Page 100 - Life of Christ w videos

The day after Jesus’ burial, the
chief priests and Pharisees went to
Pilate to request that the stone
Joseph had placed in front of the
tomb be sealed, and a guard
posted, for three days. They cited
Jesus’ assertion that He would rise
after three days and claimed the
disciples might attempt to steal
the body in order to fabricate a
resurrection (Matthew 27:63–64).
Their precautions were for naught,
as Jesus rose from the dead on the
third day, just as He had predicted
(Matthew 28).
Gordon’s Tomb very close to Calvary
Matthew records that a conference of
priests, Pharisees and Pilate convened on the High Sabbath (the Day of Preparation) to discuss the claim
of Jesus that He would rise again on the third day after His death. These religious leaders were more
concerned about Jesus’ claim to rise after three days than their willingness to violate the Jewish Sabbath
with their involvement in such a meeting. Pilate allowed them a guard to watch the tomb as well as to
place a Roman seal on the stone covering the opening. Anyone found breaking the Roman seal would
suffer the punishment of an unpleasant death.

The Roman guard was a sixteen-man unit that was governed by very strict rules. Each member was
responsible for six square feet of space. The guard members could not sit down or lean against anything
while they were on duty. If a guard member fell asleep, he was beaten and burned with his own
clothes. But he was not the only one executed. The entire sixteen-man guard unit was executed if only
one of the members fell asleep on duty. For sure, they kept each other awake.

Welcome to the Garden Tomb

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