Thoughts From the Bible

Matthew 28: 16- 20- (16) ‘Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. (17) And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted . (18) And Jesus came and said to the m , “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. (19) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the na me of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”’ There are two things in this short four verse passage for me. First, how could anyone doubt who Jesus was as He stood before them after seeing Him crucified ? According to Matthew Henry, there were some who initially doubted what was happening because their finite, human minds knew what they had seen. It took some time for them to realize this truly was Je sus standing before and then they worshipped. I can see that as a human response, even maybe my ow...

Read M atthew 28: 11- 15- Jesus had risen from the grave. The religious leaders panicked. Instead of going out and investigating to see what the reality was, they si nned. The religious leaders bribed the soldiers to try to control the events. Verses 12 and 13 say, ‘And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.”’ My lesson for today is about how to live life. There will be times when we become desperate for an answer.  We are desperate for a situation to pass us by. I need to remember not to do what the religious leaders did in this passage. I need to stay true to the principles God has shown us are necessary to live a good life. That means being honest. That means admitting mistakes. That means relying on God to help during hard times and listening to the Holy Spirit when we are weighing actions. The religious leaders...

Read Matthew 28: 1 - 10-  These ten verses are the essence of Christianity. This is where the validity of all of Jesus’ actions come to fruition.  This is the point  where the atonement for our sins becomes complete. Verses 5 and 6 say, ‘ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay. ”’  Are we a s receptive to this event as the women were who went to the tomb that morning? Are we afraid or excited?  In verses 9 and 10 we read this,  ‘And behold, Je sus me them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brother to go to Galilee and there they will see Me.”’   I need to be prepared to go to where Jesus tells me to go.  I also need to be excited to go there. This all  shows the power of God Almighty. His plan fo...

Read M atthew 27: 55- 65-   Verses 57 through 60 says this , ‘When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.  (58) He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. (59) And Joseph took the body   and wrapped it in a  clean  linen shroud  (60)  and laid it in his own tomb , which he had cut in the rock.  And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.’   The scriptures tell us Joseph of Arimathea was not only a rich man, but he was a disciple of Jesus.  He was obviously someone  very sensitive  to what was happening with  Jesus,  but he was also prepared to do what he  was capable of doing . He gave his  own prepared tomb to be used to bury Jesus. If he were a disciple, then he would have to have had the thought that providing this tomb for Jesus was really a short-term rental! ...

Read M atthew 27: 38- 44-   This passage of scripture is a continuation of the mocking of Jesus while He hung on the cross.  These religious leaders had seen Jesus heal people. They had seen Jesus cast out demons.  In verses 41 and 42 it says,  ‘So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of  Israel ; let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him.”  Is that really what it would take for them to believe in Jesus as the Lord of creation? How spiritually blind were the religious leaders that they could not recall the proph ecies of the Old Testament and see what was happening before them?  That is  the  challenge for me today. I need to make sure I work to keep my spiritual eyes open to how the Holy Spirit may lead  me,  and I need to make sure I recognize the work of the Holy  Spirit,  so I am not guilty of  what ...

Read Matthew 27: 51- 54-  God chose things that  man  could  not control to note the death of His Son. All things that people noted in history. The death of Jesus had to have caused those who were mocking Him to stop  and wonder what had just happened. Verse 54 shows how quickly things can change,  ‘When the centurion and those who were with  Him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”’   The ir change was dramatic. They watched the hand of God settle on that place and they could not deny what they had not only seen but  participated  in. It is important for  me to never forget the enormity of this minute. As we know, this was  not the end of God’s plan. I need to imagine how I would have felt if I had been helping Jesus’ mother when Jesus breathed His last human  breath and then felt God mourn for His Son. I need to personalize...

Read Matthew 27: 45- 50-   Jesus was enduring a torturous death. The pain was beyond intense .   In verse 46  it is written, ‘And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,  “Eli, Eli,  lema   sabachthani ?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”’   For me, this showed a human side of Jesus. Jesus knew  God was still with Him but the powerful pain of all that was  physically involved  was so difficult to endure. I  have to  know Jesus paid a horrible price for us and it was a physical pain very few r ealized. Yes, there were others crucified but they had to contend with the physical pain not the spiritual pain Jesus endured for me.  Jesus’ focus was on the plan to restore people to Him. His life was the price.    Proverbs 1: 19- So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away  the  life of its owners.   

Read Matthew 27: 34-  37-   The  chief priests and elders got what they wanted. Jesus is now crucified and is slowly dying. The beating was not enough. The crucifixion was not enough. As Jesus hung above them, the people began to mock  Jesus. If He was God, why didn’t He save Himself?  Verse 37 was an insult,  “And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: This is Jesus the King of the Jews.”  People continue to behave like this. When someone is down, there are still those people who want to  kick them when they are down. They want to say things that make them feel greater than the person they are kicking.  We need to find a way to think about others who may be in trouble or are having  a difficult time  and pray for those individuals rather than ridicule them. They may need  some level of peace in their lives. They may need wisdom on how to react or behave going forward. There may be  any  number ...

Read Matthew 27: 26- 33- What good is there in these seven verses? We see some horrible things in our society today but what Christ went through with this physical torture is horrendous. Simon the Cyrene was chosen to carry Jesus’ cross after Jesus had been so brutally beaten so there was something positive. A person to help Jesus in a broken and weakened state. Verse 32 says, “Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross.” I need to never forget that there will be times when we all will need help in our lives. I need to make sure I am not too proud to accept help when those times come. Jesus was weak and bleeding. Simon helped Him. I need to allow others to help me when life gets hard . Jesus, as Lord of the universe, allowed Simon to help Him when He could have ended all the torture and upcoming crucifixion .  I need to realize allowing others to help me when times are tough, actually gives others a chance to serve a...