QT 5/30/2022 Matt 27:62-66, The Resurrection -- everyone must face the facts

Matthew 27:62–66 (ESV) — 62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

 

NOTE: I can just see the response of Pilate if this scene was played out in our culture. "Really, you are just telling me this now. This seems like a rather important detail." On the other hand, I'm sure Pilate was convinced that no one rose from the dead after a Roman crucifixion. The more interesting point is that even the Pharisees knew that Jesus planned to rise from the dead. We see Jesus say this clearly to his close disciples, and they did not even understand. We see Jesus say this obliquely to the crowds, "(no more signs) shall be given to this generation other than the sign of Jonah." So, it is rather surprising that the Pharisees knew Jesus' prophecy. And, it shows the hardness of their heart -- because they knew the truth and somehow did not believe. Of course, Jesus did not later appear to them, they only knew the body was gone. They would have to believe the uneducated fishermen and women that he was alive, and the 500-plus witnesses. Of the eleven main disciples, all would die rather than deny the fact of the resurrection. Why? Because it was true.

 

You know, even when something is true, you don't die for it. I would deny I was typing on this computer if that is what it meant to live. That truth or fact is not worth dying for. But Jesus' death was not only a fact, but its truth was the blessed hope of a resurrection and eternal life. It was a higher bar to cross, and they were eyewitnesses of the fact.

 

PONDER:

1. What would we do for? We are only "second"-generation believers. We were not eyewitnesses. We have the record of the eye-witnesses. And many of us have seen the miracle of transformation in our own lives. Would we die rather than deny Jesus? I believe I would.

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you that I am not blinded by religion. Thank you that my conversion was life-changing. I was a new creature. Changes occurred from the inside out. I had new desires. I had a new lifestyle. And while the change is not nearly as dramatic year by year, I still see you changing my life to be a different person than I was.