PT-4 "Joseph of Arimathea" (Matt. 27:57-60)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/17/2024 9:53 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-4 “Joseph of Arimathea”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:57-60

 

            Message of the verses:  “And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.  This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him.  And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.”

 

            I have been writing about the order that the Jews wanted to happen to those on the cross that is that their legs be broken so that they could not hold themselves up any longer so that they would then die by suffocation.  Pilate, not wanting to offend the Jewish leaders any further gave this order.  Now the soldiers broke the legs of the men on both sides of Jesus and then they came to Jesus, however, the soldiers saw that He was already dead.  So consequently, “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear; and immediately there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).  This fulfilled one more Scripture.  John then goes on to explain the following in verse 36-37 “36  For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, "NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN." 37 And again another Scripture says, "THEYSHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED.’”  Psalm 34:20 is another Scripture that is relevant here:  “He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken.”  MacArthur adds “The Romans would not have known of that psalm and, in any case, would not have fulfilled it purposely.  They fulfilled the prediction because they were divinely directed to do so, whatever their human reasons may have been.”

 

            We will not look at more prophecy that was being fulfilled.  John explains of the prophecy was fulfilled by the spear would, “37 And again another Scripture says, "THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHOM THEY PIERCED,’” (John 19:37) one we have already looked at, but I also want to look at Zechariah 12:10 here:  “"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”  Now it was because the soldiers had already acknowledged that Jesus was dead, he had no human reason to administer the death stroke with the spear.  But he unwittingly did so in fulfillment of God’s Word, and the resulting wound was so deep that Jesus could tell Thomas to place his hand into it as seen in John 20:27.  Precisely as prophesied, no bone in Jesus’ body was broken, and His side was pierced. 

 

            MacArthur writes “In what many Bible students take to be a messianic psalm, David wrote, “Reproach has broken my heart’ (Ps. 69:20).  Some medical experts believe that, under extreme circumstances, it is possible for the human heart literally to burst from emotional strain, causing blood to spill into the pericardium surrounding the heart and mix there with the lymphatic fluid.  If that were the case with Jesus, His death fulfilled yet another prophecy.”

            During this time period in the Roman world, which crucified many, many people the bodies were ordinary thrown into a common grave for criminals, as Isaiah had prophesied the Messiah’s enemies had planned for Him:  “His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.”  MacArthur adds the following:  “the Romans had absolutely no respect for the corpses, which often were thrown into a grave left open to scavenger animals and birds.  Sometimes the bodies were simply cast into a burning garbage dump, such as the one that continually smoldered in the Hinnom Valley (Gehenna) just south of Jerusalem.”

 

            It is possible that by the time that Jesus had died that John had already left Golgotha, and so there were only a few women left there after Jesus’ death.  These women were not able to care for the body by themselves, especially as the day was almost over, and in any case, they had no burial place for Jesus.  In steps God to use Joseph of Arimathea to fulfill yet another prophecy.  We will look at this in detail in the next SD.

 

9/17/2024 10:26 AM