Let us turn to God's Word in
the closing verses of the 23rd chapter in the Gospel according
to Luke. Luke chapter 23 and reading from
verse 50, 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, and laid it in a sepulcher, that
was hewn in stone wherein never man before was laid and that
day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on and the women
also which came with him from Galilee followed after and beheld
the sepulcher and how his body was laid and they returned and
prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according
to the commandment. Then we read what we might describe
as the funeral of the Lord Jesus Christ. Last time we were considering
the previous portion at verse 47 and observed those who were
the various onlookers as Christ yielded up the spirit, gave up
the ghost, And as he died, verse 47, 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 acquaintances and the women that followed him from
Galilee stood afar off, beholding these things. These various ones
then, many drawn to the spectacle of public execution of these
women who were his followers as they are beholding these things. We read of them again here at
the end of the chapter as they behold the sepulchre where the
body of the Lord was laid and then they go to prepare these
spices, anointments for the anointing of his body after the Sabbath
day. We noted particularly the confession
that was made by the Roman centurion. Certainly this was a righteous
man. Or as we have it in the other
synoptic Gospels in Matthew and Mark, truly this man was the
son of God. Wasn't that the charge that they
had brought against him? The Jews had accused him of blasphemy
for saying that God was his father. and making himself equal with
God. And he was, all that he said,
that's what the man is acknowledging. He was a righteous man. What
he spoke was truth. What a remarkable death it was
that the Lord Jesus Christ died there upon the cross. It was
a public execution of course, but his death is a death not
for himself, His death is in the place of others. Here we
see him making that great atoning sacrifice, the great doctrine
of substitutionary atonement, the innocent man who is dying
for the sins of others. But of course all that the Lord
Jesus Christ did throughout his life was done for his people. That's true with regards to his
birth, And the life that he lived, fulfilling all righteousness,
that life of perfect obedience to every commandment of God,
his death, his burial, and also his resurrection. And I want us this morning to
come to consider his burial. There in Matthew's account, Matthew
chapter 8 and verse 6, we have that expression, Come, see the
place where the Lord was laid. Here is that invitation then
that we come and we seek to behold these things and the significance
of this death of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I say, here in verse
55 we have mention of these women, the women also which came with
him from Galilee, followed after and beheld the sepulchre. and
how his body was laid. They beheld the sepulcher and
how his body was laid. And it's for us also to behold
these things. Remember the significance of
this word behold. It's a strong word. It has that
idea of the fixing of the eye and an intense consideration
and looking into these things. Oh God grant that we might be
those then who do desire to understand something of the significance
of the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, we see
how his body, it says, is begged by Joseph of Arimathea. He begged the body of Jesus,
it says in verse 52. He was a counsellor. But though
he held that position amongst the Jews, part of the Jewish
Sanhedrin, he did not consent with them. as we are told there
in that parenthesis at the beginning of verse 51. The same had not
consented to the counsel and deed of them. Why was that? He was a counsellor of the Jews
and yet he dissents. from what his fellow counsellors
had done in seeking the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why
was he different? What was the reason? Well, we're
told, are we not, that he was a good man and a just. But we're not to think in terms
of that goodness as something that is native to him, inherent
in him. Surely when we read here of him
as a just man, he is a man who is justified before God. And
the only way of justification, of course, is by grace. No man
can be just before God. All have sinned against God.
All are worthy of condemnation. But here is a man who is pronounced
in the Scriptures to be a good man and a just man. He was, we know, a secret follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was one in that sense with
Nicodemus. In John's account of these things,
there in the 19th chapter of John, and verses 38 and 39, we read of these two
men, verse 38, after this Joseph of Arimathea 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 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." So it's these two men
Joseph of Arimathea who was a secret disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ
together with this man Nicodemus and we remember of course in
John chapter 3 how that there is that interview between Nicodemus
and the Lord Jesus in which Christ speaks so plainly of the necessity
of the new birth. How a man must be born again
if he is to see the Kingdom of God. And we are told, are we
not, how that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. He comes under
cover of darkness. He also, you see, is interested,
but he doesn't want others to know of his interest, his recognition
of this man. We know that thou art a teacher
come from God, said Nicodemus, for no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Nicodemus, together
with Joseph of Arimathea then, is a secret follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, previously we might say
that these men were rather timid men, They were weak men, they
were cowardly men, they did not openly own and profess the Lord
Jesus Christ, they were secret disciples. And with regards to
Joseph of Arimathea, we are told why it was, it was because of
the fear of the Jews. Had not the Jews agreed that
if any man was his follower, he was to be put out of the synagogue,
as we see in John chapter 9, with regards to that man that
was born blind. to whom the Lord Jesus Christ
died silent. There was much persecution, you
see. And it was no easy thing to be one who was an open follower
of Christ. Even Peter, bold Peter, was so
fearful when he followed Christ, remember, how he denied Him. We've considered those things
here in chapter 22. He denied the Lord three times.
It disowned him. Well, these men also, they were
followers, but they were such timid and such weak characters. But why is it that now, after
Christ has died, they come forth so boldly and own the Lord Jesus
Christ and besiege Pilate that they might have the body of Christ.
and that they might bury his body. Why was it that at this
particular juncture we see such boldness in... Well, of course
now Christ's work was done. That's the important thing. The
great work of redemption was now accomplished. God in his
holiness and righteousness and justice was sacrificed, Christ
had made the great sacrifice, he had accomplished that work
that the Father had given him to do. Had he not uttered those
words upon the cross, it is finished. Before he gave up the ghost,
before he yielded his soul into the hands of his Father in heaven,
he had uttered that cry of triumph, it is finished. All that work
that he had covenanted with in eternity with the Father, that
work that was necessary to the salvation of his people. Remember
how also in his great high priestly prayer in John chapter 17 he
had said to the Father, I have glorified thee on the earth,
I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. or the guilt of sin had been
dealt with him. But not only the guilt of sin,
the very power of sin had also been broken. Sometimes sing the
familiar hymn of Toplite, the Rock of Ages. Does it not have
that lying plea of sin the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt
and power. There is cleansing not only from
the guilt of sin, there is that. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the Lord being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The wrath of God has
been placated, satisfied. and guilt has been removed from
the sinner by the shedding of that precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ but that is but one part of the work that Christ
did by his blood shedding he has also dealt with the very
power of sin and this is the reason why now these men are
emboldened It is the grace of God that is evident in both Joseph
and also Nicodemus as they come forth after the crucifixion,
after the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by virtue of his
death that they are enabled now to overcome their sinful fears,
their fear of the Jew. Did we not just sing in that
lovely hymn of Thomas Cullis concerning the cross, it makes
the coward spirit brave and nerves a feeble arm for fight. That is the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remarkable really because he
is crucified through weakness we read in Corinthians. Here
is Christ in the very depths of his humiliation then as he
makes the great sacrifice for sins and yet what virtue. And
we see it demonstrated in these two men who come forth and beseech
and beg Pilate that they might take the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ from the cross, from this place of public execution and
take it and lay it in the tomb. How true are the apostles' words,
and I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Oh, it is because of Christ's
death that these men then are emboldened. Also here, of course,
we have to recognize that there is a fulfillment of the Scriptures. In every detail of the life and
the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we see the Scriptures of the Old Testament being fulfilled. When Paul writes of the resurrection
in 1 Corinthians 15, remember how that chapter opens. There at verse 3, 1 Corinthians
15, verse 3, Paul says, I delivered unto you, first of all, that
which I also received out of Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. His death is a fulfillment of
the Scriptures. But he continues, and that he
was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. Not only is his death the fulfilment
of Scripture, but also his burial, and his rising again from the
dead, that is also the fulfilment of those things that are written
in the Scriptures. And we have that word in Isaiah
53 concerning his grave. He made his grave with the rich
in his death. He made his grave with the rich. And this man Joseph of Arimathea,
it appears, was a man of some substance, a man of some wealth. He had already provided himself
with a grave, had he not? in Matthew's account in chapter
27 there verse 59 when Joseph had taken the body he wrapped
it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb which
he had hewn out in the rock and he rolled a great stone to the
door of the sepulchre and he parted He was a man then who
had already made provision for his own burial. He had acquired
this too. He is a man of some substance.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures, must make
his grave with the rich in his death. And this is the rich man. The Scripture must be fulfilled.
and we see it even in the detail that's recorded in the Gospels
concerning Joseph of Arimathea and this too. But also, of course,
the burial of the Lord Jesus Christ indicates to us the great
fact of his death. Christ really died. The humanity of the Lord Jesus
Christ was such a real humanitarian. He is God and he is never anything
less than God. This is the great mystery of
Godliness, is it not? That God is manifest in the flesh. And here we see it, the remarkable
truth that the God-man died. How is it possible? Even when we think of his human
nature, that human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, was a
sinless human nature. That holy thing, as the angel
said to Mary, which shall be born of the earth. He was without
any original sin. And as he was freed from the
sin of Adam by the miracle of the virgin birth, he was preserved
from every taint of original sin, so in his life We know that
he is free from all sin, he never sinned, holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners was he. And it is the soul that sinneth
that dies. And sin is the wages of death.
How could he die? He dies as a substitute. He is
dying in the room of others, in their place, He is the great
substitute, bearing the sins of his people upon the cross.
And here you see we have emphasized the truth of his death, the reality
of his death. We observed it when we looked
at that 46th verse. 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. He gave up the
ghost. Literally, he breathed out. To
breathe out, that's the basic meaning of the particular verb
that he used. He breathed out the spirit. Just
as in the creation of the first man, what did God do? He breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life and Adam became a living
soul. And here we see the truth of
the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ and that separation you see.
Isn't that what death is? It's a separation. The spirit
returns to God who gave it, we read in the Ecclesiastes. And the body returns to the dust
as it was. The Lord God made that first
man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils
a breath of life. Dying you see is the separation of body and
soul and this is what the Lord Jesus Christ experienced. And
so what is it that is laid in the tomb? It is that dead body. He had breathed out the spirit,
he had committed his spirit into the hands of God. And Pilate was very concerned
to establish the reality of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was amazed, you see, that this man was so soon dead, as
we see there at the end of Mark 15. Verse 43, Joseph of Arimathea,
an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the Kingdom of
God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body
of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled 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. So, we see that Pilate, once
he verified that he had really died, The Lord Jesus Christ did
truly experience death. He, as I say, was a real human
nature body and souled out. Important a truth this is. We
are reminded, are we not, in what John says there in his first
epistle. He speaks of the Antichrist who
denies the truth of the incarnation. The Antichrist denies that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh. 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,
whereof ye have heard that he should come, and even now already
is it in the world. How important, friends, is the
doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we are clear with regards
to the scriptural teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, both in
his divine nature and in his human nature. If we are those
who are in error with regards to this doctrine, we are of the
spirit of Antichrist, not the spirit of Christ. That's what
John said. And the burial you see emphasises
to us the blessed truth that the Lord Jesus Christ became
a real man. he identifies with men and he
identifies with man as a sinner and the experience is for his
people that death that was there just deserved and so his body
is taken and it is laid in the grave and it's this man Joseph
of Arimathea who is responsible, he comes, he beseeches the Roman
governor. He begs of Pilate that he might
take this body. Well it is in the second place. Look a little more carefully
at the actual burial. Now we're told in verse 53 that
we took it down and wrapped it in linen and laid it in a sepulchre
that was hewn in stone where never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation
and the Sabbath drew on. In the words of the ancient creed,
called the Apostles' Creed, but it's not of course that was written
by the Apostles, but it's an ancient creed, and those creedal
statements of the early church Our sound statements, although
we do in the Apostles' Creed have that expression concerning
Christ, He descended into hell. More literally, He descended
into Hades. He entered into the realm of
the dead. That's what the Creed is saying. He entered into the realm of
the dead. And isn't this descent? a part of the humiliation of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is Christ humbled. He is humbled upon the cross
in the manner in which he dies. He is obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, that occurs then. And he experiences
what it is to die, and he experiences what it is to be laid in the
grave, But all of this, you see, is part and parcel of the manner
in which he was pleased to humble himself in order that he might
save his people from their sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ here,
we see, is buried with some face. These things are done hurriedly.
Verse 54, that day was the preparation and the Sabbath drew on. He must be removed from the cross
before the dawning, well not before the dawning of the Sabbath
day, because of course the Jews measured the day from sunset. He must be removed before the
sunset that day. He is buried then on the very
day. in which he is going dear, because
the Sabbath is coming on. Now again, if we take the trouble
to compare scripture with scripture, and this is the best way, is
it not, to interpret the word of God, to let the scriptures
interpret themselves, the analogy of faith, as it's called. If we turn to the details that
we have in John's Gospel, and there at verse verse 31 in chapter
19, the Jews therefore were told, because it was the preparation
that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath
day, for that Sabbath day was a high day, besought Pilate that
their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. When they come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we're told he was dead already. and they drape not his legs and
again of course that was a fulfillment of scripture the bone of him
shall not be broken but then again you see what we
are told later here in John's account verse 41 in the place where he
was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new sepulcher
were in was never man yet laid. There lay they Jesus therefore,
because of the Jews' preparation day, for the sepulcher was nigh
at hand." How all of this is overruled in the sovereign providence
of God. Here is the tomb and it's at
hand. They can so quickly take that
body from the cross and in a very short space of time they can
be laying that body in the tomb. or the Lord Jesus Christ then?
He is soon buried. He is soon laid in the tomb. In the prophetic psalm, Psalm
22, which is evidently messianic. It opens of course with that
great cry of dereliction, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And it concludes with the words,
it is finished, done, all done. From beginning to end that psalm
is clearly speaking in prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
there in verse 15, what does Christ say? Thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. Thou hast brought me into the
dust of death. The Lord Jesus Christ experiences,
burial, as well as death. And he has lied, of course, in
another man's tomb. It's not a tomb that was prepared
for himself. Here we see his great publica. He has nothing of this world.
There's no provision made for him. He doesn't make provision
for himself. He lived a life of dependence
and even as he comes to die he is dependent upon the generosity
of another to provide him with this place of burial. All the
humility then of the Lord Jesus Christ even as we come to consider
his funeral and his burial. But then besides observing his
humiliation here We also see something of the glory that belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the amazing thing. We
see these two things. His humiliation and yet the glories
of Christ. It was a new tomb. A new tomb. And we're told here
in verse 53 wherein never man before was like. There was nothing of corruption
nothing of death in that tomb, never had a body been laid in
the tomb. And how important that is. Again, the Psalms tell us, Psalm
16, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell or Hades, the realm of
the dead, neither wilt thou suffer my body to see corruption. His
human body saw nothing of corruption. though that body was laid in
the tomb. And these things of course are
brought out in the preaching of the apostles. We have it in
Acts chapter 2, Peter on the day of Pentecost speaks of the
fulfillment of those words from the 16th Psalm and their fulfillment
in the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
so again, as we read there in the 13th chapter of the Acts,
Paul, at Antioch in Pisidia, likewise refers to that same
psalm and the fulfilment of it in the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 David being the one who was the human author
of the sixteenth psalm but David there is not just speaking
of himself he is speaking of his greatest son Verse 37, Paul in his sermon
says, But he whom God raised again saw no corruption, though
he was laid in the grave. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ saw
nothing of corruption. Even the very place where they
take him and lay that body is free from any corruption that belongs to death.
It was a new tomb. Nobody had ever been laid in
that tomb. God is in all these things. God
is watching over this body, you see. We're not to think that
the human body is unimportant. Didn't God make man, body and
soul? Or true, when we die, it's absence
from the body present with the Lord. But we don't despise the
body. The Scripture doesn't despise
the human body, it's God's creature. This is why we would contend,
is it not, for the rightness of Christian burial? Not right
just to dispose of the body by burning, cremation. In the Scriptures
that was only the practice of the ungodly, the unbelievers.
Now, it is right and proper that there should be a decent the
middle of the human body that remains and awaiting of course
for that glorious morn of the resurrection, the general resurrection
when bodies are to be raised again and those in heaven there,
bodies will be reunited with their glorified spirit. And so
here we see as it the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is so carefully
washed over by God we are told concerning Joseph how he rolled
a great stone to the door of that sepulchre and then later in Matthew 27
we are told that the stone was sealed and a watch
was set, now that was because of what the Jews had said. They went to Pilate, did they
not, and they told Pilate that his followers had said that he
would rise again from the dead and they wanted Pilate to do
these things for them, but he refused. He tells them that they
must see to it themselves. There at the end of the 27th chapter in Matthew, we remember
they said to Pilate that that deceiver said while he was yet
alive after three days I will rise again command therefore
that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day lest his
disciples come by night and steal him away and say unto the people
he is risen from the dead and so the last era shall be worse
than the first. Pilate said unto them ye have
a watch Go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went
and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone and setting
a watch. But in all of this they are only
doing the will of God. Joseph had drawn that great stone
into the doorway of the sepulchre and there they seal it. And there
they set a watch, why that body must be carefully watched over.
In fact, on the morn of the resurrection of Christ, do we not see that
there were angels? There were angels watching over
the body. When the disciples come, there's
one at the head and one at the foot, where the body of Jesus
lies. But now the Jews only serve the purpose of God, the wonder
of the resurrection, that the Lord Jesus Christ should break
out of such a tomb as this. All the power of God you see
in raising him again from the dead. And all of this I say that the
Lord Jesus Christ is enduring and accomplishing is for his
people. This is why we do well to consider
these things, to behold these things, to look into these things.
Every action of his life, every detail of his life from his birth,
through all that he does, all the many deeds of kindness, all
his teaching, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his
ascension, and now his session there in glory. In all of these
things he is acting on behalf of his people, he is their head,
is he not? To them he is the great mediator
of the new covenant. Or Christ, in these experiences,
is ever mindful then of his children, his death and his burial? Is it not intended to be a comfort
to his children? Because many of his children
are fearful when it comes to the article of death. Who through
fear of death we read in Hebrews chapter 2? were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. There is no escaping it, you
see. It is appointed unto man once to die, you see. And then
comes the judgement. And there are those who are fearful
of these things, fearful of death, fearful of the grave. The hymn
writer reminds us, Jesus who came to save the lampless sinner
slain, perfumed The chambers of the grave are made in death
and again. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. He is that one who has gone before for his people. And in all that the Lord Jesus
Christ is experiencing here, he is able to minister to his
people. He is that one, you see, who
is ever mindful of them, ever seeking to minister to them.
The high priest who is touched with the feeling of all their
infirmities, all their sinless infirmities, that is. But he
experiences these things for his people. And this is our comfort. That the Lord Jesus Christ has
died, that the Lord Jesus Christ has had a funeral, his body has
been laid in the grave, and in that very act he has perfumed
the grave, it has no fear, really for the child of God. Christ
himself has gone before, O death, where is thy sting? O Greg, 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. O God, help us
then to rightly consider what we are told here concerning Christ. and how his body, that sacred
body was laid in this new to the women also which came with
him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sacrifice and
how his body was laid and they would minister to him they returned
and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according
to the commandment. Remember really the breaks that
we are so familiar with, the verses, chapters, useful as they
are, they are not part of the inspired text are they? Because
immediately after that we come into chapter 24, Now upon the
first day of the week, very early in the morning they came unto
the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and
certain others with them, and they found the stone rolled away
from the sepulchre and they entered in and found not the body of
the Lord Jesus. And he came to pass as they were
much perplexed thereabout. Behold, two men stood by them
in shining garments, and as they were afraid and bowed down their
faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living
among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spoke unto you
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third
day rise again. And they remembered His words. Oh God, rather we might remember
the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless His word to
us, for His name's sake.