First, we look at the death of Jesus. When Jesus was crucified for us, the physical veil was torn, and the spiritual veil was truly opened. The Bible records the circumstances of His death in detail, and even the Gentile centurion realized that He was the Son of God! In His death we see God’s mercy and the fulfillment of two prophecies. Second, we talked about the burial of Jesus, with Joseph asking for His body to be laid in his own new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. The Pharisee Nicodemus was also mentioned. He had previously talked with Jesus about born against, God’s love for the world, and whoever practices the truth will come to the Light. Finally we touched on the details of Jesus’ resurrection, although it is a controversial topic, and we explained why we see this way in the Bible. The Bible is saying that at dawn on the first day of the week, Jesus’ resurrection was discovered by Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. Then they divided into two groups. Mary Magdalene went to see Peter and John, and the other Mary went to see them other women. The Gospel of John narrates what happened in the former. After the two disciples returned, Mary Magdalene was the first to see the resurrected Jesus alone. However, because Jesus had not ascended to heaven at that time, she could not touch Him. As for the other Mary who went to see the other women, she met them on the road and joined Mary Magdalene in the tomb, so Mary Magdalene was included here. They saw the appearance of two angels, and they told all these things to the eleven apostles and the rest. In the Gospel of Mark we see an obvious contradiction. Because the Bible is inspired by God, we will ask the same question as before, what does God want to tell us through this obvious contradiction? Here again we see that the consistency of the Bible does not refer to literal words, but the fact that what God tells us through the Bible is consistent. We also recalled one of the possible writing methods of the Bible, that is, how to write it to possibly correct the errors in the various versions in original languages we have them now.
1. The death of Jesus
“It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, beating their breasts. And all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.”(Luke 23:44-49)
We saw that Jesus nailed the cross for us and bled for us, and the material veil of the temple was actually torn in two. No wonder the book of Hebrews says spiritually, “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.”(Hebrews 10:19-20) Here we see that what happens in the physical world has spiritual significance. We also see the reaction of the Gentiles and the people who gathered to watch. He died at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It didn’t take long for Him to be crucified. We see that God’s mercy allowed Him to suffer less. We will share this in detail later.
Matthew’s Gospel records the same thing in more detail, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!””(Matthew 27:50-54)
The centurion and others did not see those resurrected saints, because they did not appear until after Jesus was resurrected. But it was enough that the Centurion and others saw other things! You see, even the Gentiles believed that “Certainly this man was innocent.” The innocent man refers to the Son of God. There is also a brief account of the temple veil being torn in two from top to bottom and the Gentiles seeing that He was truly the Son of God in Mark 15:37-39.
“Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.””(John 19:31- 37)
Although it is not said here who was the person who saw this, we know that the person was John, because this event is recorded in the Gospel of John, and as we have shared before, John was the only apostle before the cross. We saw before that Jesus had to be crucified and use His blood to accomplish the plan of salvation, and He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “…not as I will, but as You will.”(Matthew 26:39) Even so, the scripture says that He died before ordinary people died, so we see God’s mercy in allowing Him to suffer less pain in His last moments on earth. Because of this, two prophecies were thus fulfilled.
The scriptures related to the former are as follows. In the Passover lamb, “…nor are you to break any bone of it.”(Exodus 12:46) Jesus is our true Passover Lamb, “He (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”(2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus is a righteous man, and the Psalm says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He keeps all his bones, Not one of them is broken.”(Psalm 34:19-20) Here we see why Jesus will not break a bone.
The latter is, ““I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.”(Zechariah 12:10) We know that Jesus is the firstborn Son who brings us into the kingdom of God, as the book of Romans says, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”(Romans 8:29) “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen.”
(Revelation 1:7) When Jesus comes again, He will come with the clouds, but now aren’t all the tribes of the earth looking to the one who was pierced?
Some say that His death on the cross before the robbers was to fulfill this prophecy, and that they would look to Him who pierced Him. But if this is the case, Jesus did not need to die so early. He could have died before the piecing, so it should be because of God’s mercy that His suffering was reduced.
2. The burial of Jesus
“And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”(Luke 23:50-56)
Joseph was a disciple of Jesus. He did a very difficult thing. Jesus was crucified, which was absolutely politically incorrect. However, Joseph was willing to ask for the body of Jesus in a political environment that was very unfavorable to him, not changing his hope because of Jesus’ death, and willing to bury Jesus in the tomb prepared for himself. We also saw that after they returned, they prepared spices and ointments to anoint Jesus, but they did not anoint Jesus because Jesus was resurrected. Therefore, the only burial anointment for Jesus was Mary of Bethany did, who anointed Him beforehand, because the Bible says very clearly, “For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.” (Matthew 26:12) And “Truly I (Jesus) say to you, “wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.””(Matthew 26:13) This matter is recorded in three gospels, namely Matthew 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, and John 12:1-8, so it is true wherever the gospel was preached, what this woman had done was told. By the way, Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus twice, because the Gospel of John clarifies, “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.”(John 11:1-2) The first time she anointed Jesus was recorded in Luke 7:36-38, and the second time was recorded in John 12:1-8. This time, Jesus said, “…Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial.”(John 12:7)
The same incident is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, “When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.”(Matthew 27:57-61)
The Gospel of Mark basically records the same thing, “When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.”(Mark 15:42-47)
First of all, we notice that the Gospel of Matthew talks about Mary, referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus, who knew the place where He was buried, while the Gospel of Mark talks about Mary, the mother of Joseph. Later we will share why the book of Matthew is correct.
We have seen that Joseph was not only a member of the Council, but also a wealthy man. It was very reasonable that he could afford to prepare a tomb hewn in the rock for himself. By now, you should have seen that we try to use uncontroversial scriptures to describe what happened whenever possible. For example, the above is from the narratives of the three gospels added together, that is, from their union, we then know what happened about some things. This is because these verses are so clear, so much better than if we were to recount them all together! If there is an obvious contradiction, we would ask what does God want to tell us through this obvious contradiction in the Bible?
Regarding the burial of Jesus, the Gospel of John adds, “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”(John 19:39-42)
The Pharisee Nicodemus had previously talked to Jesus about born again, God’s love for the world, and whoever practices the truth must come to the Light. (See John 3:1-21) The Bible only mentions him once before. He came at night, talked about it, and then became a disciple silently. Therefore, the Gospel of John says, “Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?””(John 7:50-51) Now He’s out in the open!
“Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, “Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I am to rise again.’ Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.”(Matthew 27:62-66) So the tomb of Jesus was not only blocked by big stones, but also guarded by soldiers.
3. Details of Jesus’ Resurrection
In the book of Romans, it says, “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.”(Romans 4:25) How can we be justified without resurrection? Concerning the resurrection, the Gospel of Matthew says this, “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me.” Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”(Matthew 28:1-15)
From the second half of these verses above, we see that the soldiers lied because of the money, and the priests and elders clearly violated the Law which says that we shouldn’t lie. Therefore, the book of James says, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”(James 1:22) Don’t say one thing, but do the opposite.
Then we look at the order of events after Jesus’ resurrection. First of all, what we see from the Gospel of Matthew is that “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb,” so they knew about the Lord’s resurrection, but they did not say they saw Jesus. They did not enter the tomb the first time because the angel of the Lord rolled away the stone and sat on it. Notice that both the angel and Jesus spoke of going to Galilee to meet the resurrected Jesus. Then they divided into two groups: Mary Magdalene went to Peter and John, and Mary went to the other women. Why do you say this?
Let’s take a look at what the Gospel of John says, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. So the disciples went away again to their own homes.”(John 20:1-10)
Because the Gospel of John says that only Mary Magdalene came to tell Peter and John, and we have also seen that Mary Magdalene used us, so that Mary must have gone to another place. Peter arrived later but entered the tomb first, so John was more cautious, while Peter entered the tomb regardless of anything. Because of the burial cloth that Peter saw, he believed the words of Mary Magdalene which said that they did not know where the body of the Lord was placed, because it was then explained that they did not understand the meaning of the Bible, which said that the Lord would rise from the dead.
After the two disciples had returned, “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.”(John 20:11-18)
We see again that the spiritual body of Jesus after his resurrection is very different. Unless He is willing to appear to people, people cannot know Him. Jesus opened the eyes of Mary Magdalene in Hebrew so that she could see Him. Please note that it is clearly stated here that Mary Magdalene did not go in. She saw the two angels and knew where they were sitting. She was alone and was the first to see the resurrected Jesus, but she did not touch Him. After she saw the Lord at this time, she told the disciples what the Lord had said to her. We also see what the book of Hebrews says, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”(Hebrews 2:11)
Then why does the Gospel of Matthew say, “… And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.”(Matthew 28:9) What about? From the viewpoints that what God tells us through the Bible is consistent, it should be because Mary Magdalene did not tell Matthew directly, so the Gospel of Matthew has different records. Although this kind of thing does not happen often, we believe that the last written Gospel of John did correct very few differences in words. Of course, the Gospel of John also added things that were not recorded in the other three Synoptic Gospels. Here we see that the events happened at the same time in all Gospels, and once again we see that the consistency of the Bible does not refer to the words, but what God tells us through is consistent.
Let’s see what the Gospel of Luke says? “But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened.”(Luke 24:1-12)
Before we mentioned that the other Mary in the book of Matthew should have gone to meet other women. They should have met them on the road, otherwise those women would not have prepared spices and came to the tomb. Mary Magdalene should still be there at that time, and they met together, otherwise the Gospel of Luke would not say that they told all these things together to the eleven apostles and the rest, including Mary Magdalene. This time, unlike the two Mary’s in the first time, the women went in this rime, that is, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb in the second time. They suddenly saw the appearance of two angels. This was the same number that Matthew said Mary Magdalene had seen outside the tomb before, but this time they did not say where they were. And they remembered the words of Jesus, which were the same as those given in the Gospel of Matthew, including Mary Magdalene, and they told all these things to the eleven apostles and the rest. Although those people did not believe it, Peter probably believed it at that time and ran to the tomb a second time, wondering in his heart what had happened.
Here we try to restore everything that happened, and we use what God tells us through the Bible to be consistent. Please note that the Bible does not explicitly say that John corrected and supplemented the other three gospels, but we still use the fact that John’s gospel was written last, and it is reasonable to assume this.
Let’s take a look at how the Gospel of Mark says, “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”(Mark 16:1-8)
The resurrection of Jesus mentioned here in Mark’s Gospel and the previous one should be the same thing, because the time stated in the four gospels is the same, at dawn on the first day of the week, but there is an obvious contradiction. First, the people who went to the tomb, Matthew’s Gospel said that they included that Mary, while Mark’s Gospel talked about the Mary, who is the mother of Joseph, and Salome. Here, we may choose to believe the Gospel of Matthew, because Matthew is an apostle and should know better, and we know that Mark heard about it. The main thing is the second point. The three of them went into the tomb and saw only one angel. Although the angel also mentioned that they would go to Galilee first, it was said that the three of them, including Mary Magdalene, did not tell others because they were afraid, so there is an obvious contradiction here since Mary Magdalene did tell. Since the Bible is inspired by God, we will ask the same question as before, what does God want to tell us through obvious contradictions? This should be similar to what we discussed before in “3. The time of the temptation of Jesus and its order” of “1046 The genealogy and the temptations of Jesus, and controversial issues – The image of Jesus (1).” There are more than three things to be tempted by. The order of the three things mentioned in Luke Chapter 4 is different from the order mentioned in Matthew Chapter 4, but in terms of the order in which the temptation event occurred, Luke does say that Yes, it was written in the order of events, after the baptism of Jesus. The Bible is inspired by God. If we are told that it must be literally identical, and thus we think the Bible is wrong and ignore the fact that the Bible is inspired by God. Here we are asked not to pay attention to the detail but the order of the same event. The important thing is to say that the same event occurred.
Please note that with the exception of Mark, the other three gospels are consistent, which leads us to a possible approach to biblical inspiration. Please note that I did not say that the Bible was written this way, but I just emphasized that God already knew that the Bible could not be handed down without error in the original version. He must have considered this issue when he inspired it. Here is just one example to share a method that people can think of, and He will definitely do it more thoughtfully.
Here, we use the basic theory of coding theory to illustrate one of the solutions to this problem. In today’s computers, binary bits are used, and numbers are represented by a series of zeros and ones. When we want to share a zero or a one with another computer, there must be a transmission channel in the middle, but the transmission channel must have errors, just like the original version will be passed down in different versions in original languages which will definitely contain errors. The basic theory behind a method that can automatically correct a transmission line error is as follows. If we see zero then send three zeros, and when we see one, we send three ones. At this time, if the signal received contains only an one, we will know that the signal sent is zero, which means that a transmission channel error, which turns the bit into other way, will be automatically corrected an generated error. In short, because the probability of the channel generating more errors each time will be lower, we can send more duplicate bits when we see a bit. In other words, the output speed will be slower by this way, but we can correct more errors generated by the transmission channel.
What does this have to do with the Bible? Isn’t this similar to biblical consistency? The consistency of the Bible tells us that the same conclusion can be reached by using different scriptures. Compared with the writing method that only needs to be written once, the length of this writing method is increased, but the errors will be reduced. In coding theory, we trade time for fewer errors because we send signals slowly. Here, we use length to achieve the same effect. From this perspective, the Gospel of Matthew is also correct. As mentioned above, God uses the Bible to tell us that the events that happened are the same, not that they must be literally identical.
(Verses refer to those in NASB unless otherwise specified.)
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