Thursday, April 11, 2013
Matthew 28:11-15 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.' And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure."
SATANIC LIE -- JESUS' DISCIPLES WERE GRAVE ROBBERS
I'd like to have seen the looks on the faces of the chief priests when the Roman guard told them what had happened at the tomb. The guards that they had received from Pilate (Matthew 27:65) and posted at the tomb were standing before them with helmets in hand explaining how someone, bright as lightning, had opened the tomb they were guarding.
I'd like to have seen the look in the eye of those Roman soldiers. We don't know if they had seen action or not, but they had surely never seen anything like an angel of the Lord. Which did they fear more, seeing the angel again or the possible consequences of their failed guard?
Whatever their initial response, the resurrection of Jesus was for the chief priests and elders something that needed damage control. They paid off the witnesses. They gave them the story they were to repeat. They promised to satisfy Pilate if he heard.
Have you ever heard someone suggest that the disciples were grave robbers and that Jesus never rose? There are those who say such things to this very day.
There is nothing you can say to change their minds. Unbelief is a kind of absolute spiritual blindness. Those who do not believe will simply ignore the facts. Many people saw Jesus alive in different places under different circumstances. Their accounts have been recorded for us in the God-breathed Scriptures, which do not change. In the end, only the Spirit of God can change their hearts and minds through the Word.
Jesus' disciples were not capable grave robbers. They ran when Jesus was arrested. They hid behind locked doors, terrified of what might happen to them. In fact, the first to enter the empty tomb were the women. The first to see the risen Savior were women.
Jesus tomb couldn't have been robbed that first day of the week. It was already empty.
Christ is risen!
Hallelujah!
