32The Death-Conquering Savior  (John 19:31–20:10)

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), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 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. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the 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. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes. (19:31–20:10)

One indisputable certainty of life is that it will someday end. “Man, who is born of woman,” Job lamented, “is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain” (Job 14:1–2). As the wise woman from Tekoa phrased it to King David, “We shall surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again” (2 Sam. 14:14). “What man can live and not see death?” asked the psalmist rhetorically (Ps. 89:48). Just as there is a time to be born, so also there is a time to die (Eccl. 3:2). In Psalm 90 Moses noted the brevity of man’s life span: “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away” (v. 10). Isaiah (Isa.40:6–8), James (James 1:10), and Peter (1 Peter 1:24–25) used the grass that so quickly withers to illustrate the ephemeral nature of human life. James reminded boastful men that they “are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).

Death casts its long shadow (cf. Ps. 23:4) over every aspect of man’s existence. It ends his dreams, mocks his hopes, and fills him with dread. People have sought desperately, but unsuccessfully, over the centuries to evade death. One of the most recent high-tech attempts to cheat death is cryonics. According to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation of Scottsdale, Arizona, one of its leading practitioners, cryonics is “a speculative life support technology that seeks to preserve human life in a state that will be viable and treatable by future medicine” (www.alcor.org; accessed 3 October 2007). The procedure involves using extreme cold to preserve the body (or sometimes just the head and brain). Since the first person was cryopreserved in 1967, more than one hundred people have undergone the procedure (including baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams), and more than a thousand others have made arrangements to do so after they die (www.alcor.org/AboutCryonics/index.html; accessed 3 October 2007).

But no one can permanently cheat death; it will always win in the end. Solomon wrote that “No man has authority … over the day of death” (Eccl. 8:8), while Hebrews 9:27 says that “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” The universality of death stems from the universality of sin. “By a man came death,” Paul wrote, because “in Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:21–22). It was through Adam that “sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12; cf. Ezek. 18:4, 20; Rom. 6:23).

The Bible pictures death as an enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), and as such it is greatly feared; Job 18:14 pictures death metaphorically as the “king of terrors.” “My heart is in anguish within me,” David cried out, “and the terrors of death have fallen upon me” (Ps. 55:4). The author of Hebrews wrote of “those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:15). That fear prompts people to seek relief in materialism (Luke 12:16–20), hedonism (Isa. 22:13; 1 Cor. 15:32), and false religion (Gen. 3:4).

But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ has conquered death. In John 8:51 He declared, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” He comforted Martha, grieving over the loss of her brother Lazarus, with the promise, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (11:25–26). He described Himself as “the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die” (6:50), and affirmed, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (v. 51). Jesus promised the disciples, “Because I live, you will live also” (14:19). Paul reminded Timothy that “our Savior Christ Jesus … abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). The writer of Hebrews insisted that it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that people can be freed from the fear of death: “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14–15). Because Christ has delivered them from death, believers can say triumphantly with Paul, “‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55–57). By dying, the Lord Jesus Christ destroyed death. He has removed its sting, conquered its terror, and turned it into a friend that ushers those who love Him into His presence.

Throughout His life, Jesus performed countless miracles that manifested His divine power (21:25). He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. But nothing more clearly reveals the greatness of His power than His own resurrection. Flowing out of this simple narrative are three manifestations of Christ’s power over death, each of which also fulfill specific prophecies. His power was revealed in His dying, His burial, and His resurrection.

CHRIST’S POWER OVER DEATH WAS MANIFESTED IN HIS DYING

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), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 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. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” (19:31–37)

One of the most unsettling aspects of death is the element of surprise. Death frequently comes suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving words unsaid, plans unfinished, dreams unrealized, and hopes unfulfilled.

That was not the case with Jesus, however. Death could not surprise Him, for He controlled it. In 10:17–18 He declared, “I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” The previous section of John’s gospel closed with Christ voluntary giving up His life as He had said He would. Having accomplished the work of redemption, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” and, after doing so, “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (19:30). Death had tried unsuccessfully to take His life on many occasions (e.g., 5:16–18; 7:1; 8:37, 40, 59; 10:31; 11:53; Matt. 2:16; Luke 4:28–30), but He would not die until the precise moment called for in God’s predetermined plan. His was not the death of a victim; it was the death of a victor.

As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, Jesus died much sooner than was normal for victims of crucifixion. He was crucified at the third hour, or 9:00 A.M. (Mark 15:25) and died at the ninth hour, or 3:00 P.M. (v.34). Thus Jesus was on the cross for only about six hours. Most people who were crucified lingered for two or three days; both the robbers crucified alongside Jesus, for example, were still alive after He died (19:32). Thus when Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus, the governor “wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion [the commander of the execution squad], he questioned him as to whether He was already dead” (Mark 15:44). It was only after “ascertaining this from the centurion, [that] he granted the body to Joseph” (v. 45). The reason the Lord died so soon is that He gave up His life to death when He willed to do so.

In an act of blatant, nauseating hypocrisy, 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), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. It was getting late in the afternoon on the day of preparation (for the Sabbath; i.e., Friday). They were concerned that the bodies of Jesus and the two robbers not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, which began at sundown. The Romans usually left the bodies of crucified individuals to rot, or be eaten by scavenging birds or animals. That particular Sabbath was a high day (because it was the Sabbath of Passover week), heightening the Jewish leaders’ concern, which evidently stemmed from Deuteronomy 21:22–23. To leave the bodies exposed on the crosses would, in their minds, defile the land. Nothing more clearly illustrates the extreme hypocrisy to which their pernicious legalism had driven them. They were zealous to observe the minutiae of the law while at the same time killing the One who both authored and fulfilled it; they were scrupulously concerned that the land not be defiled, but were unconcerned about their own defilement from murdering the Son of God.

Breaking the legs of crucified persons (a procedure known as crurifragium) was done when there was a reason to hasten a crucified person’s death. It involved smashing the victim’s legs with an iron mallet. That gruesome procedure hastened death, partly from the shock and additional blood loss, but more important by bringing on asphyxiation. The victims could no longer use their legs to help raise themselves up to breathe, so when the strength in their arms gave out, they suffocated.

After Pilate granted the Jews’ request, 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 just to make certain He was dead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. The soldiers were experts at determining death; it was part of their job. They had nothing to gain by lying about Jesus’ death. Their testimony, and that of their commander (Mark 15:44–45), is irrefutable proof that Jesus was in fact dead. He did not, as some skeptics who deny the resurrection maintain, merely go into a coma and then revive in the coolness of the tomb. (See the discussion of false theories of the resurrection in chapter 33 of this volume.)

By giving up His life when He did, our Lord assured that the soldiers fulfilled prophecy. According to Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12, no bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken. Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the Passover lamb, and as such could not have any of His bones broken. Beyond that picture is the explicit prophecy of Psalm 34:20, “He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken,” to which John referred when he wrote, For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.”

His dying early also led to His being pierced to be sure He was dead. That unusual act of piercing Jesus’ side was essential to fulfill prophecy; as again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” The apostle quoted Zechariah 12:10, where God declared,

That God said “they will look on Me whom they have pierced” affirms that Jesus was God incarnate. The ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy will be at Christ’s second coming, when the repentant remnant of Israel will mourn over rejecting and killing their King (cf. Rev. 1:7).

The physiological explanation of the blood and water has been much discussed. It may be that the Lord’s heart literally burst from the tremendous mental agony and sorrow associated with His work of bearing sin and the Father’s forsaking of Him. In any case, John’s eyewitness account as one who has seen and testified, and whose testimony is true; and who knows that he is telling the truth, emphasizes that Jesus was unquestionably dead. John’s account is not hearsay, fable, or legend, but rather a sober historical record of actual events. His purpose in relating Jesus’ precise fulfillment of prophecy in His death was so that his readers also may believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing [they] may have life in His name” (20:31). Christ clearly controlled His own death to fulfill Scripture.

CHRIST’S POWER OVER DEATH WAS MANIFESTED IN HIS BURIAL

After these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the 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. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. (19:38–42)

Jesus not only exhibited His divine power over death by controlling the details of His dying, but even more remarkably, He also controlled the circumstances of His burial after He was dead. As was the case with His dying, by doing so Jesus both revealed His deity, and fulfilled biblical prophecy. In Isaiah 53:9 the prophet wrote that though Messiah’s “grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death.” The Romans normally refused to allow those executed for sedition to be buried, leaving them to the vultures and scavengers as the ultimate indignity. The Jews did not refuse burial to anyone, but buried criminals at a separate location outside of Jerusalem.

But even if He escaped being buried with common criminals, how was Jesus to be buried with a rich man? He did not come from a wealthy family, nor could any of the apostles be considered rich men. The answer is that Jesus, “having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18), moved upon the heart of a rich man, Joseph, from Arimathea (the location of Arimathea is unknown; some identify it with Ramathaim-zophim, the birthplace of Samuel [1 Sam. 1:1]). Joseph appears in all four Gospels but only in the accounts of Jesus’ burial. He was rich (Matt. 27:57), a prominent member of the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:43), who had not agreed with its decision to condemn Jesus (Luke 23:51). Joseph was a good and righteous man (Luke 23:50), who was waiting for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43). He was a disciple of Jesus (Matt. 27:57), although a secret one for fear of the Jews. The apostle John usually took a dim view of secret disciples (cf. 12:42–43). However he presented Joseph in a positive light in view of his courageous action in asking Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Joseph had exhibited sinful, cowardly fear of losing his prestige, power, and position while the Lord was alive. But now he exposed himself to even greater danger than he had tried to avoid by approaching Pilate (who by now had had his fill of the Jewish leaders) and asking for the body of a man who had been executed as a rival king to the emperor. From beyond the grave, however, the Lord moved in Joseph’s heart to expedite His burial. After first making sure Jesus was really dead (Mark 15:44–45), Pilate granted permission for Joseph to take His body.

Having received the governor’s approval, Joseph immediately came and took away Christ’s body and hurriedly began preparing it for burial. In this Joseph was assisted by Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin who, as John’s footnote indicates, had first come to Christ by night (3:1–21). Though they kept their allegiance to Him secret while Jesus was alive, Joseph and Nicodemus courageously braved the wrath of the rest of the Sanhedrin to bury His body. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight (about sixty-five pounds by modern standards). That amount of spices would have been used to anoint the body of a king, or a wealthy, prominent person. Myrrh was a fragrant, gummy resin, which in powdered form was often mixed with aloes, an aromatic powder made from sandalwood. Joseph and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Unlike the Egyptians, the Jews did not embalm their dead; they used fragrant spices to stifle the smell of putrefaction for as long as possible. The spices were probably sprinkled along the entire length of the strips of cloth that were wrapped around the Lord’s body. More spices were then packed around and under His body once it was placed in the tomb. It should be noted that neither Joseph or Nicodemus or the women (Luke 23:55–24:1) were expecting Jesus to rise from the dead. If they had believed His repeated predictions that He would do so (2:19; Matt. 16:21; 17:23; 20:19; Luke 24:6–7), they would not have bothered to prepare His body so thoroughly for burial.

Only John relates that 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. Matthew reveals that the tomb was Joseph’s own tomb (Matt. 27:60). With the Sabbath—when all work would have to cease—nearly upon them, the nearness of the tomb was providential. Therefore because … the Jewish day of preparation (Friday) was almost over, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. As was commonly done, Joseph’s tomb had been carved out of rock, and was sealed by rolling a large stone in front of the entrance (Matt. 27:60).

Joseph and Nicodemus were motivated by the need to finish their work before the Sabbath began. But there was a more significant reason that the Lord needed to be buried before sundown. In Matthew 12:40 Jesus had predicted, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The Jews counted any part of a day as constituting a day (cf. 1 Kings 12:5 with v. 12; Est. 4:16 with 5:1). Jesus needed to be buried while it was still Friday, so He could be in the tomb for three days (part of Friday afternoon, Saturday, and part of Sunday morning). In His burial, as well as His death, Jesus orchestrated all the details to accomplish God’s already revealed purpose.

CHRIST’S POWER OVER DEATH WAS MANIFESTED IN HIS RESURRECTION

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes. (20:1–10)

The ultimate demonstration of Christ’s power over death, and hence proof of His deity, was His resurrection. It, too, was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Speaking prophetically of the Messiah, David wrote, “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay” (Ps. 16:10; cf. Acts 2:25–28; 13:35).

The first day of the week, Sunday, would forever after be the day believers set aside to commemorate their Lord’s marvelous resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2). It eventually became known as the Lord’s Day (Rev. 1:10), and on that first Lord’s Day morning, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb. The Synoptic Gospels record various women who came to the tomb that morning (Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1, 10). John mentions only Mary, and says that she came while it was still dark, in contrast to the others who arrived after sunrise (Mark 16:2). The women evidently set out together, but Mary went on ahead of the others and arrived at the tomb first. Finding the stone already taken away from the tomb, she feared the worst. Undoubtedly assuming that grave robbers had broken into the tomb and stolen the Lord’s body, she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” Thus Mary, running to find Peter and John, was not present at the tomb when the angels appeared to the others and announced Christ’s resurrection (Matt. 28:5–7; Mark 16:5–7; Luke 24:4–7). She then returned alone to the tomb, saw the angels, and met the risen Lord (see the exposition of 20:11–18 in chapter 33 of this volume).

Though they were initially skeptical of Mary’s and the other women’s reports of the empty tomb (Luke 24:11), eventually Peter and the other disciple (John, who characteristically did not name himself) went … to the tomb. The two started out running together, but the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. John halted outside, and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. Fear, either of the unknown, or that something terrible had happened to the Lord’s body, as Mary feared, prevented him from entering. Simon Peter, however, had no such fears. Impetuous as always, he came, following John, and promptly entered the tomb.

What he saw was startling. Jesus’ body was nowhere to be seen, but the linen wrappings in which He had been buried were lying there. Unlike Lazarus, who needed help getting out of his grave clothes after his resurrection (11:44), Jesus’ glorified resurrection body simply passed through the linen wrappings, as it would soon pass through a wall to enter a locked room (20:19, 26). Even the face-cloth which had been on His head, was not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. This seemingly minor detail shows that the tomb was left in a neat, orderly condition. In contrast, grave robbers would hardly have taken time to roll up the facecloth, and in their haste they would have scattered the grave clothes all over the tomb. More likely still, they would not have removed them at all, since it would have been easier to transport the body if it were still wrapped. Nor would thieves likely have left the wrappings, containing expensive spices, behind. The presence of the grave clothes also shows that the story the Jewish leaders concocted, that the disciples stole Christ’s body (Matt. 28:11–15), is false. If they had stolen the body, why would the disciples dishonor it by tearing off the grave clothes and spices that covered it?

John then also entered the tomb, and he saw and believed that Jesus had indeed risen. The empty tomb, the undisturbed grave clothes, and the neatly rolled up facecloth were enough for John—even though he and Peter did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead (cf. Ps. 16:10). Whether Peter also believed at this time is not clear, though Luke 24:12 may suggest that he did not (the phrase “marveling at what had happened” [NASB] could also be translated, “wondering what had happened”). Whether in belief or bewilderment, the disciples went away again to their own homes.

The stage was set for the appearances of the resurrected Lord, which would erase all doubt whether resurrection had happened. It is to the first of those appearances, to Mary Magdalene, that John’s narrative now turns.