Thank You, Lord, for defeating death for me. Please accept my very best as I give to You without reservation.
Matthew 27:65-66, Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go your way. Make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and posting the guard.
The disciples must have looked at the stone covering Jesus’ tomb and felt the shackles click into place. That stone was surely immovable to them. They had been a part of Jesus’ ministry from the beginning. They had heard His teachings and witnessed His healings.
They had left everything to follow Him. Yet not in their wildest imaginations could they have envisioned what would happen. The betrayal. The cross. The tomb. The rock rolled into place.
The betrayal was brutal. The cross was cruel. The tomb was cold. But it was the rock that seemed to mock everything they thought was true. That rock was intentionally placed there to ensure that Jesus’ body would not be moved. There would be no coming back from the grave. Well, that’s that, they must have thought. But that wasn’t that! The story was far from over! While the people on the outside of the tomb were focusing on the rock, God was at work inside the tomb. There was no rock in all of creation that could have held Jesus in that grave, because the One who made the rock was stronger – and He knew it!
We will all face obstacles in our lives that Satan would love for us to look at and think, Well, that’s that. It could be some sort of loss. Or perhaps we’ve failed in some area and are suffering the consequences. It could be a dream that, for some reason, has not yet come to fruition. Whatever the particular situation, it can seem as if a rock has been rolled into place, sealing off any hope of peace, or healing, or freedom from the shackles that bind us.
But here is what we must remember: the God who rolled the rock away is the same God who can roll our shame and pain away. We don’t have to be held back by the things of this world. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4)! Stop focusing on every rock the Enemy rolls into place. Choose, instead, to keep your eyes on the One who is willing and able to roll the rock away – and set you free.
