Post by chocs on Dec 16, 2013 7:33:32 GMT 12
The Sepulchre
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid. Then because of the Jews' Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there. - John 19:41-42
As we stand by this garden-tomb many thoughts are suggested. Christ touched life at every point. Beginning at infancy, He went through every phase, at last lying down in a grave. There is no path on which His footprints are not seen. There is no place any of us shall have to stand in of which we may not say, “Jesus was here. He passed through this experience; therefore He knows all about it.” We dread the grave; we think of its darkness; but since Jesus has lain there, why should we fear its gloom?
Another suggestion comes from the fact that this tomb was provided for Jesus by His friends. Writers have noted this as another mark of His humiliation. When He was born His cradle was a borrowed manger. During His ministry He had “no where to lay His head.” When He died He was buried in a borrowed grave.
Another thought, as we look at the sepulchre, is how hopeless everything seemed for the time. He on whom the disciples had leaned as the Messiah is now silent in death, His work apparently finished. All the expectations based on Him depended on His living to ascend a throne. It certainly seemed now to His friends that all was over. Yet the grave was simply the low gateway to glory. As we see it now, in the light that streams from the gospel, it interrupted no plan, quenched no light, destroyed no hope. When shall we learn to bring the truth of immortality into our own faiths and hopes? We stand by the graves of our Christian friends almost as disconsolate as were these friends of Jesus about His grave. Why shall we not learn faith? Death ends nothing for those who die in the Lord - nothing but struggle, sorrow, and sin. No hopes perish when a Christian is buried. Just beyond is glory.
Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden. In the garden was a new tomb in which no man had ever yet been laid. Then because of the Jews' Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand) they laid Jesus there. - John 19:41-42
As we stand by this garden-tomb many thoughts are suggested. Christ touched life at every point. Beginning at infancy, He went through every phase, at last lying down in a grave. There is no path on which His footprints are not seen. There is no place any of us shall have to stand in of which we may not say, “Jesus was here. He passed through this experience; therefore He knows all about it.” We dread the grave; we think of its darkness; but since Jesus has lain there, why should we fear its gloom?
Another suggestion comes from the fact that this tomb was provided for Jesus by His friends. Writers have noted this as another mark of His humiliation. When He was born His cradle was a borrowed manger. During His ministry He had “no where to lay His head.” When He died He was buried in a borrowed grave.
Another thought, as we look at the sepulchre, is how hopeless everything seemed for the time. He on whom the disciples had leaned as the Messiah is now silent in death, His work apparently finished. All the expectations based on Him depended on His living to ascend a throne. It certainly seemed now to His friends that all was over. Yet the grave was simply the low gateway to glory. As we see it now, in the light that streams from the gospel, it interrupted no plan, quenched no light, destroyed no hope. When shall we learn to bring the truth of immortality into our own faiths and hopes? We stand by the graves of our Christian friends almost as disconsolate as were these friends of Jesus about His grave. Why shall we not learn faith? Death ends nothing for those who die in the Lord - nothing but struggle, sorrow, and sin. No hopes perish when a Christian is buried. Just beyond is glory.