A Sabbath without Rest

Matthew 27:66 ~ "So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard."

How do you seal up the King of kings? Apparently by violating the Sabbath and posting guards at the tomb where He lay.

After the death of the Lord Jesus, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate, the governor, and sought to have the tomb sealed and guards posted. However, one of the great complaints that the Pharisees had against the Lord was His apparent continual violation of the Sabbath. John 5:16 states, "And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath." Consider also Mark 3:2, "And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him." Now, however, they violated their own rules for the Sabbath by going to Pilate and then posting guards at the tomb. In contrast to the Pharisees, the women who followed Jesus observed the Sabbath requirement, "The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment" (Luke 23:55-56). 

Why is this of such importance? Because those who oppose Christ will do anything, even violating their own made-up rules, to keep Jesus from rising. Even today, there are those who are so adamant against Jesus, that though He is already risen from the grave, they hope to somehow wall Him off and keep Him sealed against all who might discover that He is alive and able to redeem. We see this in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16, "For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved." 

And now, consider something else. The Pharisees and chief priests knew--they absolutely knew--that Jesus said He would rise three days after His death. He died on Friday (Passover), rested on Saturday (Sabbath), and rose from the grave on Sunday (forever known, now, as the Lord's Day). Even the Lord's own disciples struggled with the notion that Jesus could return from death. Somehow, though, the Lord's enemies feared it. At every turn, Jesus proved Himself to be always true. Everything He said He would do, He did. And now, though they had killed the Lord of Glory, they actually did all they could to make sure He stayed put--that Jesus remained in the grave. They told Pilate that they feared the disciples to come and steal the body (see Matthew 27:64). They called Jesus an impostor (see Matthew 27:63). But they were eyewitnesses to His miracles. Consider Matthew 21:14-15, "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' they were indignant." 

So what do the Pharisees do with the Man they hate and fear all at the same time? They have Him executed and then seal His tomb and guard it lest He prove that He is truly the Lord of life. Even now, the enemies of God want to keep Jesus in the grave, to keep Him from rising in the hearts and lives of those who have yet to believe. They do all they can to seal Him away, hide Him from the world and guard against His resurrection proving true to those who are longing for redemption.

But, dear Christian, the sealed tomb did not hold Jesus. The guards did not prevent His resurrection. And the enemy still fears the truth--that Jesus is the Lord of life and has the power to do all that He has promised. Stand confident, beloved, for Jesus rested on the Sabbath and He has risen from the grave.

In His Grace,
​Pastor Michael

---