All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn to the book of Mark, chapter 15. Our Lord has now finished His
work of redemption. His blood has been shed exactly
as it was prophesied to be. And He laid down His life as the Father had sent Him to
do. and also by his own will, and
now his lifeless body hangs nailed to the tree. Now this morning
I want us to read a little bit about his burial. You know in
1 Corinthians 15, Paul defines the gospel like this. He said, This is what I preached
to you and this is how you're gonna be saved if you keep in
memory what I preached unto you, otherwise you believed in vain.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
and was buried and raised again the third day according to the
Scriptures. So let's read these verses together.
Mark chapter 15 beginning with verse 39. And when the centurion, which
stood over against him, saw that he cried out and gave up the
ghost, he died. There was no breath, there was
no moaning. He died. He said, truly, this
man was the Son of God. That's who he said he was. whom the prophets testified that
he was, and the centurion said, surely, that's who he was. There
were also women looking afar off, among whom was Mary Magdalene
and Mary, the mother of James the less and of Joseph and Salome,
who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto
him. and many other women which came
up with him unto Jerusalem. And now when evening was come,
because it was the preparation, that is the preparation of the
Sabbath, it was the day before the Sabbath,
Friday evening, and Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor,
which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly
unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marveled
if he were already dead. Crucifixion was, it was a type
of death that was planned for suffering. Nobody was crucified
except the vilest of offenders. And they put them out there,
and as a deterrent to others, they put them out there and they
crucified them, and they hung up there on those crosses for
hours and hours and hours and hours. And Pilate 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. And he brought fine
linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and
laid him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of rock, and rolled
a stone unto the door of the sepulcher. And Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was laid. Now,
for time's sake, I just want to limit myself to five things
that I believe are preserved here for our learning. And the
first thing set before us is a witness beyond reproach. We
say, how was the centurion a witness beyond reproach? That was his
job. He represented the state. He
represented Pilate. And he went out there. to ensure that these men died. These ones to whom it was, they
were sentenced to this type of death, he was to go out there
and for the state. You know, if they take you into
the gas chamber today, or the electric chair, or whatever,
what else is there? They've got a lethal dosage of
some kind, but they always, the state always has a group of witnesses
and a doctor, and this doctor, at the end, he'll say he's dead. And those witnesses bear witness
of it. This was the centurion's job. He had other men with him
also to keep order and peace in this execution. But at the
same time, this was his job. When Pilate didn't believe that
Christ was dead, who'd he call for? The centurion. And he come in and he very pointedly
asked him, is he dead? He said he is. Okay, you can
have the body. It was his job to stand beside
this dying man as a witness to ensure that his sentence would
be carried out to its full intent. And this is a wonder of God's
providence as this that this government even come up with
such a thing. Can't you see God's wisdom in that? God working in
his providence and he's working even in an alien government and
even among these men and soldiers and all these things and he's
putting this together so that there can be no question that
Jesus of Nazareth died on that cross. It's just a wonder to
me of God's providence how that he works these things. Now later
on, the Jews, after the stone was rolled back and the body
wasn't found, they told those soldiers, they said, don't tell
anybody that he rose from the dead. Don't tell them that. Tell
them that he came and gave you money to say that he rose from
the dead. And then he paid them money to
say that. They bought again false witnesses. but it didn't do them any good because God already knew that
also. Jesus Christ did not slip into
a temporary coma. I've read men who said that these
are natural men, scientists and so on, and they're trying to
justify the word of God with natural laws. And they said,
well, he didn't really die. He went into a coma, and it just
appeared like he was dead. Or he passed out from exhaustion,
and his heart rate went way down, and he appeared to be dead. No,
he died. He died. In John's account, in John 19,
verse 31, he tells us because it was the eve of the preparation
They had to get ready for the Sabbath, that the Jews sought
Pilate to break their legs so they'd hurry up and die so they
wouldn't offend the law of God with the death of Christ and
having to deal with that. And so the soldiers came and
they broke the legs of the first and of the second. But when they
came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead and they
break not his legs. And of course it was written
of him, not a bone of him shall be broken. So not only was the
centurion a witness to his death, but also his men under him. So
his witness is established by the law in the mouth of two or
three. The second thing I want you to
see here, and the thing that we meet with here in the scriptures,
is a band of women. a band of women, several women
of reputation among believers, but according to Mark 15, 41,
and many other women, which came up with them unto Jerusalem. And then he adds this explanation,
who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him and ministered unto
him. These were believing women. These
are women who knew that He was the Son of God. He was the promised
Messiah. And then many other women came
up with Him unto Jerusalem. These weren't just sympathizers.
These were believing women. Women whose hearts had been established
in the grace of God. Women who had been brought to
know the truth. Faithful women. Women set apart by God. I don't know. It's a strange
thing to me that faithful women are set aside by some preachers
and they never have anything to say about it. I don't understand
that. The scriptures exalt these women.
Did you know that it was a woman Not any of the apostles, those
who would later on be apostles, not any of his closest disciples
understood that he had to go and die on a cross and be raised
from the dead. I don't know how many times he
told them that, they didn't believe it. But there was one that did. And
she came in and anointed him for his death. And he said, wherever
this gospel's preached, Her name's gonna be mentioned. He never
said that about any man. He said that about a woman. You see, women are a type of
the church. They are actually types. This
is why God created a woman. She's a type of the church. I
don't know how many times he refers to his church as her,
my bride. Daughters of Jerusalem. Over
and over and over he tells us this, he uses this language.
And with that in mind, that's what sets forth everything that
a woman is supposed to do. Because she's a type of the church. And so she is a As a type of
the church, he's also a type of believers. Believers. What do believers do? They minister.
Isn't that what they do? They minister, and this is what
he tells us about these women. They ministered to him when he
was in Galilee. All of creation, Paul tells us,
is by Christ. and for him, and every relationship
has a direct connection to Christ. Adam, according to Romans 5.14,
is a figure of him that was to come. He's a figure of Christ.
He's a figure in his federal headship. He's a figure in his
sex. One mediator between men and
God, the man, Christ Jesus. But women were also created of
God, but for a different reason. A woman is a picture of God's
church. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church. In Ephesians 5.22, we're told,
wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the
Lord. He's typical of the Lord. You're
typical of the believer. And we cannot fulfill the will
of God A woman can't, in her womanhood, apart from submission
to him who is the figure of Christ. This is God's purpose in your
being. And he goes on and on and on
in the scriptures. For the husband is the head of
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. Therefore,
as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to
their own husbands. And so ought men to love their
wives as their own bodies. He that loveth not his wife loveth
not himself. And as I said before, these women
knew the truth. You know, as far as being heirs
of God, there's no difference. You ever read that in Galatians?
Listen to this, Galatians 3.27. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now listen to this. If you're in Christ, you've been,
as he said here, baptized into Christ, there is neither Jew
nor Greek, or no difference, they're neither born nor free,
There is neither, now listen, male or female. Not in Christ,
you're one, you're the same. As far as you're being an heir,
there's no difference. The difference is in this world.
That's the difference. There is a distinction in the
sexes, and this distinction is made by our Lord and those who
know him and love him, live and act according to that distinction. Now, why am I saying all these
things? Because of what's going on in this country right now. That's exactly why I'm saying
these things, and I'm going to be saying a lot more about them. There's a distinction. And these
women, Matthew 27, 55, follow Jesus from Galilee, ministering
unto him. And so godly women are commended
by God and spoken of kindly as our Lord dies and is carried
to his grave, he's attended by women. And God will have the
world to know that. Women had nothing in common with
the feminists of our day, not one thing. These women were ladies. They were ladies. They knew what
women were created to do and did their best to do it, to live
that way. All right, the third thing we
discover following the death of Christ is a strange servant. He seems to pop out of nowhere.
You don't read anything about him beforehand, you don't read
anything too much about him afterwards, but he just comes on the scene.
But isn't that exactly how God works? He has a man for everything
that he intends to do, and when the time comes, he's already
prepared, and he steps right in and does what God ordained
for him to do. This is a strange servant. His name is Joseph of Arimathea. And he was a counselor. What's
that mean? That means he sat on the high
council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin. How many times before the death
of Christ did that council meet? Or did our Lord speak to the
council when they took him into the high priest chambers? And
he sat there and he spoke to the council. He spoke to these
men. And Joseph of Arimathea, was
part of that council. Now the council's job was to
look for the promised Messiah. And they knew everything concerning
the Messiah. They knew where he'd be born,
they knew what tribe, they knew all about him. Joseph of Arimathea. He's a member of the Sanhedrin.
Verse 43. It says that he was an honorable
counselor. An honorable counselor. Not all
of them were unbelievers. There were some believers in
there. Mark says also in verse 43, which
also waited for the kingdom of God. Not that you have to be a believer
to be used of God, but in Acts 5, the high council was met to
slay Peter and the other apostles for preaching Christ, and a man
called Gamaliel. He wasn't a believer, but God
used him. You remember what Gamaliel said
back then? He said, now, there was a man
that rose up, and he had a pretty good following, and he went on,
and we just didn't do anything about it. We just let him go,
and it just fizzled out. And this other guy, he rose up,
and he had a little following, and he went out, and it maintained
for a little while, but we just ignored him, and he just faded
into the woodwork. And he said, you better be careful
about these men. If what they're saying is contrary
to God, they gonna go out just like the others, and they're
gonna fade off into the woodwork. But if they be of God, now you
put yourself between God and His men. And you don't want to
do that either. So he said, let's just leave
them alone. That's pretty wise for an unbeliever. And so that's
what he did. But it seems to me, I don't know
that he was a believer or an unbeliever. I wouldn't contest
anybody one way or the other. But it just seems to me that
only a believer would have boldly went in to Pilate and begged
our Lord's body. Brother Don made this observation,
that God always raises up the exact man to do the very thing
that he needed at the very time it was needed. And he does. Luke tells us that he was a good
man and just. And he also tells us that he
had not consented to the counsel and the deeds of them that put
our Lord to death. Now Isaiah prophesies that the
Lord made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his
death. Joseph of Arimathea was a rich
man. He was a rich man. And it was the wicked that put
him to death. It was the wicked who insisted
that his tomb be guarded and sealed. And the wicked that set that Roman guard, they
went down to Big Pilate to put a guard on that tomb and seal
it. He was buried in the tomb of
a rich man, taken there by two rich men. Here's another man,
but we met him a little earlier. His name is Nicodemus. Nicodemus
came with Joseph of Arimathea. And they took the Lord's body.
And then fourthly, we meet up with a willing ruler. Pilate
was not a man to be content. You didn't contend with these
men. These men, this wasn't like our society. And I don't want
to sound foolish, but our politicians are just wishy-washy. That's
not the way it was. under the sovereign rule of these
ancient governments. You stepped out of line, they'd
have your head on a plate. There was nothing wishy-washy
about Pilate. He was a wise man, but he was
a Roman governor, and he had all kinds of power. He was in authority. And that
authority appointed by God and piled in every way was figurative
to me of the law. He must give his assent to the
death of Christ and he must give his assent to the release of
Christ. And that's what's going on here.
The law demanded his death. Having died, He said, it's finished. He satisfied God. Having satisfied
God with his death, having purchased our redemption, the law now has
to let him go. He has to release him. And so
he does. So when Joseph came to Pilate,
the appointed magistrate did not believe that he was dead.
until the centurion came and gave witness to it. You think about what that man
saw. Christ was hanging there for hours and hours and hours.
And they came by after he'd been there hanging, bleeding. I mean,
they didn't use tacks when they nailed him on a cross, they used
these big old spikes, something that would hold, had a broad
head on it, would hold him on that cross. And they drove it
through his feet and they drove it through his hands and there
he hangs and he's bleeding, suffering all day long, all day long. He's
been lashed with a cat of nine tails until he was almost dead.
He'd been slapped and spit on and beaten and mocked, and now
he's hanging on that cross. And then they come along with
a spear, and those things had a spearhead on them about like
that, and they stuck that thing in his side. And not long afterward, he died. These things were necessary not
only to fulfill the scripture, but also to put an end to foolish
rumors about Christ not truly dying. It was a well-established
fact and a matter of recorded history that Christ died on the
Roman cross. And God calls that old hardened
ruler to willingly give permission for Joseph to take his body down. And then lastly, he's brought
to an honorable tomb. Now it's not mine to judge between
a hole in the ground or above ground sepulcher. You have options
of that today. One's a little harder to find
than the other. But it's not mine to judge between burial
in the ground or burial in an above ground sepulcher. In my
personal opinion, he was only going to be there three days. Three days. And that's why God
ordained for him to be put in that tomb. And it was also hewed out of
solid rock. It wasn't something they could
run out there and dig up. It was above the ground. It was
an open view, stone there, Roman seal on it, guards beside it.
No way anybody could have come and took that body away. And I don't mean to sound offensive,
but it seems to me that much care and thought ought to go
into the burial of God's saints. It's an honorable thing. We don't
plan on dissolving away, never to be seen again. When we're
buried, we expect a resurrection. So why would we want to burn
these bodies? It appears to me that this is,
and I heard Brother Mahan say this years ago, and I read and
read and read about the death of these saints. None of them,
none of them were cremated. Not any of them. Not any of them. They were all buried, and lots
of them, in caves and above ground sepulchers, places like that. How our Lord was buried said
a lot because we know he was laid there expecting to rise
the third day. He was washed, he was wrapped
in linen, laid in a proper tomb, and that by those who fully expected
him to soon come out of it. And as Joseph, he carried Israel
to his place of burial, so Joseph again carries our Lord to his
grave, to an honorable tomb. You can
read about that back in Genesis chapter 50, verses one through 14. Jacob
died in Egypt, but he made his son promise. He said, when I
die, don't leave me in Egypt. Don't leave me in Egypt. I'm
not planning on staying here. I've already bought my tomb.
I'm not gonna leave that for you to decide. I've already bought
my tomb. It's bought and paid for. Take
me over there and lay me in it. That's what we ought to do. We
ought to make sure somebody after we die ain't gonna take us out
and have us cremated, but have us put in a proper tomb. In a
proper tomb. All right, thank you.