Gospel of John
Chapter Nineteen
Preface
Each gospel writer views the life and events of Jesus Christ from his own
personal vantage point. Each one presents a snapshot of the life of Christ. Each
one brings forth facts, but not all the facts regarding any specific event. Each
one portrays Christ and emphasizes a different aspect of His person. Matthew, a
Jew and a Levite, presents Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel. Mark shows Him
as the suffering servant. Luke, a doctor, portrays Him as the Son of Man. John,
the “beloved disciple,” reveals Him as the Son of God.
In order to establish a true chronological accounting of all the facts
regarding a particular event during the life of Christ, one must carefully study
all the gospels and synchronize all the facts listed in all of them. In the
preface of chapter 17 it was incorrectly implied that Christ was subject
to three trials. Depending on one’s interpretation of all the gospels one may
conclude that Jesus Christ faced a total of at least six trials-three before the
Jews (Annas, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin) and three before the Romans (Pontius
Pilate, Herod and Pilate again).
As previously mentioned, these were illegal trails, for at least the
following reasons (taken from Learn the Bible in 24 Hours by Dr. Chuck
Missler):
The binding of a prisoner before he was condemned was against the law.
Judges participated in the arrest of the accused. That was against the
law.
No legal transaction, including a trial, could be conducted at night. An
acquittal could be announced the same day but any other verdict required a
majority of two and had to come on a subsequent day.
No prisoner could be convicted on his own evidence.
It was the duty of a judge to see that the interest of the accused was
fully protected. This was what we could call a “kangaroo court.”
The use of violence during the trial was apparently unopposed by the
judges.
The judges sought false witness against Jesus.
In a Jewish court, the accused was to be presumed innocent until proven
guilty by two or more witnesses.
No witness was ever called for the defense.
The court lacked the civil authority to condemn a man to death.
It was illegal to conduct a session of the court on a Feast day. This was
not only a Feast day, but the high Feast day-it was Passover.
The sentence was finally passed in the palace of the High Priest, but the
law demanded that it be pronounced in the Temple in the hall of hewn stone.
They broke the law in every detail.
The High Priest rent his garment. He was never permitted to tear his
official robes. And without his priestly robe he couldn’t have put Christ
under oath, which of course he did.
It is striking to note that the Roman governor, Pilate, pronounced Christ
innocent. The Passover lamb had to be without blemish. It is also striking that
the Jews selected Barabbas, a rebel and murderer, to be released instead of
Jesus. The following facts relate to Barabbas (also taken from the same
reference by Dr. Chuck Missler):
He stood under the righteous condemnation of the law.
He knew that the One who was to take his cross and his place was
innocent.
He knew that Jesus Christ was, for him, a true substitute.
He knew that he had done nothing to merit going free while another took
his place.
The above four points represent the relationship between a lost person and
Jesus Christ. The person is totally lost, condemned by the law of God; whereas,
in Christ there was no sin whatsoever. Jesus became the substitute for every
single lost person that has ever and will ever live upon the earth (2
Corinthians 5:14)-He took the sins of the world and paid the penalty-price
for those sins on the cross. Christ did this out of His love and grace. There is
nothing in man that merited the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, just as man cannot of
or by himself merit God’s salvation. Salvation comes by faith alone in Christ
alone. Nothing more; nothing less!
For the record the following Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled
concerning Jesus during His final weeks upon earth:
He would make a triumphal entry in Jerusalem-Zechariah 9:9, Psalm 118.
He would be smitten like a shepherd-Zechariah 13.
He would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver-Zechariah 11:1-13;
Psalm 41:9.
He would be given vinegar and gall-Psalm 69:21.
They would cast lots for his garments-Psalm 22:18.
His bones would not be broken-Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20.
His side would be pierced-Zechariah 12:10; Psalm 22:16.
He would die among malefactors-Isaiah 53:9, 12.
His dying words were foretold-Psalm 22:1, 31.
He would be buried by a rich man-Isaiah 53:9.
He would rise on the third day-Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:39, 40; Genesis
22:4 and Hebrews 11:19.
His resurrection would be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem-Daniel
9, 11, and 12.
There will be no attempt to harmonize all the facts regarding all of the
trials of Christ in this study. Commentary will be extended for only those facts
and events listed in the chapter. Nevertheless, it should be understood that
Jesus Christ was exposed to a grave miscarriage of Jewish and Roman justice
during His last days.
John 19:1-3
So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown
of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they
said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands.
Even though Pilate could find no crime pertaining to Jesus, he now turns
Jesus over to a group of his soldier-guards and has Him scourged. This was a
beating performed with a scourge for the purpose of inflicting punishment and,
at times, to obtain confessions (Acts 22:24). The scourge was a whip of
thongs consisting of a handle to which leather cords were attached. These were
either knotted or weighted with pieces of bone or metal. It was a very painful
and mutilating procedure, the practice of which extended from the Old Testament
(Deuteronomy 25:1-3; 1 Kings 12:11) into the New (Matthew 10:17; Acts
5:40; 22:19). Scourging could also consist of a beating with rods. The
Apostle Paul distinguishes between these two methods in 2 Corinthians
11:23-25.
In addition to being scourged, Jesus was subjected to further intense and
humiliating procedures by the soldiers. They added to His mutilation and pain by
taking turns in beating Him with their fists until He was beaten to a pulp. They
also mocked Him and His claim as the King by dressing Him in a purple robe and
ramming a crown of thorns into the crown of His head.
This entire process brutally disfigured Jesus, so much so that it fulfilled
certain prophetic passages in the Old Testament, such as the following:
Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any
man, and His form more than the sons of men
(Isaiah 52:14)
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our
peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
(Isaiah
53:4, 5)
I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out
the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
(Isaiah
50:6)
This disfigurement and loss of facial hair may indeed be the reason many,
even some of Christ’s most loyal apostles, could not recognize Him after He
arose from the grave. It has also been conjectured that Jesus will carry His
disfigurement (the marks of His beatings and His crucifixion) into eternity (Zechariah
12:10; Revelation 5:6) as an eternal reminder to all of God’s saints of His
love and grace.
Finally, along with the beatings, the soldiers ridiculed Jesus by proclaiming
“Hail, King of the Jews.” How sad. Mouths that Christ had personally formed were
now being used to mock Him.
John 19:4, 5
Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out
to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.” Then Jesus came out,
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them,
“Behold the Man!”
Pilate again went out to the throng of Jews who were crying for the death of
Jesus. These were the religious leaders who were incensed over the fact that
Jesus had allowed Himself to be presented as the Messiah, the King of Israel and
declared Himself as the Son of God-true Deity. But as for Pilate, he declared
that he had found no fault in Jesus Christ. He reinforced his verdict when
Christ was brought out dressed in the crown of thorns and the purple robe by
declaring, “Behold the Man!” His final evaluation was that Jesus Christ was
nothing more than a mere man, no one special, and certainly not the Messiah, the
King of the Jews or the Son of God. In this statement Pilate incriminates
himself. How? By continuing to hold Christ who he honestly believed to be an
innocent person.
John 19:6, 7
Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out,
saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and
crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law,
and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of
God.”
Now that the religious leaders saw that Pilate was wavering in his judgment
of Jesus Christ, they cried out even more forcefully, “Crucify Him, crucify
Him!” Crucifixion was a method of inflicting death in a most cruel and painful
way. It was invented by the Persians and later adopted by the Romans (only to
later be abandoned by Constantine the Great). It was never a product of Israel,
yet by crying out for it and eventually having Christ put to death by
crucifixion, Old Testament prophecy was filled regarding the future death of the
Messiah (Psalm 22; Isaiah 52; 53). Even more, crucifixion fulfilled the
words of Jesus Himself when before Nicodemus He declared, “And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal
life.” (John 3:14, 15)
This was the form of death the religious leaders were crying out to be
administered to Jesus Christ. To this cry Pilate again declared that He had
found no fault in Jesus and that the Jews should take Jesus and crucify Him.
The religious leaders, to make their charge even stronger before Pilate, now
brought forth their religious charge against Christ. Jesus had claimed equality
with God by saying that He was the Son of God. To the Jews this was blasphemy
and punishable by death.
John 19:8, 9
Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went
again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus
gave him no answer.
This charge by the religious leaders that Jesus declared Himself as Deity
troubled Pilate. He took Jesus back into the Judgment Hall and asked Him again
from where He came. But Jesus at this point was silent. Why? Possibly because He
knew that Pilate had received enough light on which to act, and he should be
given no more. On the other hand, it may have been in fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecy stating, “He was oppressed and He was
afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”
(Isaiah 53:7)
Regarding His stature while before this Roman authority, Jesus chose not to
reply.
John 19:10, 11
Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I
have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could
have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.
Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
But once Pilate decided to threaten Jesus with his authority to either
crucify or release Him, Jesus makes a calm and pointed reply. He informs Pilate
that the only authority he has is a result of God granting him such authority.
Then He further states that those who delivered Him to Pilate were guilty of the
“greater sin.”
This indicates, along with other passages within God’s Word, that there are
degrees in sin and most likely degrees in coming judgment. Those who had
delivered Christ to Pilate did so based on a greater degree of light; therefore,
they were guiltier than Pilate. Nevertheless, that did not exonerate Pilate. He
was still guilty!
John 19:12-15
From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying,
“If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a
king speaks against Caesar.” When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought
Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The
Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the Preparation Day of the
Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to
them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king
but Caesar!”
The following commentary from the Believer’s Bible Commentary by
William MacDonald is most appropriate for this passage. It follows:
Just as Pilate became determined to release Jesus, the Jews used their
last and most telling argument. “If you let this Man go, you are not
Caesar’s friend.” (Caesar was the official title of the Roman Emperor.) As
if they cared for Caesar! They hated him. They would like to destroy him,
and free themselves from his control. Yet here they were pretending to
protect Caesar’s empire from the threat of this Jesus who claimed to be a
king! They reaped the punishment of this terrible hypocrisy when the Romans
marched into Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and utterly destroyed the city and
slaughtered its inhabitants.
Pilate could not afford to have the Jews accuse him of disloyalty to
Caesar, and so he weakly submitted to the mob. He now brought Jesus out to a
public area called the Pavement, where such matters were often handled.
Actually, the Passover feast had been held on the previous evening. The
Preparation Day of the Passover means the preparation for the feast that
followed it. “About the sixth hour” was probably 6 a.m. but there are
unresolved problems concerning the methods of reckoning time in the Gospels.
“Behold your King!” Almost certainly, Pilate said this to annoy and provoke
the Jews. He doubtless blamed them for trapping him into condemning Jesus.
The Jews were insistent that Jesus must be crucified. Pilate taunted them
with the question, “You mean you want to crucify your own King?” Then the
Jews stooped very low by saying, “We have no king but Caesar!” Faithless
nation! Refusing your God for a wicked, heathen monarch.
John 19:16-18
Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him
away. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a
Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two
others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center
.
Pilate, not having the courage of his own conviction and fearing the
degradation of his own popularity and position, decided to placate the religious
leaders by turning Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified. Pilate loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God.
The following remarks by J. Vernon McGee in his Thru the Bible
commentary are particularly noteworthy:
We speak so often of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that it
becomes almost trite for the average believer. The crucifixion of Jesus
Christ is one of the most dastardly, infamous points in history. Yet, this
is our redemption. We need to pause here and look at it from various points
of view.
From the standpoint of God, the cross is a propitiation. It is the mercy
seat where God can extend mercy to you and to me. It is the place where full
satisfaction was made, so that a holy, righteous God can reach down and save
sinners. The very throne of God, the place of judgment, is transformed into
the place of mercy where you and I can find mercy instead of the judgment we
deserve. Jesus Christ bore our guilt, and God is satisfied.
From the standpoint of the Lord Jesus, it is a sacrifice. He is the
Savior, and He makes Himself an offering for sin. He is a sweet-smelling
savor to God. It is also an act of obedience for Him. Paul tells us in
Philippians 2:8 that He became obedient to death, even the death of the
cross.
From the standpoint of you and me, believers in Christ Jesus, it was a
substitution. He took my place and He took your place. He was the sinless
One suffering for the sinner. He was the just One suffering for the unjust.
“Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being
dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).
From the standpoint of Satan, it was a triumph and also a defeat. It was
a triumph for Satan to bruise the heel of the woman’s seed as had been
foretold way back in Genesis 3. It was a defeat because the head of Satan is
yet to be crushed: “. . . that through death He might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14).
So they led Jesus Christ away to be crucified, probably the most
excruciatingly painful and ignominious death created by man then or now. John
does not provide a vivid picture of the Crucifixion. He mentions the place, but
gives few details.
Jesus was crucified at the same location at which Abraham brought Isaac (his
son) for an offering to God. He went to Mount Moriah, which is a ridge system
beyond the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is about 741 meters above sea level,
but there is a peak that is 777 meters above sea level where Abraham offered
Isaac and where Jesus was crucified-a place called Golgotha, which in Aramaic
means “place of the Skull.”
The following portion of an article on the “Cross,” by R. Allan Killen,
Th.D., Professor of Contemporary Theology, Reformed, Theological Seminary of
Jackson, Mississippi; and John Rea, Th.D., Theological Lecturer and Editor in
the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary is noteworthy in describing what was
involved in crucifixion:
At Golgotha the soldiers would have flung Jesus to
the ground and stretched His arms upon the crossbar for
size. The executioner would take a square spike about a third of an inch
thick at its head and drive it with a single blow between the carpal or
wrist bones at the heel of the victim’s hand (not through the palm). Usually
it tore through the median nerve. Edward R. Bloomquist, M.D., explains that
the tissue of the palm “cannot bear weight and the victim would drop to the
ground within minutes after being elevated” (p. 48).
He further explains that the feet were nailed (through the second
metatarsal space) in order to give the victim a cruel “step” to support
himself so that he could breathe. Otherwise the sagging body hanging on its
arms went into a titanic spasm which prevented exhalation. The victim would
then quickly suffocate from an inability to use his respiratory muscles. As
the hours wore on the body became soaked with perspiration, thirst became
intense, and pain and shock were tremendous.
Jesus was crucified between two malefactors who also suffered under the
penalty of crucifixion, another fulfillment of prophecy (Isaiah 53:12).
John 19:19-22
Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS
OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then many of the Jews read this title, for
the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to
Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, I am the King of
the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Pilate personally wrote or had someone write a title in the three languages
of the day to be placed on the cross. It was the custom of the day to put the
crime for which the individual was accused in writing and post it above the head
of the crucified. It is notable that Pilate had the crime as “Jesus of Nazareth,
The King of the Jews.” As with all the details, it takes a study of all the
Gospels in order to fully understand exactly what was posted over the head of
Christ. In any case, Pilate posted the truth. Not only that but he had it posted
most conspicuously in every popular language of the day, i.e., Hebrew-the
language of religion, Greek-the language of culture and education and Latin-the
language of law and order. No one then would be able to misunderstand-signifying
that the cross has a message for everyone regardless of one’s station in life.
When the religious leaders saw it, they strongly protested and asked Pilate
to word it differently. They only wanted posted that Jesus had claimed to be the
King of the Jews. Pilate refused saying, “What I have written,
I have written.”
John 19:23, 24
Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made
four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was
without seam, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among
themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be,” that
the Scripture might be fulfilled which says: “They divided My garments among
them, and for My clothing they cast lots.” Therefore the soldiers did these
things.
“When they had crucified Jesus.” None of the
writers of the Gospels describe exactly the death of Jesus Christ. A study of
God’s Word does reveal that Jesus died both spiritually and physically, in that
order, while on the cross.
By “spiritually” it is meant that from the sixth hour until the ninth hour
darkness came over the land (Matthew 27:45) while Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, experienced an inexplicable spiritual separation from God the Father.
This was necessary in that during this time He not only bore the sins of the
world but became the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21) and
had by Holy Decree to experience spiritual death-separation from God (Romans
6:23).
Once He had fully paid the penalty-price for the sins of everyone, He
declared, “It is finished.” (vs. 30; Matthew
27:46) Subsequent to this Christ voluntarily gave up His Spirit, that is, He
allowed His physical body to die. No one killed Him. If He had wanted, He could
have continued His physical body alive throughout eternity. But He willed it to
die-a physical sign to the living of the spiritual reality that took place on
the cross of Calvary.
At such executions, the soldiers were allowed to share the personal
effects of those who died. Here we find them dividing Christ’s garments
among themselves. Apparently there were five pieces altogether. They divided
four, but there was still the tunic, which was without seam and could not be
cut up without making it worthless.
They cast lots for the tunic, and it was handed over to the unnamed
winner. Little did they know that in doing this, they were fulfilling a
remarkable prophecy written a thousand years previously (Ps. 22:18)! These
fulfilled prophecies remind us afresh that this Book is the inspired Word of
God, and that Jesus Christ is indeed the promised Messiah.
(Believer’s
Bible Commentary by William MacDonald)
John 19:25-31
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His
mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother,
“Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!”
And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. After this, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there;
and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His
mouth.
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He
said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His Spirit.
It is uncertain whether there are three or four women at the foot of the
cross in this passage. Bible students are divided on the number. There is
agreement on the fact that His mother was present, but the next one mentioned
could be (1) His mother’s sister with no other identifiable remarks or (2) His
mother’s sister whose name is also Mary and is married to Clopas. Mary Magdalene
and the Apostle John (the apostle who Jesus loved) were also at the foot of
cross.
It is notable that Jesus called His earthly mother, “woman.” This showed no
disrespect, but it is important to note that, as in John 2:4, He did not
refer to her as “mother.” Jesus had ascended, so to speak, to His position as
the Son of God, the Messiah and the prophesied King of Israel. With regards to
His position Mary’s role as mother was now subservient to her role as sinner,
who like everyone else must come to Jesus Christ by faith for the salvation of
her soul.
Nevertheless, as the Son of Man and having compassion for all, He links His
earthly mother up to the Apostle John for her retiring years. While He was
addressing the sins of the world, He would not neglect His earthly mother. As
God, He knew that John would outlive all the other Apostles. His mother will
next be seen praying with the disciples in the Upper Room after His resurrection
(Acts 1:14), but after that she drops out of the picture altogether. Her
position was always privileged by God but should never be venerated as holy by
man. From that point on she resided in the home of John.
At His cry of “thirst,” He is given sour wine (vinegar). This is not to be
confused with the vinegar mixed with gall, which had been offered to Him earlier
(Matthew 27:34). He didn’t drink that because it would have acted as a
pain reliever. He had to bear the sins of the world in full consciousness.
John then records the part of the final words of Christ whereby He declares
that it is finished. What was finished? The foundation act of securing
redemption for the world was finished, which becomes finalized for the
individual when he exercises faith alone in Christ alone for his personal
salvation. Between verse 27 and 28 falls the sixth through the
ninth hour in which Christ paid the penalty-price for the sins of the world.
John 19:32-37
Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who
was crucified with Him. But when they came to Jesus and 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 may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be
fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again another Scripture
says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
It was the practice of the Romans to eventually break the legs of those being
crucified. This would then prevent the person from pushing up with his legs and
enabling the respiratory process, thereby bringing immediate death by
asphyxiation (suffocation). They performed this procedure on the two who were
being crucified along side Christ, but they found it was unnecessary with Him.
He had chosen His own time to physically die. It was not up to man!
But one of the soldiers pierced the side of Christ with a spear. This brought
forth both water and blood from the wound. There appears to be no significance
for the blood and water; although, one may show that blood speaks to the
cleansing from the eternal penalty of sin while water speaks to the cleansing
from the temporal defilement of sin through and by the Word of God.
For certain John states that His testimony is true, which is that these
things were done to fulfill Old Testament prophecy regarding the death of the
Messiah as the true Passover Lamb (Exodus 12:46) and other applicable
scriptures (Psalm 34:20; Zechariah 12:10)-the fulfillment of which will
take place when Jesus Christ comes back in His glory to earth and they (the
world) will look upon Him whom they have pierced and they will greatly mourn.
John 19:38-42
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for
fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and
Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And
Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of
myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and
bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to
bury. 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 there they laid Jesus,
because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.
The Gospel, as defined by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3 & 4,
is composed of three parts. They are (1) Jesus Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, (2) Jesus Christ was buried according to the
Scriptures and (3) Jesus Christ rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures. This commentary has previously and frequently expounded on the
death, both spiritual and physical, of Jesus Christ and how that death was a
substitution-death, which paid the penalty-price of sin required by God for all
of mankind. This is a most crucial aspect of the Gospel message and should be
understood by every believer; although, it is not necessary to comprehend all
its intricacies in order for a person to place his trust in Jesus Christ for his
personal salvation.
The burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is just as important as His
death. Why? Simply because it is final validation that (1) Jesus Christ is who
He said He was, God manifest in the flesh-true Deity, (2) Jesus Christ keeps His
word and therefore anyone may safely place his complete trust in it and (3)
Jesus Christ is indeed the one and only hope for all mankind-if there is to be a
future after this life, it only resides in Jesus Christ.
Now the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned in the closing remarks
of this chapter and just as His life and death fulfilled so many prophecies, so
does His burial. The prophecy is found in Isaiah 53:9:
And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich at [or in]
His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.
This verse has application to the burial of Jesus Christ and, in part, to His
death on the cross. What is most interesting is that the word for “wicked” is in
the plural, and the word for “rich” is in the singular. In other words, He made
His grave with the wicked ones and with the rich one in His death. The “wicked
ones” refer to the thieves on the cross and/or other wicked ones confined to the
burial site, whereas, the “rich one” refers to Joseph of Arimathea (Matthew
27:57).
The very spot that criminals were put to death was where Joseph’s new
tomb was hewn out of a rock! The stony sides of the tomb-the new tomb-“the
clean place,” where Jesus was laid-was part of the malefactor’s hill. His
dead body is “with the rich man and with the wicked” in the hour of His
death! His grave is the property of a rich man; and yet the rocks which form
the partition between His tomb and that of the other Calvary malefactors,
are themselves part of Golgotha.
General Charles George Gordon was a British general who was commissioned
a second lieutenant in 1852, and eventually found himself assigned in
Palestine. One day from is hotel he noticed the features of a “Skull Hill”
and became convinced, despite church traditions to the contrary, that this
was the true location of the crucifixion. His subsequent discovery was based
on the physical features of the area, derisively called “Gordon’s Calvary”
by those who still favor the traditional site. (The “Church of the Holy
Sepulchre” is on the traditional site at another location.)
General Gordon’s discovery of what we now know as the “Garden Tomb” was
in 1883. Anyone who has visited the Garden Tomb recognizes . . . [that]
the site of Golgotha is topologically identifiable as at the peak of the
ridge system between the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion. It is also a very
short walk to the tomb, and the tomb itself seems to fit a number of
detailed specifications from the Gospel texts:
1. It is proximate to Golgotha (Jn 19:41).
2. It was a new tomb hewn in the rock (Mt 27:60; Lk 23:53; Jn 19:41).
3. It was a garden area (Jn 20:41, 42). The enclosed cistern of
250,000 gallons implies a single, very wealthy, owner.
4. It was adjacent to a wine press.
5. It had a rolling stone door (Mt. 27:60; 28:2; Mk 16:3; Lk 24:2).
6. The tomb itself was just to right of a wailing chamber (Mk 16:5).
7. And, it is empty! (Lk 24:6, 12; Jn 20).
(Personal Update-The News Journal of Koinonia House, April 2003,
“The Empty Tomb” by Chuck Missler)
The two notable characters mentioned along with Pilate and Jesus Christ in
this passage are Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a
member of the Jewish ruling council, was introduced to the reader of this gospel
when he came to Jesus by night in chapter 3. He was also seen later as
the one who had urged the Sanhedrin to give Jesus a fair hearing (John 7:50,
51). Not much is known about Joseph of Arimathea except that he was a rich
person (Matthew 27:57) and that he was a secret disciple of Jesus Christ.
Why a “secret disciple?” He had been driven into concealment by the plots formed
against him by the Jews, on account of his defending Jesus in the Sanhedrin
openly (Luke 23:50, 51). Also and although the person’s conversion is not
mentioned in Scripture, this writer believes that Nicodemus was also a “secret
disciple” (resulting from his meeting with Christ as seen in chapter 3)
of Jesus Christ.
In any case while the apostles of Christ fled, these two “secret disciples”
courageously came forward and asked Pilate for the body of Christ in order to
give Him a proper burial.
Because the children of Israel had lived in Egypt, some believe that they
were the ones who perfected the method of embalming that the Egyptians used.
[Because of their belief that the body would rise again, they had a
reverence and a care for the body]
The custom was to use about half the body weight of spices; so we can
guess that the Lord Jesus weighed about two hundred pounds. They would
prepare the body by rubbing it with myrrh and aloes, then wrapping it with
linen strips. That would seal it and keep out the air. They would begin with
a finger, then wrap all the fingers that way, then the hand, the arm, and
the whole body. In other words, they wrapped the body of the Lord Jesus like
a mummy. Now John mentions specifically that they wrapped the body in the
linen cloth using the spices, because this is a very important detail for
him. You remember that on the Resurrection morning, when John saw the linen
lying there and the body not in it, he understood that the Resurrection had
taken place, and he believed.
They had to hurry because of the approaching Passover, and apparently
they didn’t get the embalming process completely finished. This explains why
the women bought more spices and planned to come to care for the body of the
Lord after the feast day.
(Thru the Bible commentary by J. Vernon McGee)
The entire process was a part of God’s determination that the body of Christ
would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. In Jewish
reckoning, any part of a day was counted as a day. So the fact that the Lord was
in the tomb for a part of three days was still a fulfillment of His prediction
in Matthew 12:40.
