Focus: Let Financiers of Truth Arise

Text: Mt.28:12,15

"And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave LARGE MONEY unto the soldiers… So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

The Jewish leaders out of envy masterminded and orchestrated the death of Christ, and while in the grave they made sure He remained dead in the grave by cementing and sealing it. Simply put, they locked Him in, threw away the key, and congratulated themselves for plot well crafted and perfectly executed. But three days after, God in His infinite power messed up their plans and made nonsense of their efforts by raising Christ from the dead. His resurrection was witnessed by the soldiers who were stationed to secure the site. Matthew writes, "And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men" (Mt.28:4).

The soldiers saw it all and knew the truth of what truly transpired, but they took bribes from the Jewish Authorities to hide the truth. The soldiers collected a large sum of money to keep the truth from going public. In other words, they were paid to lie in the face of reality and firsthand evidence.

William Barclay captures it well in his Commentary on Matthew. He writes, "They used treachery to lay hold on Him. They used illegality to try Him. They used slander to charge Him to Pilate. And now they were using bribery to silence the truth about Him. And they failed." Paul says, "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth" (2Cor.13:8).

Now here is my point: in order to hide the truth of the resurrection of Christ a large sum of money exchanged hands. No less than four soldiers were sponsored or paid to keep the truth out of circulation. So I ask, how many soldiers of Christ are willing to commit large sums to the ministry of telling or spreading the truth of the Gospel of Christ to the world? Who is ready to make the good news of Christ go public? The Gospel truth requires the financial and material support of every Christian, especially the prosperous among us.

Those who are committed to the full time preaching and teaching of the truth need your constant support in every way possible. The truth of Christ be told. The truth of the gospel must go global. Somebody must tell it and somebody else must support it.

In the era of errors and their peddlers we need truth-tellers - trumpeters of the gospel truth.

Beloved of God, rise up and finance the gospel. You can do it, and gladly so. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter