Matthew 28:11-15 Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed to the chief priests all the things that were done.… 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.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. |
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