Irony In Scripture….

Irony in scripture is fascinating to me. What one thinks will benefit himself, usually is the very thing that bites him on the backside. Haman built gallows to impale Mordecai on, that were eventually the ones that took his own life. Nabal cursed at King David that eventually caused his own death by heart-attack. Ananias and Sapphira lied, thinking it would protect them, only to drop dead because of it. And so we come to Matthew chapter 27. After all the Jewish leaders did to erase Jesus’ presence from them, they had to continue to oppose Him even after His death. They went to Pilate and demanded Jesus’ tomb be sealed to prevent His disciples from stealing the body and claiming He rose from the dead. The very thing they wanted, Jesus out of the scene, they did by crucifying Him on a cross. But it was the exact thing God planned to save the world from its sin. They very thing the Jewish leaders did to prevent Jesus’ prophecy of rising from the dead after three days, backfired. If they could’ve provided His dead body, their goal would’ve been achieved. Fortunately for them and the rest of the world, they couldn’t achieve their goal, their plan failed. But because of their attempt to kill Jesus and be done with Him, it ushered in salvation for all who believe. God uses all things for His good. Even for those who mean “bad”, God rotates the tables and turns it into good. The irony in the Bible couldn’t be more precisely placed and written about, could it?

62 The next day, on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate. 63 They told him, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while He was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’ 64 So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent His disciples from coming and stealing His body and then telling everyone He was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”65 Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.” 66 So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it. Matthew 27:62-66