There are 3 gardens mentioned in the Bible where man meets with God. The first was the Garden of Eden where God met often with man (Gen 2:8-9, 15-17, 3:8-10), the second was the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:1, Matt 26:36, 39, 47) where the man Jesus met with His Father and men came to take Immanuel, God with us, away to be killed, and this is the third, where the body of Jesus is laid to rest and then 3 days later, the resurrected Christ meets with a woman who is weeping in her despair of losing Him (John 20:14-17). In that first garden, death and the grave first received their power and in this last garden their power is stripped from them and they are conquered by Jesus (1 Cor 15:21-22, Joh 11:25).

Genesis 2:8-9  Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.  And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:15-17  The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;  but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

Genesis 3:8-10  Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”  He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

John 18:1  When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was an olive grove, and he and his disciples went into it.

Matthew 26:36  Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

Matthew 26:39  Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:47  While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

John 20:14-17  At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.  “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).  Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

1 Corinthians 15:21-22  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

John 11:25  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

Tombs were usually cut out of solid rock and closed with large, round stones which were rolled in a groove which finished right over the mouth of the tomb (Mark 15:46). Because of the immense amount of work involved, these tombs were very expensive and were usually used over and over again. This tomb, however, had never been used (Luke 23:53), a fact which is emphasized by the double negative used in the Greek. (A literal translation from the Greek is: “Now there was in the place where he was crucified a garden, and in the garden tomb a new, in which never yet not anyone was having been put”). He was laid in an unused tomb for a couple of reasons besides the obvious that it was close and available: first, Jesus was an unusual Person, and to be put into a mass grave would not have been right for the Son of God. With unintentional humor, Matthew Henry notes that “He that was born from a virgin-womb must rise from a virgin-tomb.”

Mark 15:46  So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Luke 23:53  Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no-one had yet been laid.

The second reason is that when He has resurrected from the dead, there had to be proof that it was He and not any other body with which He shared internment which was raised and that He raised by His own power and not by the power of another as in (2 Kings 13:21). This unused tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea (Matt 27:57-60), a rich man, which fulfilled prophecy (Isa 53:9). Had Joseph and Nicodemus not come to Jesus’ aid in burying Him, His body would probably been buried in a public site with the poor (Jer 26:23, 2 Kings 23:6, Matt 27:7).

2 Kings 13:21  Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.

Matthew 27:57-60  As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.  Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,  and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

Isaiah 53:9  He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Jeremiah 26:23  They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.)

2 Kings 23:6  He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the LORD to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people.

Matthew 27:7  So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.

Royal tombs were often in gardens (2 Kings 21:18, 26; Neh 3:16). This again emphasizes the Kingship of Christ.

2 Kings 21:18  Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And Amon his son succeeded him as king.

2 Kings 21:26  He was buried in his grave in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.

Nehemiah 3:16  Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of Beth Zur, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool and the House of the Heroes.