Satan uses lies to make us question God. One example of this is when the Jewish leaders bribed the Roman soldiers to say that Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body from the tomb. This daily devotional looks at the bribe, discuss how Satan uses lies to thwart us and what we can do.
The Jewish leaders were in a pickle. Jesus’ body was gone. They knew He hadn’t come back to life, but where did His body go? They had to come up with something to explain this away.
At all cost, the Jewish leaders had to save face. Almost from day one, it appears the lie was propagated that Jesus’ disciples stole the body.
Could the Disciples Have Stolen the Body?
"And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, 'Tell people, "His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep"'" (Mt. 28: 12-13 ESV)
Let’s look at the disciples a second. An accurate description would be that they were deeply mourning their Master. Added to that, they were reeling from one of their own betraying their Teacher and Friend.
The disciples scattered after the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. We know Peter was outside of the house during the trial. We know John went to the crucifixion. We know the disciples went into hiding, scared for their lives.
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If anyone did, hothead Peter might have thought about stealing the body for a minute or two. But would the disciples have been able to develop a strategy to pull off this covert mission?
Most were fishermen by trade. That would probably be outside of their wheelhouse. They just weren’t used to being sneaky.
Besides, the disciples were proper Jewish men. They wouldn’t have wanted to become ceremonially unclean because of a dead body — even when that body was Jesus’. It was in the middle of the feast, remember.
The disciples were leveled. I bet they were grieving so much that they weren’t functioning well. And these were the guys who were going to go up against the Roman soldiers and steal the body? Fat chance!
The Roman Soldiers Did or Didn't Do What?
Let’s squirrel for a second and look at the soldiers. There were four soldiers guarding the tomb in three-hour shifts.
These were probably seasoned soldiers. I really don’t see Pilate and the chief priests putting rookies on this duty, even if most of the time they probably would have. This is too high of a profile case to not put the best soldiers on the stone.
So, we are expected to believe that these four seasoned soldiers were all going to fall asleep at the same time? Not going to happen. If they were asleep, how could they say what happened? If one or two of them were awake, wouldn’t they raise the alarm to wake up everyone else?
Shouldn’t the soldiers have gotten in trouble with the story of them falling asleep? I bet sleeping while on guard duty would have been a very serious offense back in those days. I bet the punishment for that crime would have been death.
We know, truthfully, they weren’t asleep because of what happened when the angel(s) got there. In the previous devotion, we talked about how the appearance of the angel(s) caused the soldiers to faint.
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Oh, man. I bet the soldiers didn’t want that to be common knowledge. Think of how they would be the butt of all the other soldiers’ jokes. Their lack of courage would fuel the locker room harassment for months to come.
I wonder if the soldiers were so scared at the appearance of the angels that their memory was just wiped. We hear about people who have been in accidents not being able to access from their memory what transpired right before and at the time of the accident.
But then again, these were probably seasoned soldiers. They had probably seen a lot during their tenure in the army. You would think that not a lot would scare them. Is admitting to sleeping better or worse than fainting?
Could they really say, “Yes, the body is gone, but it was taken by these shiny people. I bet they were angels”? If they said that, it would lend credence to Jesus’ assertion that He was the Son of God. The chief priests didn’t want that.
So, instead of getting court-marshaled and sentenced to death, the soldiers were bribed. They were paid money to lie.
Making the Connections
Satan is the master deceiver. We talked in a previous devotion about Satan’s lies when tempting Adam and Eve to commit the original sin. Satan usually gives us a half-baked story, so he can worm his way into our lives.
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Usually, Satan has just enough truth in the lie to make it believable. He makes it seem like an extension of what we are already doing or a natural progression up from where we are now.
The lie has to benefit us in some way. Satan either has to make the lie very appealing to us. Or he has to show how the lie will help us out.
(Go ahead and tell the lie that the disciples stole the body. You know sleeping will go over better than turning into a chicken and fainting will.)
How Do We Apply This?
What if we are the soldiers? Many times, we are tempted to fudge the truth on something, if not downright lie.
Don’t do it. Leviticus 19: 11 says, “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another” (ESV).
It doesn’t say lie in one situation and not another. There are no conditions or restrictions added on. It is a straight “do not lie.”
Colossians 3: 9 says, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old selfa]”>[a] with its practices” (ESV). This reminds us that lying is a practice that Satan and His followers use. God’s followers do not.
God wants us to be trustworthy (Prov. 12: 22). Second Timothy 2: 15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (ESV).
Did it say we would be honest all the time? No. Does it say it is going to be easy? No.
It says, “This is something you are going to have to work on. To the best of your ability, do what is right to win God’s approval.”
When we mess up, we repent. We ask God to forgive us and to help strengthen us to withstand the temptation next time.
Because it is challenging, Matthew 26: 41 says, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (ESV). He knows it is a struggle to overcome our human habits.
What if we are the people being told the disciples stole the body? How do we determine what is true or false?
God knows that we will run into situations that leaves us scratching our head as to what is the truth. First John 4: 1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (ESV). God wants us to weigh our responses to situations.
God will help us decide what is right and wrong — if we ask Him. James 1: 5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (ESV). Did you read that? Generously.
It doesn’t say that God will point us in the right direction. It doesn’t say God will couch it in uncertain terminology. It says God will generously give us wisdom — when we ask.
We have to figure out that God has the answers that we need. Psalm 111: 10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” (ESV).
Fear, here, doesn’t mean there is a feeling of danger or threat. What fear means here is a reverence of God, a deep respect for Who He is. We respect God for His rules are right (Ps. 119: 128).
Sometimes, it will be really, really easy to follow the rules God has decreed. Other times, it will be really really hard. This includes times when we will be tempted to lie.
At all times, we should “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” (II Chron. 16: 11 ESV). He will gladly give us His wisdom and His strength.
Loving Heavenly Father. Satan barrages us with so many lies. He makes them so tempting. Help us to not be deceived by his trickery. Give us Your wisdom and Your strength. Help us to honest and trustworthy, being witnesses that will further Your kingdom. Amen.
What do you think?
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