A Glaring Truth
Scripture: Matthew 28:2-4, 11-15
" 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint...11 As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. 12 A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. 13 They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ 14 If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” 15 So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today."
Observations:
The Bible accounts that the Roman soliders who guarded the tomb of Jesus overnight were eye witnessess of an actual angel descending from heaven, causing an earthquake, and rolling the stone away from the the tomb. This so freaked them out that they all passed out. When they came to and realized that the tomb was empty, they quickly reported exactly what had happened to the Jewishs priests who were responsible for Jesus' arrest, trial, and execution. As they listened to the report, instead of realizing their error and admitting that Jesus actually was the Son of God and that they should immediately change their minds about Him, instead they deliberately chose to deny the truth and even went out of their way to suppress the truth so that they wouldn't have to deal with it.
Application:
There are times in all of our lives when the truth about Christ is staring us in the face and force us to make a choice to accept it and conform our lives to it (change) or suppress it and deny it access to our lives (resist change). The end result of who we become is the sum total of times we either chose to conform to God's Word or ignore it so that we won't have to deal with it and stay the way we are. But the reality is that the leading priests who denied the resurrection did not escape it's truth but only temporarily delayed it's effect in their lives. God gives all of us the choice to embrace the truth of His Word as He reveals it and allow it to transform us as we seek to conform our lives to its principles, or we can put it off and merely delay the results. The only difference is that God in His infinite love and wisdom invites each of us to live our lives in the light of His truth to prevent us from stumbling over the deadly consequences of our own ignorance, pride, selfishness, and other sinful attitudes. There question is then not, "how long can I avoid the truth" but rather "what degree of consequences do I want to experience until I embraced it?"
Prayer:
Father, help us to humble ourselves enough to accept the truth of Your Word and embrace difficult realities that challenge us to conform our lives to Your eternal principles. Help us not to run from change but to fully surrender every area of our lives to Your truth. Uncover those places in us that have harbored sin and uproot them. Tear down our defenses and strip us of all resistance to Your Spirit searching and molding us into Your likeness. Amen.
" 2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint...11 As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. 12 A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. 13 They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ 14 If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” 15 So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today."
Observations:
The Bible accounts that the Roman soliders who guarded the tomb of Jesus overnight were eye witnessess of an actual angel descending from heaven, causing an earthquake, and rolling the stone away from the the tomb. This so freaked them out that they all passed out. When they came to and realized that the tomb was empty, they quickly reported exactly what had happened to the Jewishs priests who were responsible for Jesus' arrest, trial, and execution. As they listened to the report, instead of realizing their error and admitting that Jesus actually was the Son of God and that they should immediately change their minds about Him, instead they deliberately chose to deny the truth and even went out of their way to suppress the truth so that they wouldn't have to deal with it.
Application:
There are times in all of our lives when the truth about Christ is staring us in the face and force us to make a choice to accept it and conform our lives to it (change) or suppress it and deny it access to our lives (resist change). The end result of who we become is the sum total of times we either chose to conform to God's Word or ignore it so that we won't have to deal with it and stay the way we are. But the reality is that the leading priests who denied the resurrection did not escape it's truth but only temporarily delayed it's effect in their lives. God gives all of us the choice to embrace the truth of His Word as He reveals it and allow it to transform us as we seek to conform our lives to its principles, or we can put it off and merely delay the results. The only difference is that God in His infinite love and wisdom invites each of us to live our lives in the light of His truth to prevent us from stumbling over the deadly consequences of our own ignorance, pride, selfishness, and other sinful attitudes. There question is then not, "how long can I avoid the truth" but rather "what degree of consequences do I want to experience until I embraced it?"
Prayer:
Father, help us to humble ourselves enough to accept the truth of Your Word and embrace difficult realities that challenge us to conform our lives to Your eternal principles. Help us not to run from change but to fully surrender every area of our lives to Your truth. Uncover those places in us that have harbored sin and uproot them. Tear down our defenses and strip us of all resistance to Your Spirit searching and molding us into Your likeness. Amen.
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