27:66 the sepulchre sure. The chief priests and Pharisees evidently took the Lord’s promise to rise on the third day more seriously than His disciples (Matthew 27:63-64). However, they did not believe this was possible (especially the Sadducean priests), so they must have assumed the disciples would try to steal the body. Their paranoia, however, served only to strengthen the evidence for the resurrection, for their firm preparations to prevent the theft of the body merely eliminated that possibility as a plausible explanation for the empty tomb three days later!