191 Then the Lord spoke to Moses , saying : 2 "Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ' You shall be holy , for I the Lord your God am holy . 3 'Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father , and you shall keep My sabbaths ; I am the Lord your God . 4 'Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods ; I am the Lord your God . 5 'Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord , you shall offer it so that you may be accepted . 6 'It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day ; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire . 7 'So if it is eaten at all on the third day , it is an offense ; it will not be accepted . 8 'Everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity , for he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord ; and that person shall be cut off from his people . 9 ' Now when you reap the harvest of your land , you shall not reap to the very corners of your field , nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest . 10 'Nor shall you glean your vineyard , nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard ; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger . I am the Lord your God .
11 ' You shall not steal , nor deal falsely , nor lie to one another . 12 ' You shall not swear falsely by My name , so as to profane the name of your God ; I am the Lord . 13 ' You shall not oppress your neighbor , nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning . 14 'You shall not curse a deaf man , nor place a stumbling block before the blind , but you shall revere your God ; I am the Lord . 15 ' You shall do no injustice in judgment ; you shall not be partial e to the poor nor defer e to the great , but you are to judge your neighbor fairly . 16 'You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people , and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor ; I am the Lord . 17 'You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart ; you may surely reprove your neighbor , but shall not incur sin because of him. 18 ' You shall not take vengeance , nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people , but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord .
19 'You are to keep My statutes . You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle ; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together . 20 ' Now if a man lies carnally e with a woman who is a slave acquired for another man , but who has in no way been redeemed nor given her freedom , there shall be punishment ; they shall not, however, be put to death , because she was not free . 21 'He shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the tent of meeting , a ram for a guilt offering . 22 'The priest shall also make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed , and the sin which he has committed will be forgiven him. 23 'When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food , then you shall count their fruit as forbidden . Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten . 24 'But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy , an offering of praise to the Lord . 25 'In the fifth year you are to eat of its fruit , that its yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God . 26 'You shall not eat anything with the blood , nor practice divination or soothsaying . 27 ' You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard . 28 'You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo e marks on yourselves: I am the Lord . 29 ' Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot , so that the land will not fall to harlotry and the land become full of lewdness .
30 'You shall keep My sabbaths and revere My sanctuary ; I am the Lord . 31 'Do not turn to mediums or spiritists ; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God . 32 ' You shall rise up before e the grayheaded and honor the aged e , and you shall revere your God ; I am the Lord . 33 ' When a stranger resides with you in your land , you shall not do him wrong . 34 'The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt ; I am the Lord your God . 35 ' You shall do no wrong in judgment , in measurement of weight , or capacity . 36 'You shall have just balances , just weights , a just ephah , and a just hin ; I am the Lord your God , who brought you out from the land of Egypt . 37 'You shall thus observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am the Lord .' "
201 Then the Lord spoke to Moses , saying , 2 "You shall also say to the sons of Israel : 'Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech , shall surely be put to death ; the people of the land shall stone him with stones . 3 'I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people , because he has given some of his offspring to Molech , so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name . 4 'If the people of the land , however, should ever disregard e that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech , so as not to put him to death , 5 then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family , and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech . 6 'As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists , to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people . 7 'You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy , for I am the Lord your God . 8 ' You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 ' If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother , he shall surely be put to death ; he has cursed his father or his mother , his bloodguiltiness is upon him.
10 ' If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife , one who commits adultery with his friend's wife , the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death . 11 ' If there is a man who lies with his father's wife , he has uncovered his father's nakedness ; both of them shall surely be put to death , their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 12 ' If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law , both of them shall surely be put to death ; they have committed incest , their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 13 ' If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman , both of them have committed a detestable act ; they shall surely be put to death . Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 14 ' If there is a man who marries a woman and her mother , it is immorality ; both he and they shall be burned with fire , so that there will be no immorality in your midst . 15 ' If there is a man who lies e with an animal , he shall surely be put to death ; you shall also kill the animal . 16 'If there is a woman who approaches any animal to mate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal ; they shall surely be put to death . Their bloodguiltiness is upon them. 17 ' If there is a man who takes his sister , his father's daughter or his mother's daughter , so that he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness , it is a disgrace ; and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people . He has uncovered his sister's nakedness ; he bears his guilt . 18 ' If there is a man who lies with a menstruous woman and uncovers her nakedness , he has laid bare her flow , and she has exposed the flow of her blood ; thus both of them shall be cut off from among their people . 19 ' You shall also not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister , for such a one has made naked his blood relative ; they will bear their guilt . 20 ' If there is a man who lies with his uncle's wife he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness ; they will bear their sin . They will die childless . 21 ' If there is a man who takes his brother's wife , it is abhorrent ; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness . They will be childless .
22 'You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. 23 'Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things , and therefore I have abhorred them. 24 'Hence I have said to you, " You are to possess their land , and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey ." I am the Lord your God , who has separated you from the peoples . 25 ' You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean , and between the unclean bird and the clean ; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground , which I have separated for you as unclean . 26 'Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy ; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine. 27 'Now a man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist shall surely be put to death . They shall be stoned with stones , their bloodguiltiness is upon them.' "
51 And behold , the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom ; and the earth shook and the rocks were split . 52 The tombs were opened , and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised ; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many . 54 Now the centurion , and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus , when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening , became very frightened and said , "Truly this was the Son of God !" 55 Many women were there looking on from a distance , who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. 56 Among them was Mary Magdalene , and Mary the mother of James and Joseph , and the mother of the sons of Zebedee .
57 When it was evening , there came a rich man from Arimathea , named Joseph , who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus . 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus . Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth , 60 and laid it in his own new tomb , which he had hewn out in the rock ; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away . 61 And Mary Magdalene was there , and the other Mary , sitting opposite the grave .
62 Now on the next day , the day after the preparation , the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate , 63 and said , "Sir , we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said , ' After three days I am to rise again .' 64 "Therefore , give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day , otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people , 'He has risen from the dead ,' and the last deception will be worse than the first ." 65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard ; go , make it as secure as you know how ." 66 And they went and made the grave secure , and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone .
(Read Matthew 27:51-56)
The rending of the veil signified that Christ, by his death, opened a way to God. We have an open way through Christ to the throne of grace, or mercy-seat now, and to the throne of glory hereafter. When we duly consider Christ's death, our hard and rocky hearts should be rent; the heart, and not the garments. That heart is harder than a rock that will not yield, that will not melt, where Jesus Christ is plainly set forth crucified. The graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept, arose. To whom they appeared, in what manner, and how they disappeared, we are not told; and we must not desire to be wise above what is written. The dreadful appearances of God in his providence, sometimes work strangely for the conviction and awakening of sinners. This was expressed in the terror that fell upon the centurion and the Roman soldiers. We may reflect with comfort on the abundant testimonies given to the character of Jesus; and, seeking to give no just cause of offence, we may leave it to the Lord to clear our characters, if we live to Him. Let us, with an eye of faith, behold Christ and him crucified, and be affected with that great love wherewith he loved us. But his friends could give no more than a look; they beheld him, but could not help him. Never were the horrid nature and effects of sin so tremendously displayed, as on that day when the beloved Son of the Father hung upon the cross, suffering for sin, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Let us yield ourselves willingly to his service.
(Read Matthew 27:57-61)
In the burial of Christ was nothing of pomp or solemnity. As Christ had not a house of his own, wherein to lay his head, while he lived, so he had not a grave of his own, wherein to lay his body, when he was dead. Our Lord Jesus, who had no sin of his own, had no grave of his own. The Jews designed that he should have made his grave with the wicked, should have been buried with the thieves with whom he was crucified, but God overruled it, so that he should make it with the rich in his death, Isaiah 53:9. And although to the eye of man the beholding a funeral may cause terror, yet if we remember how Christ by his burial has changed the nature of the grave to believers, it should make us rejoice. And we are ever to imitate Christ's burial in being continually occupied in the spiritual burial of our sins.
(Read Matthew 27:62-66)
On the Jewish sabbath, the chief priests and Pharisees, when they should have been at their devotions, were dealing with Pilate about securing the sepulchre. This was permitted that there might be certain proof of our Lord's resurrection. Pilate told them that they might secure the sepulchre as carefully as they could. They sealed the stone, and set a guard, and were satisfied that all needful care was taken. But to guard the sepulchre against the poor weak disciples was folly, because needless; while to think to guard it against the power of God, was folly, because fruitless, and to no purpose; yet they thought they dealt wisely. But the Lord took the wise in their own craftiness. Thus shall all the rage and the plans of Christ's enemies be made to promote his glory.
