Holy Week #8: How Joseph of Arimathaea fulfilled Biblical prophecy

As Christ lived on earth, he had not a house of his own where he could lay his head, so, when he died, he also had not a grave of his own wherein to lay his body. Jesus, who had no house of his own, also had no grave of his own.

The Jews plotted that Jesus would make his grave with the wicked and be buried in a mass grave with the thieves with whom he was crucified. That way he would be quickly forgotten. But God saw to it that prophecy would be fulfilled and that he would be with the rich in his death so it would verify that he rose from the dead.

God prompted Joseph of Arimathea to donate his new tomb for Jesus to be buried in. This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy spoken hundreds of years before Jesus’ death: “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death” (Isaiah 53:9).

The grave that Jesus was assigned with the wicked was the mass grave reserved for criminals who had been crucified; but he was with the rich in his death. It was highly unlikely that these two circumstances would ever be united in the same person, but they were in Jesus.

It was also fitting that Jesus, whose body saw no corruption, should be buried in a grave, which had never been tainted by a human corpse. “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” (Ac 2:31)