1. The body of Christ was taken down and buried the same day because of a curse.

Deut 21:23
23 "his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.

Joshua knew this law
Josh 10:26-27
26 And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening.
27 So it was at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, cast them into the cave where they had been hidden, and laid large stones against the cave's mouth, which remain until this very day.

Christ redeemed us from the curse
Gal 3:13
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is

2. The tomb was freshly cut out.

John 19:41-42
41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.

3. The burial of Christ followed the custom of the Jews.

Jn. 19:40
Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Note: The Jews considered the preparation of the Body so important that they even allowed it on the Sabbath.

4. They were to lay the person on a board with their feet toward the door.

5. They would wash the Body with warm water.

6. Even in the case of a child the preparation was not to be done by one person.

7. The person that died was covered with a clean sheet.

Matt 27:59
When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, (NKJ)

8. They would recite some verses concluding with the verse in Ezekiel 36:25

9. They prepared the body of Christ with aromatic spices, in Jesus' case they used about 100 pounds.

Jn.19:39
And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds.

· This may seem like a lot for the normal person but not for Joseph of Arimathea.
· Josephus records that when Herod died it required 500 servants to carry the spices.
· When Gamaliel died they used 86 pounds of spices.

10. After the members of the Body were straightened the corpse was dressed in grave vestments out of white linen.

· The vestments were sewn together by woman no knots were permitted. This for some indicated that the mind of the deceased was disentangled of the cares of this life.
· To others it indicated the continuity of the soul through eternity.
· No individual could be buried in fewer than three separate garments.
· The strips of linen merged with the aloe a fragrant of pounded wood. This aloe was mixed with a gummy substance call myrrh and this myrrh when it dried became hard.
· The weight of the encasement was about 117 to 120 pounds.

THE STONE
1. Twenty men could not move it.

A great stone
It weighed about 1 1/2 to 2 tons

Matt 27:60
and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. (NKJ)

The Greek word for Great
3173 megas (meg'-as);
KJV-- (+fear) exceedingly, great (-est), high, large, loud, mighty, + (be) sore (afraid), strong, X to years.


Question
How did Joseph move the Stone over the mouth of the grave?

Peter and John at the tomb
2. The doorway was about 4 1/2 to 5 feet high. John lean over it.

John 20:3-8
3 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb.
4 So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.
5 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there,
7 and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.

THE SECURITY GUARD

Pilate's order to guard the tomb

Matt 27:62-66
62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate,
63 saying, "Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise.'
64 "Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead.' So the last deception will be worse than the first."
65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how."
66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

The temple police theory
270 men, which was made up of 27 units of 10.

1. If the Captain of the guards came and found them asleep on duty they would be beaten and buried with their clothes.

2. They were also forbidden to sit or even lean on anything while on duty

The Roman Guard
1. The Roman guard was made up of 4 to 16 men.
2. Each man was trained to protect 6 sq. feet of ground.
3. The 16 men in a square of 4 on each side were able to hold off an entire battalion.
4. The way they guarded, 4 at a time rotating around the clock.

The High Priest Offers A Bribe
Matt 28:11-15
11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened.
12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
13 saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.'
14 "And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure."
15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

1. The Roman soldiers went to the chief priest and reported
2. It could not be therefore temple police
3. There is no record in Christian, Jewish or secular documentation that the Roman governor had any association with temple police.

Peter gives testimony about Jesus
Acts 4:1-10
1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,
6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?"
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
9 "If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
10 "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. (NKJ)

OVER FIVE HUNDRED WITNESSES

1 Cor 15:3-8
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.
6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

What did the resurrection give us?

Holiness
Rom 1:4
and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (NKJ)

The likeness of his resurrection
Rom 6:5
For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, (NKJ)

The power of his resurrection
Phil 3:10
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, (NKJ)