If ever there was a foolish excuse offered, this was it. If they were Roman soldiers who composed the watch, everybody must have known it was untrue, for sleeping on duty was punished by death. If they were part of the temple guard, everybody would know that they had been set up to tell this tale by the enemies of Jesus. If inquiry be made concerning the source of St. Matthew's information, it may suffice to remind that two at least of our Lord's friends, Joseph and Nicodemus, were members of the Sanhedrin, and would be fully cognizant of the Sanhedrin secrets. The invention of an excuse, and bribing men to make it, show how bewildered the priest party was by the facts and incidents reported. They never attempted to deny the facts; they invented an excuse which they knew had no atom of foundation in fact. Those watchmen could not declare that one single disciple had been seen near the place. It is ever true that they are in grave danger of accusing themselves who attempt to excuse themselves.

I. THIS EXCUSE DECEIVED NOBODY.

1. It did not deceive the watchmen; they must have laughed as they looked into the anxious faces of these officials, and pocketed their hush money.

2. It did not deceive the priest party. They knew perfectly well that it was all their own invention, and never a disciple had touched the body.

3. It did not deceive Pilate, to whom the report was sure to come. He enjoyed the confusion of the men who had mastered him and compelled him to do a wrong.

4. It did not deceive the disciples. For they bad absolutely silent consciences, and the idea of stealing the body had never come to them.

5. It does not deceive us; for we can see that making such a lying excuse is just what the priest party was capable of; but stealing the body is just what the disciples were incapable of.

II. THIS EXCUSE DID NOT HELP THOSE WHO MADE IT. It did not touch the fact that the body was gone. It did not prevent the circulation of the report that Jesus was risen from the dead. These men spent their money for nothing, and only made themselves laughing stocks.

III. THIS EXCUSE DID HELP THOSE AGAINST WHOM IT WAS MADE. It drew attention to the disciples; it set men upon inquiring what had really happened; it made the fact of miraculous resurrection stand out all the more clearly. - R.T.

I. Let us begin with an EXACT UNDERSTANDING of the whole story at once.

II. Coolly and dispassionately it becomes us to WEIGH THE TALE, therefore, on its merits.

1. In the very outset the antecedent improbability of particulars crushes it. How came a trained watch all to sleep?

2. The immediate followers of Jesus had no motive to steal the body of their Lord.

3. They had no concerted plan to do any such thing.

4. The Jews never told this tale in any judicial audience or court, so that it could be subject to cross-examination. Stealing was a capital crime, yet none of the disciples were ever arrested.

5. There was awful risk to the soldiers if this story was true. Death was the penalty of a Roman sentinel asleep at his post.

6. The inherent impossibility of the act itself.

7. Then what could have been done with the body after the disciples had got it in possession? The resurrection of Jesus is more than a fact; it is a doctrine; and takes all the other Christian doctrines in its train.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

For indeed this text is a mere romaney, as arrant a Jewish fable as ever was told; a conspiracy so full of rotten fictions that nothing is true in it all, but that it is a conspiracy, that it is a fiction.

I. Then we must bolt out the confederates.

II. The way of confederacy is by putting a forged tale in the soldiers' mouths.

III. The plot is collaterally against the disciples for being breakers-up of graves and robbers of the dead.

IV. The main intended contrivance was to discredit the true doctrine of our Saviour's resurrection.

V. Handle the improbability of all, of what contradictions the plot consists, never to be pieced together.

(Bishop Hacket.)

Show the falsehood and improbability of the report, "His disciples came by night, and stole Him away while we slept."

I. It is very unlikely that a guard of Roman soldiers should sleep upon duty.

II. The absurdity of this report is manifest from itself, for men cannot say what is done when they are asleep.

III. If the guard of soldiers had fallen asleep as they were watching at the sepulchre, they must have awaked if any attempt had been made to steal the body.

IV. The remaining of the burial clothes affords proof that the body was not removed by friends or other men. Whoever came upon such a design would have been in a hurry, and would have executed their design with all possible expedition, whereas here are marks of leisure and composure.

V. It is not conceivable that the stealing away, or the clandestine removal, of the body of Jesus could answer any purpose whatever; therefore it was not thought of nor attempted by any.

VI. There does not appear anywhere in this history any intimation of the disciples expecting the resurrection of Jesus; therefore they did not contrive any account of His being risen, nor had they beforehand any thought of it till they had more than sufficient evidence of that event.

VII. This saying of the guard must have been false, forasmuch as no punishment was inflicted on any for taking away the body.

VIII. It remains, therefore, that the testimony of the disciples of Jesus concerning the resurrection is true and credible.

(N. Lardner.)

Some of the particulars of the negotiation between the chief priests and elders on the one hand, with the guards on the other hand, shall be the subject of our meditation.

I. Looking at the heads of the Church and the heads of the people, it might be concluded that from such a source nothing could flow that was not consistent with religion and "honour." Wherever a lack of principle and high-toned feeling might be found, it would assuredly not be found in the reverend fathers who were the ornaments of that Church which dated back to the days of the patriarchs and prophets. The "elders," too. These were the "princes" of the people and the heads of family associations. Their rank, their education, their hereditary civil privileges and consequent authority, their judicial relations to the people — all these circumstances were of a kind to justify the expectation that their words and their deeds would be not only wise and constitutional, but also free from all injustice, narrowness, meanness, low cunning, corruption, and heartlesshess. Where among the Jewish laity were pure principles, lofty aims, commanding virtue, strict integrity, general greatness of character to be looked for if net in these the aristocracy of the nation?

II. These distinguished men took steps, which legally were allowed, to gain one greatly-desired object of their lives, namely, the death of Christ. How much nefariousness was employed by them in arranging and completing their murderous scheme so as to bring it within constitutional limits it is not our design at present to inquire. All the help that was possible by law they secured. The governor by courtesy gave them permission to use a guard of soldiers to further their plans. The captive Lord, doubly captive for a time, rose from the dead. The military watchers told "the things" which had come to pass to the " sacred" and "noble" men under whose brief authority they acted. Supposing these had doubted the truth of the affirmations made by the soldiers, what, in that case, was the course suggested by their doubts? It was clearly that of inquiry-patient, careful, fair inquiry. Try the temper of the man. Ask him if it be true, as some say it is, that not many days since he sat down to meat with unwashen hands? What an active volcano of sacerdotal indignation I Did you think there were beneath that dignified and quiet exterior such force and fire as this half-implied imputation against his ceremonial goodness has stirred into activity? Is it not a mystery that this saintly-mannered man should be one of those who, having "taken counsel," advised that "large money" should be given to the soldiers to declare deliberately a thing to be true which both he and they knew to be entirely false! Yet he did all this, and did it without an apparent hesitancy or even the smallest sign of compunction or self-reproach. "Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept."

III. Then as to the agents paid to commit the sin. There was, it must be allowed, a very great conventional and accidental disparity between the parties. These soldiers were, most probably, of the "lowest order." They were uneducated. The military life had not helped to improve in them either mind, heart, or manners. Add to these things the facts that they were nationally Gentiles and religiously pagan. Were they, however, on these accounts to be used as mere matter — tools to be handled without a thought about their consciences or their moral responsibilities? Might they be used as landlords sometimes use tenantry? or as manufacturers use their "hands?" or as some among the "upper classes " use their dependent tradespeople and menials? Was it right to treat them as having neither part nor lot in the interests of truth and goodness? The Jews had been taught that God was "mindful" of "man." The high priests and elders in Jerusalem knew no man had a right to "sell" the truth, whatever his condition in life, his nationality, or his degree of knowledge. It is not to be much wondered at that the soldiers "took the money and did as they were taught." Was not the cause of condemnation unspeakably greater in the bribers than in the bribed? We are verging upon days which will be trying days to the followers of Christ. They will be intensely exciting days, and, as such, likely to throw mind and conscience off the even balance. Can it by any casuistry be shown that to use station, money, learning, or other power at command, for the purpose of inducing a man to do or to say what is contrary to his belief is an act of "righteousness," and that it will help to exalt a nation? Let us show that we are prepared to encourage political conviction, and even to aid those around us to become fully persuaded in their own minds that we honour men not because they think as we think, but because they fairly and at some cost of time, effort, feeling, try to learn what is true, and have the disposition and the will to do what they believe to be right. Such a spirit and such a bearing on our part will help to make the nation "righteous," will also aid in healthfully drawing class nearer to class, and will greatly assist in counteracting and in hastening the expulsion of the diabolical spirit, which in every age, under varying conditions, has made its appearance — the spirit which bargains that for so much money there shall be so much lying.

(T. Lloyd.)

Eve, Jesus, MaryGalilee, JerusalemAsleep, Body, Disciples, During, Saying, Secretly, Sleeping, Slept, Stole, Telling1. Christ's resurrection is declared by an angel to the women.
9. He himself appears unto them.
11. The chief priests pay the soldiers to say that he was stolen out of his tomb.
16. Christ appears to his disciples,
18. and sends them to baptize and teach all nations.

Matthew 28:13

     5533   sleep, physical

Matthew 28:11-15

     5238   bribery

Matthew 28:12-13

     5415   money, uses of
     5917   plans

Matthew 28:12-15

     5625   witnesses, false

Public Use of the Version.
We have now traced the external, and to some extent the internal history of Revision from the time, some fifty years ago, when it began to occupy the thoughts of scholars and divines, down to the present day. We have seen the steady advance in Church opinion as to its necessity; its earliest manifestations, and the silent progress from what was tentative and provisional to authoritative recognition, and to carefully formulated procedures under the high and venerable sanction of the two Houses of …
C. J. Ellicott—Addresses on the Revised Version of Holy Scripture

February 4. "Lo, I am with You Alway" (Matt. xxviii. 20).
"Lo, I am with you alway" (Matt. xxviii. 20). This living Christ is not the person that was, but the person that still is, your living Lord. At Preston Pans, near Edinburgh, I looked on the field where in the olden days armies were engaged in contest. In the crisis of the battle the chieftain fell wounded. His men were about to shrink away from the field when they saw their leader's form go down; their strong hands held the claymore with trembling grip, and they faltered for a moment. Then the old …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

August 16. "I am with You Alway" (Matt. xxviii. 20).
"I am with you alway" (Matt. xxviii. 20). Oh, how it helps and comforts us in the plod of life to know that we have with us the Christ who spent the first thirty years of His life in the carpenter shop at Nazareth, swinging the hammer, covered with sweat and grimy dust, physically weary as we often are, and able to understand all our experiences of drudgery and labor! and One who still loves to share our common tasks and equip us for our difficult undertakings of hand and brain! Yes, humble sister, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

September 11. "Lo, I am with You all the Days, Even unto the End of the Age" (Matt. xxviii. 20).
"Lo, I am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age" (Matt. xxviii. 20). It is "all the days," not "always." He comes to you each day with a new blessing. Every morning, day by day, He walks with us, with a love that never tires and a blessing that never grows old. And He is with us "all the days"; it is a ceaseless abiding. There is no day so dark, so commonplace, so uninteresting, but you find Him there. Often, no doubt, He is unrecognized, as He was on the way to Emmaus, until you realize …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 9. "All Hail" (Matt. xxviii. 9).
"All hail" (Matt. xxviii. 9). It was a stirring greeting which the Lord of Life spake to His first disciples on the morning of the resurrection. It is a bright and radiant word which in His name we would speak to His beloved children at the commencement of another day. It means a good deal more than appears on the surface. It is really a prayer for our health, but which none but those who believe in the healing of the body can fully understand. A thoughtful friend suggested once that the word "hail" …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Risen Lord's Greetings and Gifts
'And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail.'--MATT. xxviii. 9. 'Then the same day at evening ... came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.' --JOHN xx. 19. So did our Lord greet His sad followers. The first of these salutations was addressed to the women as they hurried in the morning from the empty tomb bewildered; the second to the disciples assembled in the upper room in the evening of the same day. Both are ordinary greetings. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Prince of Life
'In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

On the Mountain
'Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. 17. And when they saw Him, they worshipped Him: but some doubted.' --MATT. xxviii. 16, 17. 'After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.'--1 COR. xv. 4 To infer an historian's ignorance from his silence is a short and easy, but a rash, method. Matthew has nothing to say of our Lord's appearances in Jerusalem, except in regard to that of the women in the early morning of Easter Day. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Tomb of Jesus
"His cross, his manger, and his crown, Are big with glories yet unknown." All his weary pilgrimage, from Bethlehem's manger to Calvary's cross, is, in our eyes, paved with glory. Each spot upon which he trod is, to our souls, consecrated at once, simply because there the foot of earth's Saviour and our own Redeemer once was placed. When he comes to Calvary, the interest thickens; then our best thoughts are centered on him in the agonies of crucifixion, nor does our deep affection permit us to leave …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855

Christian Unity.
Trinity Sunday. S. Matt. xxviii. 19. "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." INTRODUCTION.--An ancient writer informs us that when the Egyptians named their Greatest God who was over all, they cried thrice, "Darkness! Darkness! Darkness!" And when we come to speak of the great mystery of the Holy Trinity, the utmost we can do is to repeat their cry, and say, "Darkness! Darkness! Darkness! In the name of the Father--Darkness, and of the Son--Darkness; and of the Holy …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

Beginning at Jerusalem
The whole verse runs thus: "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The words were spoken by Christ, after he rose from the dead, and they are here rehearsed after an historical manner, but do contain in them a formal commission, with a special clause therein. The commission is, as you see, for the preaching of the gospel, and is very distinctly inserted in the holy record by Matthew and Mark. "Go teach all nations," …
John Bunyan—Jerusalem Sinner Saved

Thoughts Upon the Mystery of the Trinity.
THOUGH there be many in the World that seem to be Religious, there are but few that are so: One great Reason whereof is, because there are so many Mistakes about Religion, that it is an hard matter to hit upon the true Notion of it: And therefore desiring nothing in this World, so much as to be an Instrument in God's Hand to direct Men unto true Religion, my great Care must, and, by the Blessing of God, shall be to instil into them right Conceptions of him, that is the only Object of all Religious …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

The Christian Service
Scripture references: Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-17; Matthew 25:14-30; 23; 13; John 13:4-17; Hebrews 12:1-3; Matthew 5:16; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; James 2:14-26. THE CALL TO SERVICE All Christian belief must culminate in service or else the belief itself will wither away. Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16); again, in giving His parting instructions to His disciples, …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian

The Earliest Christian Preaching
1. THUS far we have confined ourselves to the words of Jesus. The divine necessity of His death, indicated in the Old Testament and forming the basis of all His teaching regarding it, is the primary truth; the nature of that necessity begins to be revealed as the death is set in relation to the ransoming of many, and to the institution of a new covenant -- that is, a new religion, having as its fundamental blessing the forgiveness of sins. I do not think this view of our Lord's mind as to His own …
James Denney—The Death of Christ

Angels Announce the Resurrection to Certain Women. Peter and John Enter The
Empty Tomb. (Joseph's Garden. Sunday, Very Early.) ^A Matt. XXVIII. 1-8; ^B Mark XVI. 1-8; ^C Luke XXIV. 1-8, 12; ^D John XX. 1-10. ^c 1 But ^a 1 Now late on the sabbath day, ^b 1 And when the sabbath was past, ^c on the first day of the week, { ^a as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,} ^c at early dawn, ^d while it was yet dark, cometh { ^a came} ^d Mary Magdalene early ^a and the other Mary ^b the mother of James, and Salome, ^c unto the tomb, bringing { ^b brought} ^c the spices …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Some of the Guards Report to the Jewish Rulers.
^A Matt. XXVIII. 11-15. ^a 11 Now while they were going [while Joanna and the group of women with her were on their way to tell the apostles that they had seen Jesus], behold, some of the guard [not all] came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. [Esteeming it folly to guard an empty tomb, the soldiers went to their barracks, while their officers returned to those who had placed them on guard to report what had happened. They rightly judged that the …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Great Commission Given.
(Time and Place Same as Last Section.) ^A Matt. XXVIII. 18-20; ^B Mark XVI. 15-18; ^C Luke XXIV. 46, 47. ^a 18 And Jesus came to them and spake unto them, saying, All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth. ^b 15 And he said unto them, Go ye ^a therefore, ^b into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. ^a and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

First and Second Appearances of the Risen Christ. The Resurrection Reported to the Apostles.
(Jerusalem. Sunday Morning.) ^A Matt. XXVIII. 9, 10; ^B Mark XVI. 9-11; ^C Luke XXIV. 9-11; ^D John XX. 11-18. [The women, having received the message of the angels, and remembering that the message accorded with the words of Jesus himself, made haste.] ^c 9 and returned from the tomb, ^b 9 Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. [Mark here agrees with John that Mary separated from the other women. As to …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

On the Third Day He Rose Again from the Dead; He Ascended into Heaven'
GREY dawn was streaking the sky, when they who had so lovingly watched Him to His Burying were making their lonely way to the rock-hewn Tomb in the Garden. [6241] Considerable as are the difficulties of exactly harmonising the details in the various narratives - if, indeed, importance attaches to such attempts - we are thankful to know that any hesitation only attaches to the arrangement of minute particulars, [6242] and not to the great facts of the case. And even these minute details would, as …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Corinth
Christianity had been profoundly changed by its passage from Galilee to Jerusalem. Whereas the teaching of Jesus had been the announcement of the kingdom of God, the illustration of its character, and the insistent call to men to repent, the central teaching of the disciples in Jerusalem became the claim that Jesus was the Messiah. But the passage from Jerusalem to Antioch had produced still greater changes. After all, the teaching of the disciples in Jerusalem contained no elements foreign to …
Kirsopp Lake—Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity

Introduction to the De Trinitate.
Since the circumstances in which the De Trinitate was written, and the character and object of the work, are discussed in the general Introduction, it will suffice to give here a brief summary of its contents, adapted, in the main, from the Benedictine edition. Book I. The treatise begins with St. Hilary's own spiritual history, the events of which are displayed, no doubt, more logically and symmetrically in the narrative than they had occurred in the writer's experience. He tells of the efforts …
St. Hilary of Poitiers—The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers

Baptism
Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them,' &c. Matt 28: 19. I. The way whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemptions, is, in the use of the sacraments. What are the sacraments in general? They are visible signs of invisible grace. Is not the word of God sufficient to salvation? What need then is there of sacraments? We must not be wise above what is written. It is God's will that his church …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

John Bunyan on the Terms of Communion and Fellowship of Christians at the Table of the Lord;
COMPRISING I. HIS CONFESSION OF FAITH, AND REASON OF HIS PRACTICE; II. DIFFERENCES ABOUT WATER BAPTISM NO BAR TO COMMUNION; AND III. PEACEABLE PRINCIPLES AND TRUE[1] ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Reader, these are extraordinary productions that will well repay an attentive perusal. It is the confession of faith of a Christian who had suffered nearly twelve years' imprisonment, under persecution for conscience sake. Shut up with his Bible, you have here the result of a prayerful study of those holy …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

A Table of the Chief Things.
A. ABRAHAM's Faith, [284]34. Adam; see Man, Sin, Redemption.-- What happiness he lost by the fall, [285]96. What death he died, [286]97. He retained in his nature no will or light capable of itself to manifest spiritual things, [287]ibid. Whether there be any relics of the heavenly image left in him, [288]101, [289]144. Alexander Skein's queries proposed to the preachers, [290]401, [291]402. Anabaptists of Great Britain, [292]57, [293]373. Anabaptists of Munster, how their mischievous actings nothing …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

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