I would like your attention to
the Gospel according to John, chapter 19. My text is in verse 42, but I'm going to begin reading from the first verse. The subject
is, There they laid You can find my text or find the subject in
verse 42 of John chapter 9, 10. But let us read the chapter. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged him. And the soldiers planted a crown
of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple
robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him
with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again
and saith unto them, The Jews, behold, I bring him forth to
you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then Jesus came
forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate
said unto them, Behold the man! That is his way of saying, You
have nothing to fear from this fellow. He is nothing but a man,
and you see what I have done to him. When the chief priests
therefore and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying,
Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate saith unto
them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought
to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he was the more afraid. And he went again
into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Which art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest
thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and I have power to release thee? Jesus
answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above, Therefore he that delivereth
me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate
sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying,
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever
maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore
heard that, saying, He brought Jesus forth, and sat down in
the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement,
but in the Hebrew, Gabbathah. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, and about the sixth hour, 6 a.m., and he saith unto
the Jews, Behold your king! But they cried out, Away with
him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate
said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered,
We have no king but Caesar. Well, they're lying through their
teeth, weren't they? And he bearing his cross, oh
pardon me, then verse 16, then delivered he, him therefore unto
them to be crucified and they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went
forth into a place called the place of a skull. Notice that
the words the place are italicized. It's just simply called the skull,
which is called in the Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified
him and two other with him. on either side, one, and Jesus
in the midst. Pilate wrote a title and put
it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King
of the Jews. This title then read, many of
the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was now to
the city. That point is important. It was
close to the city. And it was written in Hebrew
and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. I think his patience has finally
run out. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was
without seam woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore,
among themselves Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose
it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled which saith,
They parted my arraignment among them, and for my vesture they
did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers
did. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister married the wife
of Cleopas. and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus
therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom
he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. He's speaking of the disciple
who was beside her. He is now your son. Then saith
he to the disciple beside his mother, Behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple
took her into his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
said, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar. and put it upon
Hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished! And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. The Jews, therefore, because
it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath Day was an high
day. He saw Pilate that their legs
might be broken and that they might be taken away. Then came
the soldiers and break 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 break not his legs. But
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith
came there out blood and water. And he that saw it, this is John
writing, and he that saw it bear record, and his record is true.
And he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that
the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith,
they shall look on him whom they pierced. And after this, Joseph's
affair of Matthew, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear
of the Jews, he sought Pilate, that he might take away the body
of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. He came, therefore, and
took the body of Jesus. 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 they took
the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the
spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place
where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden
a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. There they laid
Jesus. That's my text. There they laid
Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day, for
the sepulcher was nigh at hand. My text has four words. There. They. laid Jesus." The title of my message is those
same four words, there they laid Jesus. My message has four points, same
four words, there they laid Jesus. And we're going to look at these
words in the order in which you find them written in your text.
And the first point is the word there. That would be the place
where Jesus was buried. Where was he buried? There they
laid Jesus. He was buried in the place where
he was crucified. Now, that point is not incidental. Did you notice that our reading
in verse 11 speaks of his crucifixion and the place of his burial being
right close together? He was buried in the place where
he was crucified. Actually, that's verse 41. Jesus
was crucified. on Calvary, known also as Golgotha,
which in English means the skull. It was a promontory and it was
very close to Jerusalem, just outside the gate. That point
was made in the text that we just read. He died at about 3
p.m., the ninth hour of the day, according to the Jewish reckoning
of time. This passage is letting us know
it was time for the preparation for the Sabbath. The Sabbath
would begin at 6 p.m. It was a high Sabbath. No work will be done. If Jesus
is not buried by 6 p.m., you have to wait another day. He
must be buried by 6 p.m. He died at 3 p.m. He has to be in the ground within
three hours. Within those three hours, eight tasks must be done. Eight tasks and three hours. And the clock is ticking. First,
3 p.m. He says it is finished. He gives
up the ghost. One of the men looks and says,
is he dead? Yeshua, yes, he's dead, he's
dead. Off he runs. He runs to the house of Pilate,
the Roman governor. He needs to have permission from
the Roman governor to take the body of Jesus. So off he runs. to the city, which is not far.
But he's going to the governor's house. You just don't walk up
to the governor's house and knock on the door and walk in. No,
no, he must be permitted in. But this man is a very high-ranking
Jewish official. He's known. He knocks on the
door. They let him in. He goes to see
Pilate. He says, Governor, Jesus is dead. I want his body so that I can
bury him. Second task, Pilate must be convinced he's
dead. And the only one he's going to
trust to convince him is that centurion at their own cavalry. You can imagine the conversation
between Pilate and Joseph. Are you telling me he's dead
already? Yes, sir, he's dead. He's not had long enough to die.
Men hang for hours, sometimes days on a tree. You're telling
me he's dead already? Yes, he's dead. I've got to have
proof. He calls a runner. Runner, go
get the centurion and bring him back. So the trip is made to
Calvary. The centurion is summoned. He
comes back. Pilate has to be assured by the
centurion that he's dead. The centurion says, he's dead. Saw it with my own eyes. Third, one of the men who buried Jesus
had to purchase from a merchant, probably in Jerusalem, a very
large amount of linen cloth that would be wrapped around Jesus.
Now, he probably knew the place to buy it, but this is not the
typical Western-style store where you walk into the store and the
price is on the shelf. Linen, this much. No, no, no. It's an oriental market. It's
going to be haggling. They're going to haggle about
the price, but it's done. He purchases the linen. Fourth
task. The other man who buried Jesus
had to obtain a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes which were
to be used in Jesus' burial. He needs a hundred pounds. Where is he going to get a hundred
pounds of myrrh and aloes? He knows. He goes. He haggles about the price. gets the merchandise, and then
there is the fifth task. Fifth, at least one of these
two men, probably both of them, had to return to Calvary and
remove Jesus' body from His cross and then carry it to the place
where He's to be buried or prepared for burial. So now we have another
trip back to Calvary. removing his body from the cross,
which means the cross has to be taken out of the hole in which
it had been dropped, laid on the ground, removing the spikes, and then taking it to the place
where it would be prepared. Sixth task, and the clock is
still ticking. These two men, have to wrap the
fine linen cloth around Jesus and packing in between the folds
and in the rolls 100 pounds of precious ointments. They're dealing with, I respectfully
say, dead weight. They're getting no cooperation
from Jesus in this matter. He's dead. and they're having
to lift the body, put the cloth around it, put the myrrh and
aloe and the spices in there, a hundred pounds worth, wrapping
that body numerous times, and the clock is ticking. Seventh,
these two men have to carry the body of Jesus for the tomb where
they laid him. Let's assume he's an average
man in that day. What does he weigh? Let's say
150 pounds, a man in that day. He now has at least another 100
pounds added. And as I say, respectfully, it's
dead weight. And two men have to carry this
body all the way from the place of the preparation to the tomb
where he is to be laid. And the clock is ticking. One
more task. A stone has to be put in place. I mean a huge stone. I mean a stone that is big enough
to cover the entire entrance to a tomb into which you can
walk. A stone that one man is not going
to move by himself. And here are these two men, struggling. They finally get the stone into
place. They're done. And they have done
it, all eight tasks, within three hours. Thankfully, in the providence
of God, He was buried in the place near
where He was crucified. Consider this also. He was raised
in the place where He was crucified and buried. The place where men
killed Jesus would be the place where God would resurrect Him.
The place where men denied that Jesus was God's Son would be
the place where he was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection
from the dead. The place where the earth saw
its darkest noonday at high noon when he was on the tree would
be the place where the earth would see its most glorious sunrise. And I spell sunrise S-O-N-R-I-S-E. And the place where Jesus was
delivered up because of our offenses, Romans 4.25, would be the place
where he was raised because of our justification. I make this point. He was not
raised in order that we might be justified. He was raised because
we were justified. By his stripes my righteous servant
shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. And Jesus
Christ in his death justified God's elect, and therefore, because
he was delivered up because of our offenses, he was raised because
of our justification. Now, we do not know the exact
place where Jesus was buried. And this also is providential. Man is by nature an idolater. If we knew the place, well, that place would be more important
than the one who was buried there. Suffice it to know that he was
buried in the place where he was crucified. Second, consider
under the same mainhead, Jesus was buried in a garden. Did you
notice the text telling us so? Verse 41, Jesus was buried in
a garden. Death was both victorious and defeated in a garden. Death achieved its first victory
in a garden when Adam and Eve sinned against God. And death
conquered, and death came upon not only Adam and Eve, but also
all their posterity. Oh, what a victory death had
there in the Garden of Eden. It affected the entire human
race. That was death's first victory,
and it was such an important victory. But consider this also. Death was defeated in the garden,
and it was the worst defeat death could have had. Thank you, brother.
It was the worst defeat death could have had. Jesus is taken
from the tree, laid into a tomb, and now death comes and wraps its cold hands around
him. Now I have you. Now I have you. I'm in control. Death is conquered. But death is going to have its
victory dance much too soon. It was short-lived because we
read that him God raised up having loosed the pains of death. God has come down and taken the
fingers of death and pulled them away one by one from the body
of Jesus Christ. Because it was not possible that
he should be held by it. Oh, what a glorious victory! And it was such a great victory
in that when he was raised, we were too. When Jesus conquered
death, we did too. Jesus furthermore says of his
victory, I will ransom my people from the power of the grave.
I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be your plagues. O grave, I will be your destruction. Pity is hidden from my eyes. Jesus woke up in that tomb. looked at death
with no pity in his eyes. I never want Jesus to look at
me like that. Oh, that when he looks at me,
I may see love, compassion, mercy, and grace. But when Jesus awoke
in his tomb, There was no pity in his eye as he looked death
and the grave in the face. And he said, this is not only
for me, but also for all my people. You will have not a single solitary
one of them. Furthermore, consider this. A
garden is a place where seed is planted. so that it may yield
forth fruit. And in this garden, in that tomb,
a seed was planted. This was the seed of the woman
who was prophesied to conquer Satan. This is the seed of Abraham,
for whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And this
is the seed of David, who will rule over God's kingdom. And in the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, the seed that was planted in that tomb bore fruit. And
that fruit became the first fruits, we are told, of all who fall
asleep. You can put me in a tomb when
I die. I'm not staying there. Same will be true for every one
of you. Who knows Jesus? He's the first fruits. His resurrection is proof that
I'm coming up too. That all who are in Him are coming
up too. He's the first fruits. Consider
also this. Jesus was buried in another man's
tomb. It was not His. He did not have
one. He was buried in another man's
tomb. Now, there's a good reason why
Jesus did not procure a tomb for himself. He was only going to need it
for a few hours. Three days and three nights. Yes, that comes
out to about 72 hours. That's all the time he's going
to need this tomb. He's just a visitor. Now I made a few visits to Great
Falls before I became your pastor. Had to stay a few days, or pardon
me, it was my pleasure to stay a few days every time I came,
but I did not purchase a house every time I came. No. There was always someone who
said, you're staying with us. Jesus needed a place to live
or his body needed a place to rest for three days and three
nights. He's not going to go buy a tomb.
He's not going to go dig one. He does not need it. Friends
took care of him every time he came to their village. Martha,
Mary, Lazarus. Therefore he knew that Someone
would provide a tomb for him when he died, and this was the
fact that resulted in him being buried in another man's tomb. He needed it only a short time. He did not go forth and put forth
the effort of digging a tomb, purchasing one, or trying to
find some other way to get one. Consider also that Jesus was
buried in the tomb of a rich man. Matthew 27 tells us so. And here is the fulfillment of
the prophecy of Isaiah 53, 9, which may be translated, men
appointed his grave with the wicked, but he was with the rich
in his death. He was with the rich in his death. The wicked men who crucified
Jesus otherwise would have been responsible for his burial and
how would they have buried him? Dug some kind of a hole somewhere
and dumped his body in and threw some dirt over it or put him
in a pauper's grave. Jesus is put into a rich man's
tomb He was put into a tomb in which no man had ever been laid. He was the first person ever to
be buried in this tomb. He was born of a virgin womb. He was buried in a virgin tomb. No man had ever been laid in
this tomb before. He's the first one to do it.
Furthermore, no one could steal his body because it was buried
in the most secure manner. The stone is rolled to cover
the mouth of the tomb, and then the enemies of Jesus had a seal
put on it, and that seal is not to be broken. And there are soldiers
there to guard the two. That's where he's buried. That's
where they laid him. There they laid Jesus. My second
point is this. They. This would be the people
who buried him. Who buried him? Two men. The first of these was Joseph
of Arimathea. Which is interesting. There was
a Joseph present at the birth of Jesus, and a Joseph present
at the burial of Jesus. When his body was brought forth from the
womb, a Joseph is there. When his body is placed into
a tomb, there's a Joseph there. Now, before the burial of Jesus,
Joseph was a disciple, but a secret disciple for fear of the Jews, because he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He was
one of the 70 most important men in the government of Israel. He's on the Sanhedrin. And the
Jews had said that any disciple of Jesus would be put out of
the synagogue. Well, if you're put out of the
synagogue, you lose your place in the Sanhedrin. And therefore,
Joseph believed in Jesus. He was a secret disciple of Jesus. But he would not confess him
publicly. And John 12, 42 speaks of Some who believed him but
would not confess him. Why? They loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. Joseph was more afraid of the
wrath of men against him than he was the terror of God. He
believed in Jesus. He was trusting Jesus. But it
was all a secret matter unto him. He was one of the members of
the Sanhedrin. He was said to be a prominent
council member, Mark 15, 43. But when Jesus was pronounced
guilty by the Sanhedrin, Joseph was not there. How do we know? The vote to have Jesus crucified was unanimous. Joseph was not there, for he
would not have cast his vote against Jesus. He was a disciple
of Jesus. They all condemned him to death,
but Joseph is expressly called a good and just man, and Luke
tells us that he had not consented to their decision and deed. He
was not there. He would not publicly confess
Jesus, but he would not publicly vote against him. Now there is
a vast difference between a secret disciple of Jesus and a public
confessor of Jesus. You may be a secret confessor,
but that's not enough. That's not enough. Public confessors. If you believe in your heart, that's a secret disciple. What
you believe in your heart, no one knows. And if you confess
with your mouth, Ah, as Shakespeare would say, that's the rub. Here is a man who believed in
the heart, but he had not confessed with the mouth. A secret disciple
of Jesus, but all this changed at Calvary. Joseph graduated from secret
discipleship to public confession. He saw what Jesus had done for
him publicly. He knew that he must do the right
thing for Jesus publicly. He had seen Jesus mistreated
by sinners in his death, and he resolved that a sinner would
do the right thing for Jesus in his burial. He therefore proved
to be true to his name. Joseph! It means God will increase. God increased Joseph's courage,
and Joseph used his courage to confess Jesus. We read in Mark
15 verse 43 that Joseph of Arimathea, taking courage, God put courage in front of Joseph. And Joseph grabbed hold of it
and appropriated it to himself. Joseph, taking courage, went
in the Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He there made
his first public confession. And consider what he has done. He has gone in the Pilate's house. Governor, I desire the body of
Jesus. What are you going to do to it? Bury it? Are you one of his disciples? I am now. I never knew you were his disciple.
I kept it secret, but I'm confessing him now, and the first man to
whom I confess Jesus is my governor. I want you to know I am a disciple
of Jesus. Joseph confessed himself to be
Jesus' disciple. before the very governor of the
land. That's his public confession.
He goes to the governor to make his confession. I confess that
I am a disciple of Jesus. He proved to be true to his name. Having confessed Jesus in Pilate's
house, He now makes a very public confession because he hurries
from Pilate's house to Calvary. And there, he removes the body
of Jesus from the cross. Remember, Calvary is the skull. It is a promontory. a high spot beside the highway. It is Passover season. The highway is full of people
coming into Jerusalem to celebrate it. It was full of people who
had come by there when Jesus was crucified. Nothing done on
Calvary. was hidden except the three hours
of darkness. But now the sun is out and the
people are walking by and they look up on the top of Calvary
and say, what's going on up there? Somebody's taken the body of
Jesus down from the cross. Who is that? I don't believe
it. It's Joseph of Arimathea. A member of our Sanhedrin is
up there treating the body of Jesus with respect. Cannot believe
this! That's Joseph's public confession
of faith. His initial confession of faith
to the Roman governor. His public confession of faith
before all his countrymen. There may be someone here today, a sacred disciple. You have believed. You believe the truth concerning
Jesus, but you've never confessed Him. I want you to look at Calvary.
And look at Joseph of Arimathea confessing Jesus, not afraid
to do so. Take courage, confess him before
all. Be a Joseph of Arimathea. Now
we come to consider the second man who confessed him and buried
him, and that would be Nicodemus. Nicodemus, who first came to
Jesus by night. Nicodemus was also a member of
the Sanhedrin. He was a ruler of the Jews. He
also was a secret disciple of Jesus Christ. He came to Jesus
by night, early in Jesus' ministry. He believed in Jesus. But he
did not let anybody know. Once when the Sanhedrin said,
and he had defended Jesus, and they said, are you also his disciple?
No, no. And he shut up. For fear of the Jews. Well, he here proved to be true
to his name. His name means conqueror. He
conquered his timidity. What a timid man he was, but
here he conquered his timidity, and he joined Joseph in becoming
a public confessor of Jesus. And if you are a secret disciple
of Jesus, now is the time for you to conquer your timidity
and come forth and confess Him. Well, I just don't, I mean, I
don't know that I can't. I mean, what will happen? What
will people think? I'll tell you what they'll think.
They'll hug you and kiss you. They'll praise God for His mercy
to you. They'll let you know they're
praying for you. And if there's anything we can
do for you, let us know. No reason to be timid. when that prospect is before
you. Be a Nicodemus and conquer. Now, Joseph and Nicodemus buried
Jesus on the Jews' preparation day. On the Jews' preparation
day, they were preparing for the Sabbath. It would begin at
6 p.m. As we said, they had three hours
to get this done. So Joseph bought the linen, Nicodemus
brought the spices, and what a preparation day it was. What a preparation day. Can you
imagine? Joseph and Nicodemus, the body
of Jesus probably laid out on a table They bathed it, wiping it down,
the blood and the scars, thinking that He underwent all this for us
and we would not even confess Him. Can you imagine the tears that
flowed onto that linen cloth as these two men prepared the
body of Jesus for burial. The Jews are in their houses
preparing for their Passover. Joseph and Arimathea are preparing
their Passover. For Jesus Christ expressly is
called, our Passover was sacrificed for us. They have done this on a preparation
day and I would hope that today might be a preparation day for
you if there has never been one before. Third point, and I'm
quickly coming to a close. Third point, the manner in which
they buried Jesus, they laid him in a tomb. If the soldiers
had buried Jesus as was the custom of the Romans, they'd have dropped
him into some shallow hole and threw some rocks and dirt over
him. But these two men treated him with so much respect When his mother, at the day of his birth, when
his mother received him, she wrapped him in swaddling cloths
and laid, laid him in a manger. Joseph and Nicodemus wrapped
him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a tomb. They treated Him
with much respect. Let us never be found guilty
of treating the body of Jesus in a disrespectful manner. And
that includes even that the Lord's Supper with His bread and with
His wife. And then consider the fourth
and last point, Jesus, the one they buried. We could say much
I'll say one thing about the one they buried. His flesh did not in any way decompose. He's in that tomb for three days
and three nights His body did not in any way decompose. This fulfilled the prophecy given
of Jesus Christ in Psalm 16 where we read, My flesh also will rest
in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Sheol, or the grave,
nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. Peter
the Apostle declares that the prophet spoke concerning the
resurrection of the Christ that his soul was not left in Hades,
nor did his flesh see corruption. Paul the Apostle confirms the
same, declaring that he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Jesus was the only body ever
buried that did not see any decomposition, not the least. What happens when you die? Decay
of body will begin immediately for you and me when we die. A
few minutes after we die, our brains cells collapse and release
water. Within three to six hours after
we die, The muscular tissues become rigid and incapable of
relaxing, resulting in rigor mortis. A few hours later, trillions
of hungry microbes that digest our food eat through our intestines
and escape into the rest of our body and begin to devour our
organs. They produce toxic gases like
ammonia and hydrogen sulfide which expand and cause our body
to not only bloat but also to stink. Internal organs decompose
24 to 72 hours after death. Jesus was in a tomb at least
72 hours His flesh saw no corruption. For three reasons, God prevented
it. You will not allow your Holy
One to see corruption. God determined that Jesus should
come forth from that tomb the same way He went in. No decomposition. Second, Christ deserved it. He
said, my flesh also will rest in hope. He deserved undisturbed
rest in that tomb, and he got it. Every cell in his body was
at rest. And third, his hope would be
fulfilled. He would be resurrected. He would
emerge from his grave as he had entered it. incorruptible and
incorrupted, victorious over all his foes, and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. There they laid Jesus. There Jesus arose. And here we believe. And O God, our Father, be pleased,
we pray, to bless this word to the glory of your Son, to the salvation of your people,
to the edification of your Zion. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.