Luke 23:43-56

(Luke 23:43-56)

 

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.  And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.  And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.  Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.  And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.  And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things. And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:  (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathæa, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God.  This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.  And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.  And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.  And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.  And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

 

Luke detailed the last scene of Jesus. From the sixth hour, that is, noon (12 o'clock) in the Jewish time, the sun lost its light and darkness fell on the whole earth. It is normal for the sun to start shining most intensely at 12 o'clock in the daytime and reach its peak at 3 PM, which is the ninth hour. For this reason, it was a phenomenon that was difficult to explain naturally and could never happen, as if the sun had lost its light. When Jesus met his end on the cross, a phenomenon occurred that many people would never forget. For three hours, darkness covered the whole earth. At the time of the Exodus, out of the ten plagues there were plagues of darkness. To represent darkness means that you are trapped in darkness.

 

Genesis 1:3-5, 『And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 』

Here, 『Let there be light: and there was light 』, if you look at light, it contains the promise that the true light will come to this world someday while giving light to the world of darkness where God does not exist. Just as the light of matter illuminates the world, so the true light of God comes and shines on the dead spirit to live. Man is a being born out of darkness. However, people think of it as being born in the light.

 

There was God's presence in the darkness surrounding the cross on which Jesus was hanging. And the God who was there was not a God of mercy, mercy, and love, but a God of wrath. God's terrible judgment was poured out on Jesus, the sinner on the tree. Because the wrath of God, who was present in this darkness, was poured out upon Jesus without any mercy, Jesus would have shouted this loudly, as Matthew and Mark wrote: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice," saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 』(Mt 27:46; Mark 15:34).

 

『 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him: 』 Matthew and Mark recorded the names of the women mentioned in verse 49, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee (James and John) (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:41). ). As such, the death of Jesus was a historical fact that was witnessed by so many witnesses that we could never deny. The tomb where the dead are buried is convincing proof that a person has actually died, and is a visible sign that can prove it for a very long time.

 

The fact that Jesus, who died on the cross, was buried in the tomb also has historical significance in this respect. How can you know for sure that Jesus is dead? If all the Witnesses who watched Jesus' death over the years die and then later asks, “Is Jesus really dead?”, there is no way to find a corroborable body or the place where the body was buried. But God solved this problem through a man, whose name was Joseph from Arimathea.

 

Joseph was a member of the Jewish community of Arimathea, one of the members of the Sanhedrin Council, but he did not agree with his determination to kill Jesus. John says that he was a disciple of Jesus, but he hid it for fear of the Jews (Matthew 27:57; John 19:38). He was a good and righteous man who was waiting for the kingdom of God. It was one of those who waited for the Messiah's kingdom, like Simeon or Anna, whom Luke introduced at the beginning. Just as Simeon and Anna recognized Jesus, the Messiah, he believed and followed Jesus as the Messiah. He couldn't say anything because he was afraid at the conference, but after Jesus died, he went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. He received Jesus' body directly from Pilate and wrapped it in clean linen (Matthew 27:59). Then he put the body of Jesus in his own tomb (Matthew 27:60).『 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 』(John 19:41). John said it was a new tomb. Why is this important? The tombs of Jews, especially wealthy people, consisted of a hole in a large rock and a burrow in it to create separate spaces for several bodies. Perhaps it was a family grave where families will be buried in the future.

 

The body was placed in an oyster, covered with the smell of decaying body by applying plenty of spices and perfume, and when the flesh was completely rotten, the bones were collected in the ashes and stored in the jar. The reason why it is important that it is a new tomb that has not yet been buried is because of the fact that there was no possibility of another body in the tomb. If there are multiple bodies in the tomb, it is possible to confuse them with the body of Jesus. This tomb is only Jesus' tomb.

 

Only one body of Jesus was laid in the new tomb. This means that this tomb is the evidence that will prove the death of Jesus for a long time. One day, if this tomb was found empty, it was inevitable that one of the countless corpses, which may be one of them, did not disappear, but that the body of Jesus had disappeared. There is a witness who saw Joseph put Jesus' body in this tomb. Many witnesses came to the place where Jesus was buried.

 

『And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 』. They came to the tomb to prepare spices and perfumes to cover the rotten smell of the corpse. Jesus died around 3pm on Friday, and the Sabbath will begin 3 hours later, 6pm on Friday. On the Sabbath, the Jews were to do nothing, and it was more and more forbidden to go near the body. Therefore, since there was not enough time to apply spices and balms to Jesus' body, it was necessary to check the place clearly where he was asking Jesus to do it after the Sabbath. So, they followed Joseph and followed Jesus' tomb, and they watched the scene and where Jesus was buried. And they kept the Sabbath according to the commandments. Besides these women, there were many witnesses.

 

According to John's account, Nicodemus, another disciple of Jesus, came to Jesus with a mixture of myrrh and aloes (John 19:39). The high priests and the Pharisees asked Pilate to place a guard in front of the tomb, in case the disciples could steal the body and falsely testify that Jesus had risen (Matthew 27:62-66). So, the high priest, the Pharisees, and the guards all went to the tomb, sealed it in a large stone-blocked tomb, and secured the tomb. There were so many people who knew where Jesus was buried.

 

From Luke's account, we can confirm that Jesus truly died and was truly buried. Jesus' death and burial affirmed that it was a historical fact. The Bible affirms that Jesus died and was buried, and Roman historians clearly stated that Jesus was the man executed by Governor Pontius Pilate during the time of Emperor Tiberius.

 

When Jesus calls God, there is the only scene that does not call him Father. It is a scene where the relationship with the father, which he had enjoyed from before eternity, as a sinner, overturning the sins of his people, is torn. And, at the same time as there was an incident, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in the middle. The sanctuary is the place of God's presence, where the ark of the covenant containing the law of God was located, and the people could not go out in front of the holy God, so the high priest representing the people had the veil only one day a year to atone for the sins of the people I was able to enter the Holy of Holies after passing through.

 

On the cross, Jesus shed blood for the sins of many. Through that death, those who repented and were united with Jesus could boldly pass through the veil and come to God. In the Old Testament, many burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings were offered in the temple in order for sinners to be accepted as righteous by God, but in the New Testament, with only one death of Jesus Christ, no more sacrifices were required. The role of the temple is now over. It is the time when Jesus proclaims "It is finished" on the cross.

 

Jesus became a true burnt offering of complete obedience and sacrifice on the cross, a grain offering of devotion and service, a peace offering that brought eternal peace with God, and a sin offering that washed away the sins of many at once and forever. And he was eternally reconciled to God and became a guilt offering to fully compensate for sins.

 

The Passover, outside the temple where many Lambs were offered, when Jesus died, the true Passover Lamb, now we can no longer cry, but with the blood of Jesus Christ, to boldly come to God. Jesus became a true burnt offering of complete obedience and sacrifice on the cross, a grain offering of devotion and service, a peace offering that brought eternal peace with God, and a sin offering that washed away the sins of many at once and forever. And He became a guilt offering to reconcile with God forever and completely compensate for the sins.