SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/23/2024 9:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Chief Priests and Pharisees”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:62-65
Message of the verses: “62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the
chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said,
"Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After
three days I am to rise again.’ 64 "Therefore, give orders for the
grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come
and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the
last deception will be worse than the first." 65 Pilate said to them,
"You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how." 66 And
they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal
on the stone.”
Today we begin the very last section from the 27th
chapter of Matthew’s gospel. I have to
say that I am a bit excited about beginning this last section, for when it is
completed then I will begin the very last chapter of the book of Matthew, and I
suppose that I will get more excited when that happens. It will be more than five years in the
working, that is my study of the gospel of Matthew, and since I have studied in
the past Mark’s gospel and John’s gospel then there will only be one more to
study, and that would be the gospel of Luke.
I remember when I was studying Mark’s gospel by listening to messages
from John MacArthur as he had not yet brought out his commentary on Mark, and
Mark was the very last NT book that he had preached on. He said when he started Mark that he had just
finished Luke’s gospel and it took him ten years to get through it. My hope is that the rapture of the church
will happen before I get a chance to study Luke’s gospel. To tell you the truth I am not sure which
book of the Bible I will study after finishing the gospel of Matthew, as I want
to study what the Lord leads to study.
Today
we begin to look at the third group God providentially directed in relation to
Jesus’ burial and that is the chief priests and the Pharisees. Unwittingly, and certainly unintentionally,
this group provided still further testimony to the deity of Jesus Christ.
I
have already mentioned that the next day after the crucifixion was the Sabbath,
for which the previous day was the day of preparation. Also as noted, it was
not an ordinary Sabbath but was Passover Sabbath and so therefore a high holy
day. “Then the Jews, because it was the
day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the
Sabbath (for that Sabbath
was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that
they might be taken away” (John 19:31). I
have to say that this verse seems so difficult for me to understand the mind of
the Jewish leaders as to how cruel it really was, but the sad part is that it
did not even affect them. Jesus would
have hand to be dead before this time, and Scripture says that He was, for He
actually was in control of all that was going on here as He always is. The Passover Lamb was not to have any bones
broken, and that is why Jesus hade to be dead without the breaking of His
legs. "It is to be eaten in a
single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house,
nor are you to break any
bone of it (Exodus 12:46).
I will at this time quote from John MacArthur’s
commentary, (two paragraphs), as this will end this SD for today.
“Two
very unusual things occurred in this event.
First of all, it was highly unusual for Jewish religious leaders to meet
with a pagan, secular ruler on any Sabbath, and even more unusual for them to
do so on a high Sabbath. More amazing
still, the wording and context suggest that, contrary to their normal practice,
they actually entered Pilate’s council chambers in the Praetorium. On the previous day they had been careful not
to go into the Praetorium at all but rather sent Jesus inside to see Pilate. In order to speak with the leaders
themselves, the governor had to come out on the porch. Perhaps because it was a high Sabbath, the
priests and Pharisees thought there would be no one around to see them
enter. Or they may simply have been
willing to risk being seen in order to accomplish their purpose. If they so flagrantly violate Mosaic law and
rabbinic tradition by falsely condemning Jesus to death, they would surely not
have winced at such a relatively minor infraction as Sabbath defilement if it
became necessary for their wicked purposes.
“The
second unusual detail was that the chief priests were largely Sadducees and
therefore were strong theological opponents of the Pharisees. The gospel record only one other instance of
those two groups being together (Matt. 21:45), and in both instances their only
common motivation was hatred of Jesus.”
Now I hardly ever disagree with MacArthur’s commentary but it does seem
to me that during the first trial of the Apostle Paul these two groups were
also together as found in Scripture. “6 But
perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began
crying out in the Council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees;
I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!’”(Acts 23:6).
9/23/2024 10:34 AM
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