The Gospel of John | The Death and Burial of Jesus Christ – John 19:28-42
Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice once and for all as the King of Kings.
The final moments of Jesus life had likely been excruciating and painful. The act of crucifixion had been intended to mock the victim while causing immense pain. They had likely been stripped and hung naked, slowly suffocating. The only respite for labored breathing would come from pushing up on the nails in the arms and feet. They would be able to breathe but the pain could only be endured for a short period of time. The person being crucified would likely simply die from suffocation by way of exhaustion, being dehydrated, tired, worn out, and humiliated. Jesus gave up His Spirit, breathed his last breath and died on the cross. With it being so close to a holy day for the Jewish people, they would need to have the bodies removed by sundown of that day. Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy secret follower of Jesus Christ, along with Nicodemus took down the body and laid Him in a garden tomb. They anointed Him with 100 pounds of oil, a lifetime of salary being given to anoint the body of Jesus Christ.
Jesus died on what the church has traditionally referred to as Good Friday as it marked the day when Jesus died to defeat the punishment of sin and sickness. He bore the weight of the consequences of mankind’s rebellion as the God who took on flesh. Only Jesus could maintain the requirements of righteousness while still extending grace as both fully man and fully god. Furthermore, Jesus display his Kingship even in death through the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament. Everything had been done according to plan from the beginning of creation. Where the first Adam failed, Jesus, the Second Adam, succeeded. Where the sacrifice of passover had been needed every year, Jesus became our perfect sacrifice once and for all. Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice once and for all as the King of Kings.
Fully God Yet Fully Man
As Jesus slowly died on the cross, He cried out “I thirst” to those around Him. Often times our temptation is to only emphasize the humanity of Jesus Christ or only emphasize the divinity. We know that, as fully divine Jesus could command angels, turn the world upside down, and rid Himself of the pain of crucifixion. We know that He needed nothing. Yet, here Jesus cries out “I thirst” a human reaction to the circumstances. Likely, His body would have been severely dehydrated. The sour wine they offered had been a common drink given to those to soothe their thirst while also still being difficult to drink. On the cross, the humanity of Jesus had been on full display as fully God and yet fully man.
Yet, as they pierced His side, blood and water sprang forth. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, mankind had been cleansed of sin and renewed by the living water. While there may be a biological explanation for how water would have came from Christ, it is no less a miracle. Life came from the blood of God who became man. He lived the perfect life of as man and offered the forgiveness that could only come from God. He offered His blood as a sacrifice for the guilty to drink from the source of living water. Only Jesus can maintain the requirements of righteousness and justice, fully paying the cost of sin, while extending the grace of forgiveness to all those who are in Him.
- Where else do you see symbols of blood and water throughout the Bible and how do they relate to life and death?
A King, Even In Death
Yet, we cannot for a moment think that Jesus gave up His divinity or His Kingship even in death. While Jesus’ death on the cross did confound the disciples as something that the God of the Universe would not do, Christ never ceased to be sovereign. Everything, every detail, had been going according to the will of God, for the glory of God, to redeem and rescue His people. The life of Jesus Christ had not ben taken from Him, rather Jesus willingly gave up His Spirit. He sought to embody the words of the prophets that, even by asking for something to drink, the words of old would find their fulfillment. Furthermore, where the people would have rushed the Romans to quickly finish the crucifixion by breaking the legs of the criminals, Jesus, having already given up His Spirit, did not have HIs bones broken in accordance with the scripture.
In the death of Jesus Christ the fullness of scripture and the fulfillment of the word of God comes to a climax. Throughout the entire history of mankind Jesus Christ rules and reigns over all aspects of life. He is the King of Kings who came to redeem mankind from their sins. Even while the situation appeared to be spiraling out of control as a brutalized, scourged, and bleeding Savior hang on the cross, Jesus still held on to His sovereignty, never once giving up the throne. For us, the circumstances of life may at times appear chaotic, disastrous, and as if the enemy is winning. During those moments, God’s sovereignty remains intact. He never leaves us or forsakes us. God never abandons His post and just as the works of Jesus Christ had been planned long before creation existed, the difficulties we face have been known by God since long before our birth. Christ is King of Kings and nothing can dethrone Him.
- What is the significance of Christ fulfilling the prophets? How does this demonstrate the Kingship of Jesus Christ?
Fulfillment of the Past
The work of Jesus Christ on the cross serves as the fulfillment of the prophesies of the the past through the sufferings of Jesus Christ on the cross. Throughout scripture, Jesus is referred to as the Second Adam, the second embodiment and fulfillment of mankind. Sin had been introduced to through world through the acts of one man in a pristine garden. Now, as Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus’ body to rest in the garden tomb, the sins of man had been paid for by one man. Jesus represents the fullness of mankind, living the perfect life where Adam failed and Jesus bore the fullness of the consequences that Adam instituted. The burial of Jesus Christ marked that Jesus had truly died, not metaphorically, but actually but died as a King placed in the tomb of royalty.
Furthermore, Jesus is the perfect passover sacrifice. The timing of these events had not been coincidence. Jesus entered Jerusalem on lamb selection day, when the lamb that would bear the weight of the sins of the people would be ceremoniously brought in to the city. Then, Jesus died alongside the celebration of passover, the time when the Jewish people remembered that by the slaughtering of the lamb and the sprinkling of the blood on the doorpost that death would pass over their home. Christ, the Second Adam, became the perfect passover sacrifice. Where tradition held that the sacrifice would need to be repeated every year, in Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice had been given and the ongoing sacrifices would never need to be done again. Nothing compares to the sufficiency of Christ’s work on the cross.
Discussion Questions
- Explain why Jesus needed to die. Then consider why did Jesus have to die for you?
- How does Jesus’ fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament demonstrate the sovereignty of God throughout all history?
- How is the death of Jesus Gospel, or good news, to those in the world?
- What motivates Jesus to bear the weight of the sin of mankind? How does this reveal the glory of God? How does it reveal the love of God for mankind?
About The Author
Daniel Burton is the founder of The Gospel Outpost. He is passionate about discipleship and seeing people grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. To find out more about him, check out his Author Page.
