The Bible Study Hour

Guest (Male): Christ's enemies and his detractors were well aware of his promise to rise again on the third day, and they did everything in their power to stop it, including sealing the entrance and posting guards at the tomb.

Welcome to The Bible Study Hour, a radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically. As Jesus' enemies work to prevent his resurrection, those who were closest to him, who daily sat under his teaching, seemed oblivious to our Lord's promise that the tomb would only hold him until the third day. Join Dr. Boice as he looks at the characters surrounding the death and resurrection of our Lord and the significance of their actions leading up to the third day.

Dr. James Boice: It's a strange fact about Christianity, but one that we can easily observe, that the gospel is sometimes better understood by those who are not Christians than by those who are. It's not that those who are not Christians believe it—they probably disbelieve it—but at least they understand what it's about, while those who are Christians and do believe sometimes appear vague and muddle-headed in their confession.

We certainly have an example of that in the passage which is our text because while those who were Christ's disciples were confused about his death and were scattering back to their homes, those who were his enemies reflected clearly on the things that he had been teaching during the days of his earthly ministry and began to guard against any misunderstanding, misuse, or destructive tendency of Christ's gospel.

In particular, they were afraid of the resurrection. It wasn't that they believed in the resurrection, though I believe they feared it, but they did remember that he had said while he was alive that he would rise again on the third day. And therefore, lest there be any accident, anything that would be destructive to them and their place in society, they determined to do everything in their power to see that nothing happened. And so what they did was go to Pilate, who was in charge of such things, and remind Pilate of this particular teaching and ask that the tomb of Jesus Christ be sealed and that soldiers be posted as a guard.

Matthew tells about it, Matthew 27, verse 62 and following: "The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 'Sir,' they said, 'we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise again." So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.'"

I don't know what Pilate thought when he heard that request, but I suspect that he must have been amused. Obviously, if Christ was only a man, a mere man, then it wasn't necessary to guard him; he was dead. On the other hand, if he was God, as he claimed to be and perhaps about which Pilate himself had some intimation because of the trial, then all of the guards and all of the seals in the world would never keep him down. But he granted their request. He said, "Take a guard, go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." And that's what they did. They went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting a guard.

I find those verses very interesting. In the first place, they show as I've already indicated that these enemies of our Lord understood something about his teaching—not merely something even, but perhaps in some ways the most important thing about his teaching. Because connected with his prophecy of the resurrection and the doctrine of the resurrection is involved practically all of the great truths of the Christian religion.

You have to remember that this phrase "in three days" or "on the third day" was something that had been cropping up again and again throughout Christ's ministry and which had figured prominently in the trial. We read about it in all of the gospels, that they tried to find something about which they could accuse him, but they failed in the attempt even though many false witnesses were brought. Then something happened. The time came in the trial when two witnesses stood up and testified to something that was very serious indeed.

Matthew tells us about it in chapter 26, verses 60 and 61: "Finally," says Matthew, "two came forward and declared, 'This fellow said, "I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days."'" Mark gives another version of it. He writes: "Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 'We heard him say, "I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days I will build another not made by man."'" That's very interesting and it was so for two reasons.

First of all, it was apparently true—at least parts of it were true. The very fact that this accusation was made by two witnesses testifying, presumably independently of one another, indicates that it had some substance. They didn't agree verbally, word for word, in what Christ had said. This is perhaps the reason why the accusation was later dismissed, but obviously, he had said something along these lines.

There's another indication that it was probably true, and that is that this phrase "in three days" or "on the third day" occurs again and again throughout the pages of the gospel in all kinds of settings. Apparently, it was a very dominant aspect of Christ's teaching. The phrase "in three days" occurs 10 times in the gospels. The phrase "on the third day" occurs 12 times in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and twice more later on in the New Testament.

Having said that, however, I suspect that the real reason why this was so important and the evidence that it was true is that it really did point to the essence of Christ's claim about himself. In other words, it's not only that it was true, it was significant. In what way was it significant? Well, it was significant in terms of the trial in that it could be construed as an offense for which the death penalty had been assigned.

It could be construed as sorcery, for example, because if Jesus said, "I'm going to tear the temple down and rebuild it in three days," how could he possibly do that apart from what we would call perhaps black magic? Or again, it could be construed as sacrilege. The temple was the most holy place of Judaism. To tear the temple down would be to desecrate holy things. The penalty for both of those things was death.

And yet I wonder as I read that whether even at this point of the trial, Caiaphas and the others didn't understand that when Jesus spoke about the third day, what he was really saying was that on the third day, even though you kill me, put me to death, on the third day I'm going to rise again and by that resurrection demonstrate that I am indeed the one I claim to be, the Son of God who has come to give his life a ransom for many.

I don't know that they ever confessed that openly at the time of the trial, but I suspect that there's an indication of it in the way the trial went. Because you know it went like this in the Jewish court: first there were the false witnesses and they couldn't establish their testimony. It was obviously vain testimony, the kind to be thrown out. Then the two witnesses came with their reference to Christ's claim about doing something to the temple and building it up again in three days.

And although there was substance to that, they couldn't quite establish that because the details didn't go together and didn't quite fit the requirements of Jewish law. Caiaphas, the high priest who was sitting there and listening to it all, sensed—we feel this, don't we—that he knew what it was about. He knew the nature of Christ's claim, and although they couldn't establish his guilt judicially, he determined that he was going to establish it anyway.

And so in his questioning, which was illegal, he went to the heart of the matter and he asked Christ whether he was really the Christ, the Son of God, that is the divine Messiah. Of course, that is what he had claimed to be. And so when the question was put to him in that way by the high priest, Christ accepted it. He said, "You've spoken the truth. That is precisely the case. And furthermore, you are going to see the Son of Man one day coming in the clouds of heaven with his holy angels."

At that point, Caiaphas tore his garment. He said, "What need do we have of further witnesses? You've heard his blasphemy. He's worthy of death." See what I'm saying? I'm saying that in this little incident that we have at the very end of Matthew 27, we obviously have an indication that these men understood what Christ had been saying. Isn't that strange, that the enemies of the gospel often understand these things far better than Christian people?

There's something else that these words indicate, and that's even more significant. Not only did they understand the teaching, they feared the teacher. Oh, they wouldn't have said that. I'm sure they wouldn't have said, "We're afraid he might rise from the dead." Dead men don't rise after all, everybody knows that. They said instead, "Well, maybe his disciples will come and steal him away."

But deep down underneath, who was it they really feared? Was it the disciples, that insignificant band of cowardly men who didn't even have the courage to stand by their Lord at the time of the arrest and the trial and who scattered at the crucifixion? Who were nowhere around, couldn't be found? Was it really that weak, insignificant band they feared, or did they really fear the master?

All the details of that last week in Jerusalem showed that they really feared him. The use of Judas in the trial is an indication of that. Why did they have to use Judas after all? Two answers are usually given to that question. The first answer is that they had to use Judas because they didn't know where Christ was hiding and Judas was necessary to bring them to his hiding place. The second answer is that they used Judas so they could arrest Christ secretly for fear of the people.

Those seem good until you examine them in a little greater detail. How about this matter of Christ being in hiding? The difficulty with that explanation is that Christ wasn't in hiding. He had come up from Jericho to Bethany openly on the Friday before the Passover and there had raised Lazarus from the dead in the midst of a great crowd as they all stood around the grave.

Next day was the Sabbath and we're told that men and women came from the areas roundabout to see him and to talk with Lazarus who had been raised. And the next day, Palm Sunday, he entered into Jerusalem ostentatiously. And crowds went with him as they were going up to the feast. The lambs were there being taken up to be killed for the sacrifice. The people came out of Jerusalem; he could hardly have done things more openly.

And on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, he went back and forth in and out of the city; he cleansed the temple openly. Wasn't any difficulty in knowing where Christ was. They wished he had been in hiding during that particular week. Now some people say, "Well, the matter is this: he was popular and they wanted to arrest him when the people weren't there to cause trouble."

There is some substance to that. Obviously, he was popular, at least in a superficial way. Obviously, they were afraid of the people. They didn't want an uprising. The leaders confessed as much. They said if there's trouble, the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. But that's hardly an adequate explanation for the use of Judas. All they had to do was lie in wait for him somewhere on the road to Bethany where he went back and forth every day of Passover week, or for that matter, they could have gone to Bethany and arrested him there on the sly. Why would they pay Judas money to point out Christ's whereabouts?

Well, Frank Morrison, a lawyer who wrote a book years ago entitled *Who Moved the Stone?*, suggests what I believe to be the right answer. And it's something like this: they had tried to arrest Christ earlier. Many incidents of that. On one occasion, they sent the temple guards. They said arrest him and bring him back to us. And the temple guards went; they heard Christ's teaching and they came back without him.

The leaders said, "Where is he? Why haven't you brought him?" They gave an answer that is just incredible for soldiers. They said, "No man ever spake like this man." They'd sent the guards, but the guards were overpowered simply by Christ's words. Or again, they tried to take him on another occasion about which John tells us, and he says he simply escaped out of their hand and he hid himself. Or again, they tried to do that and Jesus, passing through the midst of them, went on his way.

You see, they had tried to arrest him and they'd failed. Coupled with that was the problem of his miracles. They didn't deny his miracles later in the ministry; at the beginning they did. They said the man's a charlatan, these things are fake. Later on, they said they're not fake; it's obvious that he's really doing these things, but he's doing them by the power of the devil. And then they came to the end and Christ did the stupendous miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus.

It was the talk of the town. And isn't it true that somewhere in their thinking there was the idea that perhaps although they would like to arrest him, he just might be unarrestable? And that explains the use of Judas because Judas came to them and said, "You know, I have been with him in the upper room and he's talking about death. He's not talking about anything triumphant. He's not talking about driving out the Romans or bringing in the kingdom; he's talking about dying."

And I think the mood of surrender is on him. I think if you would go now, suddenly, quickly, and seize him, that he'd submit to your arresting party. And so on the basis of that information from Judas, the informer, the betrayer, they set in motion all of the machinery of this very, very quick trial for which they were obviously unprepared and almost failed in were it not for the brilliance of Caiaphas who asked the question that was interpreted in Christ's answer as blasphemy.

You see, they were afraid and they were afraid right up to the end and even beyond the end. Because isn't it true as we read these verses, even though they wouldn't have admitted it, even though they don't articulate it for anybody to pick it up, for a witness to record it and put it down in the pages of the gospel, isn't it true that they really were afraid that he might do something? That he just might raise himself from the dead or some kind of miracle would take place that would be absolutely shattering?

And of course, that is exactly what he did. They set their seal, they posted their soldiers, they held their hands, and this one who is more than a man, this one who had said of himself, "I am the resurrection and the life," simply broke their seal, scattered their guards, and rose triumphant on that first Easter morning.

You know, we sing about that in a great hymn: "Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior; vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose with a mighty triumph o'er his foes; he arose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!"

And he did something else too. He established that day, not as the day of mourning which it would have been otherwise, but as that great day of deep worship, vigorous activity, and Christian vigorous celebration which has characterized the church down through all the ages of church history.

I wonder if you've ever noticed that every great event connected with the founding of the Christian church took place either on this first Easter Sunday or on subsequent Sundays. Lewis Sperry Chafer, who has written a book on grace, has a section in that book where he talks about the events that took place on that first Easter. Let me just list some of them for you. First and most obvious, Jesus arose from the dead on Easter Sunday and that became the basis of the church's faith and creed.

Secondly, Jesus ascended into heaven for the first time on that first Easter Sunday. We have a record of that in John 20. Mary Magdalene was there in the garden; she had sought to hold him. He said, "Don't hold me now because I'm not yet ascended to my Father, but I'm ascending to him. In the meantime, you run and tell his disciples that I'm risen from the dead."

We mustn't think that Jesus was hiding out during those 40 days between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven, popping out suddenly from behind a tree to surprise the disciples. He was the resurrected Christ; he passed to and fro from heaven. And here he ascended into heaven for the first time since the incarnation on that day.

Third, he appeared to the disciples for the first time on that first Easter Sunday and bequeathed them his great benefit of peace. "Peace I leave with you," he said. He gave them all of those blessings. They weren't at peace; they were troubled men. They weren't rejoicing; they were bothered and were filled with fear. He bestowed peace and gave them a cause for rejoicing.

Number four, Jesus first broke bread with his disciples on that day. It happened twice, once on the way to Emmaus where he met with the Emmaus disciples and broke bread and was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. Again, that same evening back in Jerusalem as he met with the disciples and as he ate and drank in order to show that it was a real tangible body, not any figment of their imagination.

Number five, on the first day of the week, Jesus opened the understanding of the disciples to know the scriptures. Luke tells us about it in the 24th chapter. He was on his way to Emmaus and as the disciples were pondering these things, he took them to the pages of the word of God, the Old Testament, and began to show how it was necessary that Christ should suffer all of these things and enter into his glory. Number six, on the first day of the week, Jesus commissioned his disciples to the task of world evangelism. He said, "As the Father has sent me, even so send I you." In Luke, he says, "You are witnesses of these things."

Number seven, on the first day of the week, Jesus breathed on the disciples, imparting to them the Holy Spirit. On the first day of the week, seven weeks after the resurrection at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples as a body in order to inaugurate the church age. On the first day of the week, the Holy Spirit directed Paul to gather the believers together and preach to them. We find that story in Acts 20.

The first day of the week was established by Paul as the day on which each believer was to lay aside as God had prospered him; that is, they were to take up offerings for the support of the ministry and the expansion of the gospel. And finally, number 11, on the first day of the week, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the apostle John on the island of Patmos and revealed the things that are recorded in the book of Revelation concerning the course of this age and the details of his second coming and the judgment.

You see how significant that day is? You see how important it was in God's economy? All that we do on Sunday as Christian people is because of those events. All of our worship, all of the patterns of our giving, all of the things that take place on Sunday are based upon what the Lord Jesus Christ himself did.

We do not do these things by whim; we don't do these things because it seems that it might be nice to do them, but rather because Jesus himself set the pattern. We gather ourselves together, we give attention to the word, we worship, we take collections and such things. We observe Christ's sacrifice for us in the communion service.

And there's something else too. We do it expectantly. Oh, I think after Jesus had been appearing to them on these early Sundays, as he'd revealed himself, as he taught them what they were to do, I think whenever they gathered together on Sunday to worship, they must have said, "Perhaps he's going to appear now." Or even after he had ascended into heaven, they must have been asking themselves, "What is the resurrected Lord going to do today?"

That's what makes Sunday so exciting. We gather, but we gather at the Lord's command and we gather to worship the Lord. And that one we gather to worship is not a dead Lord, but a risen Lord who is active in the midst of his people, doing his works even in our time. You see, it is one thing to understand; it is a second thing to understand and fear, but far more important is to go beyond that, to faith in the one who did what he said he would do and rose triumphant in order that he might live in his church and draw men and women to him in this age, the age of God's grace.

Let us pray. We thank you, our heavenly Father, for the truth, the factual truth of our Lord's resurrection. We thank you as well for his living presence in this age, and we ask, we ask believing, that those same works of grace, those miracles of faith that took place in the early days might continue unabated in our time.

Indeed, we pray for more, that the gospel might go forth in such power that men and women everywhere might come, even in this hour, this day, to faith in him who is the victor over death. And grant that he might have his way with them and with us. For we pray, believing in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

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