The Gospel of Luke 23:50-56 He is buried

Good morning. We're going to be venturing into this passage that Brad read for us, Luke 23, 53-56. And first, however, we want to revisit, bring us up to speed as to what proceeded. Last week, we talked about what Dr. Luke and some of the other gospel authors described as the crucifixion of Christ. This was a time when Christ, rather than struggling and trying to resist what was going on, was essentially saying, let's do this. Let's do this. He was voluntarily crucified for you and for me.

And we talked about some of the conversations that took place in the morning hours from nine to noon. And we looked at John, for example, signing Mary under John's care, and he talked about Jesus telling the thief on the cross, probably towards the noon hour, today you'll be with me in paradise, and where that was. We talked about how at noontime the sky went dark.

Inexplicably, that would not be explained by an eclipse. This was supernatural. It was noted, however, by people far and wide. This was not something just over Jerusalem. People in other parts of the Roman Empire also observed this darkness. It was over a very wide area. That darkness also came during the time when the slaughtering of the lambs was taking place for Passover, for the Sadducees' celebration of the Passover. I'm sure it disrupted things greatly there.

We talked about how Jesus, from noon until three, was the time when he paid for our sins and did his great cross work. And we talked about how Jesus expressed painfully his separation from the Father, his breaking of fellowship since he took our sins upon himself. We talked about how Jesus said, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The fellowship between the Father and the Son broken for our sakes. It had never occurred in eternity past and would never occur again.

But on that day, On that day, Christ took our sins upon himself and the fellowship between the Father and the Son was broken for those few hours. We talked about how at the end of that time there was an earthquake, an earthquake that opened the tombs. We talked about how after Christ was resurrected that many came out of those tombs resurrected which was certainly a continuing shock for the Sadducees who didn't believe in a resurrection.

We talked about how the temple veil was torn in two in order to indicate open access to God by all because of what Christ did on the cross. We have this kind of connecting piece from the Gospel of John, chapter 19, 31 through 35. One of the points that we'll make here is John seems to have been present and recording all the events from the arrest all the way up to Christ's burial, continuously present for all of those events. Here's John 19, 31 through 35.

Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. We'll talk about that in a bit here because it was a special Sabbath because of it being in the midst of and in the middle of the Passover and unleavened bread celebration. asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away. The Jews had a requirement, you cannot have a body stay overnight, and the Romans typically didn't observe that. But on this particular time they did because it was a special Sabbath.

So what they would do is take a club, and break the calves so that the people on the cross could no longer push up to catch a breath. So essentially they suffocated. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with him. But coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe." So here is John, who doesn't refer to himself, he calls himself the disciple or the other disciple, and he who has seen. But he's telling you, I saw this. I saw this personally. I'm recording. And he gives in verse 35 essentially a legal certification. I am certifying that this is a true statement. Here's Luke 23, 50-51, beginning the passage in Luke that we're starting into.

And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the council, a good and righteous man, He had not consented to their plan and actions. A man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God. So along comes Joseph. He is one who is spoken of in all four Gospels. Each of them has something to add to the description of this man. Very interesting.

Here's a guy that you haven't heard of him before but he comes forward and will also Talk about Nicodemus as well who doesn't show up in the gospel of Luke but a very pivotal man and also This man fulfills prophecy as well as we'll soon see here's Matthew 27 57 and that says when it was evening and actually I would translate that late afternoon not evening and But there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus So he didn't follow around as the other 12 did all the time, but when Jesus was in the area of Judea Which would be something around 20% of the time?

Joseph of Arimathea actually spent time with him and that's something I So here's Mark 15, 43, and I have A, B, and C because it's the first three parts of that verse. Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the council who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. And John 19, 38, A, B, and C. After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews. So, we get these various descriptions of Joseph of Arimathea.

We get a kind of a fuller sense. He's not been mentioned before, but what we find is here's a guy who is actually, he's found, he has to keep it secret, but he was actually on this council, the Sanhedrin, and he is a follower of Christ, but secretly. And it gives various descriptions of him. We find that he is wealthy, We find that he is a good and righteous man, and we find that he follows Jesus.

Now here is Arimathea. We know him as Joseph of Arimathea, not by any other identification. Arimathea is most likely this location here between Joppa and Jerusalem, and slightly to the north. of that line. There have been some other proposals. This place, by the way, is the birthplace of the prophet Samuel. And so that's where he is from. Now we have Luke 23, 52.

And this man, Joseph of Arimathea, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Now what we'll see here is between Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, they each take on something they probably planned because they had seen how, okay, this thing is going to end up with Jesus being crucified.

And so you can imagine the two of them getting together and planning, okay, you'll handle this part of it and I'll handle this other part and between the two of us we'll get him buried honorably. And as we'll see, quite honorably. And so he went to Pilate, and I imagine this would take quite a bit of courage, right? Can I go have the body of the person you just condemned to death and that the other Jews wanted to have killed?

So That was quite a point of courage for Joseph of Arimathea. Here's what Mark 15, 43 through 45 adds in terms of detail of how he went to Pilate and was granted the body. And so Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if he was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether he was already dead.

And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. The typical thing during a crucifixion would have been for the crucifixion to even take days for the person to die. Imagine, here they are, you really don't get enough water, so dehydration is taking place. You don't get any food up there typically, so that's not happening, and it typically would take days. This case was an exception because it was for a high Sabbath, a Sabbath during the Passover and unleavened bread. feasts and So they would break the the legs typically towards the end of the day so that people would have time to to you know get the bodies off the crosses before Sabbath came about and So that was going to happen here and so Pilate surprises you're coming to me at this hour I'm surprised he's dead, but he is so anyway That's the reason for Pilate questioning so ascertaining this from the centurion. He granted the body to Joseph and Yes, you may take it. This was the centurion, by the way, who, as we pointed out last week, said that Jesus was innocent. We've killed an innocent man. He was the Son of God, and he also praised God.

It also says, on top of that, that he was very frightened because of the things that he saw that day, the inexplicable darkness, the earthquake. He didn't know about the temple being torn in two. that was nearby but not close enough. But he did know enough to say this was an extraordinary person and an extraordinary day. Here's Luke 23 53 and he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid him in a tomb cut into the rock where no one had ever lain.

So here, enter Nicodemus. Nicodemus is named in the Gospel of John only. Named in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1, 4, and 9, and then again in chapter 7, verse 50. Nicodemus is mentioned for the last time in the Gospel of John, John 19, 39 and 40.

So Nicodemus, who had first come to him by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight, and we'll make a note on that. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the custom, the burial custom of the Jews. It's actually more like 65 or 75 pounds as we count pounds, right? And we'll talk about that in a little bit.

Nicodemus here is only mentioned in the Gospel of John. John shows multiple evidences of personally knowing members of the Sanhedrin, that is the council, and one of those instances would be he got there first in the household of Annas. He got in, and Peter was not allowed in. Why? Because they didn't know who Peter was. But John, who was already there, said, Peter's okay, he can come in.

And got him in. He was recognized by the household of the high priest. He also knew the name of the servant of the high priest whose Peter had cut the ear off of. And he knew that one of the guys who said to Peter, hey, you're one of them, He knew that that was a relative of Malchus, the one whose ear had been cut off. So he is very well connected.

John may very well have been in line for the priesthood, but the Lord called him as a disciple first. So here we have Nicodemus. He was the one who came to Jesus at night. This is recorded in John chapter 3. Jesus had told him then that he must be born again, which was puzzling to him. By the way, the Jews had six different ways that a Jew could be born again before Jesus said this, right? So he had a while figuring this one out since born again was a term that the Jews actually used. But Nicodemus had apparently come to understand what Jesus meant by those words so that by this time he also was a disciple of Jesus.

He had come to believe. Isn't it amazing? You're going to meet this guy. You're going to meet this guy. And you're going to meet Joseph of Arimathea too. And by the way, there's a lot of things that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus would probably find out later about what was going on this day.

And we'll talk about that in a minute. Nicodemus, this is John chapter 7 centering on verse 50. verses 45 through 52 actually, he tried to stand up for Jesus, and I'm not singing the song, he tried to stand up for Jesus before the Sanhedrin, but they shut him down severely enough that we don't have any record that Nicodemus ever brought this up again, or that Joseph of Arimathea said anything. So that was probably like, I'm not going to do that, that doesn't work, right? So Nicodemus, however, was given the other part of the assignment.

So here's Joseph of Arimathea. He's the one who's supposed to go to Pilate and to ask for the body, get granted permission. You have to call in the centurion, who by the way is not that far away from where Pilate's living. So call in the centurion, and then that's his job, and then to take Jesus' body down from the cross. And then Nicodemus' job is to bring all these burial materials, and we'll talk about what that entails, to bring all these burial materials and then meet together at the tomb.

It was a hundred litras is the actual Greek name there of cloth, aloes and myrrh. So we don't know exactly how that was divided up. We have really heavy piles of cloth or whatnot. There's actually a couple of different early texts that talk about a package of aloes and myrrh. So interesting. This would actually be 65 to 75 pounds as we count pounds. That would still be a huge, huge amount of material compared to the usual. So this was an unusually large amount of material.

And also, by the way, very, very expensive. We'll talk about that in a bit here. Jesus was given a king's burial after having been crucified, killed by the worst possible means. It was reserved for the worst of the worst. Now he was given a king's burial. But what Nicodemus didn't quite understand is all this is only for a few days, right?

A lot of you when you see aloes, you're thinking of aloe vera plant in that, you know, kind of gel stuff and you know, sort of alternative health material. But that's not actually what this is. And this is aloes wood or sometimes called agarwood pieces.

And this stuff is very, very expensive. Even today, if you want to buy, see, I saw an ad for it. If you want to buy some quality stuff, 10 grams, $195. Even today, it's very expensive stuff. So you can imagine if Nicodemus had 65 to 75 pounds. He spent a mint on this stuff.

Jesus has definitely been given a king's burial. What they would do is they would take those pieces of aloes wood, it's a heavy resinous and also a heavy odor, and they would grind it up so it was like a powder. Now, next thing, myrrh. This is just like the gold and frankincense and, oh wait, there's myrrh, right? That Jesus was given as a gift, so this is the same material, and the pieces look like this. It was a resin brought in just like the aloes would along the Silk Road from the east and so this is the way the pieces would be delivered. They would be ground up and what you saw here, the aloes would ground up and the myrrh pieces ground up. Those two would be mixed together and then they would take that and put that on the body between the body and the cloth and wrap that up.

And the amount that it appears Nicodemus has was just an outrageously huge amount and very, very expensive. I mean, just amazingly expensive. So here's Jesus given a king's burial. Lots of very expensive material. So here's Joseph of Arimathea, very likely used servants. The way the Bible describes this is he did this and that.

Very likely used servants to remove and to move Jesus' body. There would be several different reasons for that, and we'll talk about that shortly. Nicodemus also very likely used servants to carry the 65 to 75 pounds of burial materials. So you imagine each of them needing to have servants to deal with things here. There would be the cloth probably initially rolled up and then there would be a package of some kind or possibly put into pots of this very expensive mixture of the aloes wood and myrrh ground up and then mixed as a powder Both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were very wealthy men They would have a number of servants in each household, and so they would likely draw from those. Pulling Jesus' body off the cross and carrying his body, even with the tomb being nearby, and it was nearby as we'll soon see, was a task for a couple of men at least, and possibly twice that.

Carrying 65 to 75 pounds of burial materials was also a task for at least a couple of men. So you had a number of servants engaged in this process, and a lot of the dramatic presentations and whatnot don't reveal that necessarily, but that was very likely the case, that servants would do this. And we'll see shortly, there's another reason why. Here is something else about the location. That we're going to talk about here.

Here's John 19 41 and 42 It says now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb That's key in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid The place where he was crucified the garden was right nearby and the new tomb the garden was right nearby Okay, so the tomb and the cross were close to one another and And it was a brand new carved tomb. It had not been used previously. Therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Now look, here's the cross. There's the tomb nearby.

Just take him from here over to there, right? And then here's John 20, 15. Jesus said to her, woman, why are you weeping? This is after he was crucified. Whom are, excuse me, resurrected. Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener. She said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I will take him away. And here it says Hebrew, it should be Hebrews, okay? 1312. Therefore Jesus, also that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Suffered outside the gate.

And that was, as we'll soon see, the Ganoth Gate in Jerusalem, also called the Garden Gate. So here you have on page 3 a map of Jerusalem. And we're looking, here's the area of Golgotha and the Ganoth gate, the garden gate. And so there's some text that I put off to the right that I'd like to step our way through. And by the way, this is the short account. There's a lot more detail I could give, but I think it gives the idea.

Jesus' tomb was near, John 19.42, where Golgotha is shown on the map. So, real close.

Early Christians made note of where Jesus had been buried, and so the Emperor Hadrian, and by the way, the emperors, when they were pagan, liked to spite Christians and Jews and anybody else they could. They enjoyed that. So here's Hadrian, who lived from 76 to 138 A.D., deliberately placed the Temple of Venus in 135 A.D. on top of where the Christians believed that Jesus had been buried. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on that same location under Emperor Constantine starting 325 AD.

This building marks the spot, right? And so, real interesting, that seems to be a strong indication of the location of it. By the year 350 that you could still see the garden. And Christians recorded that. I can still see here where the garden was. Still visible. Here you have a graphic. This is done by Dr. Lien Rittmeier. He is a man who believes the Bible is the Word of God.

He is also a man who is probably the world's foremost authority on the archaeology of the Temple Mount and vicinity. And so what he shows is, here is Golgotha, which was a high spot in an old quarry. When they would take out the quarry stones, they would take out good material. The place where Golgotha was located was a high spot where it was not good material, and so it was left as a hill.

And so that hill would be the location of Calvary. Nearby would be the tomb. And then you see the Ganas or Garden Gate right nearby. And so those would be the approximate locations. Some people would swap the location of Golgotha and the tomb. Some people would put them at the same place, some scholars.

One scholar I read said, Jesus was crucified at the corners of David and Chabad streets. in modern Jerusalem. Or if you pronounce it like Courtney does, Habat. Right? Okay. Okay. So this is available as a supplement on the cabinet to the right if you're interested in taking a look at that. Right? So, and you might think as we've been going through this we've been bringing up things like here's the location, here's the evidence where it actually occurred, things of that sort.

We've talked about J. Warner Wallace a couple of different times. J. Warner Wallace was a man who was raised an atheist. He became a policeman, ultimately a cold case detective. And for nine years on the force, he was an atheist. But he began looking at the Gospels as a cold case.

And he says, you know what? The evidence is so strong, I'm becoming a believer. It's that impressive in terms of the evidence that Christ actually was crucified. He actually was buried by these people. He actually was. Oh, we have to wait until next week to talk about that.

Anyway, so the next part here is about an April 3rd, 33 AD date for Jesus' crucifixion. We've said that in the last four years particularly, the evidence is coming together strongly to point at an April 3rd, 33 date for Jesus' crucifixion and burial. The evidence is very strongly pointing to that date by several different lines of evidence. everything from prophecy to geological evidence to historical evidence, it's all pointing at that's the day Jesus was crucified and buried. And we've talked about specific locations and pointed the evidence, you know, saying there's a specific location where Christ was crucified, there's a specific location where Christ was buried within a certain definable area and specific locations as to where Pilate's palace was and where Herod Antipas was located and we've looked at that and one of the reasons for doing that is simply because the evidence is becoming increasingly strong to be able to pin down here's the day Christ was crucified, here's the place, here's where he was the places where he was beforehand. It's only been in the last few years that a lot of those things have come into place, but they are there. And the reason for bringing that up is because many have the idea that all this is all just faith and nobody knows, and yes we do.

We pointed out a week or two ago here, here is the ossuary box from Alexander, son of Simon of Cyrene. It is circumstantial evidence and that we don't have some note inside say this is Alexander the son of Simon and Cyrene who was the one mentioned in the Gospels. But we do have good solid circumstantial evidence that this is the guy.

This is the one. And it's the real thing. And we say that because these are real, actual, historical events. They are not myths. We have very good, solid evidence for these things. They are not myths that Christ was crucified on that day. It has very good, solid evidence. Even to say that Christ was resurrected on April 5th, 33 AD. We have evidence so good that J. Warner Wallace, the atheist, raised atheist, became a believer based on the evidence.

We also have multiple witnesses for every single event here. John was present at Christ's arrest there in the Garden of Gethsemane, and we know where that was. The first one at the house of Annas, and it's very likely we know where that is. He was present when Peter denied knowing Christ three times, and was there watching the trials through the night. And when Peter and Christ saw one another, their eyes met. He was present. John was present for Christ's crucifixion and His death and for Jesus' removal from the cross and for His burial. John was there all the way along. Other disciples were present in varying numbers at different points along the way.

John very likely knew Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea already. John was known among the household of the high priest to the point that he could get Peter admitted and knew the name of the servant whose ear got cut off by Peter. And to know that one of those who challenged Peter was a relative of Malchus, the one who had his ear cut off. He was very likely at least acquainted with, if not knowing, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

He could even have been present at the time Nicodemus tried to stand up for Jesus. John chapter 7 verse 50. He may very well have been present for that and so recorded it. Otherwise, if he did not have those kinds of contacts, he would not have been able to write about that. He would not write uniquely about Nicodemus, and no other gospel author did. John is the only one who wrote about Nicodemus at several different points, the only one who recorded that Nicodemus tried to stand up for Jesus among the Sanhedrin and the council. And also he's the one who writes about Nicodemus bringing these very expensive burial materials to Jesus' burial. Here's Luke 23, 54.

It was the preparation day and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now this was a special Sabbath. Just reminding you of that. At sundown, Sabbath would begin, but this wasn't the usual Sabbath. Okay, we have these Sabbaths every seven days. But this wasn't like that.

Thursday evening had been the Pharisees' Passover meal. So the Pharisees had their Passover meal. That was also the night when Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples. So that was Thursday, April 2nd, 33 A.D. This Friday day, it was still the Pharisees Passover, because remember their day starts at sundown and then continues over, but it was also the preparation day for the Sabbath and it was the Sadducees Passover. And then the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins. So this is quite an eventful time. So this Sabbath is a very special Sabbath. It is a Sabbath that follows these Passover events and then begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So here you have, and I think it's on page four of your handout, kind of a table that indicates some very important things.

So here's, on Friday, God's Passover lamb is slain. That's why I've capitalized lamb. God's Passover lamb is slain on Friday. It's the first day of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread. That's April 3rd, 33 AD. Christ is crucified and buried. The following day is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and it is the continuation of the Sabbath which began Friday evening. Christ remains in the tomb the second day, April 4th, 33 AD. Sunday is the Feast of Firstfruits. The first fruits are offered, which typically is a barley harvest. Those are the first grains to be available. So that Sunday, Christ is raised, April 3rd, excuse me, the third day, April 5th, 33 AD. See that?

So that's how this lays with Christ's crucifixion, Christ's remaining in the tomb, and Christ's resurrecting. So this is why the Apostle Paul, when he writes in 1 Corinthians 15, he says Christ is the firstfruits of those who are asleep because that's on the day of firstfruits that year. So it matches up perfectly. So here's the Passover lamb is slain on Passover and Christ is resurrected as the firstfruits As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

And guess who follows? That's us. That's us. Okay, now, let's talk more about servants. Another reason for having servants is not just because this requires more hands to get them off the cross and carry the body. and all that, but also both Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea being on the council, it's extremely important for them to be able to observe Sabbaths and to observe days of Pentecost and the special feast days and all that.

So they don't want to do what? They don't want to touch a dead body. They don't want to touch a dead body. That would disqualify them. They would become ritually unclean. And so who are they going to have do the dealing with Jesus' body? Servants. Doesn't matter if the servant can't observe, but I can't be disqualified, right? Not going to happen. So it would be ritually unclean. They would not be able to participate in the Sabbath that began the Jews' Feast of Unleavened Bread.

They'd have to go through a ritual procedure, which is not going to happen by sundown, right? So they would have servants do this. And so that's another reason why they would have servants. And again, having several of them, making sure they don't have to step in and help, right? But plenty of servants would be good. Here's Luke 23, 55.

Now the women who had come with him out of Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. So when we put together the accounts on all four of the Gospels, we see that aside from Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, John was present and also these women.

We have, in some cases, some description of who these women are. Here's Mark 15, 47, tells us Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were looking on to see where he was laid. And we have other descriptions of more women being there, but these are named. Mary Magdalene would mean that she's from Magdala, which is on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. And then Mary, the mother of Joseph, we're looking on to see where he was laid. One of the reasons you find lots and lots of Marys in this account, one in every five women in Israel at this time are named Mary.

And so they would have to differentiate. This is Mary Magdalene. This is Mary, the mother of this one. And so you'll find differentiation. Sometimes they'll just say the other Mary, right? There's lots of Marys. So this second Mary was the mother of Joseph, James, and Salome, which doesn't necessarily mean anything to us, but that was clear enough to those who were originally reading this.

Now, something very interesting, the Lord chose it such that women would be the first ones to see the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene would be the first one to see Christ resurrected. However, women were not thought of very highly among the Jews. They were very chauvinistic and prejudiced. And so the testimony of a woman was not considered valid.

I think it's rather humorous that the Lord would choose to have women be those who would be the first to testify of his resurrection. So then there was a continuous witness of the disciple John who saw everything from the arrest all the way to the tomb. Very likely other disciples also saw when Jesus was buried in Joseph of Arimathea's newly carved tomb, but they tended to stay more at a distance. And so there was multiple testimony starting with the testimony of women. So here's Luke 23, 56.

Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes and on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. So what would they do? They would say, okay, there's where the tomb is, let's rush home and do the work of preparing all the spices and perfumes and stuff and so we can observe the Sabbath and be legal, right? And so that's what they did. The woman prepared to take more, I can hardly imagine, more perfume and spices to the grave early Sunday morning. That was their plan. Let's wait until the Sabbath is over.

We'll go early Sunday morning and we'll bring in these spices and perfumes and help cover up the odor of putrefaction. So they placed them on or around the body. The initial amount that Nicodemus had purchased and had placed was placed there between the cloth and Jesus' body, and then these would be added on top.

So what these women didn't know is that the preparation of the perfume and spices, even though it was well intended, would not be necessary after all. They didn't know that. Can you imagine, you're expecting to go and take these materials, The tomb is empty. Oh, no. The woman did the preparation before the Sabbath in order to properly observe their Sabbath.

And that's recorded here. Sabbath began then at sundown. So this burial of Jesus was done rather hastily. Fortunately, the tomb is right nearby the cross. By the way, they were not allowed, they wanted to get burial done the same day. But carrying a body a significant distance on the Sabbath, even moving it on the Sabbath was not permitted.

So you want to make sure we get this thing done, which is all the more reason to have plenty of servants on hand to make sure this thing gets done so that we don't have a problem. The Law of Moses required burial the same day. This is passages from Deuteronomy 21 to 23 being one of them.

Let's ask the question here. Why does Jesus have to be buried? Why not? Hey, I've got an idea. Let's do this real efficiently. Let's have Jesus be taken off the cross. Is He really dead? Yeah, He's really dead. Okay, now resurrect. Why not just do it real quickly right there? Wouldn't that be simple? Everybody could see Him resurrect. Why didn't God do it that way?

The burial would make absolutely certain that he was really, really dead. Very dead. It was necessary to avoid any claim that Jesus didn't really die, but he was swooned. Other assurances we have that Jesus really died. One, on being punctured in the side with a soldier's spear, The Latin was the pilum. Blood and water came out.

Jesus said that the thief on the cross would be with him in paradise that day. Where's Jesus going? Paradise. Father into your hands I commit my spirit. And the thief on the cross with him in paradise that day. The bodies stay here. The spirits there.

The centurion testified to Pilate that Jesus was already dead. Pilate was surprised. So soon? Why did Jesus die sooner than expected? It's because he didn't die from the crucifixion. He died from giving up his spirit. So not only was this burial to certify that Christ was dead, but it's also to fulfill prophecy.

Here is Isaiah 53, 8 and 9. It was verse 7, a couple of weeks ago, where it was all about the lambs. Right? Okay. Here, this one, it's, "...by oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living? For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due." Who deserved the penalty that Christ paid?

You and me. Right? But He took it. Verse 9 is the key one here in terms of fulfilling prophecy. In Isaiah 53, verse 9, first half, it says, And his grave was a sign with wicked men, but he was with a rich man in his death. Who's that? Joseph of Arimathea, says he's a wealthy man. Because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

There's another reason for this burial. You've got to believe it to be saved. So we see this burial of Christ certainly signifying actual real death. The gospel that a person must believe in order to be saved and to have eternal life includes that as central. The gospel is real simple. It doesn't take 15 seconds to say it. Here's how Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4. It's the content of the gospel that one must have in order to believe and be saved.

For I delivered to you as a first importance, what does that tell you? This is top priority! Right? What I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, just like we saw there in Isaiah 53. And that He was buried and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. Do you believe that?

Then you're saved. It's that simple. It doesn't take 15 seconds to read through that. But that very short, succinct statement is what must be believed in order to be saved. That's the gospel to be presented. Do you believe that Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day? Do you believe that? Then you're saved. You're saved forever. God says, that's it, I'll take it from there. Right? And he does the rest. He does the rest. So burial is not only to assure us that Christ actually died. Burial is not only to fulfill prophecy. Burial is not only an essential ingredient to the gospel, but burial is important because you were there.

Do you remember that? No. See, what's really astounding to ponder is when people looked up at the cross, they just said, okay, that's Christ. But you and I were up there too. The cross was crowded. Spiritually speaking, the cross was crowded because you and I were there too. And it's very important that we not only see that all of us were there, but that each of us personally was there. When Christ died on the cross, I died with Him. When Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took the steps to see that Jesus was properly buried right nearby, right in the area of the same garden there's a tomb right nearby you and I were there too and here's something to ponder the thief on the cross never became a part of the church he died before the church began on Acts chapter 2 he was with Christ in paradise that day and when Christ's body was rejoined to his spirit on Sunday, April 5th, 33 A.D. He then has a resurrected body.

The first fruits of those who are asleep. But we were there with him. So we were buried with Him. In Romans 6, verse 4, therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death. Colossians 2, verse 12, having been buried with Him in baptism. We were buried with Him.

So not only was that cross a very crowded place, but this tomb was a very crowded place. But make sure that in your understanding of it, that it's not just a bunch of people, it's you. If you're a believer, you were identified with him in this burial and here's something to ponder the thief on the cross was not a part of the church but the evidence here is that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were there too they were physically in the presence of Christ as he was being buried and they were spiritually identified with him as they buried him and that's something to ponder They were spiritually identified with Him in the very burial that they were carrying out.

And so, they'll be raptured with us. They were identified with Him also in the resurrection. But that's next time, right? Also in the resurrection. Everyone who believes the gospel As we talked about, Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again, is placed in Christ.

1 Corinthians 1.30 says it's by God's doing you're in Christ Jesus. God did it. I didn't try to do it. It's not my job to maintain. God did it. It's His job.

Everyone who believes that gospel is identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating in the heavenlies. And so we've only gotten to the second place here in our investigation in the Gospel of Luke. So you were buried with Him in that tomb near Jerusalem, very near the cross, right next to the garden, right outside the Ganoth, the garden gate.

You were there. So was I. Isn't that great? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we look at these things. Tremendous, phenomenal truths. And we just are thankful that you've not only done this, but revealed it to us and made such wonderful truths available to us for us to understand and to see. And we give you just immense and endless thanks for that. Forever grateful, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.