The Guard at the Tomb—Matthew 27:62–66 Open It 1. *If you could have five personal bodyguards (any people on earth) whom would you choose and then where would you go? 2. Where do you feel the safest or most secure and why? 3. When in your life have you been “taken for a ride”? Explore It 1. When did the chief priests go to Pilate? (27:62) 2. *Who went to Pilate the day after Christ was buried? Why? (27:62–63) 3. What words of Jesus did the chief priests remember and report to Pilate? (27:63) 4. What did the religious leaders call Jesus? (27:63) 5. What did the religious leaders want Pilate to do? (27:64) 6. *For how long did the religious leaders want help from Pilate? Why? (27:64) 7. What were the Jewish leaders afraid would happen if Pilate refused their request? (27:64) 8. What were the chief priests afraid would happen if Jesus’ body disappeared? (27:64) 9. What command did Pilate give? (27:65) 10. *What did the religious leaders do to secure the tomb where Jesus was buried? (27:65–66) Get It 1. Knowing the attitudes and the actions of the Jews, what is ironic about them calling Jesus a “deceiver” guilty of “deception”? 2. What man-made precautions are giving you a false sense of security that everything in your life is under control? 3. In what ways do we trust in our own plans instead of in God? 4. *In what areas of life are we prone to try to cover up the truth? 5. *Why are we sometimes afraid to admit the truth? 6. What claim or promise of Christ do you need to take more seriously? Apply It 1. *What truth do you need to face today? 2. What foolish, fleshly attempts to control God and your own life do you need to repent of today?