Lo In the Grave He Lay
Text: John 19:31-42
Every time I preach I have a couple of goals. First I want to faithfully, and correctly exposit the Word of God. It’s the Word, rightly proclaimed and taught that makes all the difference… Secondly, I always hope and pray that through the preaching of the Word, I put you awe of our great and awesome God, and I think our text will do that.
Before we turn to John though, I want you to look at 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. This was the Apostle Paul, telling the Corinthians what is of first importance… let me read it to you quickly, “For I delivered to you as of FIRST importance, what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”
Now how many of you have ever looked at that and said, “Ok… the death of Christ is of great importance, that’s where atonement was made. That’s where He shed His blood, and paid for all my sin. And the resurrection – that’s very important. It is the stamp of God the Father’s approval on all that Jesus did, and said, and taught. It shows that His death on the cross was sufficient and complete. But the burial?... Paul adds that in the list of things of FIRST IMPORTANCE… Christ died for our sins, HE WAS BURIED, and He was raised on the third day.”
Why is the burial included in these things of FIRST IMPORTANCE?
Well, let’s turn to John 19:30-42 and hopefully we’ll see the answer to that question (READ TEXT).
Now the first thing I want you to notice here is right there in verse 30… we talked about Jesus saying “It is finished.” But look what He does after He says that… He bowed His head and GAVE UP His spirit. No one took Jesus’ life – He gave it Himself… willingly.
And it had to happen this way. Let me explain that if I can. You see, Jesus gave up His spirit right around 3:00 in the afternoon. The Sabbath began at around 6:00 – Ya’ll understand Jewish days are not like ours right? Their new day begins in the evening… and Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says, “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.”
Ok? So according to the Old Testament, a crucified person wasn’t supposed to hang on the tree or cross, into the evening… The Romans typically would let crucified people stay on the cross for as long as it took, sometimes even days… but in Israel, they made an exception because of the Deuteronomy 21… in Israel, the Romans would come along and break the legs of those on the cross, so that they would die before the evening. But that posed a problem, because there was a prophecy in Psalm 34… Psalm 34:20 which says that the Messiah, who dies for the people, “keeps all His bones, not one is broken.” And Zechariah 12:10 says that “they will look upon Him whom they have pierced.”
If Jesus had been alive, when the Roman soldiers came to break legs, His legs would’ve been broken, His side would not have been pierced and the prophecies concerning the Messiah would’ve failed. But that’s the thing right!!!! God’s Word never fails!!!! God will so orchestrate human events to accomplish His Word.
So at 3:00 PM Jesus gives Himself over to death. He gives up His spirit, knowing that He must do it at that time, so that His bones are not broken, so that His side is pierced, and so that God’s Word is fulfilled.
ISN’T GOD AMAZING! But it doesn’t stop there… our text is primarily talking about the burial… and Paul included that in the things of FIRST IMPORTANCE… So let’s go on…
Verse 38 tells us that Joseph of Arimathea – who was a secret disciple of Jesus, comes to Pilate and asks permission to take the body of Jesus and burry it. And it’s he, along with Nicodemus who take the body of Jesus off the cross, and take it to the tomb.
So what do we know about these two guys?
Well… Joseph of Arimathea, according to Matthew 23 was a rich man. He was wealthy. Some even say he might have been that Rich Young Ruler Jesus rebuked. I don’t know that we can conclusively say that, but it’s possible. We know Joseph was rich… we know he was a “ruler” of sorts… Mark tells us he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council in Jerusalem… But we don’t know if Joseph was young… or if he was that guy at all. He was wealthy, he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and he was a secret disciple of Jesus… That means that he had come to believe in what Jesus was saying, but he was unwilling to step out and make that publicly known. At least until now.
And; there’s Nicodemus… we met him all the way back in John chapter 3. He’s also a member of the Sanhedrin. And I think that what has happened, is that these two guys, being knowledgeable of the Old Testament Scriptures, and being just and honorable men, have come to realize, we can’t follow Jesus in the shadows. We can’t follow Jesus and be fence riders. I think they are probably thoroughly disgusted with their party… with the Sanhedrin, and have seen it for what it really was. And they said, “Enough is enough. A great travesty of justice has been done, and yes, it will probably ruin us in every way, financially, politically, socially, but we’ve got to do the right thing.” And so they did. They came out of hiding and took the body of Jesus.
Now God was working all of that as well…
Isaiah 53:9, “And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence; and there was no deceit in His mouth.”
That’s another prophecy about the Messiah, the Savior, about Jesus… and in order for that to be completely fulfilled, Jesus not only has to die as a criminal, which He did, hanging between two thieves… but He also has to be buried in a rich man’s tomb… and guess what? HE WAS!
It is quite possible that Joseph of Arimathea had come into the kingdom for such a time as this. It’s quite possible that God saved Him to fulfill His Word… Now understand… Yes, God did love Joseph with saving love, and showed Him grace by which he was saved, but at the same time, it may be also stated that Joseph was saved to play this important role in fulfilling God’s Word. In the Book of Romans, Paul tells us that God raised Pharaoh up for the purpose of showing His (God’s) glory. That’s why Pharaoh was in power… that’s why he was where he was at and why he had the position and authority he held. To show God’s glory!
God saved you because He loves you. But He also saved you for a purpose! It might be something as simple as teaching your kids about Jesus. It might be so that you can support a missionary who is spreading the Gospel. It might be so that you can stand against evil and do the right thing. It might be a combination of things. But there is a purpose and a plan for each one of your lives.
Do you want to know what it is? I’ll tell you a good way to find out. Today, commit yourself to following Jesus 100%... not just on Sunday… not just in words, but in EVERYTHING. Say, “I’m going to follow and obey Jesus. I’m going to live for Him, no matter what. I’m going to do the right things, and speak up and speak out against evil, injustice, wickedness, wokeness, against sin. I’m going to be an example of Christlikeness to my spouse, to my kids, to my grandkids. I’m going to show them that what matters most to me is Jesus.” And watch what happens. Or … just go out and start sharing the Gospel. Share it with people you know who aren’t saved… share it with people who you think are saved… see what happens. You might be really surprised in both of those instances.
And you know… I think it’s really interesting that both Joseph and Nicodemus were “secret disciples” when Jesus was alive… but after He was crucified… when things were the most dangerous, when their own livelihoods were really on the line, they stepped up and were unashamed. Where was bold and boisterous Peter? Where was James? Where was Andrew and Matthew? And the rest?
It’s going to take the resurrection to transform them… but not Joseph and Nicodemus and the women who were at the cross. They’re already committed.
And here’s the thing. God wants us to be unashamed, totally committed followers of Jesus. But the reality is, not everyone starts out that way. The reality is that sometimes it takes something to shock us out of our fear, or apathy, or comfort zone.
Sometimes something has to happen to wake us up, and make us realize, it really is all about Jesus. And get us to the point where we’re “all in”. For some folks that’s the realization of their mortality. For others it’s seeing that Jesus is the only One who can fix this mess of a world we live in. For others still it might be coming to the realization that Jesus really is God, and the Bible really is true, and I either submit to His lordship now or suffer the consequences later.
For Joseph and Nicodemus, I truly believe that it was through their study of the Old Testament Scriptures. I think that they probably came to see that Jesus was fulfilling prophecy after prophecy, that He was doing miracles that only God could do. That He truly was the “Seed of the Woman.” The “Offspring of Abraham”. The Savior and Messiah – the Christ. Maybe it was the raising of Lazarus from the dead, or the walking on water, or giving sight to the man born blind… or maybe it was Palm Sunday that did it. But somehow, they came to believe.
Now I want to show you one more thing – another example of how Jesus was in complete control of all of this…. Turn with me to Luke 11:29 (READ). This is Jesus Himself prophesying about His own death, burial, and resurrection. He says an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign… that’s what they’re always looking for – “Oh look healing, miracles, tongues, prophecies, signs and wonders.” But Jesus says the ONLY sign He will give is the sign of Jonah. And you’ll remember that Jonah was in the big fish for 3 days. Jesus is saying that He’ll be in the grave for three days. And in order for that to happen, His body must be placed in the tomb before sundown. That’s when the Sabbath day would begin… so around 6:00 PM. Jesus died around 3:00. Joseph goes to Pilate and asks for the body. Pilate agrees after it’s confirmed by the Roman guards that Jesus is in-fact dead. Joseph and Nicodemus place Jesus’ body in the tomb before the Sabbath began. That’s day one. Saturday is the Sabbath, that’s day two… and Sunday – THE LORDS DAY, “up from the gave He arose! With a mighty triumph o’re His foes!”
Three days in the heart of the earth, just like Jonah in the belly of the Big Fish!
Church – God’s Word does not return to Him void. If God has said it, He will bring it to pass. And that’s what the burial of Jesus shows us.
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday and following that is Resurrection Sunday. I’m going to encourage you to invite someone to attend those services with you. Who knows, that may be part of your purpose as a believer.
Let’s Pray
CLOSING.
