[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Thursday, March 28, 2013

[Paul]

Well folks, as this is being written it's what some people call Holy Thursday, the night on which we commemorate, among other things, our Lord's institution of what has come down to us as either the Last Supper, Holy Communion or the Eucharist.  It is also the night on which He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and the events that transpired shortly after that.  I need not go into details about the events, as they are all to be found in the Gospels.  What I would like to do, however, is to take a column from the March 2009 issue of the Gospel Messenger magazine entitled "Baffling Bible Questions Answered" in the form of questions and answers.  So we will have five questions and answers:  Three before the Crucifixion itself, one immediately after that event and one shortly following that.  Questions will be preceded by Scripture verses.  I hope this won't confuse anyone.  Let's begin.

Our first question is based on Matthew 26:39 and is rendered as follows:  What was the cup that Jesus begged God to take from Him, and how was this prayer answered?

Many assume that the cup was Jesus' coming crucifixion.  However, Hebrews 5:7 describes Jesus' Gethsemane experience and says that "he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission." This may indicate that the cup was not Christ's death on the cross but rather death itself.  Jesus died according to God's will and, in answer to His prayer, was raised from the dead.

Our second question is based on Matthew 27:9 as follows:  Does this verse wrongly attribute to Jeremiah a prophecy actually made by Zechariah? This clearly is an error.

When the Hebrew Old Testament scrolls were organized, Jeremiah came first among the prophets.  It was common to refer to Jeremiah and simply mean, "One of the prophets." So this is not an error at all but reflects a convention with which Matthew was completely familiar.

Matthew 27:26 is the basis of our third question, as follows:  Why was Jesus flogged if He was going to be crucified?

The soldiers used a _flagellum, a leather whip into which metal, bone or other sharp-edged weights were plaited.  This kind of whipping often killed victims by itself.  Those about to be crucified were often whipped first, with the intent of weakening the condemned so that they would take less time to die.

Question four is based on Matthew 27:51 and is rendered as follows:  What was the significance of the tearing of the temple veil from top to bottom?

A thick, woven veil separated the innermost room of the temple from an outer room.  Priests entered the outer room daily to worship and to maintain a fresh supply of bread and oil there.  The innermost room was entered only once a year by the high priest, who entered on the Day of Atonement carrying sacrificial blood which he sprinkled on the Ark of the Covenant.  The veil was significant, for it symbolized a basic spiritual reality.  Despite God's love for Israel, His Old Testament people were not permitted to come freely into His presence.  The splitting of the veil when Jesus died symbolized the Gospel truth that, through Christ, believers can now "approach the throne of grace with confidence" (Hebrews 4:16).  Nothing can separate the believer in Christ from God the Father.

Our last question, based on Matthew 28:14-15, is as follows:  Does the story told by the soldiers of the disciples stealing Jesus' body make more sense than the Christian position that Jesus rose from the dead?

Not really.  In New Testament times, guards who fell asleep on duty were executed.  No first-century guard would willingly tell his superiors that he had fallen asleep.  The only reasonable explanation for this story is the one given by Matthew:  The guards were bribed to say that Jesus' disciples stole the body while they slept.

There is, of course, another problem.  If the guards really were asleep, how could they know that the disciples had come and taken the body? They could have known this only if they were awake and saw the disciples.  But if they had seen the disciples, these armed men would surely have prevented the theft.

In fact, the only reasonable explanation is that given by Matthew.  God sent angels to open the tomb of Jesus, and it was a living Jesus who left the grave where His body had been laid.

Well, hopefully this cleared up some points that maybe many of you had wondered about for a long time.  If you'd like an occasional Bible question and answer time in subsequent good night messages, please let me know, whether privately or on this list, and will accommodate you.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul