In the light of these facts, the view we have been considering is utterly untenable.  It is no matter for wonder that Jesus, after such exhaustion, died six hours after He had been lifted up on the cross.  The circumstances which preceded His dying are not consistent with the opinion that while in the sepulchre He recovered from a swoon.  It is not possible to conceive that a man, wounded and bruised—­His hands, feet, and side pierced with nails and spear—­could appear so soon, bright and radiant, strong and vigorous, undistressed by pain or weakness, and possessing power of movement not only restored, but marvellously augmented.  If Jesus was not really “dead,” no explanation can be given of His disappearance from history.  If He had really lived as a man after His crucifixion, we should have looked for a fresh outbreak of persecution directed against Him.  We have His own testimony by the Spirit, “I am he that liveth, and was dead."[109]

SECTION 4.—­AND BURIED

Isaiah thus prophesied regarding the burial of the Messiah:  “He was cut off out of the land of the living ... and he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death."[110] In ordinary circumstances, the body of a crucified person would not have received burial.  It was the Roman custom to leave the bodies of slaves and criminals, who alone were subjected to this punishment, suspended on the cross, a prey to beasts and birds, and when these and the elements had done their work upon the flesh, the remains were ignominiously cast out.  The Jews, who inflicted capital punishment not by crucifixion but by stoning, did not thus deal with the bodies of malefactors; but, as the law directed, gave them burial on the night of execution.[111] The presence of dead bodies in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem during the Passover festival was regarded as a defilement, and steps were taken to have those of Jesus and the malefactors removed.  The Jews could not themselves dispose of the bodies, because they would have sustained pollution by contact with them, and also because they had made over to the Romans the execution of the death-sentence.  “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."[112] This request was granted, but, through the interposition of Joseph, a rich man of Arimathaea—­to whom, as a member of the supreme council, the resolution for the removal of the bodies would be known—­that of Jesus escaped the ignominious treatment to which the others were subjected.  He came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus, securing for it an honourable burial such as the Jews had not contemplated.  Pilate “gave” the body to Joseph, and he bought fine linen, and took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen and laid Him in a sepulchre, which was hewn out of a rock.[113]