The soldiers broke the legs of the criminals flanking Jesus before taking them down off of their crosses. Because Jesus was already dead, they thrust a spear through His side. Water and blood flowed out. (This very action confirmed another prophesy,
“Not one of His bones would be broken.”)
The body of Jesus, in accordance with Jewish burial custom, was wrapped in a linen cloth. About 100 pounds of aromatic spices, mixed together to form a gummy substance, were applied to the wrappings of cloth about the body.
After the body was placed in a solid rock tomb, an extremely large stone was rolled against the entrance of the tomb. Large stones weighing approximately two tons were normally rolled (by means of levers) against a tomb entrance.
A Roman guard of strictly disciplined fighting men was stationed to guard the tomb. This guard affixed on the tomb the Roman seal, which was meant to “prevent any attempt at vandalizing the sepulcher. Anyone trying to move the stone from the tomb’s entrance would have broken the seal and thus incurred the wrath of Roman law, which was to be crucified upside down.” Falling asleep and not fulfilling your duty would have also been punishable by death. Normally a “guard” was 60 or 120 soldiers.
I can’t help wondering what was going on in the minds and hearts of those who loved Jesus, including his family, his followers or those who’d had a personal encounter with Him.
When speaking to the Samaritan woman, she told Jesus she was expecting the Messiah to come, Jesus, replied, “ I am He.”
In a conversation with His disciples, Jesus asked, “Who do people say I am?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. ”Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Peter, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
He said, ”If you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father.”
He said, “Many will say to me Lord, Lord, we cast out demons in your name, we did good works in Your name, we healed the sick in your name. I will say, depart from Me I never knew you because you have not believed in the only begotten son.
Yet, they saw Him with their own eyes, beaten beyond recognition, crucified and now dead and buried in a borrowed tomb.
What now? To be continued…