Easter reminds us of how important it is that Jesus was resurrected from the tomb that he was buried in after His death. Without the resurrection, there is no hope for the believer in Christ. The Bible tells us in the book of Matthew (Matthew 27:57-61) that the tomb Jesus was laid in was owned by Joseph of Arimathea. But why would Joseph volunteer to put Jesus in this very expensive tomb? Keep in mind that for Joseph's custom, it would not be right to have somebody not in his family laid in his tomb. Everything had to be kosher, as was taught in Leviticus. The clean kept from the unclean. The holy from the unholy. Was it because he liked him? Was it because he felt it would bring him great recognition? Let's look back to the Old Testament to see why perhaps it was about Joseph's understanding of the Old Testament and how it would impact his life.

1 Kings 13:1-31

• A young prophet was deceived by an old prophet into going against what God commanded him to do.
• The young prophet died, and the old prophet was shaken and knew the young prophet had shown righteousness. So he told his family to put the young prophet's body in their family tomb, and that when he died he wanted to be laid next to the young prophet.
• Many Jewish rabbis believe that even though this went against their customs, that the old prophet was doing it because he wanted to gain some of the righteousness of the young prophet after death.

2 Kings 13:1-21

• Elijah was preparing to die and pass on his legacy and responsibilities to Elisha.
• Elisha asked for a double portion of everything.
• Elijah is often credited with conducting 7 miracles.
• Elisha died, and is often credited with conducting 13 miracles...then after death, he conducted what some believe is the 14th miracle. A dead man's body was put in the grave next to Elisha, laying bone to bone, and the dead man stood up and was alive again.

The question is, why did Joseph of Arimathea offer up his expensive new tomb to have Jesus buried in it? It seems that he knew these stories, and he had faith. He wanted to righteousness of Jesus. And he wanted to come back to life when he was dead and laid next to him. What a beautiful picture during the Easter season of how important it is to know the Bible from start to finish. For in it, we can learn all the reasons to have faith and how then we should act.