Why Did Roman Guards Seal the Tomb?

After Christ’s body was placed in the tomb, the Jewish priests and elders then went and made a request to Pilate for a guard of Roman soldiers to watch over the tomb. They were afraid that some of Christ’s disciples would steal the body and say that He had risen. Roman soldiers would make sure the disciples would not steal the body. So that no chance of deception would take place, a seal was placed on the stone (Matthew 27:60-66). Scripture tells us much detail about His burial because God knows there will always be those who will doubt the event of the resurrection ever took place. The question arises, why did the Jewish leaders request that Pilate order Roman guards placed around the tomb rather than their own men? The Jewish leaders knew that many in Jerusalem were followers of Christ. They possibly thought the Roman soldiers were not so influenced by Christ and the leaders could trust them to guard the tomb more safely.

The Roman soldiers had been highly trained; they knew it was at the cost of their lives if any of them lost a prisoner. In the book of Acts, we read of Peter the Apostle being put in prison with four squads of four soldiers guarding him. When an angel brought him out, Herod had all sixteen men executed for losing their prisoner (Acts 12:4-19). There would be no sleeping for the Roman guards, for their lives were on the line if the body was stolen.

People look for excuses as to why they should not live in obedience to the claims of the Gospel. Many concede that there was a man by the name of Jesus, that He did many miracles of healing, and that He was even a great prophet, but the resurrection is the stumbling block for them. If Jesus is God and did rise again, what is our response to His claims? What impact does Christ’s death and resurrection have on our lives? 

It is a common response to avoid personal responsibility to God by explaining away the resurrection with a number of possible explanations, e.g., saying that the disciples and the women went to the wrong tomb, or that the body was stolen, or that Jesus only fainted on the cross and then woke up in the tomb and rolled the stone away. The Gospel writers go into detail on such things because on this point hangs the crux of the Gospel story. If there is no resurrection, then there is no hope, no life after death, and our Christian faith would be non-existent. As Paul once stated;

¹²But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith (1 Corinthians 15:12-14).

The fact is that Christ did die as a substitute in full payment for our sin, His death for our death²⁴but also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. ²⁵He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification (Romans 4:24-25). God does not leave us in doubt, there is plenty of evidence that Jesus conquered death for you and me. Let’s look at some of the facts of the resurrection tomorrow.Keith Thomas.

Taken from the series on the Gospel of Luke, Study 64,The Resurrection of Christ.