SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2024 8:07 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Intro to Matthew 27:57-66”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:57-66
Message of the verses: “57 When it was evening,
there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become
a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of
Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the
body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his own new tomb,
which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the
entrance of the tomb and went away. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the
other Mary, sitting opposite the grave. 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 will try and quote the last part of John MacArthur’s
introduction to this section of verses in my SD for today.
“In
another beautiful picture of providence, God directed the lives of the godly
Naomi, her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, and her future son-in-law, Boaz. Through the faithful witness of Naomi, Ruth
was brought to faith in the true God, and through the unselfish love of Boaz,
Ruth was brought into the lineage of the Messiah, becoming the great-grandmother
of David.
“Although
the book of Ester does not contain the name of God, it relates one of the most
profound testimonies in Scripture to His power in providence. There are no miracles recorded in the book,
yet God is shown to be at work in a way that goes beyond the miraculous. The Jewish exile Ester found favor with King
Ahasuerus, ruler of the great Medo-Persian empire, and became his highly
favored queen. When a plan by a wicked
official named Haman to annihilate all the Jews in the empire became known to
her and her foster-father Mordecai, Ester interceded for her people at great
personal risk. Even as Queen, she not
only could have been put to death for coming before the king uninvited but also
for revealing herself as being Jewish.
But by the king’s subsequent edicts given on Ester’s behalf, the evil
Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, and the Jewish
people were spared extermination.
“In
his divinely inspired wisdom, the ancient writer could declare, ‘The mind of
man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps’ (Prov. 16:9), and ‘Many are
the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand’ (Prov.
19:21). Jeremiah confessed, ‘I know, O
Lord that a man’s way is not in himself; nor is it in man who walks to direct
his steps’ (Jer. 10:23). Paul reminds
believers that their lives are uniquely directed by their heavenly Father. ‘For it is God who is at work in you,’ he
says, ‘both to will and to work, for His good pleasure’ (Phil. 2:13). Jesus declared, ‘My Father is working until
now, and I Myself am working’ (John 5:17).
Even during the incarnation, the Father and the Son were functioning the
perfect harmony to carry out Their sovereign, divine will.
“Nowhere
in Scripture is God’s incredible and amazing providence more evident than in
Jesus’ burial. His burial is often
passed over quickly in commentaries, sermons, and Bible studies as being simply
a necessary event between His death and resurrection. There is a strong tendency to rush
immediately from His death to His resurrection, mentioning His burial only in
passing. Yet Matthew’s account of His
burial conveys several astounding truths that give remarkable testimony to the
superintendency of God.
“Although
a touching and interesting story, the burial of Jesus seems somewhat mundane
and ordinary compared to His dramatic and substantive death and
resurrection. Yet even His burial
provides its own demonstration of God’s sovereign control. There were no miracles in the trial of
Christ, in His crucifixion, or in His burial, but the providence of God
controlled every detail.
“Especially
in Matthew’s account, every detail of Jesus’ burial, including the scheming of
His enemies, is a testimony to His Sonship, messiahship, and kingship. There is no human explanation for these
events. He is again shown to be none
other than the promised Son of God and the sovereign Ruler of God’s kingdom.”
With
that quotation we end our introduction to Matthew 27:57-66, and it seems to me
from this introduction that we are in for a greater understanding of the burial
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord will in
tomorrow’s SD we will look at the first section of Matthew on the burial from
verses 27:57-60 where MacArthur entitles it “Joseph of Arimathea.”
9/13/2024 8:32 AM
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