God’s mighty power is about to be made known (Read Eph. 1:19-20). The angel does not speak to the guards, but to the faithful women. He rolls away the stone, not to let the Lord out, but to let the women see in. Notice the heaven-sent messages they give. The soldiers became as dead men (v. 4). How could the soldiers forget this! They didn’t say a word about it, that we hear of.
V.8 Joy fills their hearts, and they rightly desire to share it with the disciples.
V.9-10 Jesus Himself intercepts them. The object of their joy is right in front of them. They hold Him by the feet, and “did Him homage,” as the words should be. The Jews even bribe the soldiers to tell lies, to hide the truth of the resurrection. Such is the world!
V.16-20 So Jesus meets them in Galilee and there the story ends, for Israel’s blessing is not a heavenly one, but an earthly. You will remember that we sometimes speak of a remnant — something which is a part, but separate from the main story. After we believers are taken up to heaven (maybe today), God is going to open the eyes of a small number of Jews, to understand that Jesus was truly their Messiah! This little group is known as the “remnant.” In our chapter today, these five verses are a picture of the future group; the ascension of the Lord isn’t mentioned because this gospel is mainly about Israel, so the story goes right into the future days. There are over 85 quotations from, or allusions to verses in the Old Testament found in Matthew. So this wonderful, instructive, but distinctly Jewish book comes to a close, yet always to be opened to discover new treasures.