{"id":6298,"date":"2015-04-01T00:26:38","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T00:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6298"},"modified":"2015-04-01T00:46:13","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T00:46:13","slug":"his-grave-easter-series-part-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6298","title":{"rendered":"His grave\u2014Easter Series Part 9"},"content":{"rendered":"

His grave was assigned with wicked men,\u00a0yet He was with a rich man in His death,\u00a0because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.<\/em>\u00a0Isaiah 53:9<\/p>\n

His grave was assigned with wicked men\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

This verse\u00a0displays the laser-like accuracy of Isaiah\u2019s prophecy. Jesus died between two common thieves (Luke 23:32-33), demonstrating the disdain of His executioners toward Him. Apparently, those supervising His crucifixion planned to cast Him into a common grave with the wicked, just as Isaiah 53:9 prophesied.<\/p>\n

Religious leadership planned all this in order to heap the greatest level of discredit and disgrace possible upon the itinerant Preacher\/Healer. He\u2014who had so completely wowed the crowds by His simplicity, kindness, and power\u2014stood in stark contrast to His detractors. Their lack of warmth, power, and godly authority had been exposed by the life of the Son of Man, and this was something they could not stomach and would not tolerate.<\/p>\n

\u2026yet He was with a rich man in His death\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

One part of their plan fell apart when wealthy secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea\u2014himself a member of the Sanhedrin\u2014went to Pilate and requested the body of Jesus (see John 19:38 and Luke 23:50). Pilate agreed, and Joseph, along with Nicodemus (see John 19:39), took the Lord\u2019s body and bound it in linen wrappings and spices, a burial custom for the Jews.\u00a0Joseph placed the body in his own new tomb (see Matthew 27:60). In this way, Isaiah\u2019s prophecy was fulfilled: Jesus\u2019 grave\u00a0had<\/em>\u00a0been assigned with wicked men, and yet a rich man\u2014Joseph\u2014was with Him in His death.<\/p>\n

\u2026because He had done no violence,\u00a0nor was there any deceit in His mouth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Although indignities had been heaped upon Jesus from the moment He had been arrested and continued unabated throughout\u00a0His trial, scourging, sentencing, and crucifixion, God would allow no further humiliation to be imposed upon Him. With His death, just as He declared, it was finished.<\/p>\n

Further indignities\u00a0had<\/em>\u00a0been planned against this Man, even after His death. As Isaiah had prophesied,\u00a0His grave was assigned with wicked men.\u00a0<\/em>His accusers\u00a0were determined to afford Him no honor. Indeed, the chief priests and Pharisees met with Pilate and asked that he ensure the security of Jesus\u2019 tomb. Why? They said they feared that His disciples would steal the body to\u00a0make\u00a0everyone think\u00a0that Jesus had risen. Pilate replied, \u201cYou have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.<\/em>\u201d With that, they secured the grave, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone (see Matthew 27:65-66). In fearful contempt for the Lord, they wanted to make sure His body stayed put in that tomb.<\/p>\n

Yet Jesus had come to fulfill a specific task\u2014to take on the sin of the world and to bear the full judgment for it. When He declared on the cross, \u201cIt is finished,\u201d it\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0finished. Despite the deluded thoughts gurgling within those who killed Him to incriminate Him\u00a0after<\/em>\u00a0death for all time, when Jesus died, their role ceased. God saw to it.<\/p>\n

Because He had done no violence,\u00a0nor was there any deceit in His mouth,\u00a0<\/em>God directed Joseph to care for the Lord\u2019s body with dignity and to place it in a respectable tomb. The Lamb of God came to die for you and me; after that He broke open the prison gates of death and the grave by the resurrection power of God. The plan of God had to play out according to\u00a0His<\/em>\u00a0rules, not man’s.<\/p>\n

God’s\u00a0plan will\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0unfold according to His rules; and when man seeks to override\u00a0that plan, he\u00a0will always come up short.\u00a0If man persists to push against God\u2019s will, like those who crucified the Lord, he will be in for a big surprise:\u00a0the irrefutable, unstoppable resurrection power of God.\u00a0Be advised:\u00a0God’s plan cannot be thwarted.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

…but we speak God\u2019s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory<\/em>.\u00a0 1 Corinthians 2:7-8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His grave was assigned with wicked men,\u00a0yet He was with a rich man in His death,\u00a0because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.\u00a0Isaiah 53:9 His grave was assigned with wicked men\u2026 This verse\u00a0displays the laser-like accuracy of Isaiah\u2019s prophecy. Jesus died between two common thieves (Luke 23:32-33), demonstrating the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-suffering-servant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6298"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6306,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6298\/revisions\/6306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}