◄ Matthew 28:13 ►
and instructed them: "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.'
Study Bible
and instructed them:

The chief priests and elders devised a plan to counteract the resurrection of Jesus. This instruction was given to the Roman guards who were responsible for watching the tomb. The religious leaders were concerned about maintaining their authority and preventing the spread of Jesus' teachings. This reflects the ongoing conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities, as seen throughout the Gospels.

Mat 27:20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowds…
Mrk 14:55 Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking…
Mat 26:4 and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.

“You are to say,

The religious leaders were orchestrating a false narrative. This phrase indicates a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation. It highlights the lengths to which the authorities would go to suppress the truth of the resurrection. This act of deception is reminiscent of other instances in the Bible where truth is opposed by falsehood, such as the lies of the serpent in Genesis 3.

Exo 23:1 You shall not spread a false report. Do not join…
Exo 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Pro 14:5 An honest witness does not deceive, but a dishonest witness…

‘His disciples came by night

The claim that the disciples stole Jesus' body was intended to explain the empty tomb without acknowledging the resurrection. The mention of "by night" suggests secrecy and deceit, playing into the narrative that the disciples were acting unlawfully. This accusation is ironic, given that the religious leaders themselves were engaging in deceit.

Mat 27:64 So give the order that the tomb be secured…
Jhn 20:19 It was the first day of the week, and that very evening,…
Mrk 14:50 Then everyone deserted Him and fled.

and stole Him away

The idea of the disciples stealing Jesus' body was implausible, considering the Roman guard and the sealed tomb. This phrase underscores the desperation of the religious leaders to provide an alternative explanation for the resurrection. The notion of theft contrasts with the truth of Jesus' victory over death, as prophesied in scriptures like Psalm 16:10 and Isaiah 53:10-12.

Jhn 20:2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple…
Jhn 20:13 “Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked.…
Jhn 20:15 “Woman, why are you weeping?” Jesus asked……

while we were asleep.’

This part of the instruction is particularly problematic, as it implies negligence on the part of the guards, which would have been punishable by death under Roman law. The absurdity of the claim is evident, as sleeping guards would not have been able to witness the alleged theft. This highlights the implausibility of the story and serves to further authenticate the resurrection account by demonstrating the lengths to which the authorities would go to deny it.

1Sa 26:12 So David took the spear and water jug by Saul’s head,…
Isa 56:10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious;…
Mrk 13:36 Otherwise, he may arrive without notice…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Chief Priests and Elders
Religious leaders in Jerusalem who were responsible for maintaining Jewish law and order. They were instrumental in orchestrating the plot to cover up the resurrection of Jesus.

2. Roman Guards
Soldiers assigned to guard Jesus' tomb to prevent His body from being stolen, as the chief priests and Pharisees feared.

3. Disciples of Jesus
Followers of Jesus who were accused of stealing His body to fabricate the resurrection account.

4. Jerusalem
The city where these events took place, significant as the center of Jewish religious life and the location of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

5. The Tomb
The burial place of Jesus, which was found empty on the third day, leading to the claim of His resurrection.
Teaching Points
The Power of Truth Over Deception
Despite the efforts to suppress the truth of the resurrection, the message of Jesus' victory over death spread rapidly. Truth, empowered by God, cannot be permanently hidden by human schemes.

The Cost of Discipleship
The disciples were falsely accused of stealing Jesus' body, highlighting the potential for misunderstanding and persecution when following Christ. Believers should be prepared to face opposition for the sake of the Gospel.

The Importance of Witness
The empty tomb and the resurrection appearances serve as a powerful witness to the truth of the Gospel. Believers are called to be witnesses of Christ's resurrection in their lives and testimonies.

The Role of Fear and Control in Opposition to God
The religious leaders' actions were driven by fear of losing control and power. This serves as a warning against allowing fear to lead us away from God's truth.
Bible Study Questions
1. What motivations might the chief priests and elders have had for spreading the false account about Jesus' body being stolen?

2. How does the account of the empty tomb challenge us to consider the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus?

3. In what ways can believers today be witnesses to the truth of the resurrection in a world that often denies it?

4. How can we prepare ourselves to face opposition or false accusations because of our faith in Christ?

5. Reflect on a time when you faced a situation where truth was opposed by deception. How did you respond, and what can you learn from that experience in light of Matthew 28:13?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 27:62-66
Provides context for the guards being placed at the tomb, showing the chief priests' and Pharisees' concern about Jesus' prophecy of rising on the third day.

Acts 4:1-3
Demonstrates the continued opposition of the religious leaders to the apostles' teaching about Jesus' resurrection, showing a pattern of resistance to the truth of the resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:3-8
Paul’s account of the resurrection appearances, affirming the truth of the resurrection and countering the false account spread by the chief priests.
Sermons
The Helplessness of a Foolish ExcuseR. Tuck Matthew 28:13
An Arrant Jewish FableBishop Hacket.Matthew 28:11-15
Human UnscrupulousnessT. Lloyd.Matthew 28:11-15
The Chief Priests' StoryC. S. Robinson, D. D.Matthew 28:11-15
The Roman Soldiers and the Jewish RulersN. Lardner.Matthew 28:11-15
The CommotionMarcus Dods Matthew 28:11-17
People
Eve, Jesus, Mary
Places
Galilee, Jerusalem
Topics
Asleep, Body, Disciples, During, Saying, Secretly, Sleeping, Slept, Stole, Telling
Dictionary of Bible Themes
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

Library
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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