Reading through the Bible in One Year: Genesis 32-35

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Matthew 28:1-4

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. 2And 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. 3And his appearance was like lightning, and his garment as white as snow; 4and the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

I spoke about this yesterday.  The guards were not going to go to sleep, and when they experienced the earthquake and saw the angel, they were literally scared stiff. 

Matthew 28:5-10

And the angel answered and 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"And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going before you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you." 8And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. 10Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they shall see Me."

The angel testified as to Jesus rising from the dead, "Just as He said":

Matthew 12:40

for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 16:21

From that time Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 

Matthew 27:63

and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'

The chief priests had good reason to worry that Jesus might rise from the dead.  That was something they had no power over.  The soldiers that were there were fully aware, they were witnesses to the whole thing.  They stood as sentinels who verified the miraculous work of God. 

The word used for "risen" is a word which was familiar to the Greek culture.  It was a word which spoke of one raising up from the dead.  This was a word which was specific in regard to Greek legends and such.  It also meant to rise from a deep sleep, or to raise up a building.  This also had to frighten the guards to death.  An angel was there speaking their language, and relating an incident that they were clearly to blame for, God had risen from the dead. 

In the Gospels we know that the women went first to the tomb, and they were given the commission to go tell the others.  Imagine how they must have sounded, and imagine how excited that they were.  They ran like little kids, and ran directly into Jesus.  Notice that their first reaction to Jesus was to worship Him, they didn't ask how or why.  They recognized that He was who He had claimed to be all along, the great "I Am". 

The message for the disciples was to go to Galilee; He had told them before He died that He would meet them there, Mat 26:32.  The disciples went to Galilee and met Him there, Mat 28:16-20; John 21:1-23. 

One other message that kept being given both by the angel and by Jesus was "Do not be afraid", which literally meant to "stop being afraid".  This is a common theme all through the Bible.  It is the major theme of Joshua where God is sending His kids into the promised land to conquer the land, it is the message of the Gospel as Jesus encourages believers not to fear, and it is the message of Revelation as we look at the end times:

Joshua 1:6-9

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7"Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Rev. 1:17

And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

The evidence was clear, His body was missing from the tomb.  The women had met Him face to face.  The soldiers had done their job and were faced with a force greater than they had ever imagined.  They saw the one that they had crucified walk from the tomb.  Glory be to God! 

Praise You Father for the risen Savior. 

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Note: All Scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible.

Reading through the Bible in One Year: Judges 17-21

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Matthew 28:11-15

Now while they were on their way, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. 12And when they had assembled with the elders and counseled together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13and 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." 15And 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. 

Acts 12:19

And when Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.

The soldier who when to sleep on his post was subject to capital punishment.  These soldiers were worried.  They had lost their prisoner, and a dead one at that.  They were faced with a dilemma because they both had to say that Jesus had risen from the dead, and stood the chance of being killed, or they could say that they went to sleep and stand a chance of being executed.  Follow the logic for a moment, if the soldiers did not witness Jesus being raised from the dead, then what threat were they to the chief priests and Pharisees?  The answer is obviously that they were no threat to them.  The Jewish leaders had already proved that they were not concerned with human life, so how come they did not allow the soldiers to be killed as a result of the failure of their mission?  The truth is that they were faced with more of a dilemma than the soldiers were; they had hard evidence that they had actually killed the Messiah.  If they admitted that they were wrong, they would stand a good chance of loosing the authority among the people that they had gained. 

The best answer for them was to pay out a large sum of money to keep the soldiers quiet.  After all, they had failed in their mission to protect the tomb, and as a result of that, they were subject for execution.  If the soldiers were executed and they had spread the word that Jesus had raised from the dead, then they would do tremendous damage to the religious hierarchy.  The soldiers were worth more alive spreading a lie, while being under duress imposed by the bribe.  Note also that the chief priests had the pull to protect the soldiers from Pilate.

One of the interesting things about the lie that they told at the prompting of the chief priests, if they were asleep, how would they know someone stole the body?  Furthermore, how would they know the disciples stole the body?  In short, money was used to bribe them to lie, and to bribe them to forget that they were faced with an angel who was much more powerful than they could ever be.  It was a situation where self preservation ruled their thinking, it was better to live a lie than die as Jesus had.  If I understand the Roman law correctly, the soldier that lost the prisoner took the sentence of the prisoner.  After watching Jesus being crucified, the soldiers wanted nothing to do with that.  They really did not have much of a choice, it was either go along with the plan, or face execution. 

One other observation regarding this, the story that the soldiers spread was effective.  It is still one of the devils tools in the secular world against Christianity.  It doesn’t take much to prove the error in the story, it takes more faith to believe that the resurrection did not happen.

Take that and put flesh on it, in our day do we turn our heads to sin in order to appease those around us?  Is it easier to follow the crowd than it is to follow Jesus?  Often it is much easier to follow the crowd, to place our spiritual values and the revelations that we have from the Scripture on the shelf in order to "fit in" to the expectations of those around us.  Often, just as with the soldiers, if we raise our heads and speak about the knowledge that we have regarding the Savior, we will face persecution in our workplaces and possibly termination from our jobs.  We don't face the tremendous penalty of death that the soldiers faced.  Yet, we cling desperately to our reputations and forget that God has the power to replace what is lost in His name.  The situation is that we are either going to live a life that is built upon conformity to the world, or we are going to live a life that is subject to the will of God.  It's impossible to ride the fence, it's impossible to be in both places at once.

Father, show us where our hearts are at.  As we look upon the soldiers, we are just like them, show us how to be different, how to make the decision to stand apart from the world and uphold the truth.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Note: All scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible.

Reading through the Bible in One Year: Psalms 24-26

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Today we have the end of Matthew, next week when we return to the New Testament, we will start with Revelation.  I will go through Revelation using the same 10 to 15 verses per day, I am sure that there will be a lot of discussion on that book.  I will post the discussion on the website archives, and will probably attach a few of the responses to the bottom of the emails. 

Matthew 28:16-17

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.

Matthew did not record all the visits that the other Gospels recorded.  His message was that now that Jesus is risen, it is time to spread the word.  Notice in verse 17 that some remained doubtful, reality check here.  Another thing to note is that the disciples are now referred to as "the eleven", noting that Judas was no longer among them.  They went and gathered before Jesus and worshiped.  This is the first time that they actually worshipped Jesus, before they had learned from Him as disciples, now they see Him as more than a man, now they understand that He is the Messiah.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Daniel 7:14

"And to Him was given dominion,

Glory and a kingdom,

That all the peoples, nations, and men of every language

Might serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

Which will not pass away;

And His kingdom is one

Which will not be destroyed.

Since Jesus rose from the dead, the rules of the universe had changed.  Jesus defeated Satan and re-claimed the birthright to the world that was stolen at the time of Adam. 

1 Cor. 15:20-26

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, 24then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

Since Adam surrendered the birthright to the world, Jesus paid the penalty for that birthright, thus recovering the earth.  Adam lost it, Jesus paid the penalty for the loss, through His life he paid the penalty, and through the resurrection from the dead, He established that He defeated the devil. "All authority" is because now it is possible for men to have their sins completely forgiven, not just covered.  Now we have the opportunity to stand righteous before God, and enter into His presence with confidence!

Ephes. 3:11-12

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Hebrews 4:15-16

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 10:19-20

Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,

1 John 2:28

And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

With this confidence that we have spiritual authority through Jesus, we have the opportunity to walk with confidence spreading the good news of the Gospel.  The real news of the Gospel is summed up by Paul in a few simple words, "but we preach Christ crucified...." 1 Co 1:23.  In these simple words, all the world has been saved from hell, we are given the opportunity to live new life in Jesus, and to abide with Him forever. 

We are commissioned to go and make learners of all the nations, baptizing them, or enabling them to be immersed into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The Gospel is really very simple; it is accepting Jesus' death, burial and resurrection as your own.  It is abiding in Him on a daily basis.  What more can be said on this? 

It is Sunday and the studies are typically short today.  I won't break that tradition today, because I have the opportunity to fellowship today.  Tomorrow we will bounce back to Hosea, the week following will be on Revelation.  The updated schedule will be out in the next few days.

Father, as we consider the tremendous power that we have access through in Jesus Christ, I pray that each one of us will surrender to You.  And that all of us will be open and willing to share the Gospel.  Open doors through the Passion so that we can share Your good news.

In Him,

Joe Turner.