167. Guarding the Tomb
62Next day,a that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63and said, “Sir, we remembered how that deceiver said, while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64Therefore order the sepulchre to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”65Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.”
66So they went and made the sepulchre secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
(Mt. 27:62–66)
(continued from previous page)
These provinces (e. g., Italia, Gallia, Hispania, Britannia, Germania, Syria, Judea, and Aegyptus) form the basis for the modern nation-states of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Daniel further interprets the dream, saying, “And in the days of those kings [after the Roman Empire becomes divided into various kingdoms], the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.” (Dan. 2: 44)
This coming of the kingdom of God as depicted by Daniel was the concept held by the Jews at the time of Jesus. It refers to a future time when God will destroy the kingdoms of men and set up a divine world government. God, through his anointed one, the Messiah, will then rule the nations from his capital at Jerusalem, and this rule will be forever. This was the kingdom concept held by John the Baptist, the apostles, and the Jewish believers. It is why many of his followers expected Jesus's immediate return to rule the earth in power and glory.
Jesus, while he emphasized the kingdom within, also recognized that in the future God would bring the outer kingdom (divine world government) to our world. This is a future phase of the kingdom in which God rules the nations of the world in addition to his rule in the hearts of believers.
The center of the prayer Jesus taught his apostles is a petition for this advanced stage of the kingdom, the time when God will rule both hearts and governments (as he does in heaven)—“Your kingdom come; your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (See also Ch. 107, fn. b.)
a “Next day”—Saturday (the Sabbath).
Mt.27:63 that deceiver said (KJV) / that imposter said (RSV) (188:2/2014)
