Matthew Chapter 28
V2 The first thing that struck me when I read this chapter was that there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven. This reminded me of the sound effects we hear in shows when a character makes a grand entrance, and to think that happened in real life is incredible. This shows God’s glory, that even an angel of the Lord descending from heaven is powerful. The Bible also says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that when Jesus comes again, the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and I was reminded of that.
V8 Exploring the feelings of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, they were with fear and great joy. I think these would be the feelings we would feel when we have fought the good fight and when we finally see Jesus. While we would have great joy to see Jesus and know that we can be with Him forever, we will also be with great fear and reverence for the Almighty God.
It also seemed like the angel came and sat there waiting, especially for the Marys to come so that he could tell them where Jesus was. This reminds me of the fact that sometimes God allows things to happen especially for us to find Him, or to cause us to look towards or be directed towards Him. It is then what we do with His prompting that affects our outcome. Do we take it and run with it towards Jesus, or do we ignore it?
V11 While we are running towards Jesus, we can be comforted that Jesus will meet us as well, like how Jesus met the Marys, saying, “Rejoice!” Jesus sees us. Jesus sees you. Jesus sees the effort we put in for Him, to draw closer to Him, and He will draw near to us when we draw near to Him.
James 4:8a Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
V15 Till this day, there are still Jews who think that Jesus’ disciples came at night and stole Him away while the people slept. As we can see, people believing in falsehood can last for very a long time, so it is important for us to know the truth, and just because a piece of information has been around for a long time, does not mean it is true.
V16-17 Even amongst the eleven disciples who followed where Jesus was headed, some of them doubted though they saw and worshipped Jesus. We who follow Jesus today cannot physically see Jesus. However, we can see Him through the love He has shown to us. We might say that it would be easier to believe in Jesus if we saw Him, but even some disciples doubted. Let us remember that God knows what is best for us, including whether we should have been be born during the disciples’ time that we would be able to see Him or during the present day when we cannot, and know that He has given us the best case scenario for us to flourish in our faith. We need to seize hold of what God has given us and make good use of it. We can ask God to remove our doubts as well as speak to our brethren to share about our faith, building each other up and edifying one another.
V20 Lastly, we need to observe all that God has commanded us in this life. May we find comfort as we remember that God will be with us always, for our entire lifetime.
