For some reason there was one major point that everyone kept missing while Jesus was teaching the people. He was telling them that he was not going to be their savior from the Roman tyranny that had such a grip on them. He told them that he was going to have to suffer at the hands of evil men and that he would then have to die. He also told them that after three days he would come back to life. It appears everybody easily forgot about those words when they saw the beaten, bloody, pierced and dead body of Jesus as it was taken down from the cross.
Even the devil did not believe that Jesus/Christ would be able to return from the dead without help from God. Satan inspired the religious leaders to have a guard posted around Jesus' tomb after he was buried. Not because he believed that Jesus would return from the dead, but because he did not want the disciples of Jesus to take the body from the tomb and then tell everyone that Jesus had risen from the dead.
There are those who think Jesus just placed himself into some kind of slowed stated of respiration and only appeared to be dead on the cross. Those same people believe that he was only acting like he had died. They believe that he would later amaze all those people in Jerusalem by reviving himself in the tomb, take care of his wounds and wait for the third day to roll around when his disciples would come and rescue him from the grave. Such a plan. If that is what Jesus had planned then he was probably very disappointed and shocked when the Roman soldier took his spear and shoved it into the lower part of his ribcage, through the length of one of his lungs, and on into the heart in the middle of his chest. Remember, this was a Roman soldier. This guy knew exactly how to kill someone. He knew exactly where to strike with his spear to cause instantaneous and irreversible death. When he pulled his spear from the large wound he had opened up with his double edged spear all of the liquid that had collected in Jesus' lung and all of the blood that was in his heart came pouring out of that large wound. All that was left hanging on the cross was an empty, lifeless shell that at one time had been alive.
Why did Jesus die so soon? Many people believe it was because of blood loss and the weakness that comes along with severe trauma. Other people believe Jesus died of a broken heart. Yes, his heart WAS broken all right, but it was broken by the spear after he had died.
When someone went to Pilate and asked him for permission to take the body of Jesus down and bury it, we are told that Pilate was surprised that he had died so soon.
Normally a person lasts through the night at least and usually on through the next day before dying. Jesus died sooner than he normally should have. Why? The clues to his death are found in a couple of New Testament scriptures. Let me read them for you.
Jesus had just run all of the money changers and animal sellers out of the Temple; as we come to John 2:19 we find the religious leaders asking him by whose authority he was doing what he had just done. Jesus answered them by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." - John 2:19. Notice how he said, "I will raise it up." Jesus was not talking about the physical structure of the temple; he was talking about his body.
In a later chapter in John he says, "…I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." - John 10:17, 18. Once again I want you to notice the word I. How many people do you think could make a statement like that? Yes I know, we could all make that statement, but could we back it up by actually doing what we say?
As far as this poor mortal sees it there really is nothing we can do when it comes to bringing ourselves back to life. Sure, we can easily take our own lives, but then we are out of luck because now we are dead. The switch has been destroyed; there is no more power to the machinery to give ourselves life again.
Here is where Satan, the devil, gets his rude awakening. He thought, with Jesus/Christ the Son of God dead, that he had won the battle for planet Earth and that it was now all his, his, his. He was worried though; he knew Jesus had said that he would rise from the dead on the third day. He knew that Jesus was as dead as dirt; he had made sure of that. There could be no way for someone who is dead to bring themselves back to life. It just could not happen…could it?
But it did. Christ, the one equal in all things with the Father can do anything he wishes…as long as it does not go against someone else's free will. I'm not going to argue with him.
When Jesus died on the cross late Friday afternoon, it was because he had laid down his life at the exact time that the Passover lamb was being sacrificed. As the old saying goes, type had met anti-type; the shadow had met its substance; the Lamb of God had taken the place of one of God's lambs. He gave up his life willingly so that those of us who choose to can continue to live throughout eternity in God's kingdom. What a God we belong to!
Satan had really blown it. Any sympathy there might have been for the devil, (sorry Mick) went way, way out the window when he had God in the flesh crucified. Every intelligent being in the universe who was aware of the battle between good and evil that was being fought out on this Earth and had even the slightest doubt in their mind concerning the truth concerning that battle, gave their complete allegiance to the God of the universe when they saw the results of Satan's ultimate plan; when they saw Satan destroy the life of the Son of God.
Where does that leave all of us now who are living on this slowly decaying planet we call home? It takes us to the end. There was a beginning and now there is an end. The end is not the end however. It is only the beginning…again.