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Early Saturday morning, therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees broke the Sabbath and presented themselves to Pilate saying, “This deceiver while yet alive said ‘I am to rise again after three days.’ Give orders then that his tomb shall be securely guarded until the third day, or perhaps his disciples will come and steal him away. And they could then say to the people, he has risen from the dead. This last deceit would be more dangerous than the others.” But Pilate was in no mood to see this group. He had made his own official investigation. Christ was dead. He would not submit to the absurdity of using Caesar’s armies to guard a dead Jew.

Pilate therefore said to them, “You have guards, away with you. Make it as secure as best you know how.” There must be a seal, and the enemies would seal it. There must be a watch, and the enemies must keep it. The certificates of the death and Resurrection must be signed by the enemies themselves. The Gentiles were satisfied through nature that Christ was dead, and the Jews were satisfied through the law that he was dead. As the Gospel of Matthew puts it, “And they went and made the tomb secure, putting a seal on the stone and setting a guard over it.” The king lay in state with his guard about him. And the most astounding fact about this spectacle of vigilance over the dead is that the enemies of Christ expected the Resurrection, but his friends did not. It was the believers who were the skeptics. It was the unbelievers who were credulous.