The Lord Jesus died, and in the evening of that day He was buried by two of His disciples, Joseph of Arimathea, a rich man, and Nicodemus. He was laid in the new tomb which Joseph had hewed in the rock for himself (Matt. 27:57-60; John 19:38-42), thus fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 53:9 concerning His being buried with the rich. Therefore He rested in the new tomb. On the next day, fearing that the Lord’s disciples might come and steal Him away and say to people that He had risen from the dead, the Jewish chief priests and the Pharisees obtained permission from the Roman governor Pilate to seal the stone that blocked the grave and secured the grave with the guard (Matt. 27:62-66).
From eternity Jesus Christ was the complete God. He was the Word that was with God as God’s explanation; He was also the only begotten Son as God’s expression. Moreover, He was the Author of life, and in Him was the eternal life of God. In time, about four thousand years after the creation of man, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God with the divine element (essence) in the womb of a chaste virgin with the human element (essence), and born as a God-man of two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. He is the genuine God and a real man; He is a God-man. He was born in the reign of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus in the city of Bethlehem in Judea, and was laid in a manger. On the eighth day He was circumcised and named, and after twenty-five days He was presented to God. Shortly afterwards He fled to Egypt and again returned to the land of Israel. He then lived in the small city of Nazareth in the despised province of Galilee and grew up to be a despised Nazarene. When He was baptized at about thirty years of age, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit by God. Following this, He was tempted by the Devil and He overcame. His human living was the living of the mingling of God and man, a living in which the Triune God with all His virtues was lived out from within humanity and was manifested in human form. He was the all-inclusive One with four aspects: God, Man, King, and Servant. His ministry comprised: (1) preaching the gospel to save sinners; (2) teaching people, enlightening those who are in darkness that they may have the light of life; (3) performing miracles and wonders by calling things not being as being, ruling over the winds and the sea, casting out demons, healing the sick, cleansing the leper, and raising the dead, proving that He is the Lord of life who is able to bring people out of death into life; and (4) expressing God that God may be expressed in Him among men. After He ministered and worked for three and a half years, He was crucified according to the year and date prophesied in the Scriptures, accomplishing an all-inclusive death with a sevenfold status: (1) as the Lamb of God, taking away the sin of men; (2) as a man in the flesh, condemning sin and dealing with the flesh of sin; (3) as the last Adam, a man in the old creation, crucifying our old man on the cross; (4) as a brass serpent, destroying the ancient serpent, Satan, with his world; (5) as the Firstborn of all creation, terminating the entire old creation and reconciling all things to God; (6) as the Peacemaker, abolishing all the separating ordinances of the law; and (7) as a grain of wheat, falling into the ground and dying, thus releasing the divine life that those who believe in Him may become the many grains for the constitution of His Body. Thus He accomplished an eternal redemption. After His death, He was buried by a disciple, a rich man, in his new tomb, and thus He rested.
(This lesson is relatively long and may be divided into two sections and taught in two sessions on the same day.)