SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/25/2024 9:42 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “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.”
I hope to finish this section this morning as it is
the last section on the 27th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, something
I started in July of this year. (It’s a long chapter.)
I begin with this: “give orders
for the grave to be made secure” which is a part of verse 64 and this shows again
how these Jewish religious leaders had control over Pilate because of his fear
they would report him to Caesar and cause his downfall. It is ironic that their fear was that the
disciples might come and steal Him away and say to the people, “He has risen
from the dead.” Now if you think about
the fact that all of His disciples ran away after Jesus was taken to His false
trials, with the exception of Peter and John, and Peter denied Him three times
and then ran away, but John was there for most of the crucifixion. So the fears of the religious leaders were totally
unfounded.
MacArthur writes “After the transfiguration,
Peter, James, and John were puzzled about what Jesus had just told them about
Him rising from the dead (Mark 9:10). It
was not that they did not understand the meaning of resurrection, because that
was a commonly held doctrine among most Jews of the day. But because they could not conceive of the
Messiah’s dying, they obviously could not conceive of His rising from the dead
(cf. 9:32). Even when Peter and John
came to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty, ‘as yet they did not understand the
Scriptures, that He must rise again from the dead (John 20:9).”
We don’t really know how much these “religious leaders”
knew about this truth, but somehow they knew something and so that is why they
went to Pilate to tell him their fears about what would happen if people
thought that Jesus was actually raised from the dead.
If this would happen they feared te
last deception will be worse than the first.
The implication was that Jesus’ claim to kingship would then be verified
in the eyes of the gullible people and, though dead, He would become an even werse
threat to Rome than before. They were
actually saying, in effect, “If the multitudes hailed Him as their Messiah and
King on His entry into Jerusalem a few days ago, think how much more they will
acclaim Him as their King if they are led to believe He has conquered death and
risen from the dead. Even though the
idea is preposterous, if they really believe He is alive, they will also
believe Rome has no power over Him and that He is invincible. Then you will really have an uprising on your
hands.” (Last quote in dark letters came
from MacArthur’s commentary.)
My thoughts is that Satan had a
great part in the thinking that these religious leaders were having, and yet it
will all fall into the hands of God who will work it out to His glory as seen
in Romans 8:28. Pilate did not want to
take any risks, either of offending the Jewish religious leaders or of facing
another insurrection, Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as
secure as you know how.” It was no doubt
they were pleased with themselves for once again making the powerful Roman
governor bow to their demands, they went and made the grave secure, and along
with the guard they set a seal on the stone.
It is very possible that the seal was given to them by Pilate.
The purpose of not only the Jewish
leaders but Pilate also is that this would prevent a hoax. However the Lord’s purpose was to take even
their unbelieving antagonism and use it to prove the reality of Christ’s resurrection
and deity. MacArthur writes “Even Jesus’
enemies helped assure that, in order for His resurrection to be genuine. He would have to be supernaturally
raised. Despite their later efforts to
spread the rumor that the disciples did indeed steal Jesus’ body (Matt.
28:11-14), they knew that they themselves had made that impossible.
“Those remarkable truths about the
burial of our Lord should deepen every Christians appreciation of Paul’s
declaration that ‘God causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose’ (Rom. 8:28). When we cannot see why we are going through
trouble and conflicts, we need to hold on to the certainty that God’s
sovereign, providential power enlists every circumstance and happening in the
universe for His glory and for our good.”
And to that I say AMEN!!
Lord willing tomorrow I begin
looking at the very last chapter of Matthew’s gospel, and may the Lord direct
me as I continue to write my Spiritual Diaries so that the Holy Spirit will
continue to spread the truth of the gospel around the world, one country at a
time.
9/25/2024 10:10
AM
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