Up From the Grave He Arose
Dearly beloved, Jesus said, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked him for Jesus’ body after he died. He and his servants took his body down from the tree and buried him in a nearby sepulcher. They only wrapped his body in a linen sheet [Greek: sindon], and laid him in the sepulchre.
Joseph and his servants left after they closed the sepulchre. The women disciples observed that Jesus had not been given a traditional burial, so they left the grave site to gather proper burial wrappings, herbs, and spices necessary to embalm Jesus.
why did Joseph not embalm Jesus dead body? He believed what Jesus had told them; God would raise him from the dead. The others did not.
Shortly after Joseph and his servants left, Nicodemus came to the sepulcher with his servants and performed the traditional burial. They wound Jesus' body in strips of linen cloth [Greek: othonion], known as grave clothes.
They then used myrrh and aloes to make a shellac like substance that they applied to the strips of fine linen cloth. It would harden upon drying forming a hard shell around the body. The scriptures tell us that altogether the materials weighed about a hundred pounds. The face was not wrapped but was covered with a cloth.
All of this was done before sunset on the 14th of Nisan, late Wednesday afternoon. Both Joseph and Nicodemus came in contact with the dead body so they were now ceremonially unclean and could not participate in the Passover.
Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights as he had prophesied. Remember, the Judeans reckoned a day from sunset to sunset, not midnight to midnight as we do.
The vile religious leaders asked Pilate to secure the grave site for three days with guards so that no one could remove the body. Pilate told them to use their Temple guards to secure the sepulchre. They set a watch for three days, and sealed the tomb stamped with the Roman seal, similar to that spoken of in Daniel 6:17.
This meant that the grave was sealed and guards kept watch over it for the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth of Nisan, Thursday through Saturday, preserving the proof that Jesus was indeed a dead man.
The fifteenth was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasted for seven days. The first day was a high sabbath, as was the last day of the feast.
The women could not get in to embalm Jesus’ body during this time so they went to gaze at the sepulcher and mourn Jesus’ death.
After the women left late on Saturday, the weekly Sabbath, “as it was getting dusk”, toward the first of the week, which began at sunset, the scriptures declare:
“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the entrance, and sat upon it.”
No one was going to reseal this tomb! “The angel’s countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers [the guards] did shake [tremble] and became as dead men.” The guards were petrified with fear.
God had raised Jesus out from among all the dead people! Death could not hold its prey. God verified that Jesus was His Son by raising him from the dead. He was the first fruit offering from the dead.
God raised Jesus with a resurrected body, which was no longer subject to death. He believed that God would raise him from the dead as He had promised him. He gained the victory over death not only for himself, but for us, also. For this purpose, he was kept, reserved!
Now, by the grace of God, anyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised him from the dead shall be saved!
Jesus paid the ransom price for Adam's sin; he paid for it with his life. We were redeemed by his work of redemption and forgiven by the riches of His grace which He abounded to us,
We were healed by his stripes.
We were justified in his work of justification.
We are conformed to the image of His Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
We were sanctified by his sanctification.
God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When Christ returns to gather us up to him in the air we will receive eternal life and be changed to have glorious new bodies like his glorious body. Sin and death will no longer reign over us. We will be glorified together with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Up from the grave he arose, and so shall we if death overcomes us before our Lord returns for us!
Dearly beloved, we now stand on ground that our Lord conquered; we stand on resurrection ground. What he conquered, we conquered in him. God made us more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Our standing before God is now in Christ and our Father will freely give us all things with him.
In Christ we are God’s dearly beloved and highly favored children because of his accomplishments.
Rejoice beloved; we are as he is, and when he returns we will not only be with him; we will be like him!
Rejoice forevermore! He is risen indeed! Thank God for His wonderful mercy, grace, and love to do this for us in Christ.