WWUTT 1003 The Burial of Jesus?

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You could read the Gospel of John and believe that all of these events really did take place.

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But it takes more than believing the history that's talked about. You must also understand the reason for it when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand the Text, an online Bible ministry so that we may know all the riches freely given to us by God.

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For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 19.

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Reading this week about the crucifixion of Jesus, I'll begin reading in verse 30 to the end of the chapter.

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The Apostle John wrote, When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said,

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It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Since it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the

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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.

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So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him.

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But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

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But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.

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He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, that you also may believe.

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For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken.

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And again another scripture says, They will look on him whom they have pierced. After these things,

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Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the

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Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission.

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So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy -five pounds in weight.

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So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the

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Jews. 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 been laid.

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So because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid

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Jesus there. The last words of Christ in verse 30, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

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Tetelestai in Greek, paid in full. But the resurrection had not yet happened.

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You've probably heard a preacher say it wasn't enough for Jesus to die, he also had to come back to life.

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The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15, If Jesus has not risen bodily from the grave, then you're still dead in your sins, and your faith is futile.

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So if there was still a pretty significant event that was yet to happen, what did Jesus mean exactly when he said,

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It is finished? Well it was everything that Jesus had done in submission to the will of his

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Father, obedience in his life, and even unto his death, and every drop of blood that was spilled.

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All of this was according to the will of his Father, and that work was done.

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Everything that Jesus was doing for his Father was finished. It is finished.

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His resurrection was because the Father received everything the Son had done and brought him back to life.

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Because Christ was truly sinless, he had the power over death itself, and the

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Father showed that he had received the work of the Son by raising him from the dead. Now indeed, earlier in the

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Gospel of John, Jesus said that he had the authority to lay down his life and to take it back up again.

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But he was doing all of this to the will of his Father. And it was the Father who raised him, and the

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Spirit did this work also, the Son having the authority to do so. The resurrection is a

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Trinitarian work. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit conquering death for us.

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As it says in Romans 8 -11, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised

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Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his

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Spirit who dwells in you. The very power of God that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that raises you from death when you were dead in the sins and transgressions in which you once walked.

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But you have been raised to life in Christ. Everyone who is a follower of Jesus has the

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Holy Spirit of God within them. The same power that raised Christ raised you from the dead and has sealed you for the day of redemption when you will receive the kingdom of God as a fellow heir with Christ.

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Just how wonderful our God is to bestow such blessings upon us when what we deserved was death but he's given us life in his

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Son. But I'm getting ahead of myself here in John chapter 19 because we're not to the resurrection yet.

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We're talking today about Jesus being prepared for burial. In verse 31, since it was the day of preparation and this being preparation for the

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Passover and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath for that Sabbath was a high day.

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It was the Sabbath during Passover so it's considered a high Sabbath which is a little more significant than any other

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Sabbath. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

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So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.

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Crucifixion was a very very painful form of torture of death.

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In fact it was so painful that a new word was coined to describe it and that's the word excruciating which literally means out of the cross.

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When a criminal was hung on the cross he would use his legs to push up so he could take a breath.

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But then his feet in such pain because he's got nails through his feet as well would slump back down and it would be difficult to breathe so he'd push up again to take a breath.

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So for the guards to come and break the legs of the criminals it's so they would asphyxiate they would die faster.

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I know that's a very colorful description there but that's that's what was going on. But with Christ verse 33 when they came to Jesus they saw that he was already dead.

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They did not break his legs but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and water.

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Now the statement that follows this is very interesting. Verse 35 he who saw it has borne witness.

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His testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you may also believe.

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What does that mean? Why does that immediately follow talking about where Jesus was pierced in the side with a spear.

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Well verse 35 he who saw it has borne witness. This is John. John who is the one writing this gospel.

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He is saying I was there. I saw his side pierced and of course we know he was there because earlier in this chapter

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Jesus looked at the beloved disciple who was John writing this gospel and said behold your mother saying that John's responsibility was going to be to take care of Mary.

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So John was right there. He was not among the rest of the disciples who scattered. And the reason is probably because John knew the high priest.

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The rest of the disciples were scared of being rounded up by the Pharisees and probably being crucified themselves.

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But John was known by the high priest and did not fear him. This goes back to chapter 18 when

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Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple being John's humble way of referring to himself in third person.

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Since that disciple was known to the high priest he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

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But Peter stood outside at the door and then when there were people who were questioning Peter he denied that he was a disciple.

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He denied that he knew Jesus denied three times just as Jesus said that he would.

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So while the rest of the disciples scattered John did not and he actually went there and saw

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Jesus crucified. So there is a testimony from one of the disciples of everything that happened there at the cross because he was there.

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Now it wasn't just John. We also know there were three Mary's there. According to what we read earlier there was

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Mary the mother of Jesus. There was Mary the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus.

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And then there was also also Mary Magdalene and Jesus had given

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John the responsibility of taking care of his mother. So as John is right there and sees

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Jesus pierced by a spear he says at once there came out blood and water and then goes right into he who saw it has borne witness.

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His testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you also may believe.

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Now was John saying that as a summarizing statement like everything that happened there at the crucifixion.

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So John is just wrapping this up with see that's what happened at the crucifixion so you can believe it because someone was there who witnessed it.

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Very specifically what John is referring to is the fact that Jesus was pierced with a spear and that blood and water came out.

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The reason why that's significant and why John includes that is because it shows it demonstrates that Jesus Christ really had a human body and that God in human form really did suffer and die.

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Jesus is fully man fully God another way this is said and probably a better way to say it is vera homo vera

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Deus. He was very human and very God. Fully man fully

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God can be kind of confusing because if you're fully man how can you then also be God. So the

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Latin phrase generally goes vera homo vera Deus very human very

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God. And how is he both. Some would say that he's all God and not actually man.

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And some might even assume well Jesus just kind of left his body for a moment when he died and he didn't actually experience the pain.

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But John is demonstrating here that everything about Christ's humanity is genuine even to his death.

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He did experience death in his body and when his side was stabbed what came out was blood and water.

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The the fluids of the human body that those things that had pooled there.

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And so Jesus was really and legitimately dead. He didn't just swoon to sleep was laid in a tomb and the cool air of the tomb revived him that's referred to as the swoon theory.

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It wasn't that Jesus was dead. He was in a real human body that really died there on the cross.

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That's what John is demonstrating in that passage and then saying I was there. I saw these things

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I can verify the body of our Lord God who this body that would later be resurrected and it would be a glorified body and he would be able to move to and fro and even vanish at an instant.

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This body of our Lord Christ was really a human body so that people may know

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God has taken on human flesh and he was obedient to the will of the father to the point that he was obedient unto death therefore as Paul would say in Philippians chapter 2

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God has given him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord to the glory of God the father speaking of which I wanted to make a mention that yesterday

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I said something about Paul writing something here in John that was a flub it's

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John that was writing anyway correction from yesterday you probably didn't even remember that or you maybe have not even caught it when

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I said it but yeah I did catch later that I I said Paul when what

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I really meant was John I've been teaching from Paul for a long time as long as I've been a teaching pastor in the pulpit

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I've been teaching from Paul's epistles so it's just kind of naturally it's kind of nature second nature for me at this point to say

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Paul wrote instead of in this case John wrote but here John is writing that he witnessed

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Christ had a human body we read in 1st John of 4 to by this you know the

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Spirit of God every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess

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Jesus is not from God this is the spirit of the Antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already those that deny that Jesus was

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God in human flesh are of the Antichrist the tendency of some is to either believe that Jesus was all man and not

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God although he may have had some divine attributes may have been able to do some miraculous things they'll say that he was completely a man totally a human body and was not

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God at all and then the other extreme is that he was entirely God and his appearance to us was you know but but a figment of our imagination or maybe a mirage of some kind but he was really

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God who was there just looking like a man sometimes we'll have God appear in such ways in the

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Old Testament the way the Lord appeared to to Abraham for example by the

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Oaks of Mamre before he told Abraham what he was going to do in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah God came to him in three men it was

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God and then the two angels that went into Sodom to rescue Lot so on occasion God did appear in these theophanies he would be an appearance of a man as he spoke to somebody else but in this occasion it was not just an appearance it really was

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God incarnate God in human flesh and John is bearing witness to that verse 36 for these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled not one of his bones will be broken and again another scripture says they will look on him whom they have pierced the reference to none of his bones will be broken this was the psalm we looked at just last week psalm 34 verse 20 he keeps all his bones not one of them is broken being a messianic prophecy concerning Christ and then this other statement here they will look on him whom they have pierced this is actually a reference to Zechariah 12 10

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I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and please for mercy so that when they look on me on him whom they have pierced they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn and so that's what

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Christ fulfilled here and John making that indication they will look on him whom they have pierced and those who loved him were there at the cross weeping for him some of those persons are mentioned in the next section verse 38 after these things

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Joseph of Arimathea who was a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the

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Jews now before going on we've had a reference to this before a reference to those who believed in Jesus but they believed in him secretly

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John 12 42 many even of the authorities believed in Jesus but for fear of the

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Pharisees they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue and Joseph of Arimathea was likely one of those men a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the

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Jews he asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission so we came and took away the body verse 39 here we have another name that that we've seen before here in the gospel of John Nicodemus also who earlier had come to Jesus by night came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds in weight now

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Nicodemus of course is most famous for the conversation that he has with Jesus in John chapter 3 and it's to Nicodemus that Jesus says for God so loved the world that he gave his only son and whoever believes in him will not perish but will have everlasting life it was part of that conversation there when

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Nicodemus came to Jesus by night that's the way we're introduced to Nicodemus in John 3 to came to him in the cover of night and whenever John makes a reference tonight it's not just the time of the day but it may be also a reference to spiritual darkness and when we're first introduced to Nicodemus that's the case he doesn't believe

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Jesus is the Son of God he's just asking him questions so there is a spiritual darkness over his heart but gradually over the course of the gospel of John we see

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Nicodemus become a disciple of Jesus Nicodemus defends Jesus in John 7 and then it's here in John 19 that he is even coming to pay tribute to the body of Christ with these offerings that are going to be placed in his tomb so our understanding at this point is that Nicodemus is out in the open now a disciple of Jesus Christ we have seen the redemption of a man over the course of this gospel

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Nicodemus so he came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about 75 pounds in weight means that this was a substantial offering verse 40 so they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen claws with the spices as is the burial custom of the

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Jews 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 been laid so because of the

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Jewish day of preparation since the tomb was close at hand they laid Jesus there and you know mentioning there that since the tomb was close at hand there's a possibility that they didn't really intend to leave

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Jesus body there but for the fact that the tomb was available and it was nearby they were able to take him there quickly and that's where he was laid a brand new tomb where no other body had ever been and that's not unusual for Jesus because when he came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey's colt he was riding on an animal that had never been ridden before Jesus being holy and pure is often signified with things that were pure and had not yet been used by anyone and in this case a tomb so no other decaying body had ever been in there it had not been made unclean by anyone else's body his body was the first and probably also the last

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I highly doubt anyone else was buried there after Jesus rose from the dead because that way everyone could point to the tomb and say see that was it that's the tomb where Jesus was it's empty there is no body there that's what we're going to talk about next week when we get to the resurrection but even the fact that Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb even this was fulfillment of prophecy

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Isaiah 53 9 they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death

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Joseph of Arimathea although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth yet it was the will of the

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Lord to crush him he has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt he shall see his offering he shall prolong his days the will of the

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Lord shall prosper in his hand as I mentioned yesterday the

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Old Testament even points to us the significance of these things we're reading history but the but what the prophets had written about what was going to happen they even pointed to the significance the

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Lord crushed him put him to grief so that he would be an offering for guilt

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Jesus Christ is the offering the spotless lamb given for our sins so that all who believe in him will have their sins atoned for they are forgiven and we stand before God justified by the precious blood of Christ exactly as it was fulfilled and we are enjoying the benefits of that to this day all who have heard the gospel and live amen now go and share the good news you can find a complete list of videos books devotionals and other resources online at www .utt