26th March 2024 – Matthew 27:62-66
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.
Was there unconscious irony in Pilate's words in 65? In fact, no power on earth could have kept Christ in the grave. For by death He had destroyed death, and it was therefore not possible that death could hold Him. There is something of the humour of God - if we can speak thus of such a solemn time - in the determined attempts to make sure that He could not rise again - the guard of soldiers, the watch, the seal - as if these could ever prevent it! All they did was to prove that there could be no possible deception by the disciples about His rising again. And their very precautions became, a few hours later, the witnesses to the truth that He had risen. People try to stamp out the work of God like this. And for a time they appear to succeed - but lo! a resurrection takes place, and their designs are confounded. Sometimes individuals do this in their own hearts; they bury the impressions made on them by the Word, pushing them down and crushing then out - but they have a habit of rising again to confound them. It was in vain that Saul of Tarsus sought to bury the pricks of his conscience in a mad flurry of restless activity. They would out, in spite of all he could do, and finally overcame him. Resurrection life is always stronger than death; death is swallowed up of victory!
25th March 2024 – Matthew 27:57-61
57 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…
24th March 2024 – Matthew 27:50-56
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many…
22nd March 2024 – Matthew 27:45-49
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 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?” 47 And some of the…
23rd March 2024 – Matthew 27:50-56
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many…
21st March 2024 – Matthew 27:38-44
38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come…
20th March 2024 – Matthew 27:32-37
32 As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. 33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they offered him wine to drink, mixed…
19th March 2024 – Matthew 27:27-31
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a…
18th March 2024 – Matthew 27:24-26
24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be…
17th March 2024 – Matthew 27:15-23
15 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. 16 And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me…