John 19:38-42 ESV
After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.
Once again we are taken to a garden, which may bring to mind that Garden in Genesis from which Adam was expelled. Jesus as the new Adam brings the Garden of Eden into view and opens a way for man to enter into the presence of God.
The doorway through the curse of death into that Garden of life is through the death of self, of choosing God. It was the choice of self which separates from His presence. In choosing God we are able to return. Remaining faithful to that choice, we are promised access to the tree of life.
It is a new way, a new thing that God has done. We enter the new tomb of His death and leave this world of death for the kingdom of heaven. There we find the life of God, and receive the breath of life that was breathed by God into the nostrils of Adam. It is our choice to remain in that Garden, the kingdom of heaven. We only have to obey God.
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