DR 9
December 9
John 19:38 to end. The burial.
What a contrast there is between the circumstances of the Lord's death and those of his burial! Jesus died in a shameful manner; stripped of his garments, and exposed to the insults of the multitude. He was buried in an honorable manner; wrapped in linen, white and clean, and covered with a large quantity of precious spices. He died by the hands of Gentile soldiers; he was buried by two of the most honorable of the Jewish nation. He died in a loathsome spot, Golgotha, the place of a skull; defiled by the bones of malefactors; he was buried in a new tomb, in a rich man's garden, a spot untainted by the breath of corruption.
What was the reason for this difference? When he died, he was an offering for sin; when he was buried, the offering had been accepted. When he died, he was treated according to our deservings; when he was buried, according to his own. The prophet Isaiah foretold that he would be with the rich in his death; and he assigned the reason for this honorable treatment, "Because he had done no violence, neither was deceit found in his mouth." Jesus was executed upon a charge of violence and deceit. (Is. 53.) The Jews said he had stirred up the people against the Roman emperor, and that he had deceived them, by saying that he was a King. On account of these accusations he was sentenced to die. But it is we who have been guilty of violence and deceit. There is not one of us who can truly say, "I have never done any harm—I have never attempted to deceive." God, who knows all men, has said, "Destruction and misery are in their ways. They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." It was for our sins that Jesus was put to death; but it was for his own righteousness that he was honored after death.
In old times the Lord often showed his displeasure against sin by causing the dead bodies of the wicked to be shamefully treated; thus he appointed dogs to lick the blood of wicked Ahab, and to eat the flesh of the more wicked Jezebel. The honorable burial of the Son of God was an open testimony of his Father's favor.
All that was done to Jesus was done to him as a public person. He was the surety for his people. He died, because their sins were imputed to him; they shall never die, because his righteousness is imputed to them. What a glorious exchange! Who would have made such an exchange but the compassionate Son of God! Why should the believer fear to descend into the tomb, since Christ has taken away his guilt! In the prospect of death he may say, in the words of a Christian poet,
"The place where once your body lay,
The place it did perfume;
There will I drop my breathless clay,
And rest within your tomb."
But it is possible that we may never taste even the first death; for the apostle has declared, "We shall not all sleep." There is a chosen number who, like Enoch and Elijah, shall be caught up, while yet living, to meet their Lord in the air.