Subduing Death (Matt. 27:52-53)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/1/2024 7:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                   Focus:  “Subduing Death”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:52-53

 

            Message of the verses:  “and tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.”

 

            In today’s SD we want to look at the sixth miracle at the crucifixion and it is closely related to the previous one, as the supernatural earthquake not only gave the word a foretaste of divine judgment but also caused many of the saint’s tombs to be opened.  I think that this miracle is one that has been overlooked by many people as it seems that no one really studies of talks about it, and it is a very great miracle to have many of the saints who were buried near Jerusalem come back to life.

 

            MacArthur writes about “The significant miracle of the event, however, was not the mere opening of the tombs, as could occur during any earthquake.  The great miracle was that many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.  After the veil of the Temple was torn in two and the earth around Jerusalem was violently shaken, the Lord selectively raised the bodies of certain believers who had died.”

 

            Matthew is pointing out that there were many, but not all, bodies of the saints who had died were resurrected; making clear this resurrection was divinely restricted to a limited number of believers.  MacArthur then writes “They had trusted in God during the time before and undert the Old Covenant, and some of those bodies may have been in their graves many hundreds of years.  When Jesus died, their spirits came from the abode of righteous spirits and when joined with their glorified bodies that came out of the graves.  Tis was full and final resurrection and glorification, making this miracle another foretaste of God’s sovereign work during the end times, when ‘all the dead in Christ shall rise’ (1 Thess. 4:16).”

 

`           There is an important phrase here and we need to note that the phrase and coming out of the tombs should be followed by a period, indicating the close of the sentence.  Here is the beginning of the Sentence: “After His resurrection then begins a new sentence and introduces a distinct truth, namely, that those selected resurrected saints then entered the holy city and appeared to many.

 

            MacArthur concludes this section in the following two paragraphs:  “Those saints did not appear in Jerusalem until after the Lord’s own resurrection, because He was divinely appointed to be ‘the first fruits of those who are asleep’ (1 Cor. 15:20).  And just as Christ Himself appeared after His resurrection only to those who already believed in Him, it would also seem that the many to whom the resurrected saints appeared were also believers.  We are not told what they said to their brethren in the holy city, but their appearance in bodily form not only testified to Christ’s resurrection but also to God’s promise to raise all those who put their trust in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22, 51-53).

            “Through those six miracles the Father was saying that the cross is the only hope for eternal life.  When one’s sin is carried away by Christ’s atoning death, the wrath of God is appeased for that believer, and he is delivered from the death and condemnation that the Lord endured on his behalf.  For those who believe in the Son, access to God is open wide, and they are assured of living in His eternal and indestructible kingdom in eternal and indestructible bodies.”

 

            As I think about that promise of being in my new resurrected body the first thing I want to do is see my Lord and Savior to thank Him for what He did for me.  I will be so happy to be delivered from this sinful body that still causes me to sin as I walk with the Lord here on earth.  There will be no more temptation after I am resurrected, no more pain, no more sorrow, and no more fighting to live a holy life.  Yes I truly look forward to the rapture of the church where I can see my Lord and Savior.

 

            Lord willing we will begin to look at chapter 22 of MacArthur’s commentary “Responses to the Death of Christ” (Matthew 27:54-56) in the next SD.

 

9/1/2024 8:03 AM