Curious Scriptures
Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …
2 Timothy 4:3-4
“The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
“They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …
1 John 1:5-7
“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Please open your Bibles to: Matthew 27:45-56
It was just two weeks ago that we celebrated Resurrection Sunday, the day when Jesus was raised by the power of God to life again, proving that He is indeed the Messiah! And, so we say, “Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”
You know, we go a couple of weeks past Resurrection Sunday and we almost forget that Jesus was still walking on the earth, spending time with His disciples.
As I read once again through the resurrection accounts in the Gospels I came across an odd occurrence in Matthew’s account that is not mentioned in any of the other Gospels.
With that in mind let’s look at: Matthew 27:45-56
May God bless the reading of His Word … (Prayer for help …)
So, what was that odd occurrence?
Matthew 27:51b-53
“The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”
So, what do we see here?
- There was an earthquake
- The earthquake was so violent that rocks were split. The rocks were not dislodged and moved about but they were split.
- Tombs broke open.
o We know that Jesus’ body was place in a “new tomb that [Joseph of Arimathea] had cut out of the rock” Matthew 27:60
- The bodies of many holy people were raised to life
o Who were they
o Were they Old Testament prophets?
o Were they New Testament people like Zechariah, John the Baptist, Joseph?
o Did they have to die again and be buried again or were they somehow taken directly to heaven?
o Were they in resurrected bodies?
o Who did they appear to?
o Did they say anything to anyone or just “appear” to them?
o How did the people react?
- Was this just more evidence that Jesus was the Messiah?
- This had never happened before and has never happened since.
Do I believe it happened? Yes, of course I do.
Do I praise God for it?
Yes, His power is great, even giving us a sample of the future resurrection of the dead!
So, what does this mean to us?
One thing that we know for sure is that it means that the Lord has power over death.
It means that the Lord can raise the dead whenever He wants to do so.
It also means that while this is certainly interesting we should not take too much time getting sidetracked about Scriptures that are curiosities.
We should not be sidetracked by oddities from which we can bring no definite conclusions or applications.
But we should be proclaiming the simple truths that this world needs so badly such as
the truths found throughout the Scriptures.
- Humanity was lost in sin and needed a Savior
- God had a plan to save us
- The Father sent His One and Only Son who died for our sins
- Jesus, the Son rose from the dead … Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
- We can find salvation only through Jesus
- Then we live for the glory of God and for the kingdom of God!
Have you ever noticed any other Scriptures that seem to be “one of a kind” Scriptures?
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Here’s one …
We know that God hates sin.
We know that there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood.
(Hebrews 9:19-22)
God sent His son to shed His blood so that we could be forgiven!
So, what do we do when we come to …
1 John 5:16-17 where it says,
“If anyone sees a brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”
Now, this is the only place in the Scriptures where we hear of a concept of “a sin that does not lead to death.”
But, Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death and it makes no distinction between types of sins.
And, why should we NOT pray about sin that leads to death?
This is very confusing, even to those who write commentaries for a living.
Do you remember when we have talked about “proof texts” before? When a Scripture is pull out of its context and used to make it say what it actually does not say?
This verse is often used as a proof test for the un-Biblical concept of mortal and venial sins.
And, out of the concept of mortal and venial sin comes the concept of the “Seven Deadly Sins.”
I remember going to a seminar at Houghton College a few years back where a special speaker came in to talk about the “Seven Deadly Sins.” It was amazing to hear how many people in the past had hidden themselves away from society to ponder and write about what the seven deadly sins were. And, if they agreed on what they were they would then, in their writings, debate the order of the seven sins; which was the most deadly and which was the least deadly.
And, all the time they were doing this they were hiding away in a monastery, away from people who desperately needed to know Jesus.
Since there are no other Scriptures that can be interpreted as supporting mortal and venial sin, what do the other Scriptures say about sin?
John 8:34
“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’”
No distinction there.
Romans 6:22-23
“Now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
No distinction of mortal or venial sin there.
1 John 3:4-6
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that [Jesus] appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him is no sin. No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
No distinction of mortal or venial sin there.
So, should we be spending our time fretting about mortal and venial sins or should we be spending our time on something else?
Perhaps we should be thinking about:
- Humanity was lost in sin and needed a Savior
- God had a plan to save us
- The Father sent His One and Only Son who died for our sins
- Jesus, the Son rose from the dead … Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
- We can find salvation only through Jesus
- Then we live for the glory of God and for the kingdom of God!
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So, far we have talked about two Scriptures that are in the Bible and seem to be confusing.
What about Scriptures that are not found in any of the oldest manuscripts but seem to have been added later on?
Mark 16:9-20 all seem to have been added on after Mark wrote the Gospel.
In that passage we see many things that can be supported by other passages in the Bible. So, those we can be sure as being true.
But in verse 18 where it says, “they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all …” there is no evidence for this in other Scriptures so handling rattle snakes is not a part of our worship service. And, while some of us may drink things that are not particularly healthy we hopefully are not drinking deadly poison.
On the other hand, what about the end of Matthew 6:13 where it says in the KJV, “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen”
That phrase is only found in some late manuscripts.
Should we accept that or reject it?
What do we find in other Scriptures?
Does our Father who is in Heaven have a kingdom? Why, yes, He does!
Mark 1:15 says,
“The time has come,” [Jesus] said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Does our Father who is in Heaven have power? Why, yes, He does!
Isaiah 44:24 says,
“This is what the Lord says - your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I Am the LORD, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by Myself,
Does our Father who is in Heaven deserve glory? You bet He does!
Deuteronomy 5:24 says,
“The LORD our God has shown us His glory and His majesty, and we have heard His voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them.”
We see all of those realities from the very first word in the Bible to the end!
The LORD is the King! The LORD is all powerful! And, The LORD deserves all honor and glory!
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Now, getting back to the original Scripture that we read …
Did Jesus come to earth to amaze us with people coming out of the graves after His resurrection?
No. The Lord raised those people from the dead to put an exclamation point on Jesus’ resurrection!
Did Jesus come to earth so we could have endless debates about the idea of mortal and venial sin, or so that we would debate if there are seven deadly sins and what they might be?
Absolutely not!
Jesus came to earth to forgive our sin.
Jesus died to free us from the power of sin in our lives!
And Jesus empowers us through the Holy Spirit to tell others that they, too, can find that same freedom in Jesus!
Did Jesus come to earth to declare the Father’s kingdom, power and glory? Yes!
So, as we come to the time of remembering Jesus suffering and shedding His blood for our salvation what main things should we be focusing on?
- Humanity was lost in sin and needed a Savior
- God had a plan to save us
- The Father sent His One and Only Son who died for our sins
- Jesus, the Son of God rose from the dead … Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
- We can find salvation only through Jesus
- Then we live for the glory of God and for the kingdom of God!
Final comments leading into communion.
