In the Grave Saturday
Notes
Transcript
Well if you have been here the last few days then you know we have been preaching through the events of Easter
Actually we have been preaching through the events of Jesus on what would become known as Easter Celebration
I think it has been good to preach through the Last Supper on Thursday
And then the beating and death of Jesus on what has been called Good Friday
And then if you can tell we will talk about the Resurrection of Jesus on Sunday
So then what would we preach on today Saturday?
Like as we were planning this there is nothing on Saturday
So I started to call in In-between Saturday
But I talked with Lily and she came up with In The Grave Saturday
As we began to think through that
What happened
Jesus had just died
Jesus who was sinless took on all of sin had died
Let me try and answer the question where did Jesus go
what we have in scripture is
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
It clearly says that when Jesus died he went to Paradise
And this morning that is where we will leave that since this is the best piece of scripture that makes it clear and simple
So what about the disciples
We know that John was at the crucifixion the other apostles were not
Remember most of them ran and hide the night of Jesus’s arrest
Peter followed only till the rooster crowed, and he runs away weeping after he denies Jesus
Lastly we know that Judas is so distraught with himself that he returns the money and then goes and kills himself
What we don’t see is any sort of repentant heart from Judas, we see that he is upset with himself and that he feels bad but nothing to indicate any sort of brokenness over his sin
But we do have someone new
50 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man 51 (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God;
notice that this was a man who was a member of the Jewish Council who has just condemned Jesus to die but he didn’t consent to that
He was essentially a secret follower of Jesus
scripture says he was a good and righteous man
More likely he was a believer in Jesus as the Savior
Notice where he was from
A city of the Jews who was waiting for the kingdom of God
We need to stop there
Jesus has just died
John and some women were there
Mary his mom and some other Mary’s
And so church it is no surprise they are grieving
They are preparing for the for a burial of their friend and teacher
Because He died
52 this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. 54 It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 Now the women who had come with Him out of Galilee followed, and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
Everything seems normal to us right
We all understand the need to bury someone
To have the body prepared
To say our proper good byes if you will
They had removed the body of Jesus from the cross and quick got Him into the grave
Only to go back and prepare spices to come back later
Nothing seems wrong with that
You can even imagine how they were grieving
I would bet that John and the women were crying having been there
I would bet Peter was staying away from people because I bet he felt a bit embarrassed
We know the other disciples must have stayed close and probably together from what we read later on
Church we can’t say exactly where they went or even how they felt because it doesn’t say
But what it does say is that Jesus would rise again
21 But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”
Just after Peter confesses Jesus to be Christ
He explains to the apostles that He will suffer
He will die
and that He will be raised up on the 3rd day
Then later on
43 And they were all amazed at the greatness of God. But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.”
After Jesus had healed a boy
They stand back in amazement
Jesus tells them that He will be delivered into the hands of men
At this point they must have known that people wanted to kill Him
That the Jewish elite and probably the Romans wanted Him dead because of the problems He was causing
31 Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 “For He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, 33 and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again.”
Jesus took the 12 apostles aside and explained to them that He would be arrested, he would be killed, and that he would rise again 3 days later
We are not going to come down on the apostles, or the women who were preparing the body for burial
Because how often do we miss something that God has spoken so many times
So on this In between Saturday Service it should be noted that Jesus went to Paradise
Jesus’s physical body was prepared for burial
All the while He had told all of His closest followers He would rise again on the 3rd day
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Church I can’t even imagine how sad and dark it must have been on that in between day while Jesus was in the grave
But what I do know is that His death defeated sin once and for all
Praise the Lord
As we move to our time of invitation this evening
Maybe you are here this morning and still in a battle with sin in your life
Hear this Jesus defeated Sin and this evening you no longer have to be a slave to sin if you will repent and trust Jesus to be your Savior this evening
If you want to do that or have questions there will be people up front to speak with you
Or maybe you simply need to spend sometime in prayer at the altar
The Altar is open
