30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 23 50-56 THE BURIAL OF JESUS 11 21Feb2022 Luke 23 55-56 A relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit
📖 Luke 23:50-56
11 – 21 Feb 2022 – A relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit - Luke 23:50-56 - THE BURIAL OF JESUS - Bible reading: II Corinthians 5:14-17
“Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are teaching us how crucial it is for us to identify with You in Your death, burial and resurrection. This is the core Gospel message. This is how we are transformed as we identify completely with You. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.”
Luke 23:55-56 And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. (56) Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
We saw that the anointing of the body of Jesus was a way by which Jesus was being honoured. They anointed Jesus with the spices and fragrant oils as each of them had specially encountered Jesus, during His time here on earth.
Thomas too knew Jesus intimately, both before His death, burial and resurrection and after. Thomas believed.
We do not know Jesus in the flesh, yet we believe and we too are honouring Him.
The following passage communicates to us the core Gospel message.
II Corinthians 5:14-17 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
The love of God was to this extent that Jesus died for all of us. This implies that the death that we deserved, because of our sin, was taken up by Jesus. Our death was taken by Jesus.
We must, therefore, reckon ourselves dead. We cannot live for ourselves anymore because this life that we now have is an extension, a benefit, that we have received because of the death of Jesus for us.
(15) and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
This is the logic. Our life that we are living is not ours to live but it is a life provided by Jesus by His death, burial and resurrection, because of His love for us.
The self in us has to go. Once we have come to Christ, you and I can no longer live for ourselves, since the life that we have and live is not ours, but Christ’s.
(16) Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
We now regard no one according to the flesh. Our life belongs to Christ. He has ransomed us with His death, burial and resurrection.
The women had encounters with Jesus, in the flesh. They experienced healing and transformation and therefore they were wanting to anoint His body.
We, do not have their experience, of relating with Christ according to the flesh. Yes, we do know Christ, according to the flesh, as we read about Him from the Gospels, but now our relationship with Jesus is according to His Holy Spirit. We must reckon that the body of Jesus is buried. We do not relate with Jesus according to His flesh but according to His Holy Spirit.
(17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are now in an entirely new relationship with Jesus, (not like the women) and this relationship with Jesus is through His Holy Spirit.
This takes us to the very beginning of how God and man were related. It was a relationship of the Holy Spirit. God created man out of dust and breathed into his nostrils, His Spirit. We were in a Holy Spirit relationship with God. This is where we are once again restored when we come to Christ. We are therefore the new creation people or the new covenant people.
This is what the Lord told His disciples.
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
We can imagine how these words would have sounded to His disciples. They were close to Him. They loved Him and they did not want to let Him go. They were wanting to relate with Jesus more and more in the flesh because they had all experienced such great changes in their lives.
Now, the Lord was telling them that it was for their advantage that He goes away. The Lord was telling them that they had known Him according to the flesh but they now needed to migrate into a new relationship with Him, which would be a relationship with His Holy Spirit.
Jesus would die and He would be buried. The burial was necessary for us since we do not know Jesus, anymore, according to His flesh. We now know Jesus because He rose again and our relationship with Him is through His Holy Spirit.
The death and burial of Jesus were necessary for the Helper, the Holy Spirit to come and to fill us. We are now being prepared to be the resurrection people of Jesus.
Thought to ponder
Have you identified with His death and His burial? This is necessary if you seek to identify with His resurrection.