SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/01/2024 9:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Compassion”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 28:1
Message of the
verse: “1
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.”
I begin this SD, as I continue with this first verse
in Matthew 28 to look at that predawn hour on Sunday morning where we read “Mary
Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.” I have talked about how these two women had
witnessed Joseph’s and Nicodemus’s wrapping Jesus’ body in the linen cloths and
spices as seen in Matthew 27:61, the women had secured and prepared their own
spices and perhaps this was a small amount in comparison to that brought by
Nicodemus, with which they would personally anoint the Lord as seen in Luke
24:1 where we read “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came
to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.” MacArthur adds “Although Salome, the mother
of James and John and the wife of Zebedee (Mark 16:1; cf. Matt. 27:56), and
Joanna (Luke 24:10) were also there, Matthew focuses only on the two Marys.
“The other Mary was the mother of
James and Joseph and the wife of Clopas (See Matt. 27:56; John 19:25). The women obviously thought Jesus would still
be in the grave and would remain there, or else they would not have brought the
anointing spices. They had not come to
see Jesus risen but to look at the grave where they expected His body to still
be lying.” Now think about that last
statement about that these women expected Jesus body to still be lying
there. How many people today think this
same way, as I believe that most people do not believe in the resurrection of
Jesus Christ because they believe that once a person has died and then had
their body prepared for burial and then buried that they think that is the
end. However as I have been writing
about how enormously important the resurrection of Jesus Christ was then and
still is today there are many people who do not believe this ever happened, but
the truth is that the Bible, and the Bible is never wrong, declares that Jesus
Christ did in fact rise from the grave and is now sitting at the right hand of
God interceding for His own. It makes no
difference what “religion” you follow to understand that Jesus Christ has
resurrected from the dead is a very important part of becoming born-again, and
once that happens it assures you of being with the resurrected Jesus Christ for
all eternity, and that my friends is a very long time.
MacArthur goes on to write to write “They
had been among the women who ministered to Jesus in Galilee and who had stood
with Him at the cross (Matt. 27:55-56).
Now they came to the garden hoping that somehow the great stone could be
removed so they could minister to Him one last time (Mark 16:3). But despite their lack of faith in Jesus’ promises
to rise on the third day, they came to the tomb our of deep affection for their
Lord.” These women, along with many
others, including His disciples would go from deep mourning of the death of
Jesus Christ to the greatest joy that they would ever experience as they
learned, and actually saw the resurrected Jesus Christ. This great joy can surely be experienced
today by accepting Jesus Christ into your heart as your Savior and resurrected
Lord.
MacArthur speaks of Jewish tradition
which “wrongly held that the spirit of a dead person left the body four days
after death because by that time the body had become so disfigured by decay
that the spirit could no longer recognize it.
That tradition may be reflected in Martha’s comment to Jesus about her
brother, Lazarus: ‘Lord, by this time
there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days’ (John 11:39). Perhaps the two Marys and the other women
came to Jesus’ grave with the intent of anointing His body one more time before
His spirit departed from it.” I have to
say that I had never heard of this before, but it does make sense to me as I
look at these different things that happened as I look at things in the Bible that
can be answered because of this truth.
It is true that these women did not
have confidence in Jesus’ resurrection, but they had great love and great
devotion for Him, something that is very evident. What they did lack in faith they compensated
for in loving compassion, and what they lacked in understanding they made up
for in courageous devotion.
It is true that the Christian life
has its ups and downs as one walks with the Lord and one of the things that is
greatly needed in my walk with the Lord is to have the Holy Spirit bring great
revival to me, something that I pray for often.
Now Lord willing we will begin to look at Matthew 28:2-7 in my next SD
as this section is entitled “Terror.”
Looking forward to this.
10/1/2024 10:06
AM
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