Bible Reading: Leviticus 21 & 22, Matthew 28
“And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” – Matthew 28:12-13 (KJV).
Satan has conspired severally to stop the gospel and the plans of salvation but to no avail because, nothing can stop the gospel. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is good news of God’s plan and provision of salvation through Christ. Since the rebellion of Lucifer, he has always fought God’s plan and purpose for man. His demons and their human agents have used threats, manipulations, lies and all sought of means to hinder the gospel. Herod tried to kill the child Jesus as a baby. He ended up killing several children but Jesus was preserved from death.
In the time of Jesus earthly ministry, satan tried first with temptations to stop the plan of redemption from coming to fruition but again Jesus defeated him by overcoming all the temptations. Satan departed for a while but resurfaced severally through his human agents like the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and even the high priests who tried severally to trap him in order to discredit him and kill him, but again he messed up all their plans. Even at the crucifixion, satan tempted him to come down from the cross to prove that he is the Messiah but he refused to come down. Just imagine what could have happened if Jesus had yielded to any of the temptations and if he had fallen to any of the threats. The plan of salvation would have been aborted, but thank God, nothing can stop God’s program.
Jesus gave up the ghost in order to pay for man’s sins and suffer death for humanity, which is one of the consequences of sin. Knowing that Jesus had said that he will rise again the third day, they laid a big stone to cover the tomb and assigned Roman soldiers to guard the tomb so that if by chance Jesus makes good his promise and manages to roll away the stones, the soldiers will kill him. But all that failed, Jesus rose triumphantly from the dead. Not even the stone or the soldiers could stop him. When the Chief priests and the elders learnt that Jesus had risen, they gave large sum of money to the soldiers to lie that the disciples of Jesus came by night to steal the body of Jesus. Again the lie could not stop the good news of his resurrection because, nothing can stop the gospel. Truth will always prevail over lies and light will always prevail over darkness.
Today, not even the threat of persecution and Islamic agenda can stop the gospel.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preach unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. for I have delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that he was buried, and that he rose again, the third day according to the scriptures” – 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (KJV).
PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you for the gospel that saves sinners.
Rev. Vincent Diolu