Messiah the Suffering Servant (9)—With the Rich in Death - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Men appointed His grave with the wicked, but He was with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was there guile in His mouth.
Isaiah 53:9 JND

Messiah the Suffering Servant (9)—With the Rich in Death
In this prophecy, Isaiah describes the type of burial Messiah would have following His death. If Roman crucifixion was brutal and horrific, the burial of its victims matched that death in its indignities. Normally, the crucified criminals were left on the cross after death, along with the nature of their crime on the headboard. This was done as a graphic reminder to passersby what would befall any who ran afoul of Rome’s laws or social order. Over time carrion birds would consume the flesh, and then the bones would be buried in a trench at the crucifixion site. But due to the special circumstances on the day of Christ’s crucifixion—it was high Sabbath of the Passover—the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross. In this case, the bodies were destined for the fiery garbage pit in the Valley of Hinnom. This is the grave which wicked men had “appointed” for our Lord.

However, God had other counsels concerning His beloved Son’s burial, and long before had predicted it through His servant Isaiah. He would be “with a rich man in His death” (nasb). This was fulfilled to the letter when the Lord Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. He was a rich man, and a leader of the Jewish people (Mt. 27:57–60; Mk. 15:42–46). He boldly asked Pilate for the body of Jesus and he, along with his friend Nicodemus, buried the Lord Jesus in his own tomb, “in which no one had ever been laid” (Jn. 19:41). This tomb had never seen death, yet it would receive the Conqueror of death.

Messiah received a burial worthy of the sinless Person He was: “no violence” or “guile” was ever seen in Him. Death itself would be swallowed up by Him. Praise God!

-- Brian Reynolds