January 31, 2015 – The Great Commission – A Study of Matthew – Tombs and Promised Lands

Matthew 28:18-20 – New International Version (NIV) – The Great Commission

¹⁸ “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Tombs and Promised Lands

Matthew 27:57-61 – New International Version (NIV)

⁵⁷ “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.”

How is Joseph described (verse 57)?

What had Joseph become (verse 57)?

Who did Joseph ask “for Jesus’ body” (verse 58)?

What did Joseph wrap Jesus body in (verse 59)?

Where did Joseph place Jesus body (verse 60)?

In your opinion, why did Joseph roll “a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb” (verse 60)?

Where were “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary” (verse 61)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

Genesis 50:22-26 - New International Version (NIV)

²² “Joseph stayed in Egypt, along with all his father’s family. He lived a hundred and ten years ²³ and saw the third generation of Ephraim’s children. Also the children of Makir son of Manasseh were placed at birth on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” ²⁵ And Joseph made the Israelites swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

²⁶ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.”

Where did Joseph stay (verse 22)?

Who stayed along with Joseph (verse 22)?

How long did Joseph live (verse 22)?

Who did Joseph see (verse 23)?

In your opinion, why would “the children of Makir son of Manasseh” been placed at birth on Joseph’s knees (verse 23)?

Where did Joseph say that God would “take you up out of this land” to (verse 24)?

What oath did Joseph make the Israelites swear (verse 25)?

Where was Joseph placed “after they embalmed him” (verse 26)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, what does Joseph being placed in a coffin after he was embalmed in Genesis 50:22-26 and Jesus placed in a tomb with a big stone rolled in front of it in Matthew 27:57-61 show about what was anticipated for the future by those who cared for them?

Romans 6:3-14 – New International Version (NIV)

³ “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

What are “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus” baptized into (verse 3)?

Why were “we were therefore buried with him through baptism into death” (verse 4)?

What will we certainly also be “if we have been united with him in a death like his” (verse 5)?

Why was our old self “crucified with him” (verse 6)?

In your opinion, why does Paul say “anyone who has died has been set free from sin” (verse 7)?

What do we believe if we believe “we died with Christ” (verse 8)?

Why does death have “no mastery over” Christ (verse 9)?

Who did Christ die the death He “died to sin once” for (verse 10)?

Who does Christ live the “life he lives” for (verse 11)?

What should we not let “reign in” our “mortal bodies” (verse 12)?

Who should we offer ourselves to “as those who have been brought from death to life” (verse 13)?

What part of ourselves should we offer “as an instrument of righteousness” (verse 13)?

Why is sin “no longer your master” (verse 14)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is Joseph not being willing for his bones to stay in Egypt after his death in Genesis 50:22-26 an example of what Paul is talking about in Romans 6:3-14 when he says that we are to “count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus”?

In your opinion, how does Paul’s statement in Romans 6:3-14 that “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death” change the way you look at the wrapping of the body of Jesus in a clean linen cloth, place in a tomb and having a big stone rolled in front of it in Matthew 27:57-61?

Revelation 7:9-17 – New International Version (NIV)

⁹ “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

¹¹ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying:

“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”

¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”

¹⁴ I answered, “Sir, you know.”

And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ Therefore,

“they are before the throne of God
    and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
    will shelter them with his presence.
¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger;
    never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,’
    nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne
    will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
    ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

How many were before John (verse 9)?

Where were they from (verse 9)?

What were they wearing (verse 9)?

According to what was cried out, who does salvation belong to (verse 10)?

What did “all the angels” standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures do (verse 11)?

Who ask John “these in white robes-who are they, and where did they come from” (verse 13)?

In your opinion, who are the ones “who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb” (verse 14)?

Who will shelter those who “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (verses 14 and 15)?

What will the “Lamb at the center of the throne” be (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what does it mean that the Lamb will “lead them to springs of living water” (verse 17)?

In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?

In your opinion, how is the promise of Paul in Romans 6:3-14 that those who “have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his” supported by the vision of John in Revelation 7:9-17 of the great multitude clothed in white robes?

In your opinion, how is the “land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” that Joseph looked forward to in Genesis 50:22-26 similar to area “before the throne and before the Lamb” that the great multitude clothed in white found themselves in Revelation 7:9-17?

In your opinion, do you think that Joseph of Arimathea in Matthew 27:57-61 had any idea that the tomb he placed Jesus in and rolled a big stone in front of would be temporary and that Jesus would be the Lamb that the great multitudes would worship and bow to in heaven in Revelation 7:9-17?

In your opinion, what do these passages, from Matthew, Genesis, Romans and Revelation show us about the Great Commission?

Next, back to Matthew 27:62 – (sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)