SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/6/2024 7:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-5
“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 want to pick up this morning where we left off
yesterday, and begin to look at verse seven where we read 7 “Go quickly and
tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.” Now think about this statement for a moment
and as you think about it remember that when a believer is witnessing to
someone on how they can become a believer this is one of the things that should
be told to them, that is that Christ has risen from the dead. The women in this section have been
fascinated about what the angle had told them, and now that turns quickly to
proclamation as they are to go and tell His disciples this wonderful
truth. MacArthur writes that “They did
not have time to revel in the marvelous reality of the good news but were to go
immediately and announce it to the cowering disciples, who were still hiding in
Jerusalem.”
MacArthur
goes on to write “It would seem more than justified for the Lord to have
allowed the disciples to suffer in fear, despair, and agony for a week or so before
telling them the good news. They had
stubbornly refused to believe that Jesus would die and be raised, although He
had told of His death and resurrection many times. But in His gracious mercy God sent the women
to tell the disciples and soon as possible, so they would not have to
experience another moment of misery and grief.
He did not rebuke them for their lack of faith and for their cowardice
but rather sent them messengers with a gracious word of hope and comfort.”
As
we think about the truth that God gave this good news to the women first and
not to the disciples one may wonder why that happened, and so we have to think
about that and perhaps not truly understand why this happened that way. MacArthur writes that “One commentator
suggests that it was because God chooses the weak to confound the strong.” Not sure that I agree with that commentator’s
view. He goes on to write “Another
suggests the women were rewarded for their faithful service to the Lord in
Galilee. Another holds that, because
death came by a woman in a garden, so new life was first announced to a woman
in a garden. Others propose that it was
because the deepest sorrow deserves the deepest joy or that supreme love
deserves supreme privilege.
“But
Scripture offers no such explanations.
It seems obvious that the women were the first to hear the angelic
announcement of the resurrection simply because they were there. Had the disciples been there, they, too,
would have heard the good news directly from the angel rather than indirectly
from the women.”
In
my estimation to the answer as to why the women heard it first I have to agree
that is it because they were there first, but why were they their first? That is a good question, and I think that
they were there first because they were less fearful of the Jewish leaders than
were the men. They were the last at the
cross and they helped take care of the body of Christ for burial, and so I
think that they wanted to make sure that His body was taken care of in the
proper way and that is one of the reasons they were there early, and not His
disciples. Does this mean that they
cared for Him more than His disciples? I
will have to let that question go unanswered and you will have to make up your
own mind. I can say one thing and that
these women were fearless in going to the tomb that morning.
Analogous
is a word that MacArthur uses as he begins his next paragraph. The word means similar so similar “to the
reality that the closer a believer stays to Lord and to His work, the more he is going to witness and experience
the Lord’s power. Those who are there
when the Lord’s people gather for worship and prayer, who are there when His
Word is being taught, who are there when the lost are being won to Christ, who
are there when others are being served in His name, who are regular in their
times of private prayer—those are the ones who will most often experience
firsthand the work of God.” My thoughts
are that he is speaking about these women who were first on the scene to hear
the good news that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
There
is only a small portion that is left to write about here and I think that I
will save that for the next SD as I want to think about it, think about why
Matthew wrote the last part of verse seven before I comment on that.
10/6/2024 8:17 AM
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