Imprisoned for Life? (3)

There was a tragically sad photograph on a news report yesterday. It showed forty or more simple wooden coffins being buried in a mass grave, somewhere in New York State, which currently has an extremely high number of coronavirus cases. They contained the remains of people who were either too poor to afford a funeral or who had dropped out of regular society, losing their formal identities somewhere along the way.

By the end of the first ‘Good Friday’, Jesus too was dead and buried. The soldiers made certain by piercing his side with a spear, rupturing His heart, though it had already stopped beating. Jesus was too poor to afford a grave. He had died alongside two men whose crimes were so socially and politically unacceptable, that their ‘identities’ were being permanently wiped out. His body was eventually taken and laid in a tomb owned by a generous donor. The tomb was sealed with a large stone and a team of Roman soldiers put in place to guard the body. His burial was an imprisonment.

Even after death His body was placed in ‘lockdown’. But look closely and you will see that the Bible anticipates that this would be Jesus’ final incarceration. The sacrifice for sin had been offered and was historically complete:

“It is finished!” (John 19:30).

His spirit was not sleeping in the grave but has been surrendered into the caring hands of God:

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

His soul is already present in heaven, as He told the repentant thief:

“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

His body is, if you like, merely resting, awaiting the next stage of God’s saving work. Jesus knew that He would die (Matthew 17:22-23) and that His body would be buried (John 12:7). But He also knew that this was the final restriction, a necessary stop en route back to life:

“On the third day He will be raised to life” (Matthew 20:19).

He was voluntarily imprisoned by the will of God, by the Roman soldiers, by the nails on the cross, and finally in the grave. All of this to bring new life to sinners who turn and trust Him. 

It is

“...having been buried with Him in baptism...”

that Christians are also

“...raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, 

who raised Him from the dead...”

so that

“You who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, 

God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by 

cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This 

He set aside, nailing it to the cross”. (Colossians 2:12-14).

It is still “of first importance” for Christians that

“Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day 

in accordance with the Scriptures...” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Continues tomorrow: https://fidzbit.blogspot.com/2020/04/imprisoned-for-life-4-breaking-out.html