The Pharisees' plans backfired

“The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again.” So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, His disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’” Matthew 27:62-63
Here we see the desperation of the Pharisees, even after the crucifixion of Jesus. They were still refusing to believe, despite seeing His conduct during His trial, and the sky darkened and the earthquake when He died. They go to Pilate, calling Jesus ‘that deceiver’, and ask him to provide a guard at the tomb to prevent the disciples from stealing the body.
The Pharisees give the disciples more credit here than they do Jesus. The disciples were in complete disarray. They had fled when Jesus was arrested (apart from Peter, but he too went and hid in shame after denying his Lord). They were not in any state to be making plans like this. It was not for several days after the resurrection, when Jesus appeared to them, that they remembered what He had told them over and over about rising from the dead. I find it very interesting that the disciples didn’t remember this, but the Pharisees did. It’s also ironic, that the Pharisees provided an official witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, by arranging for a Roman guard to protect the tomb. Rather than them preventing any story about the resurrection getting out, God used the guards as a testimony of the resurrection! (see Matt. 28:11-15).
The same is true today. There are some who refuse to believe in God despite the evidence, who will do everything in their power to stop the Gospel message getting out. But God is able to make their plans backfire, and even use their stubbornness for His glory in the lives of others.