The Predicament of Jesus’ Death
Matthew 27:62-28:15
April 21, 2013
Well last week we studied what should have, by all accounts,
Been the end of Jesus.
Burials are supposed to bring closure.
At that point the family and the friends are expected to simply “move on”
Jesus was dead.
• His death was plotted by wicked men, and in reality ordained by God
to be carried out by their wicked hands.
• His death was for the purpose of forgiving sinners.
• His death was carried out through a corrupt, illegal, and deceptive
plan that saw Him not only falsely accused, but wrongly condemned
and brutally crucified.
• His death was pictured as the most shameful of events, as even those
dying with Him mocked Him.
• And in His death He suffered the full wrath of God, as God would
forsake Him and the darkness of God’s wrath would fall on Him.
It was a horrific scene.
Now it was also an inspiring one.
• His death inspired the Centurion to make a public profession.
• His death inspired the women to intensify their devotion.
• His death inspired Joseph to reveal his true convictions.
And that was supposed to be the end.
He was dead.
He was buried.
BUT IT WASN’T.
For no sooner do we see Jesus die and get buried
Then we see a truly strange event take place.
There is a meeting.
It is a meeting of those who had a hand in killing Him.
WHY?
The answer is because Jesus’ death was no ordinary death.
Here Matthew shows us another aspect of the death of Jesus,
And that is the PREDICAMENT His death made for His enemies.
Look, nothing would mess Satan’s plan up more
Than if Jesus rose from the dead.
It would have been better for Him to actually come down off of the cross
In response to their taunting than for Him to die and rise.
And that means that now that Satan has accomplished his goal of killing the Christ, he must now move on to his second goal,
Which is keeping Him dead.
Isaiah is clear when he says, “There is no peace for the wicked”
One would think that Satan and his puppets would be rejoicing greatly at this moment and yet they are as concerned and worried as ever.
Somehow they know this whole thing isn’t yet over.
And that is where we are in Matthew’s gospel.
There are three things I want you to see this morning.
#1 THE PLAN TO CONTAIN
Matthew 27:62-66
Matthew tells us that the day after Jesus was crucified
That the plotting and scheming had not yet come to an end.
Despite their supposed love of God, reverence for the Sabbath,
We find these religious leaders still at work in their scheming.
AND I WANT YOU TO SEE WHO WAS PRESENT
“the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,”
Now first I want you to know how bizarre this is.
We read over that like this meeting is no big deal,
But this is a monumental meeting.
• The chief priests were mostly sadducees – the liberals of the day.
• The Pharisees were blue collar workers – legalists in every way.
• Pilate was of course a Roman who hated Jews.
And yet, here they are all together.
Nothing in this world could possibly have united them,
Except their unified desire to kill the Son of God.
These men had differing ideals in every sense of the word,
And the only common bond was that they all hated the truth.
And we even notice why they are meeting together.
(63) “and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘ After three days I am to rise again.’”
Now at first it would just seem like
They want to keep the disciples from stealing the body,
Namely because they don’t want the people to be deceived.
But that isn’t really it at all.
So what if the disciples steal the body,
All you have to do is prove He was dead before it was stolen
HOW HARD IS THAT?
• Ask the Centurion that stabbed His side…
• Ask the Centurion that was breaking the legs…
• Ask Joseph, who buried Him…
• Ask the women who mourned for Him…
They were all willing to testify to His death.
• Remember the two on the road to Emmaus, grieving that He was dead.
• Thomas would even fight you over the fact.
There are tons of witnesses to prove that Jesus was dead, AND THEY ARE WORRIED THAT THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO PROVE IT?
Yeah right.
THAT IS NOT WHAT THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT.
I’ll tell you what they are worried about.
“we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’”
They know they killed Him, But
They must have gone to bed Friday night haunted by JAIRUS’S DAUGHTER.
They must have woken up in the night thinking of the WIDOW’S SON.
They must have awakened Saturday morning with LAZARUS on the brain.
And now, although they know they killed Him, they are worried,
And so their focus now shifts to keeping Him dead.
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING?
There were many who wanted to kill Hitler, but I’ve never heard of a single person who was worried about keeping Hitler dead.
But their concern is now to keep Jesus dead.
BECAUSE COULD YOU IMAGINE IF HE AROSE?
MY GOSH, if He were to rise from the dead,
Then that would prove everything that He said was true.
If He rose from the dead that would prove He was the Son of God.
If He rose from the dead that would mean all the religious leaders were wrong.
NO IT WAS IMPERATIVE THAT THEY KEEP HIM DEAD
And in their desire to keep Him dead, they come up with a plan.
(64) “Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
Now is where the story gets really good.
The plot is once again underway.
“You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.”
In other words, you do whatever it takes
To make sure that Jesus stays in the grave.
And the liberals and the legalists rise to the occasion
To do all they can to keep Jesus dead.
(66) “And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.”
So they completely seal up this tomb, and just to make sure no one attempts to break this permanent seal, they post a guard at the tomb.
YOU SEE SATAN WANTED TO MAKE SURE JESUS STAYED DEAD
And while Satan’s puppets are at work outside the tomb,
Satan’s demons are at work inside the tomb.
For the Bible teaches that when Jesus died He went where our sins warranted Him go. He went to hades.
1 Peter 3:18-19 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,”
You see the demons had a great thought.
They thought they would encircle Him and keep Him dead.
And this was a good plan, after all, no one else had ever beaten it.
Remember the rich man?
Luke 16:22-26 “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘ Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’”
One worked the outside, and the other worked the inside.
SURELY THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO KEEP A DEAD MAN DEAD
And this is what is so humorous about the whole event.
THEY CAN’T.
Psalms 2:1-4 “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.”
How pathetic that seal and those guards must have looked to God.
There is no way that is going to hold Him.
And that is proven true in what we see next.
They had a plot to contain Jesus.
#2 THE PREDICAMENT TO CONSIDER
Matthew 28:1-11
And all of a sudden Matthew reveals for us the one thing they feared above all others.
Let me show you their predicament, we find it in verse 11.
(11) “Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened.”
• They had woken up in the middle of the night on Friday afraid that Jesus wasn’t bluffing when He said He would rise.
• To try and calm their anxiety they actually sealed the tomb and stationed a guard with the task of keeping Him dead.
• But Sunday morning they received the worst possible piece of news.
The guards arrived with a horrifying story.
WHAT WAS IT?
1) A STORY ABOUT A TERRIFYING ANGEL (1-4)
There they were, minding their own business, guarding as they were told.
And something they had not expected occurred.
• Another earthquake.
• And when they looked up, the stone was rolled away from the tomb.
That was bad enough, for that would have indicated a failed mission.
But that was the least of their worries.
There was an angel sitting on top of the stone.
(3-4) “And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.”
This angel was glowing with the glory of God,
And these men could not handle it.
They thought they might face Peter and John,
They were in no way ready for this angel, and they were terrified.
But that isn’t all they had to say when the reported to the chief priests.
2) A STORY ABOUT EXCITED WOMEN (5-8)
The guards were literally paralyzed, but there is no reason to assume
They didn’t see and hear what was taking place.
(5-6) “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.”
The guards had already heard what the Pharisees and Chief Priests
had said about Jesus claiming that He would rise again.
But now the angel was verifying that not only had Jesus said that,
But Jesus had done it.
He told these women that Jesus was alive,
And then showed them the place where the body used to be.
And now, we have some excited women.
(7-8) “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.”
These women are overcome with joy that Jesus has been risen.
(In other words, the cat is out of the bag)
But that is not all these soldiers had to report.
3) A STORY ABOUT A LIVING JESUS (9-10)
An angel wasn’t the only one these women saw.
Jesus actually appeared to them.
Verse 9 says, “Jesus met them and greeted them.”
They in turn “worshiped” Him.
And Jesus then reiterated His words to the women
To share the news with the disciples.
(10) “Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.”
And then according to verse 11, “some of the guard”
Came and reported that.
And trust me, they knew all that was going on.
Put yourself in those guards’ shoes.
• You were supposed to guard the tomb and make sure the body stayed inside.
• And then there is an earthquake, and open tomb, and a blinding light from an angel.
Now even if that is all they saw.
WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?
You try to find out what is going on.
(No one goes and turns themselves in,
Unless there is nothing they can do about it)
For starters, you had better find that body,
Or else your life is forfeited.
It is not at all unreasonable to assume that these guards
Tried to figure out what was going on.
And what they found was that Jesus actually appeared to these women.
THE POINT?
The guards knew that He was alive.
If there was even a chance He was dead, but the body had just been moved,
It is far more in their best interest to keep it quiet and find that body.
But they knew better.
And that is why they immediately come clean.
• Now, they don’t come clean to Pilate, he would have executed them.
• They come clean to the chief priests because they need help.
See this whole thing reveals that they knew Jesus was alive.
They knew He had risen, just as He said.
AND THAT IS A MAJOR PREDICAMENT.
Their goal was to keep Him dead, and now He is alive.
Jesus did just what He said.
And this, by the way, is the first piece of justice
We have seen yet in the entire ordeal.
• He was wrongly arrested
• He was corruptly tried
• He was declared innocent and crucified anyway
• He was mocked undeservedly
But finally we see justice taking over.
The prison where Jesus was sentenced could not hold Him.
HE AROSE.
And please do not make light of the resurrection.
• No, the resurrection did not atone for our sin.
• No, the resurrection did not conquer death.
• No, the resurrection did not demonstrate the love of God.
The cross did all of those things.
But it is the resurrection that validates the cross.
The resurrection proves that the cross is what Scripture says it is.
Without the resurrection, Jesus is dead in the ground and we have no assurance whatsoever that His death atoned for anything.
Without the resurrection, Jesus is dead and we have no assurance that we are forgiven, or that heaven is possible, or that there is anything beyond the grave.
Paul said it like this:
1 Corinthians 15:13-19 “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”
If Jesus stays dead you had better go back to sacrificing your sheep and oxen.
If Jesus stays dead you had better try to convert to Judaism.
Nothing validates Judaism like a dead Jesus.
On the flip-side, nothing destroys it like a living Jesus.
And this is precisely what the Jews were afraid of.
This was the predicament they faced.
That moves us to the third point.
The Plan to Contain The Predicament to Consider
#3 THE PLOT TO CONCEAL
Matthew 28:12-15
Here was the plan,
• Take the money,
• Get your story straight,
• And make sure everyone hears it.
“You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we are asleep.’”
One has to wonder,
• If they were asleep, how did they know it was the disciples?
• If they did know it was the disciples, why didn’t they go get the body back?
• And if they were asleep, how did they move that stone without waking them?
And isn’t it interesting that this was the story they preferred now.
Just yesterday that was what they were trying to protect from.
They didn’t want the disciples to come and steal the body.
And now they are pushing that story.
(14) “And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.”
Apparently they convinced the soldiers that they had Pilate right where they wanted him, and could influence all of his decisions.
Maybe they were right.
The soldiers certainly believed it.
(15) “And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”
Now, obviously there are many holes to this story.
Not the least of which is how the disciples could have pulled it off.
But beyond that,
The disciples would have had no interest in stealing the body.
It is clear that none of them actually expected Him to rise from the dead,
And Joseph had already given Him a far better burial than they ever could.
They had no reason to want His body.
But friends, here is the reality.
JESUS IS ALIVE.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.”
He arose from the dead.
• This indicates that He was in fact innocent.
• This indicates then that His death was only for the purpose of salvation.
When He died, He really did atone for sin.
Romans 4:25 “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”
And please notice the wording.
It was because of our sin that He was delivered over to death.
• He had no sin of His own.
• He had no other reason to go to the cross, but our sin.
And it was that sin that we saw Him bear on Calvary.
He bore our suffering, He bore our shame, He bore our separation.
But then He was raised.
And Paul said, He was “raised because of our justification.”
He wasn’t raised to justify us.
His death justified us.
• He was raised to prove that we were justified.
• He was raised to prove that His death was successful.
• He was raised to prove that it really was finished.
We have no doubt that Jesus did actually
Pay our sin debt before God, His resurrection proved that.
Jesus really did rise.
And I’m also here to tell you that He can change your life.
Romans 6:4-11 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Because Jesus rose from the dead,
EVERYTHING HE SAID IS PROVEN TO BE TRUE.
He proved He is God by stepping out of the tomb.
BUT SO MANY TODAY, FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS
OF THE PHARISEES AND CHIEF PRIESTS,
IN THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO LET JESUS OUT OF THE TOMB.
He makes for a good story,
He makes for a good sermon,
He makes for a good moral example,
But to countless thousands across our world,
Jesus might as well still be in the tomb,
Because they’ve never received the power of His resurrected life.
I’m asking you this morning to let Jesus out of the tomb!
Adrian Rogers said,
”To demons were speaking to one another, and one demon said to the other, ‘If these liberal theologians ever really let Jesus out of the tomb, hell help us, all of heaven’s going to break loose.’”
I’m asking you to believe that Jesus really is alive,
And that He really lives, and that He really can change your life.
I still remember the night that I let Jesus out of the tomb.
I remember the night I died with Him,
And how He caused me to be resurrected to new life.
I remember when Jesus became more than a story…
I remember when Jesus became more than words on a page…
I remember when Jesus arose in my heart
And set me free from sin and gave me a new nature.
HE CAN DO THE SAME FOR YOU, BUT YOU MUST BELIEVE
Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
You must confess Him as Lord, and believe that He is.
AND JESUS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE
That is what the death, burial, and resurrection is all about.
It is about the day when death was forced to give way to life.
It is the day when liberals and legalists became a laughingstock.
It is the day when the demons trembled.
It is the day when Satan went down in flames.
It is the day when those who confess Jesus as Lord
Found everlasting life.
“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 CHIRST AROSE!
Satan wanted Jesus dead more than anything else,
And yet Satan quickly found that he couldn’t handle Jesus.
Nothing messes up the plan of Satan like the resurrection of Jesus.
And nothing proves that Jesus is in fact
The only Savior this world will ever know like the resurrection of Jesus.
Matthew has spent 141 verses revealing all the things that were wrong about the death of Jesus.
Everything was wrong.
But this morning Matthew finally shows
The one thing that was right.
This morning submit your life to Christ
And find that one right thing as well.
Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”
