Then came the eventful day, the third day after the crucifixion, the day our Lord prophesied He would rise from the dead. Would His words prove to be true?
Heaven stepped in. What was a seal upon the mouth of the tomb compared to Divine power? The puny hand of man was brushed aside. We read, " The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men." (Matt. 28:2-42And, 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. 3His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. (Matthew 28:2‑4)).
It must have been a truly terrifying sight. The guard became as dead men, that is they swooned, and be-came unconscious through sheer terror. Heaven broke the seal that man put upon the tomb; but, mark it well, not to let the Savior out of the tomb, but to let us look in. When the tomb was looked in upon, it was to find no body of our Lord, but the linen clothes lying, and the napkin that was about His sacred head wrapped together in a place by itself. He, who could pass through closed doors on the first day after His resurrection, could surely rise out of the tomb in spite of its thick walls. Unseen by mortal eye He rose in wondrous power, raised by the glory of the Father, deliberately leaving the linen clothes with which He was swathed, and putting the head napkin in a place by itself, all bespeaking nothing hurried, but of His being completely Master of the situation. No, the stone was rolled away by angelic might, the seal was broken, we repeat, not to let the Savior out, but to let us look in, and to testify to us how He had broken the power of sin and death and hell.
Recovering from their swoon some of the guard went into the city and reported to the chief priests the extra-ordinary events that had taken place. This we shall comment on more fully later.