I think all Christians know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Unfortunately, not many know that He died for “all-all” of our sins, so they keep confessing them in vain. Few know what His resurrection means for us. And the subject of His burial is completely shrouded in darkness.

When you ask, “What happened to Christ after He was crucified?”, you get the standard answer: “He rose again!” As if the three days and nights never existed. The only thing I have heard is that Jesus was in hell fighting demons and so on, but that is just the sick fantasy of those who like to think about the underworld and write books on demonology. In fact, the meaning of Jesus’ burial is as important as His death on the cross and His resurrection. [1 Cor.15:3-4]

So what is the meaning of Christ’s burial? To understand it, we need to know that Jesus was born not only as a man like us, but also as the representative of all mankind. How can that be? Because He is God, and with God all things are possible. That is why the Bible calls Him the last [not the second] Adam. [1 Cor.15:45] But aren’t there millions of people like Adam walking around? How can He be the last? Jesus died on the cross as all mankind; that is why it says that all died and we regard no one according to the flesh any more. [2 Cor.5:14-16] So when we look at Jesus on the cross, it is better not to look at Him as a separate person [thereby separating ourselves from Him], but to see: “Here, in His body, I died to sin, to sickness, to the law and to this world.”

It is the same with Jesus’ burial. Jesus, born as a man, taking the form of the last Adam, or of man in the flesh, became sin in the flesh on the cross and died there, and then He was buried. So our old man, or sinful flesh with all its passions, not only died but was also buried and covered with a stone, so that it would not smell. But instead of realising that the old man was done away with 2,000 years ago and buried, many are engaged in what you might politely call “exhumation”, trying to fight a dead man. Paul writes: “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt [in the grave] according to the deceitful lusts … and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” [Eph.4:22-24] Realise that you are a new creation in Christ!