I Know That My Redeemer Lived

Tyler J. Griffin

Tyler J. Griffin, "I Know That My Redeemer Lived," in The Power of Christ's Deliverance, ed. Jan J. Martin and Alonzo L. Gaskill (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 45‒66.

Tyler J. Griffin (tyler_griffin@byu.edu) is a teaching professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.

Spring is a wonderful time of year when we’re given the opportunity to celebrate the most glorious event in the history of the world—the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the opening lines of our beloved hymn:

I know that my Redeemer lives.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead.

He lives, my ever-living Head.[1]

I want to approach the subject of Easter from a slightly different angle. I want to alter one word in that song and explore the effects that follow. What happens when we change the word lives to lived—I know that my Redeemer lived. This adjustment could be interpreted in a few different ways. It could imply an exclusive focus on the precise moment of Jesus’s resurrection two thousand years ago. Rather than focusing solely on that singular event of Easter morn, I want to begin by going further back in time to briefly explore small moments that helped define his character. By seeing how he lived, we will better understand how he was able to grow “from grace to grace” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:13), build his character, endure untold agony brought on by the infinite Atonement, and ultimately rise from the dead to live again. By temporarily shifting our focus from lives to lived, we will be able to see more clearly how everything Jesus did and said was focused on helping others and doing God’s will. Ultimately, knowing how Jesus lived for us can empower us to strive to increasingly live for him.

Temptations

I know that my Redeemer lived for us as he faced and overcame every temptation. Matthew chapter 4 reveals Jesus enduring three intense temptations directly from the devil. He did not allow himself to indulge to any degree in any kind of sin! He didn’t leave any room for the temptations to take root in his soul (see Hebrews 4:15; John 17:17–19). He lived for us through those temptations and withstood them, thus making it so that he would be able to fulfill his role as our Savior and Redeemer when the greatest test and darkest temptations would descend upon him nearly three years later.

To better understand the depth and breadth of the temptations Jesus overcame throughout his life and especially during his Atonement,[2] let’s look at how he himself describes the experience of facing the powers of hell. When addressing Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail, the Lord listed many terrible conditions a person may face in mortality, many of which are attested in his own life (see Doctrine and Covenants 122:5–7).[3] As a final exclamation mark to that awful list, he told the Prophet, “And above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7). Truly, Jesus lived for us, even while “[descending] below them all” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:8) and facing the very jaws of hell (see Isaiah 50:6; 52:14; 53:3–5; Matthew 27:26–35, 45–46; and Luke 22:43–44). Because he perfectly overcame all temptations, we can call upon him for help when we experience our own battles with the adversary today (see Hebrews 4:14–16).

Teachings

I know that my Redeemer lived for us by focusing his life on teaching and revealing truth. He did this in a variety of ways, both directly and indirectly. One example of this is found through a fascinating interchange with his Apostles at the Last Supper. Thomas asked the question, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Jesus’s response revealed the connecting point between all his teachings and our own efforts at discipleship. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He was helping them to see there is no secret passageway or back door into heaven. We can’t get there just by doing good deeds alone. He is the one and only path, or way, to salvation; we must come unto Christ to become more like him and allow him to save us. The way he helps us come unto him is through following his teachings.

Truly, Jesus lived for us every time he revealed his own characteristics, perfections, and attributes through his teaching. He helps us see that his teachings were much more than wise sayings; if we appropriately apply them, his teachings can become character-building blueprints we can use to develop divine attributes in our own life, patterned after his perfection (see Moroni 7:48).

Miracles

I know that my Redeemer lived for us through performing miracles. He healed. He fed. He sustained. He calmed. He gave life to the dead and sight to the blind and a new lease on life for those who had leprosy or who were lame or halt or withered in any manner. He didn’t perform these wonders in isolation. His miracles are instructive object lessons and extensions of his teaching. Not only do his miracles reveal his power in the lives of people two thousand years ago, but they also sharpen our vision to recognize similar healings and blessings in our lives today.

painting of christ healing the daughter of jariusJesus Blessing Jairus's Daughter, by Greg K. Olsen. Courtesy of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

The idea that Jesus lived for us through performing miracles becomes an invitation for us to walk with him and strive to do similar things. We can all seek to find miracles, both large and small, that need to be performed for people who are struggling all around us. This might be lifting up the hands that hang down or feeding the hungry or clothing the naked or giving powerful reassurance to people through blessings or prayer. It could be something as simple as taking the time to “mourn with those that mourn” or “comfort those that stand in need of comfort” (Mosiah 18:9) or to quietly sit with an individual who is struggling. His miraculous show of power and compassion among those who were suffering is another sign that he lived for us. It is also an invitation for us to strive to be a conduit through which heaven’s power can also flow.

Service

I know that my Redeemer lived for us through dozens of examples of selfless service when it would have been much easier and perfectly understandable for him to selfishly turn inward. An example of this selflessness is manifest when Jesus stood in the Kidron Valley, on Gethsemane’s doorstep. On that night, after his Last Supper with the Apostles, he knew he was moments away from beginning the infinite atoning process. At such a crucial time, what could he say to his Apostles? John 14:27 gives us the answer: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Jesus wasn’t just going through the motions nor was he doing or saying things to get sympathy in return from his Apostles. Even at that moment, mere minutes away from infinite agony, Jesus resisted the natural human urge to turn inward, but instead turned outward with care and concern for those with infinitely smaller concerns than his own. Without providing great detail surrounding the infinite agonies he was about to face, he kept the focus on them. He knew how the events of the next few hours would leave the Apostles anxious and troubled, and he reassured them and offered them peace.

The Gospels give us many other examples of Jesus turning outward in the face of his own internal difficulties. For instance, when he received word that John the Baptist had been beheaded, Jesus “departed thence by ship into a desert place apart” (Matthew 14:13). The multitudes saw him leaving and followed on foot so that when he came to shore, there was a great multitude waiting for him. Instead of redirecting the ship, he came ashore and “was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). Amidst his own suffering on the cross, Jesus was concerned about forgiveness for his crucifiers (see Luke 23:34), consoling one of the malefactors hanging on an adjoining cross (see Luke 23:39–43), and assuring that his mother would be cared for by John (see John 19:26–27).

When we face major trials or difficulties, it is easy for us to become self-absorbed and overlook the needs of those around us. It is even harder to take the time to reach out in kindness and compassion as Jesus repeatedly demonstrated. Apparently, his command for us to “comfort those that stand in need of comfort” applies even in times of our own pain and extends to those whose needs and hurts might be less, and at times, significantly less, than our own.

Gethsemane

I know that my Redeemer lived, especially when it would have been much easier to die. He didn’t just survive. He lived and thrived! Never was this reality more important than in Gethsemane and on Golgotha. As we pick up the story in Matthew 26:36, we’re told that he came with them unto a place called Gethsemane, which means oil press. It’s a place where olives were squeezed and pressed under tremendous pressure to get the precious oil out. What a beautifully symbolic name for what Jesus was about to do. Verse 37 tells us, “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy.” He turned to them and said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Put another way, it seems he was expressing the feeling, “This is going to be much harder than I thought. I don’t know if I am going to survive this ordeal in Gethsemane. Please stay awake with me.” In the Doctrine and Covenants, he revealed more about the intensity of his suffering in Gethsemane by saying, “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup and shrink” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18).

As he went further into the garden, it appears that the awaiting burden came in infinite proportions, and it came quickly. After leaving Peter, James, and John, “he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). This is one of the most critical moments in all eternity for the Savior, as well as for us. As the initial pain and anguish of carrying our burdens came crushing down on him in that oil press, he fell to the ground on his face and pled with God to take it away.

Our physical bodies have natural aversions to pain, but this was pain beyond description; it was infinite agony. I can imagine that every element of his physical nature, everything he had inherited from his mortal mother, Mary, at that moment would have likely been pleading with him to give up the ghost and make it stop (see Doctrine and Covenants 19:15–19). I am so grateful that Jesus lived for us rather than giving up early or allowing his spirit to leave his body before the price of our salvation had been paid in full.

Agony

I know that my Redeemer lived for us while enduring incalculable agonies throughout the atoning process. What was in Gethsemane’s symbolic oil press so heavy that he fell to the ground on his face? We know from scripture that he is suffering for our sins, and sins have various consequences attached to them. When we break God’s laws, we experience degrees of guilt, remorse, regret, shame, emptiness, and, at times, self-loathing. Jesus lived a sin-free life so he would have never experienced these negative feelings that come as a result of sinning. That all changed in infinite proportions as he suffered in Gethsemane.[4]

painting of christ in gethsemaneGethsemane, by Jorge Cocco Santángelo. Courtesy of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

King Benjamin gave us the words of an angel who described the intensity of what Jesus endured: “And lo, he shall suffer . . . even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (Mosiah 3:7, emphasis added). The pain and anguish he was enduring was clearly not something we can begin to comprehend. He couldn’t let down his guard and give up. He didn’t stop the process early, even though he had power to do so. His Atonement was a free-will offering, and he was using his agency to model for us what it means to endure to the end.

In addition to all the natural consequences for sin mentioned before, what else was included in the agonies of the Atonement? The Book of Mormon prophets give us additional insights to this question with statements such as “He suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam” (2 Nephi 9:21). King Benjamin said that in addition to our pains, “he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer” (Mosiah 3:7). Alma the Younger added words like afflictions, temptations of every kind, sicknesses, infirmities, and death to our list of agonies (Alma 7:11–13).

Isaiah also added to our understanding of what Jesus experienced: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: . . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: . . . the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3, 5–7).

By combining our biblical descriptions with those from the Book of Mormon, we see that Jesus’s suffering included all mortal pain, anguish, illnesses, and infirmities whether they be physical, mental, emotional, psychological, or spiritual in nature. There is nothing we can teach him about disease, suffering, pain, abuse, heartache, or anguish that he doesn’t already perfectly understand. Indeed, he is the only one who truly understands us. That understanding came at a terrible and infinite cost of his experiencing our struggles vicariously.

Betrayal and Arrest

I know that my Redeemer lived for us in the face of betrayal and a threatening arresting party. After enduring his suffering in Gethsemane, the arresting party arrived in the garden in the middle of the night. It was Passover time, so there would have been a full moon overhead shining down on this group of men who had come with swords, staffs, lanterns, torches, and weapons (see Mark 14:43; Luke 22:52; John 18:3). Also bathed in that light stood Jesus, in quiet but powerful majesty, having just completed his suffering in Gethsemane.[5]

The power emanating from Jesus seemed to have a potent effect on the arresting party. In John’s account, they seemed to be semiparalyzed in a moment of uncertainty after Judas had led them to the Lord. Jesus had to step forward and ask them, “Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he” (John 18:4–5). Notice how the he is italicized in the King James Version of this account. That means it was not present in the Greek manuscripts.[6] “I Am” in this verse came from the Greek words ego eimi. These are the same two words used in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament) for the name of God in the burning bush while speaking with Moses.[7] In using these words, Jesus informed the arresting party that he was, in fact, the great “I Am” from the Old Testament, Jehovah, the God of Israel.

This bold declaration seems to cause the arresting party to fall backward to the ground (see John 18:6). Seeing no movement among the band of men, Jesus repeated the same question and gave the same response regarding his identity. In the face of Judas’s betrayal and their attempts to arrest him, Jesus had the power to destroy all of them, but he didn’t. Jacob, son of Lehi, gave us clarification on this and subsequent settings where Jesus could have easily defended himself: “it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him” (2 Nephi 9:5). Rather than fight back, he chose to submit willingly and meekly. In essence, he told these men, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

At that point Peter came forward and cut off Malchus’s ear.[8] Ironically, only one person came to Malchus’s defense that night; it was the person Malchus had come to arrest. After telling Peter to put his sword away (see John 18:11), Jesus turned to the injured man. The Lord would have been completely justified in saying something like, “Do you really think that hurts?” Malchus was in infinitesimally less pain than that which the Savior had just endured in the garden. Rather than chiding, mocking, or ignoring Malchus’s struggles, Jesus showed us what it looks like to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Jesus healed Malchus’s ear (see Luke 22:50–51).

Many biblical scholars believe that the Gospels were written many years after the events transpired. This could explain why most of the miracles involve unnamed individuals;[9] their names were likely forgotten in the ensuing years. The fact that John gives us Malchus’s name gives me hope that Jesus healed more than an ear that night. There are other possible explanations for why we know his name, but I have hope that something deep in Malchus’s heart was also touched and healed. My hope is that he was later known as “Brother Malchus” by John and those who first received John’s Gospel. Even if that didn’t happen, I know that my Redeemer lived for us in showing us a perfect example in the face of betrayal, arrest, and evil opposition.

Trials before Earthly Tribunals

I know that my Redeemer lived for us while facing judgment before the religious and political leaders of the people. Nephi summed up those trial experiences succinctly when he said, “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore, they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it” (1 Nephi 19:9). Why would he suffer these things to happen when he had the power to stop the abuse at any moment? Nephi gives the answer at the end of verse 9: “because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.”

Once again, everything in his physical nature would have been pleading with him to give up or miraculously prevent the pain from being meted out by these people. To use Isaiah’s phrase, “[He] gave [his] back to the smiters, and [his] cheeks to them that plucked off the hair” (Isaiah 50:6). He truly submitted and suffered all of the injustice and abuse. He lived for us so that he could ultimately fulfill the infinite Atonement on the cross.

Crucifixion

I know that my Redeemer lived for us until he could say the full price had been paid. Shortly after being placed on the cruel cross, by soldiers who treated him with disdain and mocked him as the “King of the Jews,”[10] we hear the first of Jesus’s final words: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Jesus lived for us, even as he began the long painful journey on the cross that would lead to his death, by showing us an example of how to treat our enemies. He also showed compassion to a thief on one of the other crosses that day (see Luke 23:43) as well as his mother, Mary (see John 19:25–27).

Matthew informs us that from roughly noon to three p.m., darkness covered the land (see Matthew 27:45). During that time, the full weight of Gethsemane returned to him while hanging on the cross.[11] President Russell M. Nelson connected Gethsemane with Golgotha when he said,

Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of this and other worlds. He chose to submit to the will of His Father and do something for all of God’s children that no one else could do! Condescending to come to earth as the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, He was brutally reviled, mocked, spit upon, and scourged. In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Savior took upon Himself every pain, every sin, and all of the anguish and sufferings ever experienced by you and me and by everyone who has ever lived or will ever live. Under the weight of that excruciating burden, He bled from every pore. All of this suffering was intensified as He was cruelly crucified on Calvary’s cross.[12]

President Nelson was not the first to comment on the level of intensity of suffering on the cross. Elder James E. Talmage stated it this way: “It seems, that in addition to the fearful suffering incident to crucifixion, the agony of Gethsemane had recurred, intensified beyond human power to endure.”[13] There are many possible reasons why Elder Talmage and President Nelson would both describe the Savior’s suffering as intensified from Gethsemane while on the cross. One factor here is the reality that there were no mocking crowds in the midst of Gethsemane’s agonies like there were at Golgotha (see Matthew 27:42). Another factor could be Luke’s Gospel describing an angel coming to strengthen him in the garden, but none is mentioned during his ordeal on the cross (see Luke 22:43).

Once again, every part of his mortal body would have been pleading with his spirit to give up the ghost, to not have to keep enduring this unfair and infinite agony. I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offered all of us by enduring those three hours, followed by asking for a drink and being offered vinegar (see John 19:28–30). What a glorious moment it must have been when he could finally say what have become three of my favorite words in all of scripture, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Only then could he freely and willingly give up the ghost. Only then did he allow his spirit to leave his body in the sweet release of death that finally stopped the infinite suffering, agony, and abuse. The price for our souls had been paid in full (see 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). He had broken the bonds of hell and would soon break the bands of death through his resurrection (see 2 Nephi 9:7–12). His pierced body was quickly cleaned and hastily placed in the tomb where it would quietly rest for a short time.[14]

The timing is fascinating for the Jewish calendar that year. He died shortly before sundown on that Friday night. Once the sun set, it would have officially been the Sabbath day for the Jews, a day of rest. According to the Gospel of John, that particular Sabbath day was a high Sabbath because it was also the Passover celebration that evening.[15] The irony of this festival is that the firstborn of the Father didn’t get passed over like all the firstborn who had been saved on the original Passover in Egypt, hundreds of years before. The blood of the lamb placed on the lintels of the door and the doorposts had preserved them from dying, but there was no salvation from death for the true Lamb of God on Calvary’s hill.

Resurrection

I know that my Redeemer lived for us on that first Easter morning! It was a most triumphant day of eternity up to that point when Jesus broke the bands of death and walked out of the tomb, glorified and resurrected. From that moment forward, we could boldly declare our witness, “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

painting of christ's resurrectionResurrection, by Jorge Cocco Santángelo. Courtesy of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

As we contemplate the story of Easter morning, I find it helpful to analyze how Jesus lived for us so to open the door for him to complete his infinite Atonement. Furthermore, it is helpful to analyze how I can seek to emulate his perfect example so we can symbolically live in him and he in us (see John 14:20). As we increasingly give our life to him as he completely gave his to the Father, he will increasingly guide, shape, polish, and protect us. His influence will continue to shape us as we face temptations, learn from and emulate his teachings and miracles, practice increasing selflessness, and endure our own agonies, betrayals, and trials of life. The fact that he perfectly lived for us allows us to now sing,

He lives to silence all my fears.

He lives to wipe away my tears.

He lives to calm my troubled heart.

He lives all blessings to impart.[16]

Jesus didn’t walk out of the tomb that morning just so that we could celebrate the event of his resurrection and leave it there. He rose from the dead so we could continually live as well—so we, through him, could have life in us. That life will continue to grow line upon line until that glorious day when, through him, we will ultimately overcome death and hell as well.

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

“I know that my Redeemer lives!”[17]

What joy it also brings to know that our Redeemer lived and that he will yet live inside each of us (see John 14:20) as we seek to allow him to touch our lives, to heal us, to bring life to those parts of our soul that feel dead, to bring new hope to those parts of our soul that feel blind or halt or maimed or leprous in any way. He promised, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). As we allow him to more fully become a part of our life, the reality that he lived for us will give greater meaning and depth to our declaration that he lives for us!

He lives, my kind, wise heav’nly Friend.

He lives and loves me [and you] to the end.[18]

Notes

[1] Samuel Medley, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” Hymns (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1985), no. 136.

[2] Alma the Younger taught, “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind” (Alma 7:11).

[3] The New Testament accounts attest to Jesus experiencing all the trials listed in Doctrine and Covenants 122:5–7 except those listed in verse 6 regarding being torn “from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments.” His mission and travels did cause some rifts with some of his family (see Mark 3:21).

[4] “It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.” Jeffrey R. Holland, “None Were with Him,” Ensign, May 2009, 88.

[5] “The consistency of the Lord’s willing submission and strong self-restraint is both awe-inspiring and instructive for us all. As an armed company of temple guardsmen and Roman soldiers arrived at Gethsemane to seize and arrest Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the right ear of the high priest’s servant. The Savior then touched the servant’s ear and healed him. Please note that He reached out and blessed His potential captor using the same heavenly power that could have prevented Him from being captured and crucified.” David A. Bednar, “Meek and Lowly of Heart,” Ensign, May 2018, 33.

[6] Italicized words are those added by the translators even though the equivalent word doesn’t exist in the source texts written in the original languages of Greek (for the New Testament) and Hebrew (for the Old Testament).

[7] See Exodus 3:14 where (ἐγώ εἰμι, ego eimi) is used where we read in English “I Am.” John’s gospel also emphasizes these two words, but they are especially powerful and relevant for this experience in Gethsemane as they were used in John 8:58.

[8] See Mark 14:47; Matthew 26:51; Luke 22:50–51; and John 18:10–11. Note that all four Gospel writers included this story. We get Malchus’s name only in John’s Gospel. We only get a report of the miraculous healing in Luke’s Gospel.

[9] Most recipients of the Savior’s miracles are described in generic terms such as the centurion’s servant, the widow of Nain’s son, ten lepers, a man born blind, a lame man who was at Bethesda, and so forth.

[10] See Mark 15:2. Pilate referred to Jesus as the “King of the Jews” in all four Gospel accounts: Matthew 27:37; Mark 15:9; Luke 23:38; John 19:3. The only other time Jesus had been given that title was as a young child when the wise men visited him (Matthew 2:2).

[11] “While he was hanging on the cross for another three hours, from noon to 3 p.m., all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane recurred.” Bruce R. McConkie, “The Purifying Power of Gethsemane,” Ensign, May 1985, 10.

[12] Russell M. Nelson, “The Correct Name of the Church,” Ensign, November 2018, 88; final emphasis added.

[13] “In that bitterest hour the dying Christ was alone, alone in most terrible reality. That the supreme sacrifice of the Son might be consummated in all its fulness, the Father seems to have withdrawn the support of His immediate Presence, leaving to the Savior of men the glory of complete victory over the forces of sin and death. The cry from the cross, though heard by all who were near, was understood by few.” James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 34th ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1962), 661.

[14] We speak of his body being in the tomb for three days, but this was likely not a seventy-two hour period. The Jewish day would have ended at sunset, shortly after they placed his body in the tomb (one or two hours at most). The twenty-four hour Sabbath was followed by his being raised from the dead early in the morning of Sunday (less than twelve hours after sunset on Saturday). This would all add up to somewhere between thirty and forty hours in the tomb.

[15] John speaks of the leaders of the Jews not wanting to enter the judgment hall of Pilate so they would remain clean for their feast that evening (see John 18:28).

[16] Medley, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”

[17] Medley, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”

[18] Medley, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”