in the 21st chapter of Deuteronomy. There's five sections to this
chapter, and I'm going to hurry through all of them if I can.
If you'll be patient with me, we'll try to get through all
of these. Verses 1-9, there's an inquiry made as to the death
of a stranger, a man that had been killed. That's what we see
first of all in verses 1-9. Verses 10-14, we have a Jew that
takes to himself a Gentile wife, an alien wife. We'll look at
that. Then verses 15-17, the surety
of the firstborn. The firstborn had certain rights
and privileges and blessings, and the Lord spoke here to assure
those rights. And then 18-21, a stubborn and
rebellious son He was to be stoned. And then, a very familiar passage
in verses 22 and 23, a criminal who was crucified. And we want
to link these together if we can. First of all, then, let's
look at the first section in verses 1 through 9. This is strange. If one be slain in the land which
the Lord your God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field,
and it be not known who hath slain him, Then the elders and
thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the
cities which are round about him that is slain. It shall be
that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders
of that city, shall take an heifer, which hath never been worked
or wrought with, which hath never drawn in the yoke. And the elders
of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley,
which is neither aired nor sewn. and shall strike off the heifer's
neck there in the valley. And the priests, the sons of
Levi, shall come near. For them the Lord thy God hath
chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the
Lord. And by their word shall every controversy and every stroke
be tried. And all the elders of that city
that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over
the heifer that is beheaded in the valley. Answer and say, Our
hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
Be merciful, O Lord, unto Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast
redeemed, and lay not innocent blood upon Thy people of Israel,
let not their charge, and the blood shall be forgiven them.
So shall Thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among
you, when Thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of
the Lord." Now here in this passage, this section, In the first section,
we have a man who has been killed and no one knew who he was. And
no one knew who killed him or why he was killed. And these
judges and these elders were called, and you could see them
coming down out of the various towns and communities. And they
measure from where the man lay until the closest community,
the closest town. And then, the closest town took
responsibility for this man's Death. And then, of course, the
judges, they were there to judge according to the law. These were
men who knew the law. And we're told here in chapter
25, just to your right over chapter 25, about these judges. Boy, these were powerful men.
People stood in awe. It was sort of probably like
the federal judges that we have today and think of today. Very,
very powerful people. Here in the 25th chapter, and
look in verse 1 and 2, what is said about these men. If there
be a controversy between men, and they come into judgment,
that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous,
and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked
man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to
lay down, and to be beaten before His face according to His fault
by a certain number." So these judges were powerful people.
They knew the law. And if you sinned against the
law of Moses or the law of the land, these judges were the ones
that told you what your sins were, and they pronounced the
judgment, and sometimes they executed these judgments. Here
in the 19th chapter, look at these elders in verse 11 and
verse 12. 19th chapter and verse 11 and
verse 12, these elders, they were representatives of the people.
They spoke for the people and the people were accountable to
these representatives, to these elders. If you were guilty, if
you did something, they sought you out. They inquired throughout
the town if a certain crime had been done. They were like the
investigators. And they sought you out and they
brought you before the judges. So these men were the judges
and the prosecutors of Israel in those days. They represented
the people. Look in chapter 19 and verse
11 and 12 what we're told about these men. I think it's in chapter
19. But if any man hate his neighbor,
and lie in wait for him, and raise up against him, and spite
him mortally, that he die, and fleeth unto one of these cities
of refuge, Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch
him thence, and deliver him unto the hand of the avenger of blood,
that he may die." So here we get a picture of what these elders
and these judges did. And when they found this slain
man, here's the first two groups of people they called for. These
judges who knew the law and the elders who represented the people
and could investigate to see who was responsible in this town. And the townspeople saw the stern
faces of these judges and they heard the elders inquiring about
this slain man. They saw him go from door to
door. Can you imagine how serious and solemn this was? I bet you
there were people standing out there where they found this man,
and I bet you some of them were trembling and waiting to see,
is my community going to be the closest one? Are we going to
be held responsible for this? Is somebody in our town guilty
of killing this man? So it was a very solemn occasion
when something like this happened. And what this does, it shows
to us the value that God put upon one human life. If you found one man that was
a stranger and he was dead, basically the whole community and the activity
in that community shut down. And they called these judges
and these elders together and they investigated to see who
was guilty of the crime of murder, even this stranger. And this
teaches us that it's a fearful thing to do any injustice to
any person. to falsely accuse anybody, or
to harm anybody physically or spiritually. It's a crime against
God, and God Himself takes it seriously. The Bible says, Honor
all men. Honor everybody. Don't do unjust
harm to anybody. I think the Lord Jesus taught
us the worth of one single person. when he was preaching the message
about what would a man give in exchange for his soul? If one
man, he said, gained the whole world and lose his soul, what
would a man give in exchange for his soul? In other words,
one person, no matter how mean and unknown or stranger he is,
one person is worth more than this world. It's what he was
teaching. That's the value that God puts
upon one person here, even though he was a stranger. Then we're told here in verse
3, here's what had to take place. After these men had begun to
investigate, they couldn't find out who was guilty. No one in
the town seemed to be guilty of this man's murder. And in
verse 3, they brought this full-grown heifer. And they took her, and
this is a very cruel death. They struck off this heifer's
neck. Probably someone took a sharp
sword and if the first lick didn't do it, they took a second or
a third, however many it took to take off this heifer's neck.
One man said this about it, the cruel killing of this poor heifer
was a repetition of the tragedy and was well fitted to bring
the guilt of murder before these people. Thus was the sense of
the sin deepened. What a solemn thing it was to
see this heifer let out and her neck chopped off. It made them
realize, this is serious. This is serious. And in verse
4, we're told something else. They were to bring this heifer
here to a rough valley. A valley that was not fit. It
was so rough and so rocky and hilly, it wasn't fit to plow. You couldn't plow it or you couldn't
sow seed in it. I looked up this word stream.
I saw it in some of the commentaries. And I looked it up, stream, this
valley, this rough valley. And valley here indicates also
a stream, that it was a creek or something that flooded during
the times of great rains. But it indicates that this rough
valley had a creek running down through it. And all of this was
done in the sight of these judges, in the sight of these elders,
and no doubt in the sight of these people. Not until all this
was accomplished now, here's I think something that we can
see that appeals to us, not until all of this was accomplished
could verse 5 take place. Then the priest came on the scene. The priest came on the scene.
What did he come on the scene for? Well, look in verse 5. And
the priests, the sons of Eli, shall come near. For them the
Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the
name of the Lord, that by their word every controversy and every
stroke shall be tried. Why did they come? Well, they
come there to bless. But they could only bless after
the offering of this heifer. Until all of this was accomplished,
the priest could not bless in the name of the Lord. And what
was their blessing? Mercy. Forgiveness. We find that there
in verse 8 and verse 9. Be merciful, O Lord, unto Thy
people, and He says in the last portion, and the blood shall
be forgiven them. And this was the announcement
of these the priest, but it was only after the sacrifice that
the priest could pronounce the blessing. What does this teach us? Well,
this teaches us of the Lord Jesus, doesn't it? All of these things
in some way or another, we can't always see them, but they teach
us about Christ and that redemption that is in Him. You and I begin
to get a clear sight, haven't we? of God's justice. God's justice
against sin. God's holiness against iniquity.
We begin to see that, haven't we? The Lord begins to show us
that He's holy, holy, holy. We felt the weight of that. We
see sin in its blackness and darkness like we've never seen
it before. We liken ourselves to these townsmen
watching those judges and watching those elders as they investigate
this murder. We know something about the strictness
of God's justice and His holiness. And the Son of God left heaven
and came to this earth, and for Him this earth was a low and
rough valley. Listen to Ephesians chapter 4
verse 8 and 9. Wherefore, he saith, when Christ ascended up
on high after His resurrection, He led captivity captive, and
gave gifts to men. Now that He ascended, what is
it first, that He also descended first unto the lower parts of
the earth?" He ascended after His resurrection. Boy, but when
He came down from heaven, He descended. He came to the lowest
parts of this earth. He came so low that He was enclosed,
that He was conceived in the womb of a virgin. That's low,
isn't it? That's the lower parts of this
world. That's a valley indeed. And then He was brought forth
and laid in a manger there in a stable, seen of angels. The Bible says He was made a
little lower than the angels. What a rough life it was for
the Lord Jesus Christ and dear. The Bible says He was a servant.
He came forth as a servant. He was despised and rejected
of men. He fled from an angry king in
His birth. And He was tried and sentenced
to death by one when He died. He was tempted of Satan. He had
a life lower even than the foxes and the birds. They had holes
to get in. They had nests to get in. But
He had no place to lay His head. He was sustained by women who
ministered unto Him. He was judged as a criminal and
died a violent death while being mocked by His enemies. And when
they took Him down from the cross, they laid Him in a borrowed tomb.
This was a low place for Him, wasn't it? And it was a rough
valley. It was a rough valley. And yet,
it's over this sacrifice that we wash our hands like these
men did when they washed their hands over this heifer. We wash
more than our hands, we wash our hearts. And it's by this
sacrifice that we obtain mercy and forgiveness of all our sins.
And we can proclaim our innocence, for we see all our sins carried
away. Just as the blood of this heifer
was carried away in that stream, Our sins are carried away in
the streams of Christ's blood, and we are forgiven of all our
iniquity. What a beautiful picture, if you can see it, of the Lord
Jesus Christ and redemption by Him. Let's look at the second
thing here. A Jew takes an alien wife. Let's look at that in verse 10
and through verse 14. When thou goest forth to war
against your enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them
unto your hands, and you have taken them captive, and you see
among the captives a beautiful woman, and you have a desire
unto her that thou wouldst have her to be your wife, then shall
you bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head,
and cut her nails, trim her nails, pair them close, and she shall
put the raiment of her captivity off her, and shall remain in
thine house, and be well, mourn her father and her mother a full
month, And after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband,
and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have
no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whether she
will, but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, for thou
shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled
her." Now here we have a Jew, and there was a war, we're told
there in verse 10. The Jews had gone to battle against
some foreigners. It wasn't in the land of Canaan
now because they weren't allowed to take one of them to be their
wives. They had gone beyond the borders
of Canaan. They had gotten war with the
people. They had whipped the people and they had taken them
captive. They had defeated their enemies
and they had taken these women captive. And then in verse 11,
a Jew sees this beautiful woman. He desires her for his wife.
In verses 12 and verse 13, This beautiful woman makes herself
ugly. What she does, she takes off
her beautiful clothes, arraignment. Back then when women, when their
husbands were going to war, they prayed they were going to be
killed. So what they did, they docked out. They put all their
jewelry on and all their beautiful clothes on, so when they were
taken captive, they wouldn't be killed. They did that to preserve
their own life. They made themselves beautiful.
So this woman here pulled off those beautiful clothes. She
cut her nails real short and she shaved her head. So she made
herself unattractive. Why did she do this? Well, we're
told here that true love was to be in the eyes of the beholder
and not in her personal beauty. If she was ugly, would He still
love her? After a month, would He take
her then to be His wife? And then the last portion of
verse 13, she was to bewail her father and mother for a full
month. Now what was she doing? She was dying to her former life. She was bewailing her mother
and her father. She was dying to herself. She
was going to become the wife of a new husband. She was going
to have a new house, a new people, a new life. but she had to first
die. That's what the man required.
You're not going to be my wife and always be wanting to go back
to your old home place and see your mom and dad. You've got
to die to them. So he gave her a month to do
that. Now what do we see in this? Well,
we see the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, marrying each of
His elect people. He's gained a victory over our
enemies. He already did that. He has gained
the enemy over the wrath of God, over the curse of the law, over
sin and its dominion, over death and hell and Satan, and He begins
to bring each one of His elect, one by one, to be married to
Him. And when He does that, what does
He do? When He has subdued our enemies,
He brings us to be married to them. What does He do with us
then? Well, here's what we do. We begin
to strip off everything that we thought was beautiful about
ourselves, just like this woman did. They become vile in their
own estimation, and they die to their former life of sin and
alienation against the Lord, and Christ Himself takes them,
each one, to be his wife, and to be his husband. He provides
them with a new raiment. He provides them with a new house,
a new people, a new family, and a new life. And her beauty is
not of herself, but it's what Christ Himself puts upon her. Now, can't you see yourself in
this? Don't you make yourself vile before Him? You have no
beauty of your own anymore, do you? You're wretched. You're vile. And the only beauty
now that you have is the beauty that He has put upon you. You remember Ezekiel chapter
16 where the Lord Jesus found that little baby cast out in
the open field, and it had nobody to protect it, nobody to save
it. And it was laying there polluted in its blood. And the Lord said,
I pass by you, and when you were polluted in your blood, you lay
there naked. I spread My skirt over you, and
I clothe your nakedness. And here's what He said, after
He went through this big rigmarole about what all I put on you,
I put My jewelry on you and My skirt over you. He says, Thy
renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty. For your beauty. But listen to this, where did
she get her beauty? She said, I'm vile. I've shaved my head. Look how ugly. I've put off my
beautiful garments. I'm nothing. I'm a vile, ugly
person. But he talks about her beauty.
Where did she get her beauty? For it was perfect through my
humbleness, my splendor, my righteousness, which I put upon thee, saith
the Lord. You've got beauty. but it's not
what you come into this world with. It's not anything you've
dressed up yourself with. It's the beauty that Jesus Christ
Himself put upon you. Christ loved His church, and
the cause of that love was not found in His church. And the
beauty is not her own, but it's what He clothed her with. The garments of salvation. The
robe of righteousness. Ain't that a beautiful picture?
Such a beautiful picture. I don't know of anybody Christ
marries, but what those who put off their beautiful garments
and are clothed with Him. Then they find out that He loves
them, not because of any beauty He saw in them. But He loved her and He sees
beauty in her because He sees Himself. They tell me, and I
don't know if this is true, but I think the Bible probably proves
this, They love to look in mirrors.
They say they love to look in the water. They'll sit for long
periods of time and look in the water. And what they say they
see is a reflection of themselves. Well, the Lord Jesus is that
way, and He calls His bride little doves, doesn't He? When you see
yourself now, what do you see? Reflection of Christ. When He
sees you, what does He see? Reflection of Himself. Just a
reflection of Himself. And here's a contrast here in
this last verse. This guy, if he found out later
that he didn't love her, he'd put her away. Well, that's not
the way Christ is. Some of these things are a good
contrast. The Lord will never cease to delight in His people.
He'll never cease to love His bride. Because the cause of His
love in her is found in Himself and not in her. And she can't
make herself any more vile than He knows her to be by nature
anyway. So He loves her, and the cause is found in Himself.
Here in verses 15 through 17, the third thing, right quickly,
look at this. This reestablishes, reaffirms
the right of the firstborn. This was so important. And this
happens sometimes, I would imagine, so the Lord reaffirms the right
of the firstborn. We don't have this law now, but
they had it back in the Old Testament. Verses 15. If a man have two
wives, Maybe one had already died and he'd had some children,
so he married another and had another family. I don't know.
But if he has two wives, one beloved and another hated, and
they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated,
and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated, then it shall
be when he maketh his son to inherit that which he hath, that
he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the
son of the hated. which is indeed the firstborn.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn
by giving him a double portion of all that he hath, for he is
the beginning of his strength, and the right of the firstborn
is his." Now, these firstborns had privileges and rights that
didn't belong to the other siblings. Jacob was ready to die, he pronounced
blessings on his children. This is what he said to Reuben,
the firstborn. Here's the way he identified
it. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, my strength, and the
beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the
excellency of power. Now that's the way he spoke to
your firstborn. He had the blessing, he had the right of certain portions
given to him that others didn't. Everywhere in the Bible, Jesus
Christ is called the firstborn, isn't He? Listen to some of these
places. He's called the firstborn of
Mary. She brought forth her firstborn
son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, laid Him in a manger.
Christ is called the firstborn of many brethren. He's predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of Christ that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren. He is called the firstborn of
every creature in Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15. Christ
is the image of God, the firstborn of every creature. In Ephesians
chapter 1, He is called the firstborn from the dead. He is the head
of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. See why this firstborn was so
important in type? Because it represented the Lord
Jesus who is the firstborn. Now look in Psalms chapter 89. This is a psalm that specifically
calls the Lord Jesus the firstborn of the heavenly Father of God.
He's God's firstborn. And all the rights of the firstborn
belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father loves the Son, the
Bible says, and has given all things into His hand. Jesus Christ
is heir. of all God has. He's made Him
the heir. Look here in Psalms chapter 89. And look in verse 19. When thou speakest in vision
to thy Holy One, the Father said to the Son, and said, I have
laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. The Father chose His Son out
of the people. I have found David my servant,
Christ my servant. With my holy oil have I anointed
him, with whom my hand shall stand fast, shall be established,
and my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact
upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. I'll beat down his
foes before his face, and I'll plague them that hate him. But
my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, And in my
name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the
sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me,
Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation." And
look at this, "...also I will make him my firstborn, higher
than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him
forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him." And
you can go on and read about what he said, the promises that
he's made to the Lord Jesus Christ, His firstborn. The firstborn. The Lord Jesus
is the firstborn. Our Lord's enemies hated Him
when they were here, when He was here upon this earth. And
you know the world hates Him now. But you know something? The Father
in heaven determines who the firstborn is. And what men think
about him or don't think about him will never change the fact
that he's the firstborn. And he has the right of the firstborn
and all the privileges of the firstborn are given unto him,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is called the strength
of God. Christ is the power of God. And
he's the wisdom, the dignity of God. He's the manifestation
of God. That's amazing in itself, isn't
it? Christ is the firstborn, and all the blessings belong
to Him. And here's the mystery about that. He doesn't withhold
it from the rest of the family. He takes all of that which the
Father gives to Him, and He shares it with His brother, with His
siblings. Isn't that a blessing? We're
heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Fourthly,
let's quickly look at this one. Back in our text again. Deuteronomy
21. Look in verse 18 through 21. This is about a rebellious son.
Boy, you can imagine how this young man pushed his parents
to the breaking point. If a man have a stubborn and
rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father
or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened
him will not hearken to them, Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him, and bring him unto the elders of this city,
and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders
of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, and
will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he
die. So shalt thou put evil away from
among you, and all Israel shall hear and Shaphir. Boy, it's amazing
that they stoned this young man to death. After they'd dealt
with him and chastened him and reasoned with him, he was incorrigible. You couldn't straighten this
fellow out. And there's kids like that, aren't there? And
the Lord said, what you do is stone them to death. Put them
away from society. They won't be good for society.
They'll be a bad example to other children. So they stoned them.
What a contrast this is. with Jesus, the Son of God, the
Son of Mary. He was never stubborn. Never
stubborn. He was never hard. He was never
rebellious. He was never disobedient. He
was tender and gentle and submissive and obedient, not only to His
heavenly Father, but even to His earthly parents. We never
see one time where He ever rebelled or broke the law of God or broke
the law of man. He truly was a kind and tender
young man and an adult man. He was obedient unto the death
of the cross, the Bible tells us. One man said it was good
for society that some of these rebellious children be stoned,
even to death, that they wouldn't be a bad example and a plague
on Israel. But it was an excellent thing
for this earth and for heaven. that the Son of God lived in
this earth as an example of tender and loving obedience for us all. And you know it's because of
His obedience that all these prodigals can now, who had lived
in rebellion, can come home to the Father's house and be accepted
back in the graces of their Father. Now let's look at the last thing
right quickly. And these verses are very familiar to you and
I. Verses 22 and 23. And if a man have committed a
sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou
hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon
the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. For he
that is hanged is accursed of God, that thy land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee for thine inheritance. Now
we begin our chapter with the violent death of this heifer.
as a sacrifice for Israel or for this town to obtain mercy
and to obtain forgiveness for murder. And we end with the violent
death of this criminal that the inheritance of God be not defiled. And this is sort of self-explanatory. You can leave our chapter and
look over here in Galatians chapter 3 right quickly. Look in Galatians
chapter 3 because Paul quotes this verse In Galatians 3, verse
13, look at it. He applies this verse to the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Galatians 3, verse 13, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. Christ was cursed for us. Why? To redeem us from the curse of
the law, and to bring to us the inheritance of God. And what
is this inheritance? One huge aspect of it is found
here in verse 14. Look at this. He was made a curse
for us to redeem us, that the blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. The inheritance of the
Spirit. The Spirit could not come until
Christ was first cursed and redeemed us from the curse. Can you imagine
what it meant then for Christ to be cursed? The Spirit couldn't
come. The inheritance would have been
defiled. We'd have no Spirit to come to us to convict us of
sin, to regenerate us, to reveal Christ to us. to put His graces
in our hearts would have been none of His because we could
have never received His Holy Spirit. Why was Christ made a
curse? For these two reasons, to redeem
us from the curse of the law and that we might receive the
promise of the blessed Holy Spirit. If Christ had not been cursed
on this tree, you and I would have been without hope. Christ
being cursed of God on Calvary brings to us all God's promised
blessings in this life and in the life to come. Grace here
and glory hereafter. Sometimes when I pray, I'm often
reminded of this verse. And sometimes this is the way
I pray, to be honest with you. I say, Lord, You're my curse
and You're my blessing. You're my hell and You're my
heaven. You're my death and You're my
life. You're my sorrow and You're my
joy. You're my heaviness and You're
my happiness. He's everything to us, isn't
He? Somebody might say, well, I'll never have Christ to be
a curse. I'll never have Him hanging there
bearing my consequences and my sin and my guilt. Oh, brothers
and sisters, listen. If He's not a curse for us, He
can't bring the blessings to us. If He doesn't bear our sins
and all the consequences, we can't have His blessings. He
was made all that we are, and bore the consequences of all
that we did, that we might be all that He is and share all
His blessings. Because He was made a curse for
us. Look over here in one more place,
and we'll close in reading this passage. Look in Ephesians 1. Look in verse 13. "...in whom ye also trusted."
You trusted in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior. "...After
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise." What is that Spirit of promise?
Verse 14, "...which is the earnest of our inheritance." It's just
a little bit of our inheritance. He's a damn payment of our inheritance. "...until the redemption of the
purchased possession unto the praise of His Glory. So the Lord Jesus Christ was
hung on a tree. He bore all that we were, all
that we'd done in His own body. And the consequences of that
was what? God's wrath. God's justice. Being let loose
upon Him. Pouring out upon Him everything
that belonged to us. They took Him down from the tree
and put Him in a sepulcher. Why did they take Jesus down
that day and put Him in a tomb? Because that's what had been
predicted of Him. He had been cursed that you and I might be
a blessing. Ain't that a wonderful and beautiful
picture? You can go into great detail about that. I hope this
has been a blessing study to you this afternoon.