Jesus was buried in a rock tomb. These tombs were carved out of the solid rock. A stone was carved and positioned in front of the tomb. This stone was allowed to roll down an incline to seal the tomb once a body had been placed inside. It is believed that the stone used for Jesus’ tomb was very large. In Matthew 27:60, we are told it was large. Mark 16 tells us the same thing. One of the ancient manuscripts of the Bible, the Bezae manuscript, adds that ‘20 men could not roll it away.’ It has been estimated that such a large stone would have weighed as much as 1.5 to 2 tons.
In Matthew 27, it is said that a ‘large stone was rolled against the entrance of the tomb.’ The Greek word for ‘roll’ is kulio, which means ‘to roll.’ In Mark 16, Mark used the same root word but added a preposition to explain the position of the stone after the resurrection. He used anakulio, which means to ‘roll something up a slope or an incline.’ Thus, we can conclude that the stone had to go up an incline to be rolled away from the opening of the tomb.
Luke used the term apokulio, which means to roll the object away from another in the sense of ‘seperation’ or ‘a distance from it.’ The indication is that the stone was rolled away from the entrance so far it was away from the tomb itself. The stone had been rolled uphill (the incline necessary for the stone to be rolled into position to seal the tomb). In John 20, a different Greek word, airo, is used which means to ‘pick something up and carry it away. The stone was not even in the proper position to be used to seal a tomb. It had been moved away from the tomb.
All of this means that it would have required a great force to move the stone away from the entrance to Jesus’ tomb. If followers of Jesus had attempted to move it, it would have required many men. Surely, such a large number of individuals straining to move the stone would have caused enough noise to alert Roman guards, and not only were they accused of stealing the body, but it is stated that they moved the large stone completely away from the tomb.
This is just one way that the Bible tells us that Jesus’ body was not stolen. Jesus rose from the dead. The stone was moved away from the tomb with miraculous power. You can use this information to answer anyone who tries to tell you that Jesus did not rise from the dead.
I am thankful that we have a wonderful God. I am thankful that Jesus was willing to die and rise from the dead so that we can have hope of living in heaven. Study your Bible. Obey what God wants you to do, and if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
