14 October

Bible In 365 Days                  

Matthew 27-28 

Matthew 27

The morning saw the plot hatched in the night carried into effect. This is chronicled in the first two verses of the chapter. The picture of Judas in his remorse is very terrible.

Pilate stands out as a warning against the policy of expediency. He was convinced of the innocence of Jesus, and his conscience - perhaps more acute that day than it had been for a very long time - very plainly revealed to him that his duty lay in releasing the Prisoner. However, he endeavored to secure himself and his position, and so flung Christ and conscience away at the same time.

Let us note the persons gathered around the Cross. The soldiers of Rome, for the most part debased, brutalized men. Simon of Cyrene, compelled to bear the Cross, yet surely discovering its message. Chief priests, scribes, elders, filled with malice and envy, and mocking Him, yet even in their mockery uttering, under constraint of God, great truths. "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." Thieves, the companions of His Cross and death, divided then and forever by their attitude toward Him.

A group of women in the distance watching all. That mixed crowd was surely a prophecy. All sorts and conditions of men have been attracted by that Cross, and have been influenced by it according to the manner of their approach. Some have watched. Some have mocked. Some have been healed.

There was not one of His apostles to bury Him! The two men who attended to this sacred service were Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (John 19:39). Two women watched the burying. If it were not so inexpressibly sad as a revelation of hardhearted unbelief, it would be ludicrous to notice His enemies' foolish attempt to guard the dead body of Jesus. Was the irony of Pilate conscious, one wonders, when he said, "Make it as sure as ye can"?

Matthew 28

"He is not here, He is risen!" That, surely, is the sweetest music. How beautifully it crowns the King. His enemies have rejected Him, and have proved their malice by handing Him over to their common, their last, their most terrible enemy - Death. The King proves His Kingship by overcoming that enemy in His dying, and on this Easter morning, the first, stands on His own earth again, having grappled with and vanquished the great foe of the race.

In Matthew 28:8-20 we have a glimpse of the living One. All the suffering is behind, the conflict is won. Now the heavens receive Him for a season. He will come again to reign over the whole earth.

Before His departure He gathered around Him His band of apostles and gave them the great commission, urgent with the urgency of His "GO", wide as the world in its scope, strong as the strength of Deity, and resourceful as He is Himself, for He promised to be always with the messengers, even to the end of the age.

So ends the Gospel of the King. He came and declared the laws of the Kingdom, and revealed its beauty in His life and its beneficence in His deeds. His own would have none of Him, and in unholy coalition with Gentile powers uttered the verdict, "We will not have this Man to reign over us!" They slew Him. Yet the last note is not that of man's rejection, but of God's exaltation, and we gather around the risen One, and cry, "Long live the King!"