Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 70
his own end, indicating that he would not die on the cross but would, like Jonah, be only in a state of unconsciousness. 2. The Old Testament says that "a person who dies on the cross is accursed of God". Such a death is inconceivable for a righteous prophet of God and the occurrence of such an event deserves to be rejected out of hand on that score alone. 3. After Jesus was taken down from the cross, his body was handed over to Joseph of Arimathea, a respectable, noble man of the neighbourhood commanding great influence with everyone, including the Romans. He was a secret disciple of Jesus. The handing over of the body of Jesus to him was part of the design of Pilate to save Jesus, since Pilate, both under the influence of his wife's dream and his own conviction, was favourably disposed toward Jesus, and whatever hostile action he took against Jesus was only out of fear of the Jews. Joseph found that Jesus was in fact not dead but only unconscious and removed him to a large new sepulchre in a garden close by. 4. The Gospels afford further proof that it was not in a celestial body but in the same body of flesh and bone which had been nailed to the cross that Jesus appeared to his disciples after his supposed death. Thus we read that Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they sat at a meal (Mark 16:9,14). And when they saw him they supposed that they had seen a spirit but he showed them his hands and feet and asked them to handle him saying, A spirit hath not 62