SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/19/2024 7:47 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-6
“Joseph of Arimathea”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:57-60
Message of the verses: “And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.”
People who were crucified by the Romans were done so
because it was a serious consequence to oppose them and so there were times
when a family member of the crucified would come to Roman officials and ask for
the body of their loved one and sometimes Rome would refuse, and sometimes they
would grant it to them for burial.
Now we come to the case of Jesus and here is something
that I have never thought about before and that is the fact that Joseph of
Arimathea was a part of the Sanhedrin and so this was probably the reason that
Pilate gave the body of Jesus to him.
Pilate, as mentioned in earlier SD’s was in trouble with Rome and the
Jewish leaders could have caused a lot more trouble for him and so when a
member of the Sanhedrin came asking for the body of Jesus he gave it to
him. The truth is that Joseph of
Arimathea was a secret follower of Jesus and was acting not on behalf of the
Sanhedrin but because of his love for the Savior.
MacArthur writes that “Joseph probably came to Pilate with
little hope of receiving the body, and there are many reasons why his request
might not have been granted. He
certainly did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead or else he would not have
given such careful attention to the body’s preparation and permanent
interment. Yet his great love for Jesus
led him to face the wrath of his fellow Council members and friends as well as
the wrath of Pilate in order to offer this last gesture of respect to Christ.
“The Lord had sovereignly caused the Jewish leaders to do
their part in demanding that the bodies be taken down from the crosses before
the end of the day. He had caused Pilate
to grant that permission, caused Joseph’s request for the body, and caused
Pilate’s permission once again before Friday evening ended. None of those people realized they were fulfilling
prophecy. As far as his own motives and
understanding were concerned, even the godly Joseph did what he did for
personal reasons. It seemed only right
that this innocent Man in whom he had placed his faith have a respectable
burial. There is no indication Joseph
was even aware he was doing God’s will, much less fulfilling God’s Word.”
I suppose that is the truth for all who have fulfilled
prophecy as seen in the Word of God.
Think for a moment of Judas and how he was fulfilling prophecy, for he
certainly did not do what he did just to fulfill prophecy, he did what he did
because he was disappointed in Jesus, disappointed that he would not become
rich and powerful as a result of following Jesus. There will come a time, and in my opinion
that there will come a ruler who will rule over the whole earth, and there very
powerful people who have been planning this for a long time, and not to really
get into politics, but there is one man who is preventing this from happening
at this time and there have been three times that assignations have failed on
him. God’s timing of this end time for
having this one world government and one world leader will happen and not
before. My wife told me the other day
that last Sunday evening she could not sleep and so she began to pray for
Donald Trump’s safety and then later on that morning we learned of this attempt
on his life. I am thankful that the Lord
woke her up so she could pray for him.
Ok that will be enough of talking about this sort of
thing, but as mentioned this one world government headed by what the Bible
calls the Antichrist seems to be very close, and that means that the rapture of
the church is also very close, so be sure to understand how you can be involved
in the rapture of the church so that when it happens you will be taken directly
to be with the Lord in the air and then taken directly to heaven. No space ships are needed, just the power of
the Lord to accomplish this.
Looks like one more SD on the subject of Joseph of Arimathea,
and then we can move on to looking at “Two Marys.”
9/19/2024 8:16 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment