The empty tomb is the most powerful portion of the events of the Easter weekend. The cross represents the payment of the debt, but the empty tomb represents God's acceptance
of the sacrifice! Without the empty tomb, there is still no hope for people. So, how do we know that Jesus in fact rose from the dead?
There are several things to look at to help with this issue. First things first. He rose from a very secured tomb! But, how secure was the tomb… really? It doesn’t take much imagination to determine how heavy
the stone was that covered the entrance to the tomb. Even if the opening to the tomb was 4-5 feet high and perhaps also 4-5 feet wide, the stone to cover that size hole would have been extremely heavy, perhaps weighing 3,000 pounds, or more! Furthermore, there was typically a groove cut into the ground in front of the opening to the tomb. The deepest portion of the groove was just in front of the opening. So when the stone was rolled in the groove, it would drop into this lowest portion, thus
"locking" it in place. It would be very difficult to remove it. Difficult, but not impossible. So, what was next?…
The stone was sealed. For the purpose of why it was so important to secure this tomb, the seal was even more important than the stone itself. It was a statement by the Roman authorities that this place is not to be touched! You
break the seal at the sacrifice of your life! The Roman seal was a physical object that was attached to the stone, then sealed with the signet of the Roman emperor. Only under Roman authority could the seal be removed. Since the tomb was sealed in this way to specifically protect the body from being stolen by the disciples, then those disciples would have been the people hunted down and killed had this seal been broken by anyone but the Romans!
Then there was the guard unit itself which consisted of anywhere from 4 to 24 men. These were seasoned Roman soldiers. As long as the order remained for them to guard an item like this, then there was a system used. Typically a percentage of the unit rested or slept, while the remainder stood guard. They rotated their shifts continually until the assignment was
complete. The significance of this is obvious. There is no way that Jesus’ disciples would have had the skill with weaponry to overcome veterans like this! This tomb was secure! (continued…)
