Summary: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/westside-christian-fellowship/id386117063">If you want to stay up on the latest audio messages from Westside Christian Fellowship, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes.</a><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href=""> </a><a class="twitter-share-button" href="http://twitter.com/share">Tweet</a><a style="line-height: 1.5em;" href=""></a> Complete Sermon Notes The Three Greatest Deceptions Jesus Buried in Joseph’s Tomb 57 Now when evening had come, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 58 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given to him. 59 When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and laid it in his new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb, and departed. 61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb. The bodies were often left for the wild animals, but not during the passover season. C.H. Spurgeon said, "It was a new tomb, wherein no remains had been previously laid, and thus if he came forth from it there would be no suspicion that another had arisen, nor could it be imagined that he rose through touching some old prophet's bones, as he did who was laid in Elisha's grave." “He rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb”: Commentator David Guzik, “This was the customary way to seal an expensive tomb. A rich man like Joseph of Arimethea probably had a tomb carved into solid rock; this tomb was in a garden near the place of crucifixion (<a href="https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/john/19/41/s_1016041" target="_blank">John 19:41</a>). The tomb would commonly have a small entrance and perhaps one or more compartments where bodies were laid out after being somewhat mummified with spices, ointments, and linen strips.” KEY-Joseph of Arimathea made a significant sacrifice - He gave God his best. King David said, “I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the LORD what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.” 1 Chronicles 21:24 He got his tomb back a few days later. Pilate Sets a Guard 62 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, 63 saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ 64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard. On the next day: "It must mean that the chief priests and Pharisees actually approached Pilate on the Sabbath with their request. If they did that, it is clear to see how radically they broke the Sabbath Law." (Barclay) We remember … how that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise": They remembered Jesus’ words, but His disciples somehow forgot them. While He was still alive: The "Swoon Theory" - fainting from extreme emotion. A humorous letter to the editor at a Christian magazine says it all: Dear Eutychus: Our preacher said, on Easter, that Jesus just swooned on the cross and that the disciples nursed Him back...
