The Bible puts salvation as belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I’ve often wondered about the role of Jesus’ burial. On this Good Friday I want us to consider this.
By nightfall that Good Friday, it was all over. The events of the day, of the last 24 hours, were over. They had been a shock to his followers. They never thought something like this would happen to their Master or to them. The betrayal in the garden, the arrest, the sham trial and conviction happened. He was made a joke of before Herod who treated him like some kind of magician that did tricks. Pilate. The scourging. The public chose his sentence when they chose the release of Barabbas. The cross. The suffering. The bleeding. The dying. The final breath and the confirmation of his death finally happened.
This is much like our life experiences when a loved one dies. We go through the stages: the symptoms, the terminal diagnosis, the declining hope, the suffering, Then the final breath comes, followed by death. The grief and shock set it. It’s a blurry nightmare. There is a wake, a funeral, and a graveside committal. The burying takes place. We leave the cemetery. We feel so lost, like death finally won after all.
Mark 15:39 “And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God. 40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; 42And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. 45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.”
Jesus’ burial was as necessary as his death and resurrection. His burial was the undisputed confirmation that he died. It was confirmed with the spear. Witnesses attested to it. Joseph went to Pilate to ask for the body. Jesus had no tomb. Joseph wanted to give him his. Pilate couldn’t believe Jesus was already dead. He asked the centurion, and he confirmed it. The Sanhedrin was satisfied with it. Jesus’ body was taken off the cross by Nicodemus and Joseph. It was carried to the tomb. The guards saw it. Mary, Salome and the other women saw it. For his resurrection to have credibility, it had to be proven he was dead and securely buried. Pilate officially ratified the fact with his seal over the tomb. He was dead. Why did he have to stay that way and be buried?
The effect of his death and burial was awful. What a loss! However, what he came for, what he died for, was accomplished. Creation had lost its designer. What now? His death and burial—this design—was for our benefit. He didn’t have to win victory over death. He already had it. He raised Lazarus from the dead after he’d been dead four days. He simply obtained final victory over death, hell, the grave and Satan. Death, hell, and the grave mean nothing without our sins as their source of power. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”
In six days God the Father, Son, and Spirit created everything. Then they rested. Then, when Adam and Eve disobeyed and sinned, this took God’s rest from him. As long as sin reigned undefeated in this world, God could not rest. Even though the Sabbath was instituted, while his people rested, God did not. Hence the Plan of Salvation, created before the world began, went into action. It would be a long, difficult road that would culminate in the sending of God’s only Begotten Son. His earthly life was a bumpy road with one destination: Calvary. For six hours Jesus was on the cross bodily suffering the bearing of mankind’s sins to his death. By being dead and physically buried when the stone was rolled in place, the hardest work had been done. Salvation from sin was accomplished. The work of obtaining it was finished. There in the dark of the tomb, Jesus did what he’d not done since before Adam and Eve sinned. He rested on the Sabbath.
On Sunday morning the tomb was found empty only of the person buried there. It was not entirely empty. Pilate put a sign over the cross. He should have put one over the tomb that said “Here Lies the Remains of Death, Hell, and the Grave.” The person who was buried there left some things behind. He came out but left his clothes. Those grave clothes were the bonds of death. The power of death, the hold of the grave itself, the inevitability of hell, and the undaunted reign of Satan were left behind like a pair of handcuffs open and left laying empty. They are forever dead and buried! Only the remains are left.
And all this was done for one reason. “For God so loved the world.” So loved you.
This is why the only hope of salvation from our sins lies in Him: who He is, and what He has done to redeem us from its hold and consequences. Only through him can we find true rest again. This is why we must believe or perish.
Do you now see what this means to you..to us all? Does this make a believer out of you?
It should.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 