Sealing the Tomb: The Guards, the Pharisees, and Pilate's Dilemma

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun in practical ways. All right, well, welcome

to the Bible Guys. My name is Chris and I'm Jeff. And here

we are here the Bible Guys were the Bible Guys. There you go.

Hey, we're gonna start out with a segment today, which is a fun

segment sometimes sometimes called stump the pastor yes, and these these often are questions

that are difficult. Yeah, this is a good question today. It is.

And so let me go ahead and say this. Whatever I think about

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you sign up today give us your email address, we'll inform you when all

those other resources come out. That's cool, that'll be really great. Okay,

man, you're already bored today. Man, you're boring me. I

am boring you. Your trunk fell asleep, right, they give you there.

I'm so bored. My trunk fell asleep. Okay, so today,

are you meaning my torso or no? Yeah? Yeah, your torso like

an elephant's trunk. No, no, your torso, I see yeah,

the trunk of your body, I see right, right, So usually you

have hands or feet fall asleep, but this one, your entire body goes

numb because you got it? Got it? That was rough, Chris.

Why don't I don't refer to my torso is a trunk? So okay,

you don't have to. Some people do, Okay, don't judge them,

Johnny P. Here's the question someth the pastor. Is it only considered tithing

when you give to the church? What about Saint Jude's or Salvation Army or

tunnels to towers, et cetera. Hm, that's a good question, Johnny.

Good thinking, yeah, very good thinking. Yeah. Well, and

and let's just be clear because some people what they do is they'll they'll take

their tithe and they say, okay, if I'm supposed to give back.

And by the way, the word tithe means ten percent. And so if

I'm supposed to take ten percent of my income and I'm supposed to give it

back to the church, what about paying for people's groceries at the gas station?

What about donating to a parachurch organization or anti sex trafficking or a you

know, feed the hungry or dig a well, right, these are all

good things, you know, supporting orphans in a church organization like Salvation Army,

by the way, is a organization that has two legs, which is

it's an actual church organization. But a Salvation Army is a donation tax detectible

donation kind of a thing that generates money to do good. Right, Yeah,

so what's your answer to this, Well, I was waiting for your

answer. You just well, okay, then I'll just say so the Bible,

the Bible whenever talks about tithe, it talks about bringing it to the

church. It doesn't talk about it bringing to a parachurch organization. So therefore

we have to conclude that there's the bride of Christ and then there's the bride's

maids. And the bride'smaids are not The bride is as beautiful as the bridesmaids

are. Right, they're they're supposed to bring glory to the bride. Right,

they're supposed to They're supposed to draw attention to the bride. And bridesmaids

are great. But that's what that's what parachurch organizations are. They're the bridesmaids.

But but the church is the bride, right, So the good deeds,

yes, outside of a local church. Yeah. So I think when

you mentioned the tithe is always to the temple. Yeah right. So,

so the tithe in the New Testament isn't referenced as going to the church,

but it's to the temple. And Malachi is where you would get that,

where he says, bring all the tithes into the storehouse, right, Uh,

bring it all to the temple so that the my my house will be

full, So the table will be full, and all the resources will be

there, which would have been their church right right, and so their church

building. Yeah right, So the the principle would be story house tithing.

And I think that's the question she's asking, is what is God's expectation.

I personally believe I'm not going to die on this hill, but I personally

believe that when he says tithe, you bring the tithe to the storehouse.

That's the local body of believers, right collectively. But Jesus refers to tithes

and tithes offerings and alms, So tithes would be God's ten percent offerings and

alms are over and above the ten percent, so the ten percent goes to

the storehouse. That in my mind now in the church ages the church,

just like it would have been in the temple before. Offerings are when you're

planning to give more than your tithe for some cause. What is this salvation

army for instance, or something like that. And then alms is spur the

moment, special gifts, homeless man on the street, salvation army, ringing

the bell right in that moment. Oh, it's pocket change. It was

unplanned. So tithes are God's rent for living on earth. That's ten percent,

and you and all of his blessings. And he says, I'll see

if I don't open the windows of heaven and part of blessing on you.

So tithes are the requirement. I believe. That's storehouse tithing. You bring

to the local body of believers, and it's God's, not yours, right,

so you surrender it. You don't designate it. Then the offerings would

be designated gifts over and above tithe that would go over and above that ten

percent that would go to a thing you're designating, Saint Jud's or something like

that. And then the alms is the ringing of the bell, the spur

of the moment, homeless person kind of a special gift paying somebody's bills.

Right, that that kind of a thing, and so biblically that those are

the three ways of giving. And so when it comes to the tithe,

God doesn't promise to bless our offerings and our alms until after we've done our

tithe too, right, So God's looking for that bare minimum ten percent.

So yeah, that's a big one, man, Johnny. That's a great

question to ask. A great question shows where your heart is, right,

where your treasure is. That's where your heart is. And what you're saying

is, man, I want my heart to be for Jesus, right,

that's what you're saying. That's really good. And I also believe that it's

okay too, since we're talking about the nuances, it's okay to give to

not necessarily all the time. Although I've always had the practice of giving like

ninety five percent of the church that I'm a part of, but we have

other churches that we're just friends with that we give as well. So we

actually use some of our tithe our whole lives. We've done this. It's

a very small portion, but we actually support other as long as it's the

church, you know, it's not my local church, but it is a

church that I believe in, but it's a part of the church, so

we do that too. Yeah, So I believe that's right. So anytime

my wife and I have given to other churches, it's it's outside of our

tithe it's over and above. Yeah. Because of that, I have pretty

strong belief in the storehouse tithing. So all those churches are not my storehouse.

They're a different storehouse, right, And so it's the temple that I'm

a part of. That's where I would give my tithe to. And then

it's appropriate to give offerings outside of that too. So yeah, I think

we have a little bit of a different opinion there, but yeah, yeah,

yeah. But either way though, I think that the church, there's

a big difference between the church and then a parachurch organization, which, by

the way, let me as a side note, I want to poke fun

at poke. I'm literally announcing I'm poking fun at it. Okay, Okay,

I love the Salvation Army. They're great, but I want to poke

fun at their slogan. Okay, their slogan says you know what it is.

It says doing the most good as if to imply, hey, I

know you do good, but we do the most good, right, And

I think that's a misquote of their founder. Yes, yes, but that's

how it reads. And so if you go to any ring a bell thing,

it'll say Army. The only thing printed underneath that logo is doing the

most good rights, as if to say like, hey, all you other,

all you other peasants out there trying to do good. I know you're

doing okay, but we do the most good, right. So, and

I know that's not what they met. I think what they're meaning is they're

about doing the most important things, right. That's right, That's what they're

that's what they're saying, right right. So General Booth, William Booth was

the founder of the Salvation Army, and he has a quote, I can't

quote it exactly, but we should do the most good that we can do

all the time. Yes, right, it's kind of the idea. And

so they shortened that piece, but the quote is a long quote. Yes,

And so what they're trying to do is remind Salvation Army people why they

why they do what they do, And it's because we're trying to do the

most good we can with the TI and we have. That's it, And

there's a good chance that maybe somebody who works for the Organization of Salvation Army

is listening, and I would just say, please talk to somebody, because

what you're doing is you're announcing your arrogance. Yeah, now what it seems

like, right, So they're not announcing there against, they're quoting their founder

who's saying, we're going to do everything we can to do the most good

with our No. So I've already said I think I understand what they're meaning.

So this is kind of a Christianese moment. There's times when we say

what we know what we mean, yes, but the rest of the world

doesn't perceive it the way we know what it means. Yes, and that

that's what's happening. I'm saying. So it's not arrogant. I'm saying what

you're saying is not what you're meaning. Yes, because what you're saying is

the sounds arrogant in my mind. Yeah, so I don't I don't think

it sounds arrogant. But we're doing the most good. Yeah, we're doing

better than anybody else, no matter who else does. So I think you

think there's judgmentalism in it, I don't think so. No, it's a

claim judgmental Yeah, it's just a claim that we're best. No, so

we're doing the best we can, is what I hear it say. I

do not hear that they're doing better than me. That's what That's how it

reads. I think it's an indicator of your heart. No, I think

that you're easily offended. Absolutely might not believe the best. You're choosing to

believe the worst. Just believe words you might. So if you read a

thing like that from people who are good, we're literally sacrificing their life,

ringing a bell, taking care of homeless people I love. So you have

to just choose to believe the best. When you don't understand a thing,

maybe you don't have complete understanding. All you said to me was overlook their

bad slogan. That's all that needs to And all I'm saying is maybe because

maybe just misunderstand it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right. You shouldn't

have to have somebody believe the best in your wording. Well, we have

to. We have to rely on people believe in the best in us all

the time. Well, just choose different wording, that's all I'm saying.

That's all I'm saying this guy. So hey, by the way, for

our listeners, you also got an episode of What made Chris Mad this week?

That's right. Somehow I turned it into rant against the Salvation Army.

I don't know if that's a winning strategy. Dude, dude, Hey,

I already said I love it. I don't like their quotes. So good

job, Jony, Thank you for your question. That's fantastic. Tithes rent

for living on Earth ten God says, I'll bless you offerings over and above.

You designate it alms, spur the moment, give to people in situations

in need. Right, that's it, So good job on that. So

we are reading. Actually, we were able to take twelve and a half

minutes on that segment because this may be maybe we were just talking about this

before it started. The least amount of content in a single episode, let's

be honest, that's call for what it is. So we both scrambling,

going, what are we going to say on this one? We have some

good thoughts though, I think we have thoughts. We'll let the listeners.

We'll let the listeners be the judge whether they're good thoughts. Or not.

Okay, So we're reading Matthew chapter twenty, verses sixty two through sixty six.

That's it, and it says the next day on the Sabbath, remember

they took Jesus' body down off the cross. Joseph, Arimathea, Nicodemus,

Mary, the two Marys are watching. They put the body in the tomb.

The next day on the sabbath, the leading priests and pharisees went to

see Pilot. They told him, sir, we remember what that deceiver once

said while he was still alive. After three days, I will rise from

the dead, So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day.

This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling

everyone he was raised from the dead. If that happens, will be worse

off than we were at first. Pilot replied, take guards and secure it

the best you can. So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protected

that's it. There you go. So the content says, hey, post

some guards and pots it. Okay, okay, okay, all right,

go ahead, but there are several service there's some really neat things in here

hereh yeah, for sure. So let's talk about the seal in itself.

So the seal in itself, the reason why it's such a big deal when

it is broken is because when Pilot puts a seal, or any Roman officer

for that matter, puts a seal on something, and in this case a

tomb, if it's broken, it meant death for the guard. It's a

death penalty. It's a death penalty. So the idea for the person breaking

it and for the ones guarding it. Yes, yes, So so that

that's important, So that that part is becomes important later on during the resurrection,

which would be like I guess on Monday number two for the resurrections on

Sunday, but we're going to talk about it on Monday, correct, correct,

Yeah, that's what I meant to say. See, where's you're important

to? I know they are slogans, sure, all right, So the

point is is that so that's important. And then also we have the fact

that they really paid attention to Jesus' words, like they knew Jesus had made

the claims that he was going to rise again on the third day, right,

the Bible says his disciples often didn't understand he was saying he's going to

rise on the third day. But these guys are smart enough. They knew

what he said, yes, and they knew what he meant, right,

and they were little intimidated by it. Yeah, well there's a lot of

things here right, right, so they they're afraid that perhaps it really would

be stolen and that and that his disciples would leverage that to create some sort

of a spooky ghost in the legend. But at the same time, you

could almost sense that they're like, like, the last thing we want is

another another Lazarus or another blind guy seeing or another you know, layman being

healed or whatever, because we've seen it, and so it sort of freaks

us out. So we know that you're the most powerful force in the world.

If you place guards and a seal, that'll make us feel a lot

better. And you know, you never find the Pharisees or the religious teachers

of the law. You never find them saying Jesus didn't do the thing.

They always acknowledge the miracle was done. He just did it in the power

of the devil, right, So they never reject the miracles. They acknowledge

the miracles. They just say he was doing it in the power of the

devil or he was some kind of charlatan or whatever. And so in this

situation they may have believed, hey maybe maybe maybe the devil bringing back the

life too. Can you imagine though, There's a couple things. One we

totally blow over the fact that on the Sabbath they're doing business, which is

considered a form of work. What right, right do as I say,

not as I do? I guess politics is that important. I think for

a lot of Christians, politics is more important than their faith a sermon,

right there, let's move on. But in this situation, and you said

more than my slogan ranch right if that? But hey, you tell me

if you don't know Christians who their religion is, there is their politics.

Yeah, it's it's pretty bad. It's pretty bad in the politics of the

religion. So anyways, here politics were so important that they were willing to

go ahead and walk the edges of if not break the Sabbath on the passover

to go make sure that they can keep this guy in the grave. And

that's a big one. But then can you imagine how nuts pilot musself out

These people were, really so you want to kill a guy because he's a

little nuts claiming that his kingdom isn't of this earth. And I did that

for you. I tried to let him go, and you start a riot

to get me to kill him. Okay, so I killed him. It's

another life. Who gives a rip about another life? And now you'r afraid

it's going to come back to life or that somebody's gonna come and steal the

body? Are you flipping serious? And it doesn't end with Pilot because he

tried to wash his hands, he tried to say no, he tried to

release Barabus, right, he tried everything right, he didn't want to do

it. But he's worried about the people. He's worried about keeping peace.

It's his only job. Well, his job is actually collect taxes, right,

Harry really was more of the keep the peace guy. But Pilot's job

also is to keep the peace and the whole riots and everything else. And

then remember when they said, hey, change the sign, but it says

King of the Jews, But the change it to say that Jesus claimed to

be the King of the Jews. Don't actually give him the title the Jews

and Pilots like, I'm so sick of you and so what he says is,

I have written what I've written, right, you already forced me to

kill him. I'm not changing the sign on this. I'm not changing the

sign to because you know, because of your I'm not accommodating you. And

so they're coming back the next day going, yes, hey, we need

to we need official seal. Yeah, we need official and then what does

he say. He's thinking to himself, Okay, if that does happen,

that would be chaos. It would be it would be way worse and there

and that's what they're trying to tell him, and he's like, well,

I got to keep the peace. So I could imagine his disgust and saying,

go ahead, so just take some guards and secure the best you can.

Right. He's like, I'm just done with this, right because they're

nuts, right right. Well, everything, everything about Pilot's attitude, his

conversations, and his responses indicate that that would have been exactly his demeanor,

right, And he's done with this. Uh, And so okay, so

we have that and then uh, and then let's talk about this. There's

another sermon hidden in here, and that is all the people who, throughout

their entire lifetimes for two thousand years who have tried to disprove Jesus's resurrection,

right, think about that. That's all another sermony. Yeah, because there

are people who have we have friends, good friends absolutely who we know,

who have basically spent their entire lives, you know, trying to disprove Jesus.

And it was during that pursuit that they understood that, you know,

Jesus's life defied mathematical odds, fulfilling the prophecies, that his resurrection can never

be disproven. And people who have spent you know, and by the way,

there's a lot of stake trying to disprove this. Oh. Absolutely,

I have a friend. He was in Baghdad. He was a student in

Baghdad when the Second US invasion happened, and he got sucked into a pretty

radical group of religious radicals and began to coordinate hits against American soldiers in the

Green Zone. Wow. And he started feeling guilt about that and couldn't do

it anymore. He had befriended an American soldier and was coming up to assassinat

him, and when the soldier saw what was happening, he said, hey,

whoa wha whah, whoa whoa, whoa. I pray for your country

every day. And it was the first time my friend had ever heard those

phrases, that phrase. He was, what do you mean you pray for

my country every day? And he said, I'm a Christian and I just

want peace and bagdad and so I love you and I love everybody here and

it doesn't have to happen. So churs they're porting guns at each other,

and he said it was like God just froze his hand and he couldn't pull

the trigger, and so he walked away and he lived that day. And

then he was moved by the fact that he couldn't kill this guy who said,

I'm praying for you. He said, it never dawned on him that

Christians prayed. So he went back to his religious leader. And he was

a journalism student and he said, you know, I don't think I can

kill anymore, but what can I do? And this religious leader said,

well, okay, you're a journalism student. Let's disprove Christianity. And we're

going to write all these books and pamphlets. We're gonna spread them all over.

We're going to we're going to convert the American soldiers and so he became

a researcher, and he started investigating churches and all these things, and he

said it was the resurrection that hung him up to the point that he's like,

I think I'm convinced. The Holy Spirit began to convince him of the

authenticity of the resurrection. And this is exactly what the religious leaders are saying

here. If the tomb is empty, if that happens, we'll be worse

off than we were at first, right. We know, hey, if

the resurrection happens, if this tomb is empty, it's going to destroy everything

we're trying to build against Jesus in this moment. And that's what happened,

was that my friend came to the conclusion that the tomb really is empty through

his efforts to try to disprove Christianity. And then the last thing that happened

was a neighborhood had burned down, a Christian neighborhood was torched by radicals.

And he went to the church in that neighborhood and the pastor they were singing

about God's blessings, which what do they have to say sing about? He

said that would blow his mind, that how God blesses him. And then

the pastor got up and said, hey, we love those who hate us,

and so we're going to receive an offering. There was a Muslim widow

whose house also burned, and the very first offering the church took up to

rebuild the neighborhood was for the Muslim widow first. And he just starts crying

and he said, that was it for me. So the resurrection is real

and it changes lives. These people are different than me. And he said,

I realized I was full of hate and what I needed was the hope

that comes through the resurrection of Jesus. And he gives left to Christ.

That's awesome. Radically transformed him to the point where now you know, he

shares the gospel everywhere. God's used even significant ministry all over the Middle East

and with the Middle Eastern people here in the US now. So it's really

really a phenomenal story. But it was the power of the resurrection that got

it for him. That's great. Well, I mean, those are the

details leading up to what's about to happen. And yes, Jeff, it

does happen on Sunday, but we will pick up our episodes on Monday.

Yeah, so hopefully we will see you then, next time on the Bible Gush