A Stone Over the Door
“And, 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.”
Matthew 28:2 · KJV
“And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”
Mark 16:3 · KJV
“And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.”
Mark 16:4 · KJV
Three days earlier they had rolled a great stone over the mouth of the tomb, sealed it with Rome's seal, and set a watch (Matthew 27:60, 27:66). On the first day of the week the women came with one worry: “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” They knew they could not move it. Mark adds the line that gives the whole scene away: “for it was very great” (Mark 16:3-4).
It was already moved. And the angel who moved it did not stand guard by it. He “came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it” (Matthew 28:2). The barrier Rome sealed had become a seat.
Here is the detail worth stopping on: the stone was not rolled away to let Him out. It was rolled away to let them in. He had already risen. The grave clothes were still lying there, and the napkin that had been about His head was “wrapped together in a place by itself” (John 20:6-7), left like an empty shell. That same evening He would stand inside a locked room, the doors shut (John 20:19). A sealed tomb was no barrier to a risen Lord. He did not need the door opened to leave. The door was opened so the world could look in and see it empty.
At another tomb He had stood and said, “Take ye away the stone” (John 11:39), and called a dead man out. At His own, the stone was taken away, and no one needed to call Him: He was already gone. The barrier man set up, and could not move, God rolled aside. It is the gospel in one picture: the stone between us and life, sealed and guarded and far too great for us, rolled away from the outside, by a hand that was never shut in.
He is not here: for he is risen (Matthew 28:6).
questions
Why was the stone rolled away from the tomb?
Not to let Him out. He had already risen, and that same evening He would stand inside a locked room, the doors shut (John 20:19). He did not need the door opened to leave. The door was opened so the world could look in and see it empty.
Where is the stone rolled away in the Bible?
Matthew 27:60 and 27:66 record the great stone, sealed and watched. Mark 16:3-4 gives the women's question and the stone already moved, “for it was very great.” Matthew 28:2 gives the angel who rolled it back from the door and sat upon it.
What does the stone over the tomb picture?
The barrier man set up, and could not move, God rolled aside: the stone between us and life, sealed and guarded and far too great for us, rolled away from the outside, by a hand that was never shut in.
- The Tabernacle Exodus 25:8
- Jacob's Ladder Genesis 28:12
- The Ark & the Mercy Seat Exodus 25:21-22