Now let us turn again to the
chapter we were reading, the Gospel according to St Luke,
and chapter 23. I'm directing you tonight to the
words that we have here at verse 50 through to 53. Luke 23, 50
through 53. And behold, there was a man named
Joseph, a counselor, and he was a good man and a just, the same
and not consented to the counsel and deed of them. He was of Arimathea,
the city of the Jews, who also himself waited for the kingdom
of God. This man went unto Pilate and
begged the body of Jesus. and he took it down and wrapped
it in linen and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone wherein
never man before was laid. One has to consider then something
of Christ's funeral. Christ's funeral. I'm sure some
were probably online last Tuesday. It was the funeral, of course,
of the late Mr. Benjamin Ramsbottom, many years
the pastor there at Bethel Chapel in Luton and also many years
editor of the Gospel Standard. I understand that several hundred
were there in Luton for the service and then for the committal in
the graveyard at Clifton Chapel. We joined online, some of us,
and were able therefore to hear what was said on that occasion,
the funeral of a man who had been of service, great service
to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. And strangely, we have
a funeral arranged, the Lord willing, at Hedgen for this coming
Thursday morning, the funeral of Mr. James Cook, who for many
years was the deacon there at the chapel at Swanwick Shore.
Some may have met him in times past or known of him. He sought
again, just as Mr. Ramsbottom, to serve the cause
of Christ in that little chapel that has not reopened since the
first lockdown. So we've had a funeral last week
and a funeral before us this week and I was thinking therefore
very much of funerals and thought of this funeral and how simple
the funeral of Christ was really it's accounted for in one verse
what we're told concerning Joseph of Arimathea having begged the
body of Jesus verse 53 he took it down and wrapped it in linen
and laid it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone wherein never
man before was laid." That's as much as we're told with regards
to the funeral of the Lord Jesus. We know that there were a great
many onlookers at what had happened in his death and we see that
in this passage that we read. the centurion was there of course
what we read at verse 47 following when the centurion saw what was
done he glorified God saying certainly this was a righteous
man and all the people that came together to that site beholding
the things which were done smote their breasts and returned and
all his acquaintance and the women that followed from Galilee
stood afar off beholding these things Everything about the life
and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was very public. His life was really a public
life, because there's a sense in which everything that this
man ever did was done for others. All that he did was done for
a multitude of people, even as many as the Father had given
to him in the eternal covenant. His birth, His life, His death,
His burial, and His resurrection. All of these things were done
for others. And we can think of the words
that the angel said to those women who were early at the tomb
on the first day of the week, the day of His resurrection.
And what did they say? to those women, come see the
place where the Lord lay. Come see the place where the
Lord lay. He was laid in the tomb. And
we're bidden then, as it were, to the funeral of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And these women did behold these
things, we're told here at verse 55. The women also which came
with him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sepulcher,
and how his body was laid." We have this invitation then, as
it were, here to see the place where the body of Christ was
laid, and how his body was laid. And so as we turn to this passage,
and in particular what we're taught here concerning the activity
of Joseph after he had begged the body, Verse 53, He took it
down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulcher that
was hewn in stone, where in never man before was laid. Just two
headings I want to try to take up. I trust with the Lord's help
this evening. First of all, the begging for
the body of Christ, and then the burial of the body of Christ. Firstly, the begging. And we're told, aren't we, here
in verses 50 and 51, something concerning this man who comes
and requests of the Roman governor, who begs Pilate that he might
do something honorable with the body of the Saviour. Behold, there was a man named
Joseph, a counsellor, and he was a good man, and a just. The Saviour had not consented
to the counsel and deed of them. He was of Arimathea, the city
of the Jews, who also himself waited for the kingdom of God."
Well, we read, don't we, at the beginning of Luke, of those who
were waiting for the kingdom of God. we read of men like Simeon. Well,
here is another man, you see, who was waiting for the kingdom
of God. And he was a counsellor of the
Jews, he was a man of some significance then amongst the Jewish people,
but he didn't consent to what the Sanhedrin had done, because
they were the ones who were very much behind the crucifixion of
Christ. As we're told in verse 30, Pilate
had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the
people. He's one of them and yet he's
not consenting to what they're saying. He's spoken of as a good
man and a just. Now I believe that when we read
of him here as a just man, it means he was a justified man.
He was a justified sinner. No man is just before God except
those whose righteousness is not their own, whose righteousness
is that that was wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the
only righteousness that can stand in the high courts of heaven. And this man therefore in many
ways is a believer. Like Nicodemus we might say he's
a secret follower of the Lord Jesus. Is he not mentioned together
with Nicodemus in John 19 and there at verse 38 and 39? This is John's account. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews,
besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.
And Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore and took the
body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus,
which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture
of myrrh and aloes with a hundred pound weight. and they take the
body and they wind it in linen clothes
with the spices according to the manner of the burying that
was practiced by the Jews. So they treat this body of Christ
in the most honorable fashion. These two men, both of them men
of some real significance because we're told, aren't we, what Nicodemus
was. You're familiar with those words
at the beginning of John 3. This man of the Pharisees, named
Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, the same came to Jesus by night
and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest
except God be with him. All these men, you see, they
are honorable men. They are men who are surely recognizing
that this Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the promised Messiah,
that this is that one who is the Christ of God, but they're
afraid. They're fearful. And it's often said that they
were secret disciples of the Lord. We might say that previously
they were men that were weak and timid and cowardly. But why is it? Why is it that
now they come forth so publicly before the Roman governor? And
both Joseph and Nicodemus are involved in this, are begging
for the body of the Lord Jesus. Why is it that this is happening
now? Because Christ's work was now
done. God's justice was now satisfied. Christ had fulfilled all that
work that the Father had given unto him in the eternal covenant.
and what does he do in verse 46 he cried with a loud voice
and he said father into thy hand I commend my spirit and having
said thus he gave up the ghost in other words he dies there's
that separation now of his soul from his body it's a real death
that he is dying but now by that death the guilt
of sin has been dealt with once and for all. And not only that,
the power of sin has been broken by the death of the Lord Jesus.
We often sing, of course, that great hymn of Top Ladies, Rock of Ages. And what does he
say in the course of that hymn? be of sin the double cure, cleanse
me from its guilt and power." And here we see men, you see,
now released from any power of sin. They're emboldened by the
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has died. Oh, it is that death
of Christ that overcomes all the fears that ever can be in
the souls of his people. His death, strangely, is the
source of the believer's strength. He was crucified through weakness.
Ah, but now he lives in the power of an endless life. And we sang
the words, didn't we, just now in the hymn, it makes the coward
spirit brave, and nerves of feeble arm for fight. What is it? It's
the death of Christ. It's the precious blood that
was shed. There is power. Power. Power in the blood. How does
the old chorus rhyme? Remember singing it in times
past. That precious blood and the power
of the blood to overcome all opposition. I can do all things. Says Paul through Christ which
strengthens me. And so this man Emboldened now,
he goes to the governor, he went to Pilate and begged the body
of Jesus. And what do we see? What do we
see here? We see the fulfillment of what
has been written in the Old Testament Scriptures. The death of the Lord Jesus,
the burial of the Lord Jesus, resurrection from the dead, it's
all that that is foretold, isn't it, in the Old Testament. It's
that that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 has occurred in order that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled. We're familiar with that great
chapter, that 15th chapter. Moreover brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved."
Paul introduces this great chapter. It's the Gospel. It's what he
preached. It's what these Corinthians had
received. It's that in which they stand,
it's that whereby they're saved, and that to keep in memory, he
says, what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
And then we come to this, I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, and that he was buried. and that he rose again
the third day according to the Scriptures. Everything you see
about the end of Christ, his dying, his being buried, his
rising again, all of these things are according to the Scriptures. And we're told, aren't we, back
in that great 53rd chapter of Isaiah. He made his grave with
the wicked, and with the rich in his death. He made his grave
with the wicked. How was he crucified? How did
he come to die? There were also two other malefactors
led with him to be put to death. When they would come to the place
which is called Calvary, there they crucified him. And the malefactors,
one on the right hand, and the other on the left. He's there
in the midst of the wicked. All he dies is the death of a
common criminal. That cruel Roman death of crucifixion,
but he made his grave also with the rich. Why this man Joseph
of Arimathea was a man of some wealth. He's a man who has his
own new tomb. Oh, we see then the Scriptures
having their fulfilment in the burying of the Lord Jesus as
well as in his dying. And then also in the burial,
do we not have set before us the truth, the facts of his dying? His was a real humanitarian. And as a man, he could experience
death. It's such a mystery, isn't it?
Because he never ceases to be God. He could not cease to be
God, because he is God. He is the eternal Son of God. He is begotten, not made, of
one substance with the Father, as it says in the ancient Creed.
And yet he dies. and he dies a real death as we
see there in verse 46 he cries with a loud voice into
thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave
up the ghost he gave up the ghost to give up to breathe out he
breathes out his spirit there's the the separation of the soul
from the body, and that's death. That's death, it's absence from
the body, present with the Lord for the believer when he dies. But there's the separation. When God formed the man, he formed
him out of the dust of the earth, and he breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and he became a living soul, and what is death?
It's a separation of the soul from the body. and the amazing
thing is with the death of the Lord Jesus that it's all together
voluntary and it's interesting because what we are told here
in verse 46 of this chapter in Luke of course it's also in the
other Gospels and it's interesting as I'm sure you're aware to compare
the different accounts, the different words and the wording that we
have in Matthew is somewhat different it's stronger language Matthew
27 50 it says he yielded up the ghost he yielded up here it says he gave up but that
word that's used in Matthew's account has the idea of him dismissing
sending forth He's so active, you see, it's not that his life
is being taken. He is quite deliberately yielding
that life up. A voluntary laying down by the
almighty power of his Godhead. That life of his manhood, which
was naturally immortal. I like those words, that's the
language of Dr. Henry Cole. Let me repeat it.
This is how he describes, or this is how he expounds what's
said there in Matthew 27.50. It's a dismissal, a voluntary
laying down by the almighty power of his Godhead that life of his
manhood which was naturally immortal. Therefore does my father love
me, he says, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. I lay it down of myself. No man
taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again." It's a real death. But we see the wonder of that
death in the way in which he dismisses his own soul. And now,
it had to be ascertained by Pilate. Pilate marveled that he was already
dead. That's what we're told in Mark's
account, Mark 15, verse 43, following. Pilate is amazed that this man
has died so quickly. And so, he summons the centurion
to establish the fact that he really had died. And he really
did die. And he died that cruel death
of the cross. And so, Joseph comes forth to
beg the body. The soul is gone. He descends, doesn't he, into
Hades? The Apostles Creed says he descended
into hell. It really means the realm of
the dead. Hades. It's just his body, you see.
If you might use such an expression, just his body. But this is what
is begged by Joseph together with Nicodemus but let us go
on in the second place to consider more the detail of his burial he descends into Hades as it
says in the Creed how he humbles himself how he humbles himself
he is always humbling himself he thought it not proper to be
equal with God he makes himself of no reputation takes upon Him
the form of a servant. In the eternal covenant He becomes
the servant of God. In the fullness of time God sends
forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Now we see
Him continually humbling Himself. He becomes God's servant. He's
made in the likeness of man. And then, in the likeness of
men, that's another part of his humiliation. He goes on to humble
himself again, he's obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. And then, as he dies so, his
soul descends into the realm of the dead, he experiences a
real death. This is the wonder of it all.
For the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ, And though this
burial takes place with some haste, well we know it would be a hasty
burial because it's there in the Middle East, it's a hot climate,
we know that it's still the practice of the Jews to bury their dead
very quickly, as also of course with the Muslims, the Mohammedans,
they do the same. there in the Middle East, it's
necessary to attend to these things with some urgency. And
so Christ is very soon buried, but it must be so. As we're told
here in verse 54, that day was the preparation and the Sabbath
drew on. And they couldn't leave those
bodies upon the cross on that high and that holy day. He must
be removed before the Sabbath day had come and that's why Pilate
ascends to the request that is made by Joseph of Arimathea. He begs the body, he receives
the body and he's going to bury that body. It was complete humiliation.
Complete humiliation. Now the Lord himself speaks in
the prophetic psalm, Psalm 22. So evidently messianic. David's psalm, yes. And David
speaking out of his own experience is doubtless. But there's a greater
than David in that psalm. David's greater son is there.
And what does it say there? in the 15th verse, thou hast
brought me into the dust of death." Well, that's what the Lord had
to endure in order to save sinners. He had to descend into the dust
of death. He's laid in a tomb. But even here we see the humiliation
of it all. It's not His own tomb, it's another
man's tomb. It's another man's tomb. But
it's a tomb wherein never man before was laid. And how significant
is that? Because in the burial of the Lord Jesus
there's a great deal of humility. But there's not only humility,
we see also something of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a tomb wherein a man had
never laid before. There'd never been a dead body
put into that tomb. It was a new tomb, that's how
it's described in Matthew's account, wherein never man before was
laid. And so again we have to go back
into the Old Testament and consider the prophecies, and how all these
prophecies in every detail must have their fulfillment in the
Lord Jesus Christ. All the wonder, you see, of the
Word of God, and the truth of the Word of God, and those things
that we read concerning this man Jesus of Nazareth. He is
the Christ! There can be no real disputing
of the fact he is that one that is spoken of time and time again
in the prophetic scriptures. We've referred to Psalm 22, but
what about Psalm 16? And there at verse 10, Thou wilt
not leave my soul in hell, or Hades, really. It's the realm
of the dead that's being spoken of. And you know how That psalm is mentioned, isn't
it, in the preaching of the apostles? In the 13th chapter of the Acts
where we have that record of Paul's great sermon when he was
in Antioch. There's two Antiochs. It's the
Antioch in Pisidia and here he is preaching and what does he
say in the course of his sermon, Acts 13? Verse 35, Wherefore he saith
also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. Well, David's The Psalm, the
16th Psalm, doesn't have any fulfillment in David's experience,
because like all others, David died, and he was laid in the
tomb, and his body saw corruption. Ah, but the man of whom David
was speaking, his greatest son, God raised him again from the
dead, and he saw no corruption. He saw no corruption. And it's
not just Paul who preaches from Psalm 16, as we've seen on previous
occasions in Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 2. He also refers
to the same psalm, Acts 2, 25 through 27 and verse 31 also.
All the wonder, you see. Remember his body was an immortal
body even in his conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary
though she was a sinner she was a sinful woman like each
and every one of us are sinners When the Roman Catholics speak
of the Immaculate Conception it's the doctrine they've dreamed
up. They're speaking of the conception
not of Christ. The Immaculate Conception, they
say, is the conception of Mary. That Mary was so conceived in
the womb of her mother that she was sinless. That's their understanding
of the Immaculate Conception. They say she was a sinless woman.
well she's a blessed woman a most blessed woman and we're not to
forget that she's the blessed virgin Mary but she's a woman
who rejoices in God her Saviour she knew that she had not been
immaculately conceived she knew that she was a sinner but the
wonder of it is that when the Holy Spirit came upon her and
she is with child, she is with child of the Holy Ghost and you
remember how that child conceived in her womb is described, that
holy thing that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God that holy thing, that's the human nature
that's derived from his mother the human body, the soul but
united to the eternal Son of God. All that holy thing, that
human nature, is to be called the Son of God. His human nature, you see, is
immortal. He could never have died. He
could only die by a voluntary act. As Dr. Cole rightly says, It's the voluntary
laying down by the almighty power of his Godhead. And so he experiences a real
death. And he's laid in the grave, his
body is buried out of sight. But there's never been anything
corruptible in that grave. No other body had ever been laid
to rest in that tomb. He is preserved then from all
corruption, even in his burial. And now the tomb was carefully
secured, so carefully secured. What does Joseph do? He rolls
a great stone over the entrance to the tomb. And then, remember
now, the Jews are afraid. They think the disciples, well
that's the story they make up. They go to Pontius Pilate and
they ask Pontius Pilate to make the tomb even more secure. Because they reckon his disciples
will come and steal him and say that he's risen again from the
dead. Well, Pilate is bolder on that occasion. He sends them
away and tells them let them see to that themselves. And so
they go away and they seal the stone, we're told. And they set
a watch. and yet still he breaks he breaks
through all the barriers of death he rises again or he rises again
on the third day but you know there were angels there there
were angels watching over that body and securing it from any
corruption at all when the women come on that resurrection morn
There's an angel, two angels, one at the head where the body
lay and one at the feet where his body lay. They were watching
over that body. Now what is the significance
of all of this to us? Well it's all part and parcel
of what Christ has done to save his people. We read of some who
through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage. But you see, Christ's experience
in dying and being buried is for his people. And it's meant
to minister comfort and assurance to his poor people who are so
fearful. Death is such a dreadful thing
when we come to die. we really die alone, no one else
dies with us we experience it, there's no one else experiencing
what we're going through when that hour comes and there's a
time to be born and there's a time to die or the hymn writer says
Jesus who came to save the lamb for sinners slain perfumed the
chambers of the grave and made in death our gain or he is vanquished
He has vanquished sin, and Satan, and death, and the grave. Again, think of the language
of the Apostle there in that 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
We refer to the opening part, we come to the end of that chapter.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law.
But Oh, but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, there's not only power in
the blood, the wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb,
there's also, of course, power in His rising again from the
dead. What a Saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ! Oh, what a fullness
of grace is found in his person and his work. And as I said at
the beginning, it's all public. He's a public person. He does
it for others. He dies for others. That's why
he dies. He dies to atone for sins not
his own. He had no sin. There was no cause
of death in him. Pilate was right. It was such
a mockery of a trial that he endured, but he must endure it.
And he must go to the cross. And he must be buried. And he
must rise again from the dead. Oh friends, here we see the wonder
then of that work that Christ has accomplished here upon the
earth. and everything for sinners. Be sure of this, there's a certainty
in this, it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the
judgment. There is a time, God's Word has
already been fulfilled in our lives, a time to be born, but
it is also said to us a time to die. Unless of course the
Lord return again, We know not what hour that may be, but we
know also that that's a certainty. He's sure to come just as He
said. Surely the vital thing is that we're those who are ready.
For we're those who are ready. We're watching, we're waiting.
We know not when the hour might come, be it the day of our dying
or be it the day of His return. But I ask each and every one
of you tonight, are you ready? Or are you ready for that solemn
day which will surely come? God grant that you might have
grace to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and all the fullness of
that blessed work that he accomplished in his birth, in his life, in
his death, in his burial, in his resurrection, in his ascension,
in his session, there in heaven at the Father's right hand, or
to be those who are looking unto Jesus. What does He say? Look
unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else. Amen.