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38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He 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. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. 41 At 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. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. ~ John 19:38-42
According to John 19:38, after the Lord Jesus had died, Joseph of Arimathea, frightened by the threats of the Jewish religious leaders, requested to be allowed to take the dead body of the Lord Jesus down from His cross and bury Him.
Five percent of the Sanhedrin, two of forty, came to faith in the Lord Jesus due to the fact that Nicodemus also believed. We should never be surprised that many more will not believe as compared to those who will believe. We must keep this in mind and not be discouraged while sharing the Gospel with others.
According to v.39, Joseph was accompanied by Nicodemus, the same Nicodemus who came to have a conversation with the Lord Jesus back in John 3. Like Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus was rich, devout in his faith, and righteous. In addition, he was a member of the forty member Sanhedrin. It is obvious, that now, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are told in v.39, Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about seventy-five pounds which was the amount that would be used to anoint the body of a king or some great, wealthy individual.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus counted the cost by taking the dead body of the Lord Jesus down from the cross. According to Numbers 19:11, it was unlawful for anyone, much less members of the Sanhedrin, to touch a dead body. In doing so, these two men forfeited their positions as Pharisees, all the while losing a huge income. This is what happens in a life which is being defined by God.
These two religious leaders who were afraid to confess Jesus as Lord while He was alive, openly acknowledged that they were now following Him. With boldness, Nicodemus, at great expense to himself, gathers the burial spices. With Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus washed the body of the Lord Jesus and wrapped it in a cloth, interspersed with the spices. They did this so as to prepare the Lord Jesus' dead body for burial. According to Isaiah 53:9, these two are used of the LORD to provide the Lord Jesus a grave with the wicked and the rich in his death. This was yet another fulfillment of prophecy.
As they wrapped the dead body of the Lord Jesus, they sprinkled in the fragrant mixture of myrrh and aloes to minimize the stench of the decaying body. They did not embalm in those days. The Jews did not put any kind of a fluid inside the body in those days. They did not drain the blood. The body of the Lord Jesus was wrapped, and as it was being wrapped, this mixture was applied. Then His head was wrapped separately from His body.
In v.41, we read, “At 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.” The Lord Jesus was buried in a borrowed rich man's tomb. This was due to the hurried nature of getting Him into the tomb before the sun went down and it was the Sabbath. This explains v.42, which reads, “Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” As in our lives, every little detail was orchestrated to accomplish God’s purposes.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809. He did not believe in God until he was in his forties. Personal and national suffering was used of God to draw Lincoln into a personal relationship with Him. In 1862, Lincoln's 11-year-old son, Willie, died. Lincoln turned to a New York preacher, Phineas Gurley, for help. After several long talks with Gurley, Lincoln entered into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. Lincoln confided that he was driven many times to his knees by the overwhelming conviction that he had nowhere else to go.
Similarly, the horrors of the dead and wounded soldiers bothered Lincoln daily. There were fifty hospitals for the wounded in Washington, D.C. The rotunda of the Capitol held 2,000 cots for wounded soldiers. Typically, fifty soldiers a day died in these temporary hospitals. All of this drove Lincoln deeper into the providence of God.
Sin began in the Garden of Eden where mankind entered into an experience he had never been in before: death. In Romans 5:12, Paul writes, "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." Death came into mankind's experience in the Garden of Eden. But here in this garden in Jerusalem was a new tomb where no one had ever lain, and in that new tomb, death was conquered.
Finally, the tomb the Lord Jesus was buried in was near His cross. No one had ever lain in this tomb. This underscores a great principle for us to live by: When we have been to a cross, when in God's wisdom something has broken our pride and undermined our self-sufficiency, when we find ourselves bankrupt, the place of resurrection is just around the corner.
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