We turn to God's Word again in
the chapter that we were reading from, Luke chapter 23. I'm calling
your attention to the verses 50 to 53. Luke chapter 23, verses 50 to
53. And behold, there was a man named
Joseph, a counselor, And he was a good man and a just. The same
had not consented to the counsel and deed of them. He was of Arimathea,
a 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 clothes or rather wrapped it in linen and laid
it in a sepulcher that was hewn in stone wherein never man before
was laid." In particular then, verses 52 and 53, this man went
on to 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. We come of course to
this Sabbath evening, the first Lord's Day in the month of August
and we anticipate the ordinance of the Lord's Supper and I think
it's profitable that we should consider something of those things
that we are to remember tonight as the church comes together
on that occasion, that holy ordinance instituted by the Lord Jesus
Christ himself in the very night on which he was betrayed. We
have Such a record of Christ and His sufferings set before
us in Holy Scripture. We find much of it there in the
Old Testament. We see it in the types and the
figures of the Levitical law. It is the theme so often of the
prophets of the Lord, how they speak of Him that was to come,
the Promised One, the Messiah. and how they speak of him particularly
we think of the language of the prophet Isaiah who says before
us the suffering servant of the Lord and then also when we turn
to the book of Psalms so many of the Psalms are messianic,
they speak of Christ, they speak of his sufferings and not only
those things that he endured in the body but there in the
Psalms time and again the veil is drawn to one side and we are
permitted to look into the very soul of Christ to see something
of those inward sufferings. that he endured as he came to
make the great sacrifice for sins and then of course we have
in the New Testament a four-fold Gospel and there in each of the
Gospels great detail is recorded concerning the things that he
suffered that mockery of a trial that we read of before Pontius
Pilate the Roman governor and how it was so unjust that a human
judge should pass such a sentence upon a man whom he knew to be
altogether an innocent man. But he came, did he not, to die
the just for the unjust to bring sinners to God. We have then
all this detail in the Gospels and then we see the same theme,
the great doctrine of Christ's in atoning death unfolded in
the epistles of the New Testament. So it is good that we should
repeatedly remind ourselves of these things that I'm sure we're
not unfamiliar with. And as we turn tonight to these
two verses in particular, in Luke 23 and verses 52 and 53, I want to take up the
theme of Christ's funeral. The funeral of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is after He has died. and
here we can consider something about this man Joseph of Arimathea
comes and begs for the body there had been that separation now
the separation between body and soul that is what death is, is
it not? as we read in Ecclesiastes The
body returns to the earth as it was and the spirit returns
to God who guided it. And he comes and begs for the
body. And then we have the record of
the burial. This man went on to Pilate and
begged the body of Jesus and he took it down and wrapped it
in linen and laid it in a sepulchre. that was hewn in stone, wherein
never man before was laid." First of all then, to say something
with regards to this begging of Christ's body. We're told
who the man was, we're given some detail here in the previous
verses, a man named Joseph, he was a counselor and he was a
good man and a just The same 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."
Although he was of that council, the Sanhedrin, he did not consent
with the Sanhedrin in what they had been the architects of. They were behind the multitudes. when they were constantly demanding
the crucifixion of Christ. We're told, are we not, how Pilate
called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people.
He was a Sanhedrin who were very much the leaders in all that
was taking place. But this man, although a counsellor
himself, was not consenting to what they had done. And we're
told that he was a just man. Now, what is the significance
of that statement? A just man, we read at the end
of verse 50. Well, he was a man who was a
justified sinner. If you turn back to Genesis chapter
6 and verses 8 and 9, we read of Noah, who found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. And what was the evidence of
that grace? Well, we go on to read there in verse 9 that he
was a just man. Those who know grace, they're
justified. And they're justified in the
only one who can justify sinners. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nicodemus was a friend of this man and the two of them, Joseph
of Arimathea and And Nicodemus, it appears they were secret followers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 19, there at
verses 38 to 40, we read of these two men. Now 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, about a hundred pound weight. Then took they
the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes, with the
spices as the manner of the Jews is to bury." There were these
two men who were involved, not only Joseph, but also Nicodemus. He was the one, you remember
I'm sure, who came to the Lord Jesus there in that third chapter
of John, the one to whom Christ declared that great doctrine
of regeneration, the necessity of the new birth. This man of
the Pharisees named Nicodemus, again a ruler of the Jews, the
same came to Jesus by night, came under cover of darkness,
didn't want others to know. and says to the Lord 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. These two men then, they are
justified, they are those who are followers of the Lord Jesus,
disciples of the Lord Jesus but they are secret followers. You
see how that clearly in the previous months they had been so timid
and so fearful, so cowardly and yet now after the Lord Jesus
Christ has died upon the cross now they come forth publicly
as a stand forth boldly and they go to the Roman governor and
they beg of him that they might attend to the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why? Why is there this remarkable
change that these two men who were so secretive at one time
about their attachment to the Lord Jesus should now come forth
in this particular fashion? Well, the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ was now done. He had come and he had made the
great sacrifice, he had satisfied God's holy justice, he had finished
his work. He says as much does he not in
his great prayer, his high priestly prayer in John 17, I have glorified
thee on the earth, I have finished the work. that Thou gavest me
to do." And then upon the cross, of course, at the end He utters
those significant words, it is finished. And then He yields
up the ghost. Here in verse 46 we read, when
Jesus had cried with a loud voice, when He cried with a loud voice,
He was uttering those words, it is finished. And then he says,
Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus
he gave up the ghost. Now we see him there at the end
so triumphant you see no man is able to take his life. He
is the one who has power to lay down his life and has power to
take it again. He having said thus he gave up
the ghost. He had finished that great work
that he came to do. All the guilt of sin was now
something that had been atoned for by that sacrifice of Christ. The power of sin had also been
broken by that very same sacrifice. Or here is Christ, you see, as
that one who has vanquished sin in every sense. Remember our
top lady speaks of his dying, he says, Be of sin the double
cure. Cleanse me from its guilt and
power. He's not only dealt with the
matter of the guilt, he has not only made the great expiatory
sacrifice in bearing in his own person that punishment that was
due to the sinner because of his sins. but He has also destroyed
the very power of sin He has redeemed His people Christ has
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 and we sang just now that lovely hymn of Thomas Calloway
and that wonderful little couplet in the hymn in that third verse
concerning the cross of Christ it makes the coward spirit brave
and nerves the feeble arm for fight do we not see it in these
two men who were once so fearful who would only come and approach
Christ under the cover of darkness who were followers of the Lord
Jesus, we're told concerning Joseph here at the end of verse
51, how he waited for the Kingdom of God. But he was a secret follower,
a secret disciple, but now you see, oh with what boldness he
is able to come forth and it's all because of that work that
the Lord Jesus Christ had just accomplished by His dying upon
the cross. Oh, he has defeated all the forces
of darkness. He has not only dealt with the
guilt that attaches to those who are the transgressors of
God's law, he's broken the very power of sin. And isn't that
our only comfort, friends? All sin is too strong for us.
Of ourselves we cannot overcome that awful monster. Our sin still
lurks in our fallen nature, and we feel it. So often we feel
it, daily we feel it. The good that I would, I do not,
says the Apostle. The evil that I would not, that
I do. O wretched man that I am! You
shall deliver me from the body of this death. The power, the
power of sin, it's an awful thing. Thanks be to God. who giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ is the one,
you see, the only one who can save us from sin, save us from
our sinful selves deliver us from this awful body of sin and
death that we bear about with us constantly and Paul knew it
oh Paul, how the apostle knew it I can do all things, he says,
through Christ which strengthens me. It's only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have to be those who
are constantly looking to Him, constantly coming to Him. We
have no strength of our own. We have nothing of our own. We're
all together undone of ourselves. But in Christ you see. What does
this man do? This man, we're told, went on
to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Or are we those friends
who would beg? We don't come to beg anything
of any man, but we come, I trust, to be those who would be beggars
before God. We're to beg that we might know
that great salvation. that we might be those who have
an interest in that work that Christ accomplished upon the
cross. You see, if we are those who
are true seekers, we'll know something of what it is to beg.
And yet, you know, we cannot even of ourselves beg. We can
do nothing of ourselves. The Lord must help us. We are not sufficient of ourselves
to think anything of ourselves. We can't even formulate a prayer. We have to look to the Lord to
enable us, to help us, even to come with our begging. But He
hears such. He hears such. There's that lovely
hymn of Samuel Medley's, The Beggar's
Prayer. 378. He says, A beggar poor at mercy's
door lies such a wretch as I. Thou knowest my need is great
indeed. Lord, hear me when I cry with
guilt beset and deep in debt. For pardon, Lord, I pray. O let
thy love sufficient prove to take my sins away. A wicked heart
is no small part of my distress and shame, let sovereign grace
its crimes efface through Jesus' blessed name." Read through that
lovely hymn of Medleys on the beggar, or that we might be those
who know what it is to come as beggars before God, to beg that
we might be those who have a real interest in that great work that
the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished. Now what do we see here in this
particular incident that is recorded concerning the funeral and the
burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here we see the Scripture
being fulfilled. We see the Scripture being fulfilled.
What a book is this, the Word of God. How constantly we see
that it's a Word that never falls to the ground. All that God has
said in His Word, God accomplish it. And when Paul writes to the
Corinthians there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and he is writing
to them of the Gospel he is declaring and defining the Gospel that
he had preached Brethren, he says, I declare unto you the
Gospel which I preached unto you which also you have received
wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. And then he goes on, For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, 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. You see, all that happens to the Lord Jesus Christ,
he says here, is according to the Scriptures. All those things
that happen. When Christ came into the world,
all that he did in his life, all that he accomplished by his
death, all of those things, says Paul, were things that were written
in the Scriptures. That was God's great purpose.
All of this was planned and decreed in the eternal councils of the
Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit had
entered into that covenant. and the Lord Jesus Christ was
aware of that. He came not to do his own will
but the will of him who had sent him and to finish his work. Every
detail of his life had to be fulfilled. It is a remarkable
doctrine, is it not? That of God's sovereignty and
we see demonstrated in the life, the birth, the whole ministry,
the death, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what
is true in that man is true in each and every one of us. All
that comes into our lives, nothing comes merely by chance, fictitious
powers of chance and fortune I defy. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to his eye. How often we sing those words.
Here we have the fulfilment. of God's words. God executing
His great decree. Remember the words that we have
there in Isaiah 53 concerning this event. He made His grave,
it says, with the rich in His death. Here He is, His grave
is made with the rich. Joseph Joseph of Arimathea was
a man of some means. He was a wealthy man. We're told
in Matthew's account, in Matthew 27, this was Joseph's own new
tomb. He'd already prepared his own
sepulcher in which his body was to be laid. And it's that that
he's made use of, this wealthy man. He comes and he begs the
body of Jesus. that he might lay it in that
new tomb that he had provided, he thought, for himself. But
not so it was to house the sacred body of the Lord Jesus until
the morn of his resurrection from the dead. But then also
in this event we have the historic facts of Christ's death. Here we see that Christ had really
died. His humanity is clearly a true
humanity. He experiences a real death. We've already referred to what
happened when he died there in verse 46, when Jesus had cried
with a loud voice, He said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. Here's the separation
of the human soul from the human body. Here we see that Christ
was truly a man. As truly human as you or I, he
had a body and he had a soul. Now the interesting thing is,
this verb at the end of that verse, he gave up, it says. He
gave up the ghost. Literally, it means, the verb
means to breathe out. He breathed out the ghost. He breathed out the spirit. Now remember how it was when
God created the first man. God formed Adam's body out of
the dust of the earth and he breathed into his soul the breath
of life or breathed into his body the breath of life and man
became a living soul there was the breathing in which was the
act of God in the creation of the man that was his soul and
here we have the Lord Jesus as a man breathing out his own soul,
having said thus, he gave up, he breathed out the ghost. He is making a sacrifice. He's
dying. It's a real death that the Lord
Jesus dies here. And how the reality of that death
had to be ascertained by Pontius Pilate. Pilate wanted to be assured
that he had really died. In Mark's account, in Mark chapter
15, verse 43, we have Joseph, this honourable counsellor, waiting
for the kingdom of God, coming boldly unto Pilate and craving
the body of Jesus. And we're told, Pilate marveled
Private Pilot marveled if he were already dead. And calling
unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while
dead. And when he knew it of the centurion,
he gave the body to Joseph. Pilot wants to be sure, has this
man really died? And he had died. Here is the
reality. of the truth of his human life. He was truly a man. He had possessed
in life a body and a soul. And now he comes to die and the
body and the soul are separated one from the other. That's what
death is. And what is left, of course, is but the body. This is what he is craving. This
is what he is begging, the body. It's the body of the Lord Jesus,
the same is it not when someone dies, we speak of the body, the
person has departed. It's absent from the body with
the believer and its presence with the Lord. What a glorious
comfort that is. all but the precious truth of
the true human nature of the Lord Jesus every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God says John and this is that spirit of Antichrist those who
deny the truth of his human nature what a great and grievous heresy
it is to deny the truth of that human nature who is death, it
proves to us the reality of the human nature of Christ and we
see him here as one who is identified with sinners because it's a soul
that sinneth that dies it is appointed unto men once to die
and there is the man Christ Jesus and he dies and he dies a real
death and he dies that death as one who is a substitute for
his people he bears in his own person that that was there just
as earth and he dies and he dies the just for the unjust and he
brings sinners back to God and then what happens here having
obtained the body he begged for the body of the Lord Jesus this
man and then the body is taken and the body is laid in a sepulchre
buried He took it down and wrapped it in linen and laid it in the
sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was
laid." In the Apostles' Creed, you know the Creed, I believe
in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and His
only Son Jesus Christ our Lord and so forth. Well, in that It
is confessed that he descended into hell. Now, that's a mistranslation
in many ways. It should really be he descended
into Hades. He descended into the realm of
the dead. That's what's being confessed
there in the ancient Apostles' Creed. He descended into the
realms of the dead. He died. He died. And in his dying do we not see
something of the great humility of the Lord Jesus Christ? He
died, or we taste it, death. And now we see Christ here as
one who has to be buried in great haste. Verse 54, that day was
the preparation, we're told. and the Sabbath drew on. And that body, that body must
be removed before the Sabbath came. That body must be taken
down from the cross. He couldn't remain there on the
Sabbath day. In John's account, as I said,
we have this fourfold account And we can read the different
details in each of the accounts in the four Gospels. In John
19 verse 31, the Jews therefore, because it was the preparation
that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath,
for that Sabbath day was an high day, besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then
came the soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the
other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus
and saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs." And
then again, At the end of that chapter, in
the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the
garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There
laid thy Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day,
for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. He had to be buried with
some urgency, because the Sabbath day was fast approaching. And in his being buried we see
the completion of his humiliation. He not only dies, but he is laid
in the tomb. He says in the prophetic psalm,
Psalm 22, that great messianic psalm, that was brought me into
the dust of death. That's the grave, is it not?
and that's how much the Lord Jesus Christ suffered, he not
only died he is laid in the sepulcher, he is brought into the dust of
death and more than that, oh so great is his humiliation it
is another man's tomb it's another man's tomb in life he had nowhere
to lay his head in life he was so dependent upon others And
I do love what we're told at the beginning of the 8th chapter
here, those women. How the Lord was dependent upon
the ministry of these gracious women who were His followers.
Certain women we're told, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary called Magdalene, out of whom when seven devils and Joanna,
the wife of Cusa, Herod Stuart and Susanna, and many others,
which ministered unto him of their substance." They ministered
unto him, he was dependent upon these gracious women. All the
humiliation of the Lord Jesus, in life he had nowhere to lay
his head. In death, there's no tomb, another man's tomb, as
to serve him for his grave. The humiliation. But then also
here we see something of the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was another man's tomb, yes,
but it was a new tomb. It was a new tomb. Often, of course, many would
be laid to rest in a sepulchre and even in our own land of course
many can be buried in a grave more than one person laid in
the grave the Lord Jesus Christ that tomb in which he was laid
had never received any other body it was a new tomb wherein
never man before was laid, it says here at the end of verse
53 and how necessary how necessary, he cannot be touched you see
in any sense by the defilement of death thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption that's the language of prophecy in Psalm 16 concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, thou
wilt not leave my soul in Hades, Gehenna, the realm of the dead,
nor wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption, that sacred
humanity, that sacred body, could not see anything of corruption.
This is why it must be a new tomb, wherein never man before
was laid." And how these things are preached, when we come to
read of the ministry of the apostles in the Acts. Look at Paul preaching
there in Antioch, in Pisidia, in Acts chapter 13. And he is
re-echoing words that were previously spoken by Peter in the Sermon
on the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 verses 25 following
the reading of Paul's ministry here in Acts 13 verse 35 He's speaking of Christ. He says,
"...Wherefore, he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt
not suffer thine only 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." His body was never defiled. His
body was a sinless body. What was it that was conceived
by the Holy Ghost in Mary's womb? It was that holy thing and He
was ever and always holy and harmless and undefiled and separate
from sinners. There was no corruption in that
sepulchre. The tomb was carefully secured. We see that. Now, Joseph had rolled a great stone
to the door. Not only was that stone there,
but when the Jews come to Pontius Pilate and they begin to speak
of the possibility of the disciples coming and stealing the body
and say it's risen from the dead, what does Pilate say to them? He'll have none of it. Tells
them to see to the matter themselves and they go away and we're told
what they did. They sealed the skull They sealed
the stone and they set a watch. There's no corruption. Enters
into that sacred tomb that received the holy body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And angels were there. All remember
on the resurrection morn, there were angels there watching over
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the significance?
Well, his experience, you see. His experience is altogether
for his people. His experience of death, his
experience of burial, all of this is to comfort his people.
How many, how many believers are fearful of dying? We read
of some who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. but the Lord Jesus, the hymn
writer says, Jesus who came to save the lambs of sinners slain,
perfumed the chambers of the grave and made in death again. He made even death the believers
gain because he went to that place. Or the ministry of the
Lord Jesus Christ you see. As a man, he lived, he died. He was laid in the tomb. 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 thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's a public person
in everything that he does. In every detail of his earthly
life and his ministry he is always in all things the head of the
body of the church. In everything he is mindful of
his people. He is mindful of his people even
when he comes to his burial. And here we have this record
then of the funeral of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a privilege! to consider these things, to
behold these things, to think upon these things, and these
are the things that we are to remember. When we come to the
Lord's table, are we not told time and again that we are to
do this? Christ says, in remembrance. In remembrance of me. Just now we'll sing our ordinance
hymn. I can remember the number of that hymn, 818.
And what does it say? The opening verse is, The King
of heaven a feast has made, and to his much-loved friends, the
faint, the famished, and the sad, this invitation sends. Beggars,
approach my royal board. furnished with all that's good
comes into a table with your Lord and eats celestial food
my body and my blood receive it comes entirely free I ask
no price for all I give but all remember me that's all the Lord
asks of us that we remember him this do he says this do in remembrance
of me oh God help us to remember to meditate then upon the various
aspects of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to
view the great humility of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people,
he even descends into the realms of the dead. And he is that one
who has not remained there, of course. He rose again on the
third day. And now he has ascended into
heaven. and what is that that he has for his people even a
place in heaven he goes he says to prepare a place for them that
where he is they might be also and he can say to this poor dying
thief upon the cross verily I say unto thee today shalt thou be
with me in paradise or that the Lord would grant that even as
we come to partake of the Holy Supper we might know something
of what it is thinking upon the death and the humiliation of
Christ even to be those who are sitting together in those heavenly
places as we know that our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ our Lord. May the Lord bless His word to
us and bless us as we come together now around the holy table. Amen.