This Easter season, I’ve made a series of posts addressing skeptics’ criticism surrounding the Resurrection. As we close in on Easter, I want to do a day-by-day detail discussing the events happening during the Passion Week.
Please keep checking back!
Saturday
Being the Jewish Sabbath, not much would have been done on this day. The disciples, shocked and demoralized, were probably hiding for fear that they too would find themselves facing religious and political persecution. The only record in the gospels of what happened on this day is found in Matthew 27:
Matthew 27:62-66, Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, [s]aying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
For His entire public ministry, Jesus found Himself at odds with religious leaders. His sincere and correct way of teaching the Law upset the hyper-literal and fruitless interpretation taught by the Pharisees. Because He spoke as someone with authority, they wanted to see a sign from God, a miracle, to prove He had the authority to speak for God. Jesus promised them one:
Matthew 12:38-40, Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The Pharisees seemed to understand His words because, in their conversation with Pilate, they said, “[W]e remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.” I think it’s interesting that they understood His words even better than the disciples did!
Anyway, even when Jesus hung on the cross, they mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matthew 27:42). That’s curious. Still today, I have heard unbelievers say that if God came down and appeared to them, then they would believe. I know comments like this are never sincere but I’m not sure of the point of them. Do people say things like this in order to be condescending? Or are they trying to convince other people that they are being open minded, saying they would believe if they had enough evidence? I don’t know.
What they said to Pilate next strikes at the heart of the issue: “Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.”
The Pharisees understood the power of the Resurrection. They remembered that Jesus had promised the sign of Jonah to prove His authority. If Jesus rose from the dead, then everything He said, did, and taught would be validated! The Pharisees didn’t want that. If Jesus remained dead in the tomb, then all of His promises would be there too, dead with Him.
Today, we have the full revelation of Scripture. We have the written testimony of people who were eyewitnesses to His preaching, His miracles, and His Resurrection. They are people who saw Him alive, saw Him die, and saw Him alive again! If you believe in your heart He rose from the dead and accept Him as your Lord, you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10)!
But if people do not believe the Bible, if they do not believe the words written by the prophets and apostles as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, then no amount of “evidence” will convince them. I’m reminded of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. In the parable, Jesus tells us of a conversation between Abraham and the rich man. From Hell, the rich man pleaded with Abraham:
Luke 16:27-31, Then [the rich man] said, I pray thee therefore, father [Abraham], that thou wouldest send [Lazarus] to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
The Pharisees claimed to believe in Moses but they didn’t. They claimed to be the sons of Abraham but they weren’t. Had they believed in Moses and Abraham, then they would have believed in Jesus, but they didn’t - even though He rose from the dead!!
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