When I read Isaiah 53, I have no doubt that it is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ as the suffering Messiah. "He was bruised for our iniquities," "with His stripes we are healed," "he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter," and so on. But, when I get to verse 9, it seems that there is a mistake. Of course we know that's not the case. God doesn't make mistakes. So, we are just not seeing it as God sees it to be.
Verse 9 says, "And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."
But, this says that Jesus made his grave with the wicked. Well, I thought His grave was with the rich, because in Matthew 27:57-59, it says that the rich man Joseph of Arimathaea buried the body of Jesus his tomb.
Then, it says "with the rich in his death," but I thought Jesus was with the wicked in his death. He died between two thieves. So, how do we explain Isaiah 53:9 when it appears to be saying the opposite? Well, to understand what God is saying, we need to see the context of Jesus's death on the cross, then there will be no discrepancy. We have to see what the context is concerning anyone who died on a cross.
Yes, we must remember that Jesus was executed by the Roman government, thus His body was the property of the state. This was the case with all bodies of all criminals executed. They belonged to the state. That is why Joseph had to go to the Pilot the governor, and beg for the body of Christ. The body did not belong to Joseph, or to His disciples, or to his mother Mary, or the rest of his family. It belong to the state, and Pilot was the head of the Roman government in Israel.
Notice carefully what verse 9 says, "And HE MADE his grave with the wicked...." That sounds to me like He, Jesus, made His grave with the wicked. It was His choice, not the Romans. But, how did He do that? Now, I believe this is saying that when Jesus accepted the mission from His Father to come die on that cross for our sins, He was accepting everything that was associated with that cross. All the suffering, all the pain and agony, all the shame, all the rejection, and even with His own Father having to forsake the Son when He put all our sins upon Him. How awful. What agony it was for Him. But, there was something else connected to the cross that most people don't realize. The body of Jesus would belong to the state, and His grave would be with the wicked. "He made his grave with the wicked."
Generally speaking, during Roman times when anyone was crucified, their bodies would normally be left on the cross for days to rot or for the carrion birds to eat the flesh. However, there was an exception for this Roman practice in Israel due to the Jewish beliefs that any bodies that hung on a tree could not be left there overnight (Deut. 21:22, 23). The bodies had to be taken down before nightfall. Furthermore, every Sabbath had a preparation which began at the ninth hour (that is, 3 PM) on the preceding day, which of course is Friday. Thus, the bodies of Jesus and the two thieves which had been crucified early Friday morning had to be taken down from the crosses before 3 PM (John 19:31) rather than at the end of the day. The historian, Josephus, recited that an edict of the Emperor Augustus was given in favor of the Jews to allow these privileges for the Jewish preparation for each Sabbath day (Friday, beginning a 3 PM).
So, those three crucified bodies would have been taken off the cross by Roman soldiers before 3 p.m. on that Friday, and thrown onto a cart and hauled off to a nearby valley called "the Valley of Himnon" or "Gehenna." Matter of fact, the site of the sacrifice at Golgotha (place of the skull) -- was right across the valley (the Kidron Valley), within eyesight of Gehenna, Jerusalem’s garbage dump. The body of Christ and the other two bodies would have been unceremoniously "dumped" into the pit located there among the city's trash, then sprinkled with sulfur powder and left to burn and rot.
The Gehenna Valley was a terrible place of burning sewage, flesh, and garbage. Maggots and worms crawled through the waste, and the smoke smelled strong and sickening (Isaiah 30:33). It was a place that was filthy, disgusting, and repulsive to the nose and eyes. Gehenna presented such a vivid image that Christ used it during His ministry as a symbolic depiction of hell: a place of eternal torment and constant uncleanness, where the fires never ceased burning and the worms never stopped crawling (Mat 10:28; Mark 9:47–48).
So, when the Bible says, "He made His grave with the wicked," that is what Jesus was accepting, in His dying for us. It says, "HE MADE His grave with the wicked." Don't you get that? He chose to die on that cross knowing that His grave would be with the wicked. When He agreed with the Father to die for us, He was signing up for a "grave of the wicked."
But, glory to God, God did not allow that to happen. Jesus had already done enough and went through enough that God was satisfied with the death of Jesus, and He is not going to allow man to go any further. "You have done all you're going to do to my Son. His work is finished. You have humiliated him, shamed Him, and tortured Him, but you are not going to get His body and shame it too." Now, I really believe God felt this way. Why did Joseph go and beg the body from Pilot? Because the Holy Spirit put it into his heart to do so. How do I know this? Well, Mark 15:43 says, that Joseph "went in boldly" unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. With everyone else hiding in fear, this included Joseph who also was a follower of Jesus, but in "secret" for "fear" of the Jews (John 19:38). So, how does Joseph, hiding in fear from the Jews, all of a sudden get all this boldness to go to Pilot to plead for the body of Jesus? Because of the Holy Spirit. Doesn't the Holy Spirit give boldness to do God's will. Of course He does (Acts 4:29-31).
It was God's will that the body of Jesus would not be thrown onto a cart with those other two bodies and hauled off to the grave of the wicked. But, that was what Jesus was signing up for when He agreed to come die on the cross for our sins. "He made His grave with the wicked." If that was part of saving us, then He was willing to do it. Wow! What a Savior! But, God did not let it go that far. Jesus did everything that was necessary for our salvation, and that was not part of it, so God saw to it that did not happen. His Son had suffered all the shame that was part of His death, and God ended it. "You will not get His body! That belongs to Me."
Joseph could not just go take the body of Jesus off the cross and bury Him. Nor, could any other family members take His body off the cross. No, since Christ was being executed by the Roman Empire, His body was the property of the State. The sole purpose of crucifixion was to humiliate, torture, and kill criminals in clear view of the public. The Romans left criminals on the cross to discourage people from committing similar crimes. So it's unlikely that criminals were ever brought down from the cross at the request of family members. In fact, bringing their bodies down from the cross for a proper burial would defeat the whole purpose of crucifixion.
So, Joseph had to get permission from Pilot, the Roman governor, to take ownership of the body of Christ into his possession. I realize that Pilate's sympathy in regard to Jesus' innocence of any crime, and his obvious contempt for the leaders who brought him, would compel him to grant the request of an influential man such as Joseph of Arimathaea, regardless of any Roman practice. But, I want you to know that this would not have been an easy task. It would be very difficult for Joseph to get ownership of Christ's body. Why? Well, even though Pilot during the trial of Jesus had tried many ways to release Christ because he saw no fault in Him concerning the Jew's accusations, Pilot could not release His body from the state just because he personally wanted to. No, Pilot had given His sentence to have Jesus crucified and it was to be carried out and His body would belong to the empire. Pilot had to have a lawful reason now for turning state property over to Joseph. This brings us to Isaiah 53:9 again.
How did the grave of the wicked for state criminals get changed to a grave for rich in His death? ...."because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."
Now, I always thought this reason was from God's view point, and it is of course, but it isn't that way exclusively. No, Pilot also had to see this, that it was because Jesus had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. And, Pilot did see this. He said during Christ's trial that "I find no fault in this man." So, when Joseph came to Pilot to beg for the body of Christ, then this is the legal reason that allowed Pilot to make a judgement concerning the body of Christ. Pilot could not have released the body of any other person where the evidence was clear that they were guilty. But, to Pilot there was no evidence against Christ that He was guilty, so He felt he could make this legal judgement to release His body from the state.
Furthermore, I'm sure the Jews could do nothing about Pilot's judgement that would now allow Joseph to choose the burial place. No, they had thought there was no reason to worry about what would happen to the body of Jesus, because of the crucifixion, His grave would be with the wicked in Gehenna. This is the reason why when they heard of the change that Pilot had allowed, they pleaded with him to give them a "watch" of soldiers to guard Joseph's tomb which he did.
Now, there was also something else that changed concerning the Lord's body. I want you to know that the Romans soldiers did not take the body of Christ down off the cross. That is what would have happened if God had not intervened. Those Roman soldiers would have taken His body down off the cross and thrown it on the cart with the bodies of the two thieves and then hauled off to the "grave of the wicked." However, Mark indicates that Joseph took Christ's body off the cross...."And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen" (Mark 15:46).
Of course Joseph needed help getting the body of Christ off the cross, and Nicodemus was there to help. Joseph "came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus..... and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid (John 19:38-41).
With Godly hands, these two men take that precious body of Christ off the Cross and prepared His body for burial. The wicked hands of men beat and crucified the Son of God, but after His death, only these godly, loving hands of Joseph and Nicodemus were allowed to touch His body. Such reverence. Such tenderness. They prepared his body as a King for burial. He was buried as a rich man in His death." Yes, this was God's will, and He put it into the hearts of these two godly men to fulfill His will concerning the body of Christ.
"And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;" Yes, by Jesus coming to die for us on that shameful cross, He was willingly taking upon Himself the "grave of the wicked," but God intervened and made it the "grave of the rich in His death." So, the verse is speaking of two graves, one with the wicked, and one with the rich. The normal grave for those crucified would have been "the grave of the wicked." However, God closed that first grave option for His Son. He would not allow Him to be shamed that way. The second grave was to be a glorious option. A rich man's tomb that would be covered with a stone and guarded by soldiers, yet on that first day of the week, the stone would be rolled away, to show that Christ had resurrected from the dead. By the way, the stone wasn't rolled away so Christ could get out. No, it was rolled away to let us know, and everyone else know, that the tomb was empty, because Christ was indeed risen from the dead. He would later be seen by over 500 believers after His resurrection (1Cor 15:6).
But, what really touches my heart is that Jesus was willing to accept "the grave of the wicked" if that was part of the crucifixion death that saved us from our sins. He willingly accepted the shame, not only before the cross and during the cross, but also what would come after the cross, the disrespectful handling of his body and a shameful burial with the wicked. Jesus accepted the whole package. But, His wonderful Father would not allow the body of Christ to be further humiliated. Christ finished His Work when He died on that Cross (John 19:30), and God would not allow any more shame for His Son. So, God moved the hearts of Joseph and Pilot to allow His beloved Son to have a precious, respectful burial in a rich man's tomb so that His Son's grave would be "with the rich in His death."
Now, it's also mind boggling when you stop and think what are the chances of this verse in Isaiah 53:9 coming true. What are the odds that this suffering Messiah, which the whole chapter is speaking of, would be destined for a grave with the wicked, but then it would be changed to a grave with the rich? What are the odds in that? Then, 700 years later, it becomes true? Wow!
Did Joseph know prophecy so that is the reason he went to Pilot? No, I don't think so. Scripture says that because of the Jews, he was a secret disciple. Doesn't sound to me like Joseph was boldly trying to make Isaiah 53:9 fit the situation. No, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and given boldness to do this, because it was God's will. I would say Joseph loved His Lord and didn't want to see Him put into a wicked man's grave, so this was his motivation. Love. Just consider the risk that he, a secret disciple, was taking on by getting involved by all this.
Also, consider Pilot. Did Pilot give the body to Joseph to fulfill the Isaiah 53:9 prophecy? No. I don't think so. Pilot would surely not have known the Scriptures concerning that. He gave the body to Joseph "because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth." That was the reason. He knew Jesus was innocent and he tried to keep Him from being put to death. "I find no fault in Him." And, so Pilot allows Joseph to take the body of Christ because there never was any true evidence against Him. But, even then, Pilot did not have to do that. There was potential there that giving the body of Christ to Joseph would stir up the Jews into another mob. But, again, I believe that God moved Pilot to make the proper decision (Dan 2:21).
And, lastly, it was the will of God to change Christ's burial place from a gave of the wicked to one of a rich man, because it was indeed prophecy. Not only in Isaiah 53:9, but also in Psalms
What a wonderful Heavenly Father we have, and Oh, what a Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to do the Father's will who, "being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:8).
James B. Sparks
jb5sparks@aol.com
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