A Truth or a Lie
“As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’
So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”
Matthew 27:57-66.
The Romans were good at what they did and the priests and Pharisees wanted to make sure they did it exceptionally well at this time. They went to Pilot and asked that he seal the tomb to ensure that Jesus disciples couldn’t steal the body and claim that he rose from the dead.
Pilot ordered it but Jesus still rose and it was miraculous. The priest and Pharisees knew this that’s why they bribed the Roman soldiers, Matthew recording events after the women had discovered Jesus had risen.
“While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.
When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’
If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Matthew 28:11-15.
The lie that the disciples of Jesus had stolen the body circulated and was still doing so when Matthew wrote his gospel.
To day people believe that lie.
I know it’s hard to believe that a person can rise up from the grave. The writers of the New Testament realized that.
When the Apostle Paul presented the truth about Christ in Athens he concluded with these remarks recorded in Acts,
“For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.”
At that, Paul left the Council.
A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.”
Acts 17:31-34.
Believing in the resurrection from the dead is an act of faith. Acts of faith can be very hard.
The writer of Hebrews defines faith as,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1.
It’s hard to believe in what we cannot see, hear, or touch. Yet that is what is required to become a Christian.
The writer of Hebrews stating,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
Do you believe that this Jesus of Nazareth spoken of in the New Testament in both the Saviour of mankind as well as Lord and God creator of the universe?
Think about it.
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