Joseph of Arimathaea Sets the Resurrection Stage

Number one, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Number two, that he was buried, verse four, and that he rose again the third day. Verse five, verse four also, and then the one that maybe goes unnoticed is that he was seen. That’s also part of this this list of truths about the gospel. Of course, that’s related to his resurrection. The thing I want to focus on tonight just before we go into Matthew 27 is in verse four, it says, and that he was buried and that he was buried. You know, that’s a necessary element to the gospel. It is not just that Christ died and that he rose but it is, of course, I wouldn’t maybe put it on par with his sacrificial death and with his resurrection but it is an important truth that Christ was buried and that’s what we’re going to look at tonight in Matthew 27. So, if you can go there, we’ll visit Matthew twenty seven one more time before getting to the last chapter.

We’ve been in Matthew 27. I don’t know how many messages we’ve looked. Six, maybe seven by now and and so we want to finish it up tonight starting in verse number 57. So, our lord Jesus, he is he is on the cross. He is on the cross and he is dead. He has died as as a mark of injustice done to a man who is righteous for sure.

As a mark of rejection of the Jewish people of of him, as a mark of rejection of the Gentiles of him. He has died as a willing servant to the lord and probably most importantly of all like we saw this morning, he has died as an offering for sin. Willingly, voluntarily given himself and offered by his father as a as an offering in the place of sinners.

Just an amazing truth and so now, he’s on the cross. His life, his life has been dismissed, his spirit has been dismissed from him. He’s yielded up the ghost as an act of his will and he hangs on the cross dead. Verse 57.

When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea named Joseph, who was also his Jesus’ disciple. He went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. When Pilate commanded the body to be then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And 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 departed.

And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre. So as we can see here, Jesus is buried. And this is where we come to this final figure in Matthew 27 that we want to look at just for a little bit tonight, and that is Joseph of Arimathea. Let’s pray. Our Lord, we come to you now once again. We simply want to ask you for your help and grace and that you would open the eyes of our understanding. Lord, work in our hearts by your word. Lord, it is quick and powerful to to work in us and to make us more like the Lord Jesus. And so Lord, let the truths of scripture I pray come alive, not only come alive intellectually, but also to affect us in our daily walk with you. And so Lord, we just we trust you and we ask you for your grace and help in Jesus name, amen.

So Joseph of Arimathea, this is the first mention of Joseph of Arimathea in Matthew, in the twenty seventh chapter. In fact, this is the only mention of Joseph of Arimathea and we know a little bit, we we know a little bit about Joseph of Arimathea and I do want to show you a few other passages of scripture that mention things about him but he only occurs here. He just pops up in ‘27 and a few verses and he’s gone and that’s it but he is he is if you think about the entire story of what’s happening in the crucifixion and then in the resurrection, Joseph’s role is crucial. It is it is very very important and I would say this, what Joseph does lays the groundwork for Christ’s resurrection and if you if you would, just hold your place here because in fact, before we go to, we wanna go to Luke 23 verse 50 but let’s just read one more time a little bit of information about Joseph in verse 57. If you would read that, it says, when the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple. So, that’s a little bit of of biographical information about Joseph. So, now, let’s go to Luke chapter 23 and start in verse number 50.

Luke 23 verse number 50, the Bible says this, same this is the parallel passage in Luke, of course. Verse 50 says this, and behold, there was a man named Joseph. Notice, 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. A little bit more information about Joseph. So let’s do a little biographical sketch of this man Joseph because he does play an important role in the burial of Christ. So we already have seen, it says in verse 50 of Luke now, Luke twenty three fifty, Joseph was a counselor. And if you remember the counsel was that group of men who just the night previous to what where we are right now, overnight, had conduct conducted a a mock trial of the lord Jesus and had condemned him and those all of those members of that council were the counselors.

Joseph was numbered among them. He was he was one of those men. He was among them. He was on that council that condemned Jesus but of course, we know that he did not participate in that. He refused to participate in the condemnation Jesus. Verse 51 says, the same had not consented to the council and deed of them. Now, you know, you see this and and one truth we’re reminded of and and I don’t think Joseph was the only ruler. In fact, we’ll see something in just a minute that will shed more light on this but Joseph was not the only ruler who was a believer in Christ or who was in favor of the lord Jesus. There were others and but though that was the case, yet the majority, the majority ruled and the will of the majority was done which shows us of course the the the will of the majority is not always the will of god. That’s for sure but also, it reminds us of the fact that even in places like that, there you can find god’s people here and there that are that are not agreeing with the thing that is happening but their voice just is not loud enough and not persuasive enough to to overrule what the the mad masses are trying to do and then, we also see in in Luke 23 verse 50 that the Bible says that that that Joseph was a good man, a good man.

In the sense of he he was a man who was known for his benevolence, for his morality, for his kindness, and it also says, he was a just man. Verse 50 and that the word just especially gives a clear picture of Joseph. Even though Joseph was on the council, even though he was a ruler among the Jews, Joseph was a righteous man. That is his faith rested solely and squarely on the Lord Jesus. He was a believer. That’s why it says just. That’s the just shall live by faith. He was a believer.

And so whatever you might think about Joseph and what he did or maybe did not do, nobody from a scriptural perspective can deny that Joseph was a was a true believer and that will get to something about that in just a minute but notice also at the end of verse 51, the Bible says, who also himself waited for the kingdom of god. This is a man who is hoping for the Messiah. He received the lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He believed in Christ in that way and so, in in this way and we already saw in Matthew that he was Jesus’ disciple. Matthew 27 verse 57, we read says that he was Jesus’ disciple. Now, he wasn’t a disciple. He wasn’t one of the 12 but he was a disciple that was a secret disciple. Look if you would very quickly at John 19.

John chapter 19. John 19. John 19 verse number 38. And after this, Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, notice, 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. You know, I wonder as Joseph sat on that council at various times, you know, the council did not just meet one time at the very end to condemn Jesus.

They were meeting throughout the three, three and a half year ministry of Jesus. They met him they they met several times and discussed what they might do. In fact, on several occasions at least, a few occasions, they actually resolved to destroy him. They were actively looking for a way to destroy Jesus, to kill him in such a way that it wouldn’t cause a huge uproar because of course the common people were were fans of the lord Jesus and so I also, you know, I wonder what what was it like in those meetings for Joseph?

What we do know is that Joseph was not doing a lot of speaking up. He was a secret disciple. Inwardly, he agreed with Jesus. Inwardly, he believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Inwardly, he disagreed with with the the the council and what the council is trying to do but he didn’t really speak up about it. He kept it kept it close. He kept it quiet. Probably, like many others, trying to weigh, you know, and people have been doing this forever, right? Trying to weigh, alright? If I stay quiet, I can retain my seat and influence and perhaps I can move the council in a positive way.

How many of you have heard that? You know, a little bit of history about our church. Mean, many of you know, those of you that have joined the church certainly know because that’s something we discuss but our church is an independent Baptist church and that means that our church is not affiliated with any denomination, any denomination organization. That’s on purpose And there was a steep price paid by our forebears to be that and to withdraw from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1985. There was a steep, I wasn’t here at that time, Brother Vernon was and the price was heavy.

The price was heavy. There was a lot of, I don’t know if you call it betrayal, but a lot of friendships that were cratered and it was a difficult time for the church. But in that discussion, one of the things that came up was, and I talked to Pastor Craig about this over the years, one of the issues that came up and the questions that was raised between those who remained at that time in the Southern Baptist Convention and those that left was those that remained often remained because they said, well we want to remain a voice for good things, for right theology in the Southern Baptist Convention and was the rationale for them to stay. Of course, obviously, pastor Craig and our church did not have that rationale but but that was what was going through through their mind and it’s and and that’s common in a lot of a lot of situations. Here, we see it. That was probably, I’m reading between the lines a little bit. That’s probably what’s going on with Joseph. He’s saying, alright, well, if I stay and I I just keep everything quiet, you know, then, maybe I can have an influence on this council. Now, let me ask you a question.

Did he? Not really. I mean, there was one time where Nicodemus, I think it was, spoke up and averted a plot to destroy Jesus early, and that’s recorded in scripture. And so maybe you could say that’s good, but ultimately what happened? Ultimately, the majority, the mass of the council who hated Christ, they ultimately condemned him and did the thing that they had wanted to do and Joseph’s influence, whatever it was, enough.

So, it raises the question. Well, you know, when when you’re involved in something that’s that’s evil and and and that’s you’re not necessarily to be faulted because you’re a part of that. Of course, if you participate, that’s a different question but you’re not faulted because you’re a member of that thing. But the question must be raised, are you really gonna make a difference? And sometimes people hang their hat on that hope but it never actually comes to pass. It never actually comes to pass.

Look if you would at John 12. We’re already in John 20. Look at John 12. John 12 verse number 42. John twelve forty two, Nevertheless, among the chief rulers also many believed on him, on Jesus. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, that is they didn’t make it public, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. That is a quite an indictment, the Lord is not viewing this as a good thing, this secret kind of discipleship. Were these men saved? Were they not saved? Were they? I I don’t I don’t know the answer to that.

But Joseph was one of them. He was a ruler. He was a counselor. He was a disciple. He believed in Christ. But he was a secret disciple. He was a secret disciple. And his influence, whatever his decision was, whatever the motivation for him to stay in the council, and maybe he wanted to influence, maybe that’s the reason. It didn’t actually work out. And you know what happened? In the end, he had to come out and be a public disciple.

In the end, he had to come out and be a public disciple. Go back to to John 20. Or rather John 19, I’m sorry. John 19 verse number 38 and after this, 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.

What Joseph is doing at this point is public. You see, what he’s doing at this moment, up until this moment, he has been a secret disciple but now at this moment, man, think of the irony. The men who had followed the lord Jesus, all of those years, who have been personally called to be disciples by the lord Jesus, all 11 of them. Are nowhere to be found to claim his body.

Now, in the Roman world, sometimes they would leave the body on the cross and let the animals have it and then other times, they would allow the family depending on the circumstance. They would allow the family of the the condemned to claim his body and then give the body a burial. In fact, in in and around Jerusalem, they had found bodies of of men who had been who had been crucified and they were buried properly. That is they were they they were they were actually buried not just left to to rot on the cross. Although that that did happen at times too.

But the the 11 disciples are nowhere to be found. And even if they had followed Jesus and were there, mean, what a what a shame. How low they have come. He is dead. Really, the danger is mostly past. You know, it’s so funny because the the rulers as we as we’ve already studied, the rulers are afraid that the disciples are going to come and steal his body and they won’t even claim his body.

But really the great danger is passed and the disciples are are MIA. They are not around. And it’s at this it it is at this moment that this man who is Matthew calls him a rich man, a counselor, but a secret disciple which I think I think that’s faulty. Do you agree? That that he was a disciple. Yes. He was a believer. Yes. But there was a deficiency in his following of the lord Jesus.

There was a there there’s really, you know, the the discipleship as we’ve gone through Matthew, have we not seen over and over again when Jesus called men to discipleship, when he called men to follow him, it was, there was never any allowance for anything secret. It was always take up your cross and follow me. That’s public.

But we also can’t deny that Joseph was indeed a believer. He was a righteous man. He had faith and he was indeed a disciple, a follower of Jesus. But he does have a mark against him to this point but at this point, there are none of the 11 disciples who are supposed to be the ones who are carrying the cross. They are nowhere to be found and now, the secret disciple comes out of the shadows.

And is willing to own the lord Jesus and identify with the lord Jesus publicly and he is the only one. I said something about a change of heart that has happened in Joseph’s life. He lays his reputation and his influence on the line. I’ll say I’ll say even further. He doesn’t just lay it on the line to associate himself with a with a dead criminal. As the Lord is perceived, he also takes that same reputation and uses it to get the body of Jesus.

You know if one of those fishermen had approached Pilate, probably they wouldn’t have had an audience to be honest with you. Right? That’s how this world works. For us common folk, are trying to help brother Jim out with the issues he has been having with the jail. Brother, are just a nothing. Right? You are just a nobody. Right? And so what we have to do is we have to find some somebody’s that will that have an audience with some of the people that make these decisions, right? That’s kind of like what we’re what we’re trying to do. Well, Joseph was a somebody.

Joseph was a man Pilate probably knew. He was on the council. He was a man, he was rich. That meant he had some pull, some influence, and at this moment, maybe you could even say that the Lord had prepared Joseph. And again, this is the blending of God’s providence with man’s choice to accomplish God’s purpose. Is it right for someone to be a secret disciple? Because they fear man. No. The scripture condemns that. The fear of man bringeth a snare. So Joseph, like the other rulers is not in a good place. He’s not where he should be though he is a believer but it is not that the lord is pleased with that but the lord uses that because he has been in the shadows, all of the other disciples are scattered, he has retained his influence.

And when the moment comes, he steps out of the shadows to identify with Christ with that influence to get the body of Jesus. I can’t make sense of all that, but I think the Lord was over, was watching over this whole process because, and I wanna tell you I think the reason, here’s my theory about the reason. I think because the Lord wanted and was going to use Joseph to lay the groundwork for the resurrection.

He was going to lay the groundwork for the resurrection. So Joseph laid, the Bible says in Mark fifteen forty three, he he boldly went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, which indicates it wasn’t an easy thing to do. I mean, he stuck he stuck his neck out in order to get the body of Jesus and laid his reputation. He might have lost it. I have no idea. There’s no way for us to know but he went to Pilate. He begged for the body of Jesus and and then, if you look at John, we’re already in John 19. Look at verse number 40.

The bible says, then took they the body of Jesus. Well, now we’re in the plural. We know we have Joseph, but who else are we referring to? So kind of back up, put your reverse on. Verse 39, and there came also, who is that? Nicodemus. Nicodemus. You know, be encouraged. Be encouraged. If you read John chapter three, you get the impression that Nicodemus was just dense, spiritually dense.

Jesus tried to explain the truth to him. You know, John three sixteen was spoken to Nicodemus, right? It was. Nicodemus heard some of the greatest words that have ever been penned by man, spoken to him by the one about whom they spoke, right? Just dense. And there’s no indication that Nicodemus believed and since that time, it’s been probably several years have passed, so we should take courage.

Whatever the Lord was starting with a dense, you know, spiritually dense, half blind ruler of the Jews and Nicodemus is now bearing fruit. It’s now bearing fruit because here Nicodemus is also putting his reputation on the line with his associate, another ruler, Joseph. Maybe they maybe they were maybe they were both on the council. Although, the Bible doesn’t say Nicodemus was on the council but maybe they were. Maybe they were they were associate secret disciples. I don’t know.

Verse 39 says, and there came also Nicodemus which at the first came to Jesus by night and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an 100 pound weight, and they and took they, Nicodemus and Joseph. I bet I bet if I gave you trivia this morning and I said, who buried the body of Jesus? None of us. None of us would have said, Nicodemus. There he is.

Took they the body of Jesus and wounded in linen clothes with the spices as the manner of Jews is to bury. So this tells us that of all the disciples of Christ, it was but Joseph and Nicodemus, the secret ones, that took upon themselves to wrap the body of Jesus to anoint it and to bury it. It was Joseph, not the 12, that provided the tomb to bury Jesus in.

Look if you would back at back in Matthew. I know we’re flipping back and forth. Bear with me if you would. Matthew 27 and our text verse 60. Matthew 27 verse number 60.

The bible says this, verse 59 says they had taken the body and wrapped it in clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb. The words there. His own new tomb. Just a reminder, again, the 11, they’re gone, nobody’s there. Nobody’s providing a place for Jesus to be buried, nobody’s claiming his body showing him that honor at all, it’s this secret disciple coming forth and he is using, notice he’s using his own new tomb.

Some people say this was a borrowed tomb, this is why, because it was his and don’t know, honestly I don’t know that any of the disciples or the women who were present in verse 61, I don’t think any of them knew that Jesus was going to rise from the dead despite the fact that he had repeatedly told them. It just did did not compute. It did not compute at all until he had actually risen.

So Joseph is essentially giving him the tomb. It’s borrowed, we know, but Joseph I don’t think knows that. And and it just it this fact that he gives Jesus, buries Jesus in his own tomb.

It reminds me of a truth about the way the work and service to the Lord works, and really has always worked. Christ uses Christ has chosen to use our things for his glory.

You know, the Bible says that god is the is the owner of a cattle on a thousand hills, right? Which is to indicate He owns everything and really God doesn’t need us. God doesn’t need us. I remember in Cambodia I said that, I actually put that in a gospel tract one time and I got a call back from a Cambodian person who was kind of upset and offended that I had said that, a Christian, no Christians are always the one complaining.

God doesn’t need us, God doesn’t need us. He doesn’t. I’m sorry if that offends you but He doesn’t. So in all truth, God didn’t need Joseph’s tomb, but isn’t that the way God always works?

Even though he doesn’t need us, he doesn’t need what we have, yet he has chosen to use our things for his glory. He doesn’t use his own though he could. He uses our things that we willingly make available to him for his use. This is how the work of god has always happened. You go all the way back just as a couple of examples. You go back to the the tabernacle when the when the when when Moses is given the directions by god to to erect the tabernacle, if you remember, in the wilderness?

All of the materials, the gold, the silver, the brass, all of the cloth, all of the linen, all of everything, all of the precious stones, where did it come from? It came, it was all the property of god’s people who willingly gave it to god and then that was used to glorify god and to do his work. You go back, you go forward in time to the temple at the time of Solomon or the time of David. All of the things there, where did they come from? They came from god’s people who gave of their own to worship and to serve god for the use of building the temple and this is god’s method. This is what he’s always done.

He does great things because willing people make available to him that which is theirs. And that might be our bodies, that might be our intellect, it might be our time, our strength. It could be our experience. It could be our finances. Whatever it might be the work of the Lord, I say this lightly, depends on God’s people taking what is our own, whatever it might be and yielding it to him.

In other words, Lord here’s my tomb, you can have it. It’s mine but I want you to have it so that you have a place to be buried. You know what that offering, I know we think of big things, but that offering of that tomb where he willingly gives Jesus his own tomb, the one that he had prepared for his family, he willingly gave it to Jesus and that is the center of the resurrection.

That sets all the groundwork and the basis for a great work of God, is it not? You know you think about missionaries who go to the field, how is that work accomplished?

How is that work accomplished? You know how it’s accomplished? It’s accomplished because men and women, servants of God willingly give their own bodies and their own lives and their own time for that purpose. They give it to god and god takes that that whatever it is and god uses it to do great works.

The same is true with our church. The same is true with our finances. The same is true with our time when we give ourselves to serve God. Listen, the work of God, the fuel of the work of God is the willing offerings of various sorts and kinds of God’s people, and this is no exception.

So if we want the work of God to go forward, if we want the Lord Jesus to be glorified, then we have to understand that we as God’s people must step forward and say, Lord, this is mine, I am going give it to you, whatever it is. I want to give it to you. The Lord takes it and does great things with it.

Joseph by offering his own things to be used for the Lord was the human means to provide remarkable evidence for the resurrection of Christ. He had no idea but that’s how the Lord used it. Was just giving a tomb because there was no other I guess. And so the Lord used it as the centerpiece of the resurrection. Now to finish up I want to look at the importance of the burial.

Not something we often talk about but look if you would in verse number starting in verse number 58 and back in Matthew 27. The burial of Christ might seem like a minor thing and compared to the other, you know, the the death of Christ and the resurrection, it’s definitely probably not as significant but it does carry us its own significance. Did you know almost every specific, almost every specific detail in the narrative of Jesus’ burial that we see here in Matthew 27 is in some way a preparatory, is preparatory for the resurrection. It sets the stage.

In other words, these are not just random details, these are details that serve as it will become hard evidence that Christ has truly risen in just three days time. Notice notice this, verse number verse number 60 says this, and laid it, Jesus’ body, in his own new tomb. You know what that tells us? That the body of Jesus was actually buried in a tomb. It was not left on the cross for animals to scavenge as sometimes might be done. And you say, duh, of course. No, but hold on.

The fact that it was in a tomb means that the body of Jesus, wherever it was put, everybody knew it. In other words, it’s like taking a pen on a map and saying, right here is the body. You know what they do sometimes with prisoners is you know, eight people who have been executed whose families don’t claim them and things, or die in prison, they’ll just bury them and put like a little number on a grave marker or in time past they wouldn’t even mark it at all, it’s just an unmarked grave. Who is that? Nobody knows.

Everybody knew who was in that tomb because he was actually buried. He was actually buried. Not only that, but the Bible says in verse 58, he went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus, then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. Mark 15, which is the parallel passage says, and Pilate marveled if he were already dead and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. When he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. So the fact that Joseph begged the body, you know what it did? It it produced a a a reason for Pilate to actually go to the ones who were there and say, is he really dead?

And the centurion who’s over the soldiers that were that that that actually did the crucifixions gave the report back. Yes, sir. We verified it. We pierced him. We pierced him through. He is dead. We’ve done this many times. He is dead. And that’s why Pilate gave him leave. But the reason why that’s important is because did you, I mean there have been people not so much now, there have been people in the past that have tried to argue that Jesus wasn’t really dead. No, he was dead. The fact that Pilate asked for his body caused that to be a little period to be put on there. No, this actually was true.

He is dead. Not only that, but the Bible says in verse 59, and when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. The clean linen cloth. It was Joseph that wrapped the body, which included the napkin that John mentions. In John 20 verse number seven, and when Jesus had risen again from the dead, the napkin becomes very important, does it not? Remember? Because they wrapped the body in a in a cloth, but they had a separate cloth, a a smaller cloth called a napkin in scripture that was wrapped about his head.

And the Bible says in John verse in John chapter 20, when Jesus rose from the dead and and Peter and John went into the tomb, what they found is they found the linen clothes that had wrapped him. Who who put those there? Joseph.

They were laid in one place but the napkin the Bible says was wrapped together separately. You know what that shows? That shows that he his body would could not have been stolen. Someone went through the extra trouble to fold it together and set it separately from the the the burial clothes. You only do that with intention. You’re robbing a you’re robbing a grave and you’re worried about getting caught. You just unwrap it and you throw it away and you don’t you don’t worry about that. But Jesus when he rose from the dead, I guess before he came out of the grave, he took off the napkin off of his head and he folded it together and set it down. Those of you ladies who are real persnickety and just so, you appreciate that, right? That he folded it just like your washcloth.

That napkin was put there by Joseph which would then be an evidence for the resurrection. Joseph was a rich man. Joseph was a rich man. Verse 60, he laid Jesus’ body in his own new tomb. This was not an average tomb. It was not an unmarked grave. Joseph’s tomb like all like all the tombs of rich people, right? Especially in Asia. I I don’t know about so much here but in Asia, you know, the the the more money you have, the bigger your your tomb is. Joseph was a rich man and his tomb would not have been an average tomb, it would have been known because it was a tomb of a rich man that he had prepared for his family.

And so because of that, the burial that Joseph provided to Jesus provided also a fixed place that everyone knew which would become evidence and evidence of Jesus’ actual death and the basis for the evidence of his resurrection because everyone could say, this tomb, it’s a well known tomb. Look, it’s empty. All because Joseph gave Jesus his tomb. Notice in verse number 60, the bible says, and he rolled a great stone to the door.

Joseph did that. It was not a small stone, it was a big stone. And because it was a big stone, that ensured that a couple of disciples could never have stolen his body body in the night. It’s just too big. Who put that there? Joseph. Joseph.

And you know, you you and I both know that the the story that Jesus’ disciples stole the body away which was passed around among the Jews, that was already disproven number one by the fact that the Jews themselves asked for a watch, we already covered that, but it’s also disproven by the fact that the stone was so big. Anybody, any thinking person would be like, that doesn’t make sense.

Joseph is the one who put that there. Which would then be a strong evidence of the actual resurrection of Christ and lastly, verse number 61, we have this, And there was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre. As Joseph and Nicodemus bury the body of Jesus, the disciples are nowhere to be found, but there are these ladies who have come. They’re not helping as far as we know, but they are watching.

You know what they become? As Joseph and Nicodemus are wrapping the body and anointing the body and burying the body and no doubt having their servants come and lug that huge stone in the door. These ladies are just watching. They see the dead corpse of the lord Jesus. They see his wounded body as they wrap it. They see how they probably washed it. They see it as is put into the tomb. They see the big stone. You know what they are? They are witnesses.

They are witnesses. They saw him buried. They knew he was truly dead. He was gone. Now at the moment that is not such a big deal, but after His resurrection they will these very ladies will be witnesses of the risen Christ and they will be some of the best witnesses. They will indeed be the first ones that meet Christ alive after his resurrection but their their witness is great because not only did they see him alive but they also saw him dead.

Why? Because Joseph is burying the body as they stand standby. I wanna end in Romans chapter six, if you’ll go there very quickly, just make one little point and really I’ll just leave this with you. Romans six. The burial of Christ is important because the burial of Christ, what Joseph and Nicodemus do, set the stage and lay the foundation for what is the evidence and the proofs of Jesus’ resurrection which we’re gonna see in Matthew 28.

But there’s one other thing. Even though the burial of Christ is a literal event, in Romans chapter six, that burial is used to demonstrate and illustrate a spiritual truth for every person who’s in Christ.

Verse number one, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death. This is not water baptism, no water is mentioned at all. This is the the the burial, the the death with Christ. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So even for you as a believer, the burial of Christ is significant because your old man, the man of sin, died with Jesus. He is your representative, you are on that cross in Christ.

Dying for your sin. Jesus in your place. But then when that body was taken down and put in the grave, your old man was put away forever. And when Jesus comes out of that grave, the old man’s still in the grave but the new man is alive. And the reason that works is because Jesus was buried. Amen. Let’s pray.