Before Jesus was executed, Jesus told his followers he would be put to death. The interesting thing about this is that he also said He would wake up from the dead. Knowing what Jesus had told his followers, His executioners took measures to keep His disciples from stealing His body and claiming he was alive. What action did they take?

This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)

Visit SabbathSchoolDaily.com for more videos like this one.

Inviting God’s Presence

Father, You are an Awesome God, Worthy of all our Praise.  We Praise You, Oh God, for Your Goodness and Mercy toward us. Illuminate our minds so that we may receive a clear understanding of your word. In Jesus’ Name Amen 

When Jesus died on the cross, you would think that his mission on earth was an utter failure. In Luke 22:3, 4 we see where Satan led Judas to “sell” Jesus to His enemies:

3 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.

4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.  (Luke 22:3-4)

The top religious leaders according to Mathew 26:59 sought to establish reasons for the Roman government to execute Him:

59 Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, (Matthew 26:59) After His arrest we find in Mathew 26:56 “all the disciples forsook Him and fled. (Mathew 26:56). All His disciples deserted Him!

Not only that, one of his closest disciples and friend, as expressed in Mathew 26:69-75, denied Jesus three different times in one night, Peter insisted that he didn’t know.

Upon the third time it says:

73 And a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.”

74 Then he began to curse and swear, saying, “I do not know the Man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.

75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:69–75).

Betrayed, arrested, deserted, tried, and executed! Jesus rested in the grave. The tomb in which Jesus rested was cut out of a rock. In fear that somehow Jesus’ disciples would come, steal His body, and claim that he woke up from the dead, His tomb was closed with a large stone, a government seal was placed on the stone and Roman soldiers stood guard according to Matthew 27:57–66.

Besides the Roman soldiers that stood watch, invisible demons watch over the grave as well. In other words, “If he could, he [Satan] would have held Christ locked in the tomb.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 12, p. 412. 

It was Satan’s purpose to keep Jesus locked inside the grave forever.

But the thing is Mathew 12: 39, 40 tells us that Before His death, Jesus told His disciples He was going to die on the cross but be raised from the dead.

Using the Eastern inclusive language—in which a fraction of a day stands for a whole day, Jesus tells his disciples that he would wake up from the dead. Jesus said,

“ ‘as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’ ” (Matt. 12:39, 40, NKJV).

Mathew, in Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22, 23; Matthew 20:17–19, records other times in which Jesus said that He was going to be killed, but He would wake up from the dead on the third day.

Matthew 16:21

21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. (Matthew 16:21)

Matthew 17:22-23

22 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men,

23 and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful. (Matthew 17:22-23)

Matthew 20:17-19

17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them,

18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death,

19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” (Matthew 20:17-19)

So, knowing this, the religious leaders did everything possible in hopes of preventing His resurrection.

What did the religious leaders do? Read Matthew 27:62–66.

How did these things later help to show that Jesus really did wake up from the dead?

The priests gave directions for securing the sepulcher. A great stone had been placed before the opening. Across this stone they placed cords, securing the ends to the solid rock, and sealing them with the Roman seal. The stone could not be moved without breaking the seal. A guard of one hundred soldiers was then stationed around the sepulcher to prevent it from being tampered with. The priests did all they could to keep Christ’s body where it had been laid. He was sealed as securely in His tomb as if He were to remain there through all time.

So weak men counseled and planned. Little did these murderers realize the uselessness of their efforts. 

But by their action God was glorified. The very efforts made to prevent Christ’s resurrection are the most convincing arguments in its proof. The greater the number of soldiers placed around the tomb, the stronger would be the testimony that He had risen—The Desire of Ages, p. 778. 

Although the Jewish rulers had carried out their devilish purpose in putting to death the Son of God, their apprehensions were not quieted, nor was their jealousy of Christ dead. Mingled with the joy of gratified revenge, there was an ever-present fear that His dead body, lying in Joseph’s tomb, would come forth to life. 

Therefore “chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, saying, 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.” Matthew 27:63, 64. Pilate was as unwilling as were the Jews that Jesus should rise with power to punish the guilt of those who had destroyed Him, and he placed a band of Roman soldiers at the command of the priests. Said he, “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.” Matthew 27:65, 66. 

The Jews realized the advantage of having such a guard about the tomb of Jesus. They placed a seal upon the stone that closed the sepulcher, so that it might not be disturbed without the fact being known, and took every precaution against the disciples’ practicing any deception in regard to the body of Jesus. But all their plans and precautions only served to make the triumph of the resurrection more complete and to more fully establish its truth.—The Story of Redemption, pp. 228, 229.

The religious leaders did so much to make sure that Jesus would stay locked in the grave forever. Do you suppose they may have feared deep in their hearts that Jesus really was going to wake up? Did He? Find out: Day 3, He Is Risen!

Watch Our Past and Present Lessons @ SabbathSchoolDaily.com.