Jesus Buried

RIVERSIDE INDONESIAN FELLOWSHIP
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Jesus Buried

Riverside Indonesian Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 10 April 2022
Death, of course, is the most certain fact about life. And death terrifies people more than anything else. That is why, in Hebrews, the writer tells us that it is the fear of death that has held men in bondage all their life long. Scripture tells us that death produces fear in every heart, a fear that is enslaving, a fear from which there seems no escape apart from, except the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are Christian people who say, “To die is gain”; who say, “O death where is your sting?” And some might ask if that’s a realistic perspective, if that’s some kind of mind game to get around this anxiety when we think about death, but it isn’t. It is rational, reasonable and right to look forward to death with anticipation. Death should have no fear for us because there is the death conqueror.

In John 14:19 Jesus said, “Because I live, you too shall live also,” is what takes the sting out of death. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who rescues us from the fear of the grave. He is the one who in dying destroyed death. He has removed death’s sting, conquered its terror, and caused us to look at death not as a disaster but as a friend who ushers us into the presence of God and into eternal glory.

The proof of His power over death is given in the Bible. There are prophesies of His death in the Old Testament. The four gospels all deal with His death. The writers of the epistles and Revelation refers to His death. But there are also prophecies of His resurrection in the Old Testament. The gospels focus on the resurrection. The epistles celebrate the meaning of that resurrection.

The passage tonight is a lengthy passage, and let us look at two features in this text. His death and His burial. And I want you to see how each of these, demonstrate His power over life and death, and they demonstrate that He was indeed the promised Messiah because they fulfill all specific prophesy. And at His resurrection next week we see the clearest testimony that He is God in human flesh.

Jesus is the Messiah; He is majesty. It also proves to us that He has the power of life in Himself, which power He has promised to us. In the sufferings of Christ during the Passion Week and His death, at least 28 specific Old Testament prophesies were fulfilled. They were written anywhere from a thousand to five hundred years before Christ came, and He fulfills them perfectly.

Almost all of them are fulfilled within a 24-hour period leading up to His crucifixion, again reminding us that He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, the one prepared by God, sent by God, who specifically fulfilled the prophecies that God had ordained in the Old Testament. We’re only going to see a few of those, enough to convince us who this Jesus really is.

Let’s look first at His dying starting in verse 30 through verse 37. The reason we fear death is because the surprise in terms of when it will come, and it is a surprise in terms of what it will happen. Since people don’t die and come back, we don’t know what to expect apart from the divine revelation of Scripture. Mankind cannot see beyond this life and knows what is in the future. But that is not how death came to Jesus.

In John 10:17 Jesus said, “For this reason the Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” No one took His life from Him, not even God. God asked Him to give His life, and He agreed.

And certainly not Satan who is the one who holds the power of death and consequently the fear over men. Look at verse 30, “When Jesus, therefore, had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” He shouted those words, “It is finished.” for all people to hear that the work of redemption was done, sin’s wages were paid, and the justice of God was satisfied.

Salvation won, Satan is defeated, and sin destroyed. Jesus has full knowledge of all of that. He knew that every specific detail of the plan of God had been fulfilled. Each prophecy had been completed. He had said what needed to be said; He had done what needed to be done and then willfully He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. It is not the death of a victim; it is the death of victor.

The fact that He died when He did was strategic to many prophecies, and it was strategic to identifying Him as the King of life who had power over death. Jesus died about 3:00 PM, really very soon for someone who had been crucified. Do you know that many people who were crucified lingered as long as three days on the cross? And Jesus was only there for a few hours.

The thieves, less strong than Jesus and scourged less severely, lived longer than He. They suffered more physical pain. But it seems there was a particularly animosity toward Jesus that made the lashes more severe. But the explanation is that Jesus decided to give up His life. He commanded death to take Him because He was on a divine schedule, and He had to fulfill some prophecy.

Verse 31, “The Jews, therefore, because it was the day of preparation, decided that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), So they asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and that they should be taken away.” That is the day before Passover, before the Sabbath. It was a high day, it was Passover Sabbath, which is more holy than all other Sabbaths.

And the Jews wanted those bodies removed before the Sabbath began. This priority reeks with hypocrisy. Obviously its stench is nauseous. Here are these fools who have killed the Son of the living God. They have rejected the reality of their own Messiah. They have denied God. They are the worst blasphemers, but they are scrupulously sure to maintain the form of their religion.

They had in mind a passage in Deuteronomy 21:22 - 23, “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day so that you do not defile your land.” And perhaps they applied it to this moment in time, and they didn’t want the land defiled on the Sabbath.

It was getting late in the afternoon. And the Sabbath begins at sundown. So, they went to Pilate, and asked Roman permission to speed up the death of those men on the crosses by smashing their legs. Verse 32 says, “The solders therefore came and broke the legs of the first criminal and of the other one who was crucified with Him.” The reason is because you die in crucifixion through asphyxiation.

The person hanging on the cross would push himself up by means of his legs, pushing himself up in order to be able to breathe. So, the body, would slide up and down the cross just to be able to breathe. In order to prevent the victim from staying alive, the soldiers would come and break the legs. And unable to push up, the body would slump, and asphyxiation occurs and death would come.

But when they came to Jesus, amazingly, He had already died. It says in verse 33, “But coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.” Jesus yielded up His own spirit because that was the plan of God: to fulfill prophesy and to prove that He was God. In Numbers 9:12, it says that not a bone of the Passover lamb should be broken. And Jesus was the Passover Lamb.

But there was an explicit prophecy in Psalm 34:20, “He keeps all His bones, and not one of them is broken.” So, Jesus used death to fulfill prophecy. Verse 36, “For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” The Roman soldiers who came by to smash the legs of the victims were experts at determining death. They had nothing to gain by fabricating the fact that Jesus was dead.

That is the main proof that Jesus actually died and puts to rest theories that say Jesus never really died; He just went into a semi-coma and was revived by the spices and the coolness of the tomb. And if there was no death, then there was no resurrection. These soldiers knew a dead man when they saw one, and they testified that He was dead. So that no doubt would remain, read the next verse.

Verse 34, “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” This too, fulfills prophecy. Look at verse 37, “And again another scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” That is Zechariah 12:10, which said that the Messiah would be pierced, that someday the Jews would look to the One who was pierced and believe.

John says, that he saw blood and water come forth immediately. Here is another proof that He was really dead. The physiological explanation is that Jesus died from a rupture of the heart as a consequence of great mental agony. Such a death would be instant, and the blood flowing into the pericardium would coagulate into the red clot blood and the limpid serum water called water here.

Verse 35, “And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you also may believe.” John says, “I’m writing what is true. I’m witnessing to what is true. I am telling you the truth so that you may believe.” John 20:31, “That these are written so you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life in His name.”

Verse 36, “For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And Jesus was not killed by that spear; it only revealed that He was already dead, because He gave His life right on God’s divine schedule. So, you see the deity of Christ. You see His power expressed even in His dying. And John says that everything happened as was told.

Here Jesus exhibits power over death even when dead. In Isaiah 53:9, the prophet said of the Messiah, “His grave was assigned to be with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death.” The Messiah was supposed to be buried in a place prepared for common criminals. In fact, the Romans didn’t even bury them; they simply threw them out for vultures and scavenger dogs to devour.

But it turned out He would be with a rich man in His death. But how? Verse 38, “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 the body of Jesus.” Jesus was moving in the heart of a rich man to fulfill the scripture.

Actually, he was a coward. Why all of a sudden, at the most explosive, potentially deadly period of time in the history of the life of Jesus would he expose himself? And not only expose himself as a disciple of Jesus to the people around him, but to Pilate who, of all people, could hold the power of life and death. But he did it because, of course, Christ moved upon His heart.

The four gospels tell us about Joseph of Arimathea. He was rich, devout and righteous. He was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was at the trial of Jesus, but because of fear of the Jewish leaders, he did not declare his faith. But as Jesus moves on him to fulfill prophecy he goes to Pilate and requests the body of Jesus. And he has to act fast, because this body has to be in the grave before sundown.

Why? Because in Matthew 12:40, it said that Jesus had to be in the grave three days and three nights. That doesn’t mean three 24-hour periods. To the Jews, a day and a night was a term that designated any part of a 24-hour day in terms of dark and light. And the Jews spoke of a day as a day and a night. He has to be in that grave before sundown so that Friday will count as one of the three days.

Verse 39, “And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.” In John 3, Nicodemus also, in addition to Joseph of Arimathea, had become a follower of Jesus Christ. That is a lot of spices. And that would be what amount would be used to anoint the body of a king or some great, wealthy individual.

Verse 40, “They took the body of Jesus, bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.” And we also know, that some women assisted them in wrapping His body. And they just sprinkled in this mixture of myrrh and aloes. It was a fragrance. It minimized the stench of a decaying body. They did not embalm. They did not drain the blood; they simply used this mixture.

Verse 41, “Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet used.” Verse 42, “Therefore, on account of the Jewish day of preparation, because the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” Every detail is orchestrated to accomplish God’s purpose. Everything is done speedily so Jesus was buried before sunset.

So, they were considering Friday, even though He was in the grave a few hours before sunset, as the first day; Sabbath would be the second day; and even though He rose early on Sunday morning, He 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 fully that He would be three days and three nights in the grave. Let us pray.



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