Crucifixion of Christ
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request, and as they took the body of Jesus down from the cross, their
sorrows were renewed, and they mourned over their blighted hopes
in deep anguish. They wrapped Jesus in fine linen, and Joseph laid
him in his own new sepulchre. The women who had been his humble
followers while he lived still kept near him after his death, and would
not leave him until they saw his sacred body laid in the sepulchre, and
a stone of great weight rolled at the door, lest his enemies should seek
to obtain his body. But they need not have feared; for I beheld the
angelic host watching with untold interest the resting place of Jesus.
They guarded the sepulchre, earnestly waiting the command to act
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their part in liberating the King of glory from his prison house.
Christ’s murderers were afraid that he might yet come to life and
escape them. They begged of Pilate a watch to guard the sepulchre
until the third day. Pilate granted them armed soldiers to guard the
sepulchre, sealing the stone at the door, lest his disciples should steal
him away, and say that he had risen from the dead.
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