Paper 188 Overview: The Time of the Tomb

The approximately thirty-six-hour interval between Jesus' death on the cross and his morontia resurrection represents a period about which limited factual information is available to the revelators. During this time, Jesus' physical remains rested in Joseph of Arimathea's newly hewn sepulchre while his disciples secluded themselves in fear and confusion. The contrast between the disciples' lack of expectancy regarding the resurrection and the Jewish authorities' concern about Jesus' prediction to rise on the third day underscores the complex dynamics following the crucifixion. The Jewish leaders secured Pilate's authorization for both Roman and temple guards to maintain vigilance at the sealed tomb, determined to prevent any possibility of the disciples staging a false resurrection.

Beyond the historical narrative lies the cosmic significance and theological meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. Traditional misinterpretations of Jesus' death as a sacrificial atonement to appease divine wrath or as a ransom for humanity's sins are systematically refuted. Instead, the crucifixion represents the natural culmination of Jesus' complete mortal life experience, a supreme demonstration of divine love, and a transformative revelation of God's true nature as a loving Father rather than a stern sovereign. The cross stands as both a universal symbol of selfless service and an eternal inspiration for beings throughout Nebadon and beyond, illustrating how sacrificial love can transcend and ultimately defeat evil, not through resistance but through transformative goodness.

The period of approximately thirty-six hours during which Jesus' mortal body lay in Joseph's tomb, spanning from Friday afternoon until early Sunday morning, represents an enigmatic chapter in the incarnation narrative of Michael of Nebadon. The revelators acknowledge the limitations of their knowledge regarding the precise metaphysical details of this interim period, though they can provide authenticated accounts of the burial and subsequent resurrection events. Jesus' body remained on the cross for approximately one hour after his death before being removed by Roman soldiers, a process delayed by the need to dispatch the two brigands crucified alongside him, whose deaths had to be hastened by breaking their legs.

The Jewish religious authorities had initially intended to have Jesus' body disposed of in the open burial pits of Gehenna along with common criminals, which aligned with their attempt to discredit and diminish his status and teachings. However, Joseph of Arimathea, accompanied by Nicodemus, intervened by approaching Pilate to request custody of Jesus' body for a dignified burial. Though prepared to offer financial inducement, a common practice when friends of crucified individuals sought to claim remains, Joseph received Pilate's authorization without payment. Meanwhile, the sandstorm that had dramatically darkened the sky during Jesus' final hours had abated sufficiently for a contingent from the Sanhedrin to venture to Golgotha, ostensibly to ensure Jesus' body would be disposed of in the criminal burial pits, only to discover that Pilate's order had superseded their intentions.

Upon arriving at Golgotha, Joseph and Nicodemus encountered Roman soldiers in the process of removing Jesus from the cross, supervised by representatives of the Sanhedrin who were ensuring that none of Jesus' followers could intervene. When Joseph presented Pilate's authorization for custody of the Master's body, the Jewish officials erupted in protest, attempting forcibly to take possession of the corpse. The Roman centurion immediately commanded four of his soldiers to take defensive positions around Jesus' body while the remaining troops repelled the agitated Jewish contingent. After order was restored, the centurion acknowledged Pilate's directive and relinquished the body to Joseph, withdrawing his men from the two thieves whose remains were destined for the criminal burial grounds.

Jewish religious law explicitly prohibited burying crucified persons in Jewish cemeteries, a restriction Joseph and Nicodemus had anticipated during their journey to Golgotha. Their solution was to utilize Joseph's newly constructed family tomb, hewn from solid rock and fortuitously located near the crucifixion site, just north of Golgotha across the road leading to Samaria. Joseph maintained genuine faith in Jesus' promised resurrection, though Nicodemus harbored significant doubts about this possibility. Around 4:30 PM, the burial procession commenced from Golgotha to Joseph's tomb, with four men—Joseph, Nicodemus, John, and the Roman centurion—carrying Jesus' linen-wrapped body, followed by the faithful women who had witnessed the crucifixion. The body was prepared according to Jewish practice, not through actual burial but through embalming with myrrh and aloes, wrapping it in bandages saturated with these preservative solutions, covering the face with a napkin, and placing it reverently on a shelf within the tomb chamber.

Following the placement of the body, the centurion assisted in rolling the heavy doorstone into position, after which the men departed for Jerusalem to observe the Passover feast, while the women lingered near the tomb until darkness fell. These women—Mary Magdalene, Mary (Clopas's wife), Martha (another sister of Jesus' mother), and Rebecca of Sepphoris—deemed the burial preparations insufficient and resolved to return after the Sabbath with additional spices and ointments to properly prepare the Master's body for its final rest.

While Jesus' followers demonstrated a remarkable absence of anticipation regarding his resurrection, despite his repeated declarations that he would rise on the third day, his adversaries exhibited far greater attentiveness to these predictions. The chief priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees convened a midnight meeting at Caiaphas's residence following the Passover supper to address their concerns about Jesus' resurrection claims. Their deliberations culminated in the appointment of a Sanhedrin committee tasked with visiting Pilate early the next morning to secure Roman guards for the tomb. Their spokesperson articulated their anxiety to Pilate, stating: "We remember that this deceiver, Jesus of Nazareth, said, while he was yet alive, 'After three days I will rise again,'" and expressed apprehension that Jesus' disciples might surreptitiously remove the body and then proclaim a resurrection, creating what they considered an even more problematic situation than before.

Pilate acquiesced to their request, allocating ten Roman soldiers to guard the sepulchre, though his terse instruction—"Go your way and make the tomb secure"—suggested possible irritation at the continued demands following Jesus' execution. The Sanhedrin reinforced this watch with ten of their own temple guards, creating a substantial security detail at the tomb. These twenty men implemented additional safeguards, rolling another stone before the tomb entrance and affixing Pilate's official seal on and around the stones, establishing a tamper-evident barrier that could not be disturbed without detection. This combined force of Roman and Jewish guards maintained continuous vigilance at the tomb throughout the Sabbath day and into Sunday morning, with the Jewish authorities ensuring they received regular provisions of food and drink. This extraordinary level of security, established on the Sabbath morning in contravention of normal religious observance, underscored the Jewish leadership's profound anxiety about the potential fulfillment of Jesus' resurrection prophecy, ironically demonstrating greater regard for his words than his own followers exhibited.

Throughout the Sabbath, Jesus' disciples and apostles remained sequestered in various hiding places. Meanwhile, Jerusalem's population, significantly expanded by the presence of approximately 1.5 million Jewish pilgrims attending Passover week, engaged in extensive discussion about Jesus' crucifixion. This massive gathering of visitors from throughout the Roman Empire and Mesopotamia represented an unprecedented opportunity for disseminating news of the resurrection, should it occur as Jesus had foretold. As evening approached, John Mark clandestinely summoned the eleven apostles to his father's home, where they reassembled in the upper chamber that had hosted the Last Supper merely two nights prior. It was a poignant setting for their continued uncertainty and fear.

The dispersal of Jesus' family and followers reflected the disorganization and anxiety pervading his movement following the crucifixion. Mary, Jesus' mother, accompanied by Ruth and Jude, returned to Bethany shortly before sunset to reunite with other family members. David Zebedee established himself at Nicodemus's residence, having arranged for his messenger corps to assemble there early Sunday morning. The Galilean women who had prepared spices for Jesus' proper embalming remained at Joseph of Arimathea's home, strategically positioning themselves to visit the tomb at dawn. During this period, Jesus' physical form lay undisturbed in the sepulchre, yet the revelators acknowledge their limited understanding of his metaphysical state during this interval, noting that he appeared to experience the same natural death that would befall any mortal under similar circumstances.

The revelators offer cautious speculation regarding the status of Jesus' various consciousness components during the tomb period, suggesting that Michael's Creator consciousness likely operated independently of its former physical incarnation, while Jesus' former Thought Adjuster maintained command of the assembled celestial hosts on Urantia. They posit that the acquired spirit identity Jesus had developed throughout his mortal life, through the Thought Adjuster's efforts and his own perfect alignment with the Father's will, was likely entrusted to the Paradise Father's custody. They further speculate that Jesus' human consciousness experienced no temporal awareness during these thirty-six hours, perceiving resurrection as occurring immediately following death without intervening time lapse. The revelators note multiple indicators of significant celestial activity during this period, including: the appearance of the "Michael Memorial" on the first mansion world of Satania; an executive meeting of Salvington's supreme council on Urantia under Gabriel's presidency; communications between the Ancients of Days and Michael; message exchanges between Michael and Immanuel; the presence of a personality in Caligastia's position within the Planetary Princes council on Jerusem; and instructions from Michael to the Constellation Father of Norlatiadek who had come to Urantia.

The revelators emphatically reject numerous theological misconceptions concerning Jesus' crucifixion, categorically stating that Jesus did not die to atone for humanity's racial guilt, to appease an offended deity, or to provide access to an otherwise unforgiving God. The Son of Man did not offer himself as a sacrifice to assuage divine wrath or create a pathway for sinful humanity to attain salvation. Despite refuting these erroneous interpretations, the revelators affirm that profound significance nevertheless attaches to Jesus' death on the cross—a cosmically recognized event that has established Urantia as the "World of the Cross" among neighboring inhabited planets. These clarifications serve to dismantle sacrificial atonement theories while preserving the genuine spiritual import of the crucifixion.

Jesus sought to experience a complete mortal life cycle on Urantia, which naturally culminated in physical death—the universal conclusion of material existence. The revelators caution against two equal extremes: uncritically accepting false interpretations of the crucifixion's meaning, and failing to perceive its authentic significance. They emphasize that mortal humans were never the property of "archdeceivers" or "apostate rulers" requiring ransom, and the Paradise Father never conceived of condemning souls for ancestral transgressions. Jesus' death was neither an attempt to satisfy a divine debt nor to placate an offended sovereign. Rather, the Father's love and mercy, as portrayed by Jesus, superseded the earlier, more limited concepts of God's dignity and justice taught by Moses and others. Fundamentally, Jesus lived and died for an entire universe, not merely for Urantia's inhabitants, and while mortals throughout Nebadon had access to salvation before Jesus' incarnation, his bestowal illuminated the pathway to survival and made the certainty of post-mortal continuation more evidentially apparent.

While acknowledging that terms like "sacrificer," "ransomer," or "redeemer" are inappropriate designations for Jesus, the revelators affirm the legitimacy of "savior" as an accurate descriptor. Jesus definitively clarified and secured the path of salvation for all mortals across the universe of Nebadon. Once one comprehends God as the loving Father that Jesus consistently taught, one must logically abandon primitive notions of God as an offended monarch or stern ruler whose primary satisfaction derives from detecting wrongdoing and imposing punishment, unless some near-equal being volunteers to suffer as a substitute. The entire construct of ransom and atonement fundamentally contradicts Jesus' revelatory presentation of God's infinite love as the preeminent divine attribute. The conceptual framework of atonement and sacrificial salvation ultimately stems from selfishness rather than selflessness.

Jesus taught that service to others represents the brotherhood's highest spiritual ideal, with salvation assumed as a given for those who acknowledge divine parentage. The genuine believer's primary concern transcends personal salvation to embrace the unselfish impulse to love and serve others as Jesus exemplified in his ministry to humanity. Even if God were conceptualized as a stern legalistic sovereign, such a deity would find no satisfaction in the substitution of an innocent sufferer for guilty offenders. The supreme value of Jesus' death lies not in the mere fact of his physical demise but in the superlative manner and matchless spirit with which he faced mortality, demonstrating the transcendent power of love even in life's most extreme circumstances.

The cross of Jesus demonstrates the supreme devotion of an authentic shepherd toward even the undeserving members of his flock, permanently establishing all relationships between God and humanity on familial rather than monarchical foundations. God relates to humans as Father to children rather than as king to subjects, fundamentally transforming the spiritual paradigm from one based on justice to one centered on love. Jesus' attitude toward transgressors eschewed both condemnation and condonation, instead offering eternal and loving salvation. His love possesses such transformative potency that it awakens reciprocal love within human hearts, manifesting a contagious spiritual quality with perpetual creative potential.

The divine love exemplified on the cross transcends mere forgiveness of wrongs; it actively absorbs and permanently eradicates them. Jesus introduced to Urantia an unprecedented approach to confronting evil, not through resistance but through the discovery of a transcendent goodness that effectively neutralizes malevolence. The forgiveness emanating from Jesus' love surpasses conventional mercy by achieving comprehensive rehabilitation rather than simple absolution. True love refuses to compromise with or condone hatred but instead destroys it utterly. Jesus' love extends beyond forgiveness to encompass complete restoration and eternal survival, justifying characterizations of salvation as redemption when understood as perpetual rehabilitation.

Through his personal love for humanity, Jesus shattered sin's dominion and liberated individuals to choose superior modes of existence. His example portrayed deliverance from past transgressions that simultaneously promised future triumph. When divine love fully penetrates the human heart, it permanently dispels evil's attraction and nullifies its influence. Jesus' sufferings were not confined to the crucifixion but encompassed his entire twenty-five-year experience of mortal existence with its countless challenges and restrictions. The cross's genuine value derives from its function as the definitive expression of his love and the complete revelation of his mercy.

The sacrificial death of Jesus has profoundly impacted countless evolving beings across millions of inhabited worlds throughout the universe. When faced with overwhelming moral struggles and spiritual challenges, innumerable creatures have drawn renewed determination from contemplating Jesus on the cross, finding inspiration to persevere in their spiritual development. The triumph embodied in the crucifixion culminates in Jesus' remarkable attitude toward his persecutors, epitomized in his prayer: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." This extraordinary demonstration of love proved contagious throughout the extensive universe; Jesus' disciples assimilated this spirit of forgiveness, as evidenced when Stephen, the first gospel teacher martyred for his faith, echoed similar sentiments while being stoned to death. The cross makes its supreme appeal by revealing one willing to surrender his life in service to others—a love so expansive that it embraced not only friends but also enemies, surpassing any manifestation of love previously witnessed on earth.

The cross symbolizes the zenith of unselfish service and supreme devotion, representing the complete bestowal of a righteous life in wholehearted ministry culminating in sacrificial death. The mere contemplation of this profound symbol of Jesus' bestowal existence inspires beings throughout creation to emulate his example. When thoughtful individuals contemplate Jesus offering his life on the cross, they find themselves less inclined to complain about life's hardships or dwell on trivial grievances. Jesus' glorious life and triumphant death exert a compelling, attractive force that invites universal participation in both his living example and his sacrificial devotion. When viewing the cross as a revelation of God, observers must transcend primitive or barbaric perspectives that conceptualize deity as a relentless Sovereign obsessed with justice and rigid law enforcement. Instead, they should recognize in the cross the ultimate manifestation of Jesus' love and commitment to his bestowal mission among the mortal races of his vast universe.