Then in Mark 9 verse 9, “He came down the mountain after the transfiguration. He said, Don’t tell anybody what you’ve seen until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” Verse 10, “And they kept that saying to themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.”
Listen, you don’t have to be Phi Beta Kappa to know what that means, I understand that. It means He’s going to rise from the dead. But, see, they couldn’t handle that, the physical thing, because they couldn’t handle that He would ever die. So they were…it was mystical to them.
Then down in the same chapter, verse 31, “He taught His disciples and said to them, The Son of Man is delivered to the hands of men, they’ll kill Him. And after He’s killed He’ll rise the third day. But they understood not that saying and were afraid to ask Him.” They just didn’t understand it. Chapter 10 verse 33, we go to Jerusalem, “The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests, the scribes, they’ll condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles. They’ll mock Him, scourge Him, spit on Him, kill Him, the third day He’ll rise again.” They still don’t get the message. They still do not understand what He’s really talking about. They’re in the dark about it. In fact in John 20 verse 9 it says, “When they came into the empty tomb, as yet they knew not the Scripture that He must rise again from the dead.” Boy, what blockheads. It just never occurred that He was speaking about a real death and a real resurrection. The Jews, of course, thought He was claiming that which He couldn’t pull off, but they were afraid the disciples would have thought just like they did, that He really meant that and so to keep their movement alive they would come and steal the body.
So to prevent that, they go to Pilate and they say, “We want a guard and we want that guard put on the grave so that the disciples are unable to come and steal away the body.” Or else…the end of verse 64, “The last error shall be worse than the first.” Or the last deception…that deceiver who will be allowed another deception and it will be worse than the first one. What was the first deception? He comes riding into the city on the colt, the foal of an ass, the garments and the branches and everything is thrown at His feet. Jesus comes riding into the city, hosanna, hosanna, halleluiah to the Son of David, you know, and blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. They were giving Him all the Messianic accolades as He came into the city and the Jews saw that as a tremendous deception. The whole crowd, the whole city has gone out to Jesus. They’re deceived. They think He’s the Messiah.
Listen, what they’re saying to Pilate is this, “If you think that caused an uproar and you think that caused a problem, you just watch what happens if the disciples are able to fabricate the fact that He rose from the dead. So they say give us a guard so we can make sure they don’t steal His body.
Verse 65, “Pilate said to them, You have a guard.” Or it may be imperative…Take a guard. Either way it’s the same thing. He gave them a Roman guard. “Go your way and make it as secure as you can.” And it’s just…he wants to brush it off. He’s had enough of the whole thing. He just says here’s your guard, get out of here and make that grave as secure as you possibly can.
And then verse 66, “So they went and made the grave, or sepulcher, secure, sealing the stone and setting a guard.” Now sealing the stone doesn’t mean they sealed it with glue or something. What that means is that they probably put some wax on the stone and some wax on the wall of the cave and ran some string and sealed the wax so that if anybody moved the stone, they would have to break the string and they would know it was violated. And that wax may have been stamped with a Roman imprimatur so that they would know they were violating Roman law. It was a way to make sure there was nothing done to take the body out. And then they set in front of the grave a group of Roman soldiers, very secure.
Now get this. This is all the work of the chief priests and the Pharisees and Pilate and the soldiers. No miracles, no miracles. But you say, “What significance does it have?” Oh, it has all the significance in the world. You see what they’re doing? You see what they’re doing? There are people today who still want to say, “Oh, if the body of Jesus was gone the disciples stole it.” Listen, God made sure that a whole lot of pagans, a whole lot of people who rejected and hated Jesus Christ set it up so that there was no way possible for the disciples to steal His body or anybody else either. And if that in fact is the case, the only way He could have come out of there was by what? Resurrection. So again He uses the wrath of men to praise Him. The Jewish leaders by their hatred of Jesus, Pilate by his scorn and indifference, wanting to slough it all off, make it secure.
Do you know what would have happened if there was no guard and no seal? Nobody was watching the tomb and all of a sudden we were trying to preach a message that Jesus rose from the dead and somebody would say, “Don’t give me that, it never happened. They just took His body and somebody took on His identity and somebody who looked like Him made a few appearances and so forth and so forth and so forth.” But the unbelieving world itself made sure that there’s no other explanation for the absent body of Jesus Christ except a resurrection. If no seal and no guard, the resurrection could have been explained as a grave robbery. But not after this. And the wrath of these Christ haters has led them to secure that grave to the extent that there’s no other explanation than a resurrection. And later on, by the way, we’ll see in chapter 28 the soldiers were bribed to deny the resurrection….which is another testimony to its reality. Do you see how God is working in everything? He used Joseph of Arimathea providentially to fulfill prophecy. He used the two Marys providentially to give first-hand testimony to the resurrection. And He used the chief priests and the Pharisees providentially to give forceful proof that Jesus indeed rose from the dead.
Now listen carefully. How does this relate to you and me? Do you know this verse? “For we know that all things work together for…what?…good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Does that come to you with new meaning now? Do you understand what that says? All things are controlled by God to work together to fulfill His eternal purpose for His own beloved children which is their good. I mean, that is a marvelous thing. This idea of God’s sovereignty and God’s providence is not some distant doctrine only for theologians. I mean, this is where the rubber meets the road, folks. It’s when you can’t explain the trouble you’re going through that you need to understand the providential power of a sovereign God who takes every bit of the diverse data of the universe and controls it all for your good and His glory and eternal purpose. Is that comforting? It doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter what it is. And He demonstrated His ability to do it in the death and burial of Jesus Christ…glorious thing.
Whatever happens in your life, whatever you can’t understand, whatever you struggle with, whatever doesn’t make sense, whatever trials you may be going through to make it very personal to me, it all fits. It’s unquestioned, it all fits. I ask no questions. This is it. This is part of it. God is doing it. He’s at work. It’s for His glory. It’s for our good. He’s in control. He hasn’t abandoned His throne. And our hope and our confidence is in the God who providentially and if need by miraculously controls all things to His own intended and eternal purpose. Let’s pray.
Our Father, it is our testimony that You are indeed a glorious God…a God who controls all things by the word of His power. We thank You, O God, for the fact that nothing happens outside the framework of Your eternal purpose. You are sovereign in everything, everything. That is why the Apostle Paul says, “In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you.” It all moves together for Your glory and the good of Your beloved children. We praise You for Your infinite mind to make it all happen according to plan. And may we rejoice no matter what it is to know that the plan is unaltered and that we are moving on that path toward that perfect fulfillment. Thank You, Father, for that confidence, for Christ’s sake. Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
