Parker Inspirations

Matthew 27:52-53 “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”

Luke 16:31 “And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

John 11:43 “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.”

In these three passages of scripture, we see people raised from the dead. But that is not my thought for the day.  The rich man wanted his family to be saved from going to hell. He asked for someone to go back and tell them. Abraham said, “neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” Lazarus was raised from the dead, many people where there. When Jesus rose from the dead the graves where open and the saints went into the city and appeared unto many. All of this and still they did not believe.

I don’t know about you, but it seems like if someone who was dead rose from the grave that people would listen. The question is why they did not listen? Let’s take a look at who the people where that heard and saw these things. There are three groups, The Sanhedrin, The Pharisees, and the people who followed Jesus.

 The Sanhedrin where the rulers who thought themselves above the law. For them to believe would mean that they would have to admit they where wrong and that they killed God’s Son. Some of them believed secretly and openly stayed quiet. The Pharisees also thought themselves to be better than others because of their position. Again, some of them believed secretly and stayed quiet. The last group are the people who followed Jesus who were healed, feed, and saw many miracles. Some of them believed and tried to tell others but where silenced. Why were they silenced? They were unlearned common people with no position.

There is a fourth group who did believe and could not be silenced. The Disciples went out with boldness and taught the people. The rulers tried to stop the apostles from telling others about Jesus. Gamaliel was a Pharisee, and he told the council in Acts 5:35 “And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.” I can not prove it, but I think that he was one of those Pharisees that believed and it now being subtle in his word to save the apostles. He himself will not let others know he believes. He goes on and in Acts 5:39 say, “But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” Because Gamaliel spoke, the apostles where let go. Had he kept quiet they would most likely been put to death.

 The miracles, those who rose from the graves at the resurrection of Christ, Lazarus being raised, and many other things that were seen with the eye where not what helped people to believe. Jesus said to Thomas in John 20:29 “…because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” Many people have believed and have received Christ not by what they have seen with the eye, but what has been shown to them through their heart.