SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/10/2024 8:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 28:11-15”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 28:11-15
Message of the verses: “11Now while they
were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the
chief priests all that had happened. 12 And when they had assembled with the
elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13
and said, "You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away
while we were asleep.’ 14 "And if this should come to the governor’s ears,
we will win him over and keep you out of trouble." 15 And they took the
money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread
among the Jews, and is to this day.”
John MacArthur entitles this 25th chapter
of his fourth commentary on the gospel of Matthew “The Lie That Proves the
Resurrection.” This to me is an
interesting title for these verses and I am happy to be able to look at this
section to find out the answer to this title, although I think that verse
thirteen has a lot to do with that answer as that verse has always been a verse
that I am dumbfounded by the fact that the soldiers were to tell people that
they were sleeping and then the disciples came and stole the body of
Jesus. I guess my question is how they
knew what happened while they were sleeping, that is how did they know that it
was the disciples of Jesus who came and stole the body of Jesus. I guess that I will be talking about this as
I get to verse 13.
John
MacArthur begins his introduction with the following: “Some years ago the Canadian Author G. B.
Hardy wrote a book about life, philosophy, and destiny entitled Countdown: A Time to Choose (Chicago: Moody, 1971). He noted that there are really
only two questions to ask with regard to destiny: (1) Has anyone ever defeated death? And (2)
If so, did he make a way for us to do it also?
Hardy then explains that he found the answer to both questions in the
resurrection of Jesus Christ and that with that answer he also found salvation
and eternal life (pp.31-32).”
I
have been writing about the resurrection of Jesus Christ for a while now and it
seems to me that the Spirit of God is the One who has been causing me to have a
greater understanding of just how very important the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is, now only for me, but for everyone who realizes that this is the
greatest miracle that has ever happened, and just as the author Hardy asked
those two questions as seen in the paragraph above the answer to those
questions caused him to realize that Jesus Christ was the answer and that He
indeed rose from the dead, which caused him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation. If there was no
resurrection then there is no salvation for anyone that is how important the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is.
However
the sad truth is that the knowing that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is man’s
only hope for eternal life, the majority of people, including many who have studied
it thoroughly, have rejected it. Now in
doing so, they not only forfeit the future life but are left without true
meaning or significance in the present life, and that is a very sad way to
live. Rejecting the resurrection is
spiritual suicide, and that is not the way to go, for that has eternal
problems, and people are doing it every day.
MacArthur
writes that “Furthermore, denying the resurrection goes against the very grain
of the human heart and soul. Solomon
wrote that God ‘has also set eternity in their heart’ (Ecc. 3:11). Something within man is not satisfied with
present earthly living. He instinctively
reaches out for immortality, for a life that transcends his present life and
that will continue after he dies.
Throughout history countless religions and philosophies have proposed
means for man to achieve immortality, to find a better life beyond the grave.” Solomon’s life began great as he asked the
Lord for wisdom and he became the wisest man ever to live with the exception of
Jesus Christ, yet he went away from that wisdom in his later life and actually
made a mess of his life by doing the things that his wisdom told him not to do.
Now
the problem is as MacArthur goes on to write “Yet, strangely, there seems
always to have been more religious than irreligious people who consciously deny
the only hope for immortality. And
through the years many theories have been propounded for the explicit purpose
of explaining away the resurrection, especially the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.”
One
of the theories given to explain away the resurrection of Jesus Christ is what
is called the “swoon theory” and this theory proposes that Jesus did not actually
die but went into a deep coma, or swoon, from the severe pain and trauma of the
crucifixion. Then while in the cool tomb
and with the stimulating aroma of the burial spices, Jesus revived and was
somehow able to unwrap Himself and escape after the grave was opened. When he
showed Himself to the disciples, they erroneously assumed He had been raised
from the dead.
I
don’t really know a lot about the crucifixion practices of the Romans, but what
I do know is that the ones they crucified were dead, as seen in the crucifixion
of Jesus Christ when after He died they broke the legs of the two criminals to
that they would die in order to be taken down from the cross because of the
Jewish holiday. They were all dead
including Jesus who gave up His life after completing being the sacrifice for
all sinners.
Lord
willing in my next SD will quote from John MacArthur’s commentary as he writes
about this so called “swoon theory” which did not begin until around 1600.
10/10/2024 8:59 AM
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