“The Captives Freed”
Luke 23:50-56

“Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before.” [Luke 23:53]

What happened after that? What happened during the time in the Tomb?

The captives were freed!

The seven brief verses of our passage this morning is a record of our Lord’s burial. His body was taken down from the Cross and placed in “a tomb that was hewn out of the rock.”  

We tend to focus on the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, which we should, but we should not overlook the burial, particularly the “three days and three nights” in between. Because a whole lot happened during that time. The Captives were freed.

The tomb that the body was place in was Joseph of Arimathea’s, a member of the Sanhedrin who “had not consented to their decision and deed.”  John recorded a second person, Nicodemus, another Sanhedrin, who helped Joseph take the body down from the cross and place it in the tomb [ref Jn 19:39].

Last week we looked at what happened when Jesus died, the moment He “yielded up His spirit” [Matt 27:50]. “The veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” [Matt 27:51], and in His physical death the power of sin was defeated.

But now, after death, came the burial and resurrection. This morning, we will look at several scriptures regarding the burial. What happened in those three days and three nights before the Resurrection?

There are several prominent Bible passages that provide insight, and we will review them all. Here’s a list for you to refer to and study on your own time: Matt 12:40; Eph 4:7-10; Isa 61:1-2; Lk 4:18; Lk 19:19-31; Acts 2:25-33; and Ps 16:10.

There is also the Apostles Creed that describes the time right after the burial. And while the Apostles Creed was written by men interpretating Scripture, and IS not Scripture itself, I personally believe that the interpretation is accurate.

We will, however, concentrate on Scripture to understand the time just after the Cross and just before the Resurrection. 

It was three days and three nights and during that time the Captives were freed. Those souls in Hades on the side of Paradise were freed by the “better blood” of Messiah Jesus Who led them to heaven and into the very presence of God.