The Gospel of John 19:31-42
John 19:31-42 · Vern Peterman · Sep 29, 2013
Gospel of John (2013), No. 37
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926435733

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we're in John 19, 31 through 42. Jesus, having been crucified, accomplished all the things he and the Father intended. I think that's something to keep in mind. This wasn't some sort of a tragic accident, right? This was not a tragic accident. It was, in fact, something that was planned, anticipated before God said, let there be light. One of those being that Christ paid for the sins of the whole world by his death on the cross. And I said one of those because there was actually a number of different things that were accomplished on the cross. And people frequently lose sight of that, that the cross had multiple purposes. So it was a very, not a tragic accident, but a very purposeful event, very intentional on God's part.

Okay, let's read John 19.31. It says, Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath was a high day, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away.

So, what you have here is, and this is probably the last time we'll look at it, this is the Jewish annual calendar that you see in circular form here. Their months are different from ours. We have this leap year phenomenon that we use to adjust things. They would have, from time to time, an extra month that they would throw in. And so that's how they would have it. And so there's a constant shifting between the Jewish calendar and our what's called a Gregorian calendar.

And so what you see there is Passover and then unleavened bread. And the way it worked out, and this is probably, I would say very likely 33 AD, the way it worked out was sundown on what we would call Thursday, which is crazy we use a pagan name right sundown on on Thursday would have been Passover and then Jesus would have celebrated the Passover then with his disciples on the evening after sundown on Thursday and then Passover would technically continue into the next day and then it would be at sundown the next day, you would start a Sabbath and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So Sabbath and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. So because it was a Sabbath and because it was a Feast of Unleavened Bread, that's why the Jews would want the legs to be broken, therefore making the people hanging on the cross, anyone hanging on the cross, die of suffocation. They could no longer press up with the feet to get a breath and so would die in a few minutes of suffocation. So the law of Moses actually required that the body be taken down and buried before sundown every day. So that's what Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23 says.

Though the Romans typically didn't do that. Why didn't the Romans just comply with that every day? What was the reason that the Romans didn't comply with it every day? They were more interested in getting the full exactly from Jesus than the exact law. Yes, and remember we said that a crucifixion was like a billboard, don't mess with Rome, right? And so they wanted the maximum effect by leaving the bodies hanging there. And so, technically by Jewish law, every day they should have taken the bodies down. The Romans, however, were not terribly interested in the Jews' laws, except that this time of the Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, a huge number of Jews, Jewish fervor would run very high, and so it was a time when they didn't want things to get out of hand.

Yeah, Roy? Well, I'm sorry to go back just a minute. Yeah. Do you know on the Sabbath, you just mentioned Thursday? Pardon? You mentioned Thursday being, you know, that evening being the beginning of the Sabbath. Of the Passover. Of the Passover. Passover, yeah. And then that puts you into Friday, which you said was, did I hear you right? Is that a Sabbath? Friday at sundown would begin the Sabbath. So you had Passover would begin at sundown on Thursday and then Sabbath would begin sundown Friday. Right.

And so the third day would be the Sunday, our Sunday. Yeah, the Jewish way of counting a day is any part of a day is counted as a whole. So Jesus would have been dead on for a part of a day on what we would call Friday and then all day Saturday and then for part of Sunday. The reason I ask is he rose again on the third day. Yes. Are we counting that from the Passover meal? No. No. Are we counting it from? Counting it from the time that he died which is Friday afternoon at three o'clock.

So that's part of a day, right? So you got Friday afternoon until sundown is part of a day. And then from Friday afternoon at sundown until Saturday afternoon at sundown is a whole day. And then from Saturday afternoon at sundown until the time he's resurrected early on Sunday morning would be the third day.

And the Jews count a part of a day by their reckoning that part of a day is a whole day. So that's why the third day Yeah, no, that's fine and and that's if you if you look at I mean there's some people that push it into a Thursday crucifixion and even a Wednesday crucifixion by Trying to get everything whole but that's not how the Jews counted it the Jews counted a part of a day as They just call it a whole day. And so that's why we say on the third day Because of the way the Jews count a partial day It's a cultural thing, right? Okay, so, for the bodies to be left to hang on a Sabbath during the Passover Feast of Unleavened Bread was more than the Jews could bear, so the Romans complied with the requirements of the Law of Moses just before the Sabbath in the Feast of Unleavened Bread in order to keep peace with the Jews.

You can imagine, here is Jerusalem that ordinarily would have its residents. And then the population during these times of the feast would swell to several times Some estimate something like five times as many people in Jerusalem Jews That then you would ordinarily have and pilot by the way didn't live around Jerusalem he came there from Caesarea and on the coast, which was a Roman military establishment. And so he came from there for this event, just to kind of keep on top of things, bringing a few thousand soldiers with him, because it was a time when there might be some Jewish uprising and people get out of hand. So that was one reason, you know, he was there just particularly to keep on top of things, bringing extra soldiers, but there were a huge number of Jews and he just, he just didn't want to get things out of hand.

So that the Romans ordinarily just didn't care about this silly little Jewish law about not having the, you know, bodies hanging on the cross. Except this time, right at the time when you got lots of Jews swelling in Jerusalem and Jewish fervor is at a peak, He just didn't want to get things out of hand, so he complied then.

Deuteronomy 21, 22, and 23 reads like this, if a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day, for he was hanged as a cursed of God, so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance." So, for one thing that was the custom of the Jews, if somebody's hung up, and by the way, they wouldn't kill them by crucifixion, what you see here in Deuteronomy, they would kill them and sometimes hang them up after the death. And that's what it's referring to. But the Jews read this as the crucifixion that the Romans did. That's hanging them on a tree, so we need to get them off. Yes?

Isn't that one of the problems that Paul had as far as Jesus was concerned? Because he felt that he was cursed by God. Let's take a little side trip for a minute. What would be some of the reasons that Paul would be so violently against these Christians? Here's one. You're worshiping this guy that was hung on a tree. He was cursed of God, right? And so that's part one. Why else would Paul be violently against the Christians? Yeah, just vile. To him that was beyond objectionable. That was just blasphemous. And why else?

We said earlier that he was a Pharisee, or somebody said that he was a Pharisee, but he wouldn't believe as the Pharisees did. And didn't you say that they were looking for unsuffering inside? Yeah, Messiah ben Joseph, who would be the suffering Messiah, and Messiah ben David, who would be the reigning Messiah. But the Jews did not see Messiah ben David even as deity. And so, you're right, the claim to deity would infuriate them. That would be looked upon as blasphemous. The other thing is, thinking of Messiah ben David, How is Christ going to come when He comes in His second coming? He's going to come in the clouds, right? Is that how Jesus came?

They would say, hey, we know where you're from, and that's not coming from the clouds, so what's the deal here? Well, yes, certainly that, but very few knew of that either. Because think of it, most people are thinking this guy is from Nazareth. We know where he's from, you know. He didn't come in the clouds. This is a farce. That would be their thinking. Yeah? But the wise men knew from the scriptures that they came to look in Bethlehem. Yes. But the Pharisees didn't want to acknowledge that. No. They just said he was from Galilee.

Yeah, you think of it, here's Jesus, this kind of shoot-from-the-hip rabbi, because he didn't come through the usual rabbinical channels, right? Like Paul could say, I was trained by Gamaliel, right? Who was Jesus trained by? Jesus could say, I'm trained by God, and they would think, oh yeah, right. Yeah. That's right. They're looking for a Messiah. This guy's from Nazareth. This guy doesn't fit. Right. So now back to our let's get the top of page two on your handout here. Now, this verse is the last of about 60 verses where the words, the Jews, show up. The Jews now don't matter. Why is it that the Jews don't matter anymore after this point?

Yeah? They aren't worried about the rioting anymore because they got their way? Yeah, basically, hey look, we got this guy killed and we're not particularly happy with the way Pilate put this sign over. his head king of the Jews, but in the end, we're alright with it. We're okay. And we're satisfied and mission accomplished. And once Jesus is resurrected, that's not something that they're particularly concerned about. And they weren't expecting it either.

Now, so the legs of the ones being crucified were broken to hasten death as an accommodation to the Jews. This was called churifragrium. So once the legs were broken, the person on the cross could not push up on the nail through the feet, so they suffocated shortly thereafter.

So John 19, 32-34 reads, So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with him. But coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. So the two on either side, including the one that Jesus said today, you'll be with me in paradise, right? They had their legs broken. The Romans would come along with an iron club and bang and hit the legs hard, which they didn't do with Jesus. And Jesus was already dead. Why was that?

He had actually voluntarily given up his spirit. Jesus did not die from natural causes. He didn't die from natural causes. He voluntarily gave up his spirit. And why would he do that? Why wouldn't he just kind of let this have its way? His words were that he was committing a spirit to the Father. Yeah. It certainly was. Yeah. Yeah. His life was not taken. His life was not taken, it was given. His life was not taken, it was given. Sam?

I was also going to say, I think since he was 100% human, as well as divinity, his body was at the point of total collapse anyway. I mean, and he knew that he had to die on Friday, that he would linger on Saturday. I mean, this was all part of what he knew had to happen at his hour. So he was just... He says when everything was accomplished, everything had been accomplished, there's no reason to hang around. If he did continue on, then his legs would have been broken too. The prophecy is that not a bone would be broken, so giving up his life voluntarily, having accomplished everything that was accomplished, also fulfilled prophecy in that his legs were not broken. Yes? The ultimate plan?

I want to ask, is this the centurion that also said that surely this must be the son of God? Yeah, he said, we have crucified an innocent man, and he says, certainly this must be the son of God. So it's very interesting, the two people that we know that seem to have had spiritual realizations that day were the centurion and one of the thieves. Those are the two people that had spiritual realizations that day. And obviously the thief on the cross would be in paradise that day. Breaking his legs was the ticket to heaven.

For the centurion, it seems like he recognized what was going on. Yes? Don't you think that centurions probably discuss things among themselves? I mean, and there was that one centurion, that Jesus, he was his son. I doubt that this guy would not have heard about that. Yeah. In an elective on the Book of Acts, I went through and did a kind of a survey of the centurions. Every single centurion in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts, that's the only place they show up, Every single one, without exception, is written of in a positive light. Every single one of them is written of in a positive light.

And including this one, who was in charge of Jesus' crucifixion. And going all the way back into the centurion that met Jesus at the entrance to Capernaum, and said, you know, you can heal. And you don't need to come to my place, because realizing it would be a violation for Jesus to come to his place. But you can heal at a distance. And Jesus expressed marvel at his faith. So, amazing.

Okay, let's take a look here. So John 19, 35-37, And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the scripture, not a bone of him shall be broken. And again, another scripture says that they shall look on him whom they pierced. Let's take a look first at verse 35. And he who has seen, who's that? This is John. John in the Gospel of John doesn't refer to himself. except with terms like this, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the one who was seen.

So this is John's personal testimony, and by the way, John is inclined to, when he writes something historically, he's inclined to certify it in a legal form. And so, for example, John 21-24, there's a similar kind of statement. I, John, have seen this and seen these things. First John 1, 1-4, John writes what we have seen, what we have heard, what we have touched. We write about these things. And then Revelation 1, 1-8 is written in the form of a legal certification. I certify that this is true in the form of ancient time.

So John writes repeatedly with this kind of statement. It helps us form what kind of thing was John writing. Was he making stuff up? Was he just writing a story? Was he coming up with a myth? We don't get that impression at all from what John writes, and the way that he writes, and the way he repeatedly writes in the Gospel of John, 1 John, and the Book of Revelation.

Now, the unbroken legs here draw from both Old Testament prophecy and practice. So, Psalm 34, 19-20, not a bone of him should be broken, speaks of the Lord's care of the righteous, but John makes a specific application to Jesus in that his bones were not broken as were those either side of him. The bones of the Passover lamb were not to be broken. Isn't that interesting? That you were not to break the bones of the Passover lamb. That's why you'd have a full leg piece and not cut up in sections like we do. Not broken either.

So Exodus 12 43 and 46 numbers 9 9 through 12 Specify do not break the bones of the Passover lamb Jesus was the Lamb of God. This is from John chapter 1 twice twice John the Baptist says behold the Lamb of God and John 1 29 36 and the Passover lamb is That title is put upon Jesus in first Corinthians 5 7 His legs were not broken. Okay, like the Passover lamb and as the Passover lamb And then the other part of that is they shall look on him whom they have pierced this is from Zechariah 12 10 by the way, Zechariah 12 13 and 14 and is phenomenal prophecy about Christ's first and second coming. Phenomenal prophecy. I recommend just sitting down sometime, read Zechariah 12, 13, and 14. Highly recommend it.

But, Zechariah 12.10 says, They shall look on him whom they have pierced. And here's a very interesting thing, that it is referenced as a fulfillment of prophecy here, And it's also referenced as a fulfillment of prophecy in Revelation at the Second Coming. It's very interesting. The fulfillment here is the one who is pierced. Pierced rather than having legs broken.

So it's the pierced part of that Zechariah 12.10 that's referred to here. It's the they shall look on him that is the fulfillment in Revelation. So isn't it interesting, right in the middle of the verse, you've got it split in terms of its fulfillment. And that's not the only place that happens, by the way. There are other places.

Yes? When you mentioned the Lamb of God, it just occurred to me that He's not mine, He's God's. Yes. And, you know, if it was my lamb, I would have to put my hand on it. But here is God giving me His own Son in the place of something I can't do. He put the sin on me. This is God's lamb. It's not something, if it was something we do, then it's all about Jewish law and go through this ritual and all that. But God's saying, no, I'm putting my lamb there on the cross. And just like the Passover lamb, the legs were unbroken. It was for me that He was put up there. It was for my sins that He was put up there. But I didn't do it. I didn't do it. God did it and He did it intentionally.

John 3.16 says God loved and He gave.

But then the rest, Galatians 2.20, Ephesians 5.2 and 25, God is not in those, the one who loved and gave, but Christ himself. Christ himself loved and gave himself. And loved and gave and loved and gave.

And by the way, that's agape love. That's the agape love. It's a selfless, unconditional love. It's not because, oh, those people are so sweet, I think I'll die for them. It is instead we who are undeserving entirely and can never have a chance of repaying it. It's for us. It is a completely unconditional selfless love. Yes.

I think along with that, it's kind of interesting to see the number of times in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but particularly in Daniel, it talks about not done by human hands. So, God's plan will be carried out by God. And the human beings don't really have to be involved. I mean, when you made an altar, you made it with rocks that weren't God does it. All we do is believe. That's our place. God says, that's great, I'll take it from here, right? It's God's work, not ours. It's His doing.

Okay, let's take a look here, so that they shall look on Him whom they have pierced, from Zechariah 12.10.

This has fulfillment in John 19.37 as to the piercing, and Revelation 7, excuse me, 1.7, at Christ's second coming. They shall look upon Him. The spear would have been the Roman pilum, and it's a Latin term. The separation of blood and water confirmed that Jesus was dead.

Let's ask this question, and I think it may be a matter of speculation, but we can ask it as long as we keep it at that. Was the soldier doing this just to make sure that Jesus was dead, or was the soldier doing it out of just some, you know, anger, evil, You know, hey, I can poke him. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah, because the typical thing would have been that You know, someone would linger on, except for the breaking of the legs, sometimes for days. It would take that long for someone to finally die of suffocation and exhaustion. Crucifixion typically didn't have that much loss of blood, so you wouldn't bleed out. So it would be a suffocation death eventually by exhaustion. Think of them screaming on the cross, too. Yeah, yeah, excruciating, but that's the only way you're going to breathe, right?

So let's read John 19, 38 through 42. After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away his body.

Nicodemus, who had first come to him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Let's take a look at the slides here. This would be the Friday crucifixion and burial, according to traditional timing, and I think that's the correct one. Here is the map of Jerusalem, and the traditional Golgotha location I think is the correct one, and most likely to be. This is where it would be today, where you've got all kinds of things built up around it now. and the land recontoured. This is on the back of the handout from last week, if you'd like to get a copy. This would be the temple area, and this would be the Hasmonean palace where Pilate interrogated and sentenced Jesus.

And then here would be the place of crucifixion. It would be in the middle of a quarry. And it would be in the middle of it and on a rise because the rock would be soft. And then over here would be a location nearby where there would be the tomb at the edge of the quarry. And then, let's see, this would be an artist rendering of what that would look like. Then the burial would go something like this.

Now, let's mention one thing. hundred pounds weight of cloth and aloes and the spices, the myrrh, that was mind-bogglingly large. That amount of myrrh would have been something that you would have for royalty. So Joseph and Nicodemus brought together basically a king's wrapping for Jesus here in an unopened tomb. One other thing, and that is that the custom was that you would bury someone before the day was out, that you would then place them in a tomb for a year, go back a year later, and then take the bones that remain with the soft tissue gone, and put those in an ossuary box. And those are the boxes we've shown pictures of the James ossuary, James, Jesus' half-brother, Caiaphas ossuary. And we actually recently have found the ossuary box for the granddaughter of Caiaphas. So, interesting. Yeah, Roy?

What was the purpose then of the 100 pounds of spices? First of all, it was very expensive. And so, you know, some spices, yeah, but having a total of cloth, aloe, and these huge amount of spices, in the end, it was not necessary because the flesh is still going to be gone. It's not going to change anything, but it would just be... No, and it would be an amount of myrrh that people ordinarily simply could not afford. It was an amount of myrrh fit for a king. Just astounding in that. And so I think John noted that, you know, this is a hundred pounds weight, and it's like, whoa, this is mind-boggling.

So he got a king's burial, yes. Do you think that Joseph and Nicodemus may have been the representatives from the Sanhedrin for the burial of Jesus? They would have sent somebody to supervise. Actually, Joseph and Nicodemus were secret. supporters, but they were from the Sanhedrin, also called the Council. Yes? I'm saying, do you think that maybe they could have been, you know, they volunteered for this job? Oh, I don't think they volunteered for it other than secretly. Do you think the Jews would want somebody there to make sure that...

Nah, nah. They don't care, no. Because ordinarily what they do is just take the bodies and throw them in a pit. And that was all they cared. So this would have been the burial. Here would be another depiction with the women who were looking on. Now they had a stone, and in this particular case it was a large stone. They had a stone over the grave to keep predators out and that sort of thing so they wouldn't have the body being torn apart, carried off, that kind of thing. So that's the reason for the stone. And in the case of Jesus being put in the tomb of a rich man, they had a large stone there, and it was a newly hewn tomb, possibly on the edge of that quarry that we saw there.

Now here are some of the places. Here's Jerusalem, where this is taking place. Arimathea, is this place halfway over to the coast. That's where Joseph was from. So Joseph of Arimathea, that's the location. And then it also mentions in the account Mary Magdalene. Magdalene is not her last name. She's from Magdala, which is a town on the western side of the Sea of Galilee. And here is Magdala looking down. It has the Sea of Galilee off in the top part there. So Magdala is this town right on the edge, and then there's Mount Arbol right here, right up above it, where this shot is being taken.

And then here is an old photograph, colorized, of Arimathea. I tend to favor a lot of the old photographs because so many things have gotten built up and too much modern stuff put on top of it. I tend to favor those. But anyway, this is Arimathea, some ancient relics and buildings and things of that sort in there.

So they took the body of Jesus and bounded in linen wrappings with the spices as the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, in the garden a new tomb which no one had been laid. So this was brand new, probably just it had been previously purchased by Joseph of Arimathea. He would not be concerned about, well I'm going to fill this up with other people or something, because of their custom of taking the bones a year later out, so a tomb would be available for generations once you had the tomb given that custom. For those who believed in the Messiah, and most Jews did, it was especially desirable to have the ossuary placed at the Mount of Olives, because then when the Messiah came, his feet would touch the Mount of Olives, and then he would resurrect the bodies, and then you got front row seats.

So, anyway, that's the picture. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation since the tomb was nearby they laid Jesus there Okay, now let's look at the top of page 3 the gospel of Mark adds some details I think certainly all the Gospels add some detail, but in this particular event, let's read mark 15 42 through 47 When evening had already come because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, and he gathered up courage and went before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate wondered if he was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether he was already dead. So this was very likely the same centurion who had said, we crucified an innocent man and certainly this must be the Son of God. So likely that same one. He questioned him as to whether he was already dead, and ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb, which had been hewn out in the rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were looking on to see where he was laid. Now, this account doesn't mention Nicodemus, because Nicodemus, though mentioned several times, is only mentioned in the Gospel of John, not in the others. So Nicodemus' cooperation with and assistance with this is not brought up. point out here is Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were looking on to see where he was laid and also not from here but from elsewhere also Salome so three women so that's why that picture showing the three women looking on is accurate there. So Joseph of Arimathea gets courage So then Pilate grants permission there.

So Matthew 27.57 adds that Joseph of Arimathea was wealthy, that he was a disciple of Jesus and was waiting for the kingdom of God. The council was the Sanhedrin and Joseph of Arimathea was prominent among them. So while Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in all four Gospels, only John also mentions Nicodemus' involvement in the burial. Jesus' body was prepared and buried in traditional Jewish fashion, with one exception, adding to the indication that Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were well off financially. A hundred pounds weight of myrrh and aloes would have been more myrrh than most Jewish people could afford, an amount, an expense, an expense for a king. So here he was, crucified, a criminal, low life, and then buried like a king. Isn't that amazing? What a phenomenal thing. And he would be a king, right? Still. Still.

So Mary Magdalene from Magdala, Mary the mother of James the last, and Joseph and Salome watch where Jesus' body had been laid. Among the most common names in Israel in that day is Mary, so you find lots of Marys. And among the more common names was James, actually Yaakov. I don't know, we did some strange anglicizing, but Yaakov, Jacob, is actually the name.

Let's take a look at Colossians 2, 8 through 14, which mentions these events, only talks about what they mean, not just what happened. So at the bottom of page 3, For in him, Christ, all the fullness of deity, dwells in bodily form, and in him you have been made complete. He is the head over all rule and authority, and in him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt, consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."

There was a handwritten debt note, as a custom of the time, And when the debt was paid, you would take the debt note and cross out the debt note, but not until it was paid. So this fits very well with what Jesus says in the Gospel of John, where he says it's all paid. He said there, it is finished in most of our translations, but it was an accounting term, one word. It's all paid. And so the debt note is cancelled.

Yes. It's a wonderful expansion of Romans 5a. Romans 5a? Well, he died for us while we were yet sinners. Yes. Here it says that his death paid a big price. Yeah, right. Christ paid the price while we were yet sinners. It wasn't because, boy those people are awful sweet, I think I'll do something nice for them. It is a matter of, those people are not awful sweet. As a matter of fact, I will die on the cross because they're not. And for them I will die. There's no reason based on the people's behavior or accomplishments to have done so. It's purely out of love.

The thing we see, and I've got bolded here in verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism, baptism being an immersion that completely changes, that radically changes a person from before. So we were baptized into Christ, buried with Him as He died and was buried. We were buried with Him. So what we read about here historically, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus just thought they were burying Jesus. But we were there with Him. The tomb was crowded. The tomb was crowded, spiritually speaking. We were there as well. Any other thoughts, comments?

He is not obligated at all, is he? He's not obligated at all. God did not do any of this out of obligation. We didn't have him over a barrel. God is not compelled to do this, but He's motivated out of His love and His grace. Yes? I was noticing in verse 14 at the bottom there, is it talking about the Mosaic Law? And says quite plainly that the law is hostile to us. Yes. Even as Christians we so often want to do something for God. Yes. Yes. Yeah, I want to do something. Yep. Not going to work.

Having forgiven, given all our transgressions, having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which is the law. Decrees against us. That word for decrees is used elsewhere in the New Testament for the law. You're correct.

The law is holy and righteous and good, but it's not our friend. It's a ministry of condemnation. It's a ministry of death. I was looking at a commentary just this last week. It says, boy, the Ten Commandments, those are still eternally in effect. Boy, I hope not. It says here that it got nailed. The law got nailed. What's that? Yeah, taken away.

And that's why 2 Corinthians 3 says that those who go back to the law and go reading it, thinking that it has continuing effect, have a veil over their eyes. And then it moves the veil to a veil over their heart. A veil over their heart. But we all with unveiled face. Why no veil? Because we're not under the law.

Yes? Actually, the law is in effect for all unbelievers. Still, yeah. It has continuing applicability for unbelievers only as we believe Are we crucified with Christ and therefore die in relationship to the law? And by the way, let's ask somebody, is the law of faith? Paul says that the law is not of faith, and that which is not of faith is sin. So trying to live by the law is sinning.

Just flat out. Trying to live by the law of sinning. Yes? And that's what I was trying to say about Romans 5a, if I read that correctly. When he died and the certificate was cancelled, the believers are no longer sinners. Because it's been forgiven, they're no longer under the law. And it says the Romans no longer under sin. Yeah, let's ask this question. Can a believer sin? A believer can sin. Is a believer a sinner by nature? No. So a believer can sin, but a believer is not by nature a sinner.

Why? But one is we're saved entirely by grace. That's part one. And part two is remember there are three things that we've been separated from by having been crucified with Christ. Separated from the law. separated from the world, and separated from the sin nature. Those three things have been separated by having died with Christ. Alright, let's pray and wrap it up here.

Lord, we thank you for what you've revealed here, even reading about this burial. In a lot of cases it may be, we look at it, Joseph and Nicodemus, very sad, the women looking on, seeing what was going on, sad. But what an incredible event, what an amazing event, and to think that we were buried with him, spiritually speaking, because we believed. What an astounding thing you've accomplished in something that the world never even understood was taking place. And we just thank you for that phenomenal thing, that amazing thing that you have done for us that we could never do for ourselves. All we did was believe. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.