Jesus’ Power over His Death
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2020 · 5 April 2020
Living in this world in which the Christian gospel is so relentlessly criticized, one would think that the truth of the life and death and resurrection and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ were somehow still in question. That there is a kind of confusion about the reality. There are people who think that the Bible is some mystical book of religious people who made an effort to explain their religious experiences.
The truth is that the Bible is the living and abiding Word of God; and every word is pure, and inspired by God. It is a true and accurate record of the will of God, an expression of the mind of God, and a true account of history. Some people would tell us that they believe in the message of the Bible but not the words. They believe in the spiritually of the Bible, but not the facts.
But the power of the Word of God is found in the details. And that is certainly true when it comes to the historical record and the truth of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at the book of John today as a straightforward, accurate and historical record of what indeed did take place. John 19:35 says, “And he (John) who has seen, has born witness, and he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.”
In John 10:15 Jesus said, “I lay down My life for the sheep.” He said it again in verse 17, “I lay down My life that I may take it again.” Verse 18, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.” Such language was overwhelming. Verse 19, “There arose a division among the Jews because of these words.”
Verse 20, “And many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?’” No one has the power to lay down his life, to command death to take him. No one has the power to command life to pick him up again. Verse 21, “Others said, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’” The truth is that Jesus controls His own death!
He willed Himself dead. And at the appropriate time, He willed Himself alive again. In John 12:23-24 Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’” He means, “My hour to die has come in order to bear much fruit of salvation.”
John 12:27, “My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.” This is My hour, this is My purpose to come and die in order to give life to others. He is ready. In John 17:1, “Jesus spoke lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify You.’”
In John 18:1-3, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. 2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.”
Verses 4-5, 7-8, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” 5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” 7 He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.”
Knowing it was His hour, He went to the place of betrayal, the place of capture, and announced to them exactly who He was; He was the one whom they were seeking. He went willingly to the cross to lay down His life, and when He had finished the work of bearing sin and the weight of the Father’s justice against that sin, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Satan had tried to kill Him. There were times when the Pharisees sought His life. Even those in His own village of Nazareth wanted to throw Him off a cliff. Not until it was His hour and His place after everything was finished did He agree. He is in control of His death. It was 6:00 A.M. when Pilate stated the verdict on Jesus, “Crucify Him,” after a mock trial which was against Jewish law.
It was 9:00 A.M. when they nailed Him to the cross, according to Mark 15:25. By 3:00 PM, six hours later, He was dead. So shocking that Pilate did not believe that. And in Mark 15:44, it tell us that “Pilate wondered how He could be dead by this time and summoned the centurion, questioning him as to whether He was already dead.” People didn’t die in six hours from being crucified; it usually took days.
The real physical strength of Jesus is inconceivable. So why so quick? Because the work was finished. But there’s another reason. John 19:31, “Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”
These aren’t believers; these are the Jewish leaders, the haters of Christ, the ones who sought His death, the ones who threatened and intimidated Pilate into signing His execution. And this was not just any Passover; this was a Passover Sabbath with a sacredness above all other days in the year. And they knew the Law of God, they knew in Deuteronomy what the Law said.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he’s put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree. You shall surely bury him on the same day, so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as inheritance.” And so, the Jews come to Pilate, and they ask Pilate to brake their legs so that they die rapidly.
John 19:32 says, “The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man who was crucified with Him.” Amazing, these Jews were killing their own Messiah but they wanted to make sure they obeyed the Law. Sabbath is coming at sunset at 6:00 pm. It’s 3:00 pm now; there are just a few hours left until sunset. Go ahead and kill the Lord, but protect your devotion to the Sabbath.
In verse 33, “But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was already dead, they didn’t break His legs.” Now, Roman soldiers were executioners, they were experts on who is dead. They know death when they see it. That’s why Pilate sent the message, “Is He really dead? How can He be dead by now? Report back to me that He’s really dead.” And why was He dead? Because His work was done.
But there’s another reason why He was dead so quick. Verse 36, “These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” Psalm 34:20 says, “He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken.” This was stated also in Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 that not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken. And 1 Corinthians 5:7 says Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb.
The Jews weren’t trying to fulfill prophesy by doing this. That was the last thing they wanted to do. They wanted Jesus dead, and they wanted the people to see Him as utterly unqualified to be the Messiah. Here He is fulfilling prophecy in the very act that they do to discredit Him. Jesus controlled His death. Jesus died at the exact moment that He finished the work that God had given Him to do.
But because His death was so soon, verse 34 says, “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear.” They were amazed that He was dead already. “And immediately there came out blood and water.” Verse 37 says, “And another passage of scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” Dying early means His legs aren’t broken. Dying early means His side is pierced, and prophecy fulfilled.
John says the soldier saw blood and water come forth, clear evidence that He was dead. Some say that the heart had ruptured. It can happen, but it’s rare. But perhaps it is the consequence of the most mental anguish, sorrow, agonizing in sin-bearing. Such a death as the bursting of the heart muscle would be instant. The blood would coagulate and the serum would be seen as the fluid.
Look what Psalm 69:20-21 says prophetically of Him, “Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Verse 21 was literally fulfilled, could verse 20, which says, “Insults have broken my heart,” be literally fulfilled?
If Jesus hadn’t died when He died, they would have broken His legs and prophecy would have been broken. If He hadn’t died then, they would not have pierced His side, then prophecy would have been broken, and the prophets would have told a lie. But everything happened exactly to the minutest detail. That’s why John says in verse 35, “I’ve seen it, and my witness is true, so that you may also believe.”
Jesus not only controlled His death, but secondly, He also controlled His burial. Verse 38 says, “And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. He came, therefore, and took away His body.” This is really truly amazing.
Well, the four gospels tell us a lot about Joseph of Arimathea. If you put the accounts of the gospels together, he was very rich. He was a righteous man. He was a counselor of others. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling Jewish Council. Therefore, he was in on the trial of Jesus. But Joseph of Arimathea was a true believer in Jesus, but a secret one because he was afraid of his compatriots.
Joseph wouldn’t be honest and open when Jesus was alive, and now that He’s dead, it’s pretty amazing that He’s all of a sudden open. And in fact, not just open but really bold. Mark 15:43 says, “He gathered up courage.” He goes right to Pilate boldly and asks to take away the body of Jesus with the view of giving it a proper burial. “Pilate granted permission. He came, therefore, and took away His body.”
Jesus is dead, but He’s still controlling His burial. Isaiah 53:9 speaking of the Messiah said, “His grave was assigned to be with the wicked.” What the Romans did with a body was throw it out and let the vultures eat it. Or maybe throw it in the valley of Hinnom, the city dump where fire burned continuously. That was what they did with criminals. But, Isaiah 53:9 continues, “He was with the rich at His death.”
How is that going to happen? There aren’t any rich disciples. How was this prophecy going to be fulfilled because the body of Jesus was dead? But Jesus Himself is alive in His Spirit, moving on the heart of a rich man, who is a disciple of His, to fulfill the prophecy. Joseph gets the body to bury it and he’s not alone. Verse 39 says, “Nicodemus came also, who had first come to Jesus by night.”
This prominent Jewish teacher now comes out, confessing His love for Christ. Verse 39 continues, “bringing a mixture of myrrh,” which is a liquid “and aloes,” a powder, “about 70 to 75 pounds by our measurement, which would be the volume used to anoint the body of a king. We now know that He responded to the encounter with Jesus in John 3 by being born again. They responded to the call and they became believers.
Verses 41-42 say, “The place where He was crucified had a garden right nearby. And in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42 Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” They needed to hurry. Because the Law said you don’t leave a dead body exposed on the Sabbath. It is still Friday but at six o’clock it would be the Sabbath.
Why the hurry? From their viewpoint, they don’t want to violate the Law. But that wasn’t the real issue. The real issue was that Jesus had to be in the grave three days. Jesus said that He would be buried three days and three nights and then arise, like Jonah was in the belly of the fish. Any part of a day and night constituted one day. So the burial had to be finished before the Sabbath day arrived.
So, they considered Friday, even though He was in the grave only a few hours before sunset, as the first day; Sabbath would be the second day; and even though He rose early Sunday morning, He also was in the ground part of the third day. It was critical that Jesus be in the grave on Friday because the prophecy, out of His own lips, needed to be fulfilled explicitly that He would be three days and three nights in the grave.
So, God moves on Joseph and on Nicodemus to accomplish this burial on Friday. The other gospels tell us, that on Sunday morning, when the women hurried to the grave, they hurried to the grave with spices. Their goal was to finish the job, because it was left incomplete on Friday in the hurry to get Him into the grave while it was still Friday. So, they had come on Sunday morning, but Jesus had risen already.
In Isaiah 53, where Isaiah described the death of Christ, that was not the end. Verse 10, “The Lord was pleased to crush Him putting Him to grief, but He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. 12 I will allot Him a portion with the great, He will divide the booty with the strong.” The Messiah will be resurrected, honored and exalted, Amen? Let us pray.