he says Joseph was a disciple of Jesus. In the gospel of Luke he says he is a member of the council, a good and righteous man. So, we know Joseph’s character. Joseph takes the body, prepares it for burial, rolls the stone in front of the tomb, his tomb, and then he leaves. We also see that he will sacrificially serve. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph were at the tomb and saw where Jesus was buried. Meanwhile, the chief priest and Pharisees approached Pilate because they were worried that the body would be stolen by Jesus’ disciples. They remembered what He had said, “After three days I will rise.” They were afraid that if Jesus’ body was stolen and people found out, Jesus would be a bigger nuisance to them than He was when He was alive. Then Pilate, the chief priest, and the Pharisees decide to guard the tomb so that no one would steal the body.
I want us to concentrate on what the Pharisees remember Jesus saying. Matthew 27:63— “After three days I will rise.”
- Joseph’s tomb has only been borrowed!
- Joseph’s tomb is about to be emptied!
- Jesus is about to rise just like He said!
- Death is about to be defeated!
1 Corinthians 15:55-57—O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
OBEDIENCE
Trust Him! He is alive! If we are His, death has no everlasting hold on us, and we do not live under the condemnation of sin. In John 15:4 Jesus says, “Abide in Me, and I in you,” so let’s live risen lives—lives that encourage and lift up each other through prayer and the reading of His Word. Live today to tell someone Jesus is risen and how He has changed your life.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, thank You that today I can live a victorious life because You gave Your Son to die for my sin, that I don’t have to spend today earning Your love because I know that it was by Your grace through trusting in You, that I have been saved. What a gift! Amen!
