John 19:31-42

³¹Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³²The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. ³³But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. ³⁵The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of His bones will be broken" [Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20], ³⁷and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the One they have pierced" [Zechariah 12:10]. ³⁸Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. ⁴⁰Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. ⁴¹At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Jesus is now dead; and in His death, we have the fulfillment of the last prophecies (Because He died more quickly than expected, though completely in accordance with God’s prescribed will, His bones were not broken, Psalm 34:20; yet, like God was pierced by Israel’s disobedience, as in, “His Spirit was deeply grieved,” Jesus too was pierced, Zechariah 12:10), as well as the final picture of what His death accomplished. The blood that flowed from His pierced side was for our justification, or absolution from guilt; and the water that flowed from His pierced side was for our sanctification, or purification from sins.

Here is the picture of the King’s royal burial. Joseph (a wealthy senator) and Nicodemus, perhaps secret disciples for some time, now come out of the closet and take their stand with the King. They take their stand with a dead corpse, because they realize – fully at His quickening death – that He is the King. He is worthy of a King’s burial. And we take our stand with a dead corpse as well, according to the world. You see, they don’t believe that Jesus conquered the grave. And so He’s dead. They’re looking for His bones all the time. Why? So they can conquer Christianity once and for all. Without the resurrection, we are to be pitied the most of all men. Yet His bones they’ll never find. For He is risen. Now, Jesus is truly dead; and the final witness to this truth is His burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 53:9). But the tomb cannot hold Him for long – soon He will rise again, the eternal Victor over sin, death, and the grave!