35

The Supernatural Burial of Jesus Christ
(Luke 23:50–56)

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 action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 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. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (23:50–56)

The death of Jesus Christ was accompanied with supernatural signs: the darkness during His final three hours on the cross, the tearing of the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, the rock-splitting earthquake, and the resurrection of the dead saints. His resurrection came three days later. While Jesus’ burial is often overlooked, it was as supernatural and divinely wrought as anything else that happened during His incarnation. So important is His burial that all four gospel writers provide details about. The moment Jesus yielded up His spirit and died, He entered alive into the presence of God in heaven, from which He controlled every detail of His own burial.

The divinely preplanned and prophesied features of Christ’s burial provide strong evidence for some essential realities. They demonstrate that there is a divine purpose for history, God’s sovereignty in all things, the authenticity of Scripture, and the veracity of the claims of Christ.

God moves directly in history in two ways. The first is by means of miracles, where He accomplishes His purposes by interrupting or suspending natural laws and processes. Miracles are relatively rare events, especially those performed by humans. Some of the more notable Old Testament miracles are the creation (Gen. 1–2), Enoch’s translation to heaven (Gen. 5:24), the flood (Gen. 6–9), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:24–25), the burning bush (Ex. 3:2–3), the plagues in Egypt (Ex. 7–12), Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea (Ex. 14:21–29) and the Jordan River (Josh. 3:14–17), the provision of manna (Ex. 16:13–15), Balaam’s donkey speaking (Num. 22:28–30; 2 Peter 2:15–16), the destruction of Jericho’s walls (Josh. 6:20), the stopping of the sun and moon (Josh. 10:12–14), Gideon’s fleece (Judg. 6:37–40), Elijah’s raising of the widow’s son (1 Kings 17:17–24), Elijah’s translation to heaven (2 Kings 2:11), Elisha’s raising of the Shunammite woman’s son (2 Kings 4:18–37), the healing of Naaman’s leprosy (2 Kings 5:9–14), the killing of 185,000 Assyrian soldiers by an angel (2 Kings 19:35), the preservation of Daniel’s three friends alive in the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:19–27) and Daniel in the lions’ den (Dan. 6:16–23), and God’s use of a large fish to save Jonah (Jonah 1:15–17; 2:10; Matt. 12:40).

The most significant outpouring of divine miracles took place during the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. The New Testament records more than three dozen miracles that He performed to verify His claim to be God incarnate (John 10:25; for a list of Christ’s miracles, see the chart in The MacArthur Study Bible in the notes to Mark chapter 1). These are only examples of countless miracles not recorded by the gospel writers (John 21:25).

The church’s birth was attended by the miracle of Pentecost, when the visitors to Jerusalem heard the apostles miraculously preach the gospel in their own languages (Acts 2:3–4). The ministry of Peter included the healing of a lame man at the temple gate (Acts 3:1–8), of those touched by his shadow (Acts 5:14–16), of Aeneas in the city of Lydda (Acts 9:32–34), and the raising of Tabitha (Dorcas) from the dead (Acts 9:40–41).

Paul also performed a number of miracles, including blinding Elymas the magician (Acts 13:8–11), healing a crippled man at Lystra (Acts 14:8–10), casting a demon out of a slave girl in Philippi (Acts 16:16–18), healing and casting out demons from those at Ephesus who touched his handkerchiefs and aprons (Acts 19:11–12), raising Eutychus from the dead at Troas (Acts 20:9–10), and surviving the bite of a venomous snake (Acts 28:3) and healing Publius’s father and others (Acts 28:8–9) on Malta. In addition, the book of Acts refers to miracles performed by Stephen (6:8) and Philip (8:6–7, 13).

The second way God operates in history is by means of providence, by which He constantly works in the world without interrupting natural law or suspending natural processes. Providence involves God accomplishing His purposes by taking all the infinite number of attitudes, choices, and acts of free human and spiritual beings and weaving them perfectly into His own purpose. That is a far greater display of divine wisdom and power than the momentary interruption of natural law by a miracle.

God’s providence is evident throughout Scripture. Hannah spoke of it in her prayer recorded in 1 Samuel 2:6–9:

Eliphaz reminded Job that God “frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, so that their hands cannot attain success” (Job 5:12). In Psalm 33:10 the psalmist wrote, “The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples,” while Psalm 76:10 notes that God causes even the wrath of man to work to His praise. The book of Proverbs has much to say about God’s providential control of the affairs of this world: “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (16:9); “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (16:33; cf. Acts 1:26); “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand” (19:21); “Man’s steps are ordained by the Lord, how then can man understand his way?” (20:24); “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes” (21:1). Isaiah wrote, “Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; and give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; gird yourselves, yet be shattered. Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not stand, for God is with us” (Isa. 8:9–10).

God’s providence is seen in His preservation and exaltation of Joseph (Gen. 39:2–3, 23; 45:7–8; 50:20); His hardening of the hearts of Pharaoh (Ex. 14:4), Sihon (Deut. 2:30), and the Canaanite kings (Josh. 11:18–20); His causing of David’s rebellious son Absalom to reject Ahithophel’s counsel in favor of Hushai’s (2 Sam. 17:14); His stirring the heart of the King of Assyria to bring about the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Chron. 5:26); His influencing the decision of Rehoboam, which led to the division of Israel (1 Kings 12:15); His moving of Cyrus to allow the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1; cf. Isa. 44:28–45:5); His placing Esther into a position where she could save her people (Est. 4:14); His moving Caesar Augustus to take a census, ensuring that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–4); His using Paul’s imprisonment for the progress of the gospel (Phil. 1:12); and His using Onesimus’s fleeing from his master to bring about his salvation (Philem. 15–16). Even the killing of the Lord Jesus Christ, the most heinous act of wickedness in history, carried out God’s plan (Acts 2:23; cf. 3:17–18; 4:27–28).

Nowhere in Scripture is God’s providence seen more clearly than in the burial of Jesus, in which the Trinity was active behind the scenes controlling the actions of three groups of people: the neutral soldiers, the loving saints, and the hateful enemies.

THE NEUTRAL SOLDIERS

God’s providence in Christ’s burial is seen first in the actions of the soldiers, which John records in chapter 19 of his gospel. Verse 30 reveals that Jesus “gave up His spirit”—after only six hours on the cross, sooner than a crucified person would normally die. The two thieves were still alive. Therefore “the Jews [the religious leaders of Israel], 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.” In keeping with Deuteronomy 21:22–23, they wanted the bodies of the three men taken down and disposed of before the start of the Sabbath (a “high day” because it was the Sabbath of Passover week) at sundown, lest they defile the celebration. (Ironically, these men may have defiled themselves if they went inside Pilate’s residence or headquarters to speak with him; cf. John 18:28.) Here was hypocrisy at its most pernicious extreme. They were scrupulously careful to avoid any ceremonial defilement, while thinking nothing of murdering the Son of God.

Pilate, who by now was completely intimidated by the religious leaders, gave them permission, “so the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with [Jesus]” (v. 32). This procedure, known as crurifragium, hastened the death of the victim by smashing his legs with an iron mallet. No longer able to use his legs to help raise himself up to breathe, he would die of asphyxiation as soon as the strength in his arms gave out.

Significantly, “when [the soldiers] saw that [Jesus] was already dead, they did not break His legs” (v. 33). They were experts at determining death, since it was part of their job as executioners. As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, one of the soldiers thrust a spear into His side (v. 34), resulting in a flow of blood and water (serous pleural and pericardial fluid), which verified that He was dead. Their testimony, and that of the centurion (Mark 15:44–45), provide irrefutable evidence that Jesus was in fact dead. They also corroborate the apostle John’s eyewitness testimony (v. 35). (For a refutation of false theories of the resurrection, see John MacArthur, John 12–21, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2008], 373–77.)

The soldiers’ decision not to break Jesus’ legs and the piercing of His side were not merely a part of the routine of crucifixion; they were fulfillments of Old Testament prophecy (vv. 36–37; Ps. 34:20; Ex. 12:46; Zech. 12:10).

The actions of the Romans were under divine control. They authenticated the promises of Scripture and validated the claims of Jesus Christ to be the fulfillment of those promises. They also confirmed His death, which in turn affirmed the reality of His resurrection, since He could not rise from the dead unless He had died. The Jewish leaders, Pilate, and the soldiers did what they chose to do, but in the end, the will of God was being done.

THE LOVING SAINTS

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 action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 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. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (23:50–56)

With Jesus confirmed dead, the next step in the divine plan was for the removal of His body from the cross and its burial. For that task the Lord chose a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph certainly risked much by doing what he did, since he was a member of the Council (the Sanhedrin)—the very group that hated Jesus, convicted Him in a sham trial, bullied Pilate into sentencing Him to death, and mocked and taunted Him while He was on the cross. Although he appears in Scripture only in this incident, Joseph is important enough to be mentioned in all four Gospels.

The brief story of Joseph is the story of salvation. It is an unexpected, somewhat shocking testimony of faith in Christ set against the rejection of the nation and the hostility of the rest of the Sanhedrin. He was the lone dissenter, and had not consented to their plan and action to condemn and execute Jesus. Joseph was a man from Arimathea, the location of which is unknown. Some identify it with Ramathaim-zophim, the home of Samuel (1 Sam. 1:1); others with a town near Lydda, a city located on the road between Joppa and Jerusalem. Luke describes it merely as a city of the Jews.

That Joseph is characterized as a good and righteous man who was “waiting for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43) confirms the genuineness of his salvation (the word translated righteous is used of Christ in Luke 23:47; He was righteous by nature, Joseph was righteous by grace). He joins the list of righteous people whom Luke mentions, including Zacharias and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist (1:5), Simeon (2:25), and Anna (2:36–37). According to John 19:38 Joseph was a disciple of Jesus Christ, albeit a secret one, who was afraid to make his faith in Christ known. But while many secret disciples were false disciples, and not true believers (John 12:42–43), he was a true disciple, as his actions demonstrate.

From his perspective Joseph, having gone to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, was finally ready to publicly affirm his faith. Perhaps he feared that if he failed to declare his faith in Christ in this hour of crisis he might not be accepted into the kingdom. The noblest thing he could think of to do to express that faith was to spare Jesus from the ultimate indignity of having His body thrown into the pit with the other crucified victims.

His act required courage, because other members of the Sanhedrin had, as noted above, gone to Pilate asking that the legs of the crucified victims be broken. Joseph must have arrived soon afterward, since the governor had not yet heard whether Jesus was dead, and had to ask the centurion to verify it. It may be that Joseph passed the others on their way out as he was going in to see Pilate. That would naturally raise the question of what he wanted to see the governor about. Perhaps Joseph was confident Pilate would release the Lord’s body to him to ease his own guilty conscience for having executed a man whose innocence he had repeatedly declared.

But the real reason Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus’ body was that he was moved to do so by God to fulfill prophecy. Isaiah prophesied of Jesus that although “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death” (53:9). Joseph was rich (Matt. 27:57), and had a tomb available in which to bury Jesus (Matt. 27:60). His act also fulfilled Christ’s own prediction that “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” (Matt. 12:40). For that prophecy to come to pass, the body of Jesus needed to be buried in a tomb in the earth, not thrown into a pit as crucified victims commonly were. And He had to be in that tomb some part of three days.

After receiving confirmation from the centurion that Jesus was dead, Pilate released His body to Joseph (Mark 15:44–45), who took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth. At this point another follower of Jesus arrived on the scene to help Joseph prepare the body for burial. This was not one of the disciples, but Nicodemus (John 19:39), the prominent Jewish teacher who had had a nighttime interview with Jesus early in His ministry (John 3:1–21). Nicodemus brought a large amount of the spices the Jews customarily used to prepare a body for burial, since unlike the Egyptians, they did not embalm. Together, the two men “took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews” (John 19:40), and laid Him in Joseph’s new tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. It was late afternoon on Friday, the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin at sunset. So He was buried on Friday and raised on Sunday.

But Joseph and Nicodemus were not the only loving saints there. The women who had come with Jesus out of Galilee and had been observers at the cross (Matt. 27:55–56) followed Joseph, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. That the women saw Joseph and Nicodemus place Jesus’ body in the tomb gives the lie to a second skeptical reason for denying the resurrection: that they went to the wrong tomb on Sunday morning (though even if they had, Joseph, Nicodemus, the Roman guard detachment, and the Jewish leaders did know which was the right one). Having seen where Jesus was buried, they returned to their homes and prepared spices and perfumes to finish preparing the Lord’s body for burial. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment (Ex. 20:10), intending to return to the tomb on Sunday morning after the Sabbath was over.

THE HATEFUL ENEMIES

Concerned that the disciples would fake a resurrection by stealing the Lord’s body,

The disciples, of course, had no such plans. They would hardly have stolen Jesus’ body, pretended that He rose from the dead, and then given their lives as martyrs for that lie. Further, they did not expect Him to rise from the dead, and were in hiding because they were afraid that the Jews would come for them next (John 20:19).

Pilate granted their request, and told them, “‘You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.’ And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone” (Matt. 27:65–66). By that act, they falsified yet another skeptical denial of the resurrection, one that they themselves would put forth, that the disciples stole Jesus’ body and faked the resurrection. The cowardly disciples, who had fled in panic when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:50) and were terrified that the Jews would arrest them, would not have been able to wrest the body of the Lord away from a detachment of Roman soldiers. The Jewish leaders’ claim that they did (Matt. 28:11–15) is ludicrous, and actually verifies that the resurrection took place, as William Lane Craig notes:

God providentially works in every situation to accomplish His purpose, and the burial of His Son was no exception. Like the gospel accounts of His life, death, and resurrection, the account of Christ’s burial was “written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).