SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/4/2024 8:34 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3
“Terror”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
28:2-7
Message of the verses: “2 And behold, a
severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven
and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was
like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear
of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, "Do not be
afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 “He is not here, for He has
risen, just as He said. Come; see the place where He was lying. 7 “Go
quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He
is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told
you.’”
I begin by talking for a moment about the
highlighted portion of verse six, and I have to say that this is the greatest
news that has ever been given, for right now, and for all eternity, and that is
that Jesus Christ is alive and is now sitting on the throne in heaven
interceding for His children in heaven.
I am truly thankful for this truth.
Ok
back to where we left off yesterday, and I have to say that I will be camped
out writing about these verses for a while as this section is long. I begin talking about this section in today’s
SD by talking about the guards, who were so awestruck that at first they shook
for fear of him (the angel). MacArthur
writes “Shook translates a Greek term that has the same root as ‘earthquake’ in
verse 2, indicating that the soldiers experienced personal earthquakes of both
mind and body. But after a brief moment
of shaking, they then became like dead men, paralyzed with fear. The idea seems to be that they not only
became rigid but unconscious, completely traumatized by what they saw.”
I
know that later on these soldiers were given money to tell others that they saw
the disciples of Jesus come and take away the body of Jesus, and that makes me
wonder how much money they were given to lie, and also makes me wonder how
these so called unconscious men could have seen what they say they saw.
Not
only were these men frightened but the women were also frightened, however
unlike the soldiers, they received comfort from God’s messenger. The angel aware of their fright, the angel
answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid.” MacArthur explains “Perhaps a better translation
than answered would be ‘explained,’ because the women, too were terrified to
speak, had not asked a question.”
In
the last 50+ years of being a believer in Jesus Christ I have probably read on
this section many, many times and yet as I look at it now I really can’t
imagine how dreadful this experience must have been for the soldiers and
especially for the women to see this angel in what was said earlier perhaps was like seeing the
glory of God, like when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, as this had to be a
very scary situation for all of them.
These
soldiers had good reasons to be afraid.
Not only was the angel’s appearance terrifying in itself, but because
they had been charged with protecting the grave, which was now an empty tomb
and this could spell their death, which I explained earlier they received money
to lie about what happened. The women,
on the other hand had no reason to fear, and the angel’s first words were mean
to give them comfort and also assurance.
These
women had not come in expediting to find the Lord Jesus risen from the dead,
bit in His gracious mercy God overlooked their weak faith and their lack of
understanding. God acknowledged their
great love with great love “I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been
crucified,” that angel said to them; “He is not her, for He has risen, just as He said.”
MacArthur
writes “Has risen translates a Greek aorist passive and can also be rendered, ‘has
been raised.’ Jesus Himself had power
to give up His life, and to take it up again (John 10:18). But Scripture makes clear that He also was
raised by the power of the Father (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:3) and of the
Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:11). The entire
Trinity participated in the resurrection of Jesus.”
He
goes on to write “The angel gently reminded the women that Jesus’ resurrection
should not surprise them because it happened just as He said. Luke reports that they then ‘remembered His
words” (24:8).”
Lord willing I will continue writing about these
verses in the next SD. I continue to
remind those who read these Spiritual Diaries to please pray for the soldiers
and people of Israel as they continue to fight terror on every side. Pray that God will remember His promise to
Abraham found in Genesis 12:3 “And I will bless those who bless you, And the
one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will
be blessed.’” God has always kept this
promise and I believe He will continue to keep it and then finally all of
Israel’s enemies will be cursed by God and then will stop doing the devil’s
work by attacking Israel.
10/4/2024 9:05 AM
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