February 16, 2014: Hard Hearts
Amplified Bible (AMP)
51 And at once the curtain of the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split.
52 The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep in death were raised [to life];
53 And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
54 When the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus observed the earthquake and all that was happening, they were terribly frightened and filled with awe, and said, Truly this was God’s Son!
55 There were also numerous women there, looking on from a distance, who were of those who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him.
56 Among them were Mary of Magdala, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
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, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
59 And Joseph took the body and rolled it up in a clean linen cloth used for swathing dead bodies
60 And laid it in his own fresh (undefiled) tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a big boulder over the door of the tomb and went away.
61 And Mary of Magdala and the other Mary kept sitting there opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, that is, the day after the day of Preparation [for the Sabbath], the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate
63 And said, Sir, we have just remembered how that vagabond Imposter said while He was still alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Therefore give an order to have the tomb made secure and safeguarded until the third day, for fear that His disciples will come and steal Him away and tell the people that He has risen from the dead, and the last deception and fraud will be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said to them, You have a guard [of soldiers; take them and] go, make it as secure as you can.
66 So they went off and made the tomb secure by sealing the boulder, a guard of soldiers being with them and remaining to watch.
They thought they could seal the tomb of the God who CREATED the rocks and the boulder they used to seal it! To prevent His disciples from "stealing Him away" and telling people He rose from the dead.
"Jesus, people certainly are ridiculous, aren't they? The earth shook, rocks split, people were raised from the dead, and actually appeared before many in Jerusalem. And the stubborn, hard hearted chief priests of the Pharisees were STILL denying You were who You said You were. The fullness of God bodily. Still today, people are denying Your existance and persecuting and killing those who serve You. America, the home of the free and the brave, is no longer free and brave. America is bound by unbelief. And the leaders whom the so called Christians have elected deny Your very existence. I pray for our Godless leaders. Please forgive them for the deeds they commit. I repent for those of us who call ourselves Christians who elected these leaders, knowing full well they didn't serve You. Please open the blind eyes of Your people. Please soften the hard hearts. Please have mercy on us all, dear Jesus! Please forgive us all! I pray that the Christians in America would fall on our faces, repent, and turn from our wicked ways. I humbly ask these things in Your precious name, AMEN."
2 Chronicles 7:14
Amplified Bible (AMP)
14 If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Comments
Post a Comment