Dead and Buried

Introduction

Hey good morning Hope Church, thank you very much for the opportunity to share this morning from God’s word. As its been mentioned, my name is Kevin and my wife, two sons, and I have been living in Istanbul for the past 4 years and we’ve been attending Hope regularly sense last November I believe. So almost a full year now. We just became members, so many of you in the Hope signal group had the opportunity to read my testimony, so I wont waste time sharing about myself now, but would love to talk about myself later maybe at Capital after church. No but it has been such a blessing for our family to join Hope so thank you all for welcoming us.

I’ll be honest with you all, I was actually pretty nervous to preach here. Don’t get me wrong, I love preaching on a Sunday morning, in fact it is probably one of my greatest joys and privileges to preach. But I was nervous to say yes, in part, because I feel like Hope is a unique church in that you all here are rockstars in the faith with years of experience following the Lord and serving Him. I actually told Jared this when he offered me this opportunity and he reminded me that all that Hope is asking for is to hear and be reminded of the Gospel. Thats all I have to do. I just need to remind you all that Jesus, the perfect son of God came and lived a perfect life in right relationship with the Father at all times, and then as we heard last week, Jesus went to the cross and died, taking on the wrath that we deserved. And what we’ll see next week is that Jesus rose from the grave, conquering sin and death and making a way for us to be reconciled to the Father so that we too may live eternally with Him in right relationship. And so I figured I’d share that now so that no matter what else happens, I’ve officially done my job of reminding you of the Gospel.

But in all seriousness, if you noticed what I said, last week Jared preached about Jesus dying on the cross, and next week we’ll hear about Jesus rising from the dead, so what is happening today? Today we are at the end of the 19th chapter of John’s Gospel, and we read the very important of the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection where He is taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. So let me read it, pray, and then we will dive in. If you have your bibles you can open them to John 19 verse 31. I’ll also have it on the screen.

Passage

John 19:31–42 ESV

Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

Pray

Picture

Most people like a good underdog story or a good comeback story. When the team that has no chance of winning makes a comeback to somehow, against all odds, win the game. When the person who was wronged comes back at the end of the movie and is vindicated. We like the feeling of success, the big win after a struggle. But here, at this moment in human history, by all outward appearances, death has won. Jesus died. Jesus has been taken and tortured and put on the cross and killed. His followers for the most part have scattered and I imagine the crowds have started to walk away. As Jesus had just said, it is finished. Now, of course we know the story, He will rise and He will win. This is not the true end, but right now, in this scene in history, all appears lost. Jesus has died (in accordance with scripture) and Jesus is about to be buried (in accordance with scripture).

Problem

What do we do when our own lives feel out of control or lossed? What do we do when it feels like we are in the middle of the lowest of lows? When it feels like everything around us is caving in and the enemy is winning? I imagine that we all have stories of a time like that in our lives, and perhaps you are in something right now. Some season of loss, or struggle, or depression. What do we do when everything feels lost?

Principle

Jesus Himself in experiencing this, can sympathize with us and, whats more, give us the way forward. We can look to Him when we feel like we are at the end of the rope because, throughout this whole ordeal, despite everything looking out of his control, despite everything looking as if the enemy is winning and has won, Jesus is still in control. Nothing here is happening outside of His will. Nothing in your life is happening outside of His will. This was the plan all along. All of the details that John includes in this account point to Jesus being in control. It all fulfills what had already been written.

When all looks lost, when everything is hopeless, when Jesus himself is dead, God is still in control. His plan is still unfolding. Even in death, Jesus is in control of all things. And John here is giving you and I the invitation to believe this, to look to Him, to hold fast to Him, and in so doing, have life.

The passage today implores us to Believe that Jesus is in control of all things and to know that what He did on the cross served to bring you and I into true life. We can come to Him, hold fast to Him, walk with Him, die to sin with Him.

We have this hope, in part, because …

Body

Jesus truly laid down his life 19:31-37

Contrary to claims from many that it was not Jesus on the cross or that he did not actually die but rather fell into some sort of sleep. John is showing us that Jesus actually died and he gives us the details around the moments immediately following his death.

John 19:31

John sets the historical scene and tells us of one of the many Jewish problems in the first verse “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.”

Think back to Deuteronomy 21:22–23 where God tells the people that if someone commits a crime punishable by death and they hang him on a tree that they should take the body down and bury the body the same day. Scripture says that the, “…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.” The Jewish leaders had already rushed the trial in order to convict Jesus, now they were trying to rush the execution in order to finish Him and so as not to defile themselves or the land.

Getting Jesus down from the cross was not only so that they could be finished with this scene, but, as John says, because it was about to be a High Sabbath. It was Friday, Sabbath would start as soon as the sun went down, and it would have ushered in the Passover festival. That is what makes it a High Sabbath. Passover does not always begin on the Sabbath, so this would have been even more special. Almost like when when Christmas lands on a Sunday or your birthday lands on a Saturday so you didn’t have to go to school. The big difference is that this special day was already marred by the sin of the people. The religious leaders did not want to go into their holy day with the stain of their sin so publicly visible.

Charles Spurgeon said this:

Their consciences were not wounded by the murder of Jesus, but they were greatly moved by the fear of ceremonial pollution. Religious scruples may live in a dead conscience.

Spurgeon offers us all a warning we would do well to heed. Are you living in such a way so as to care more about the commands of Christ without truly walking with Him? Of course being with God means that we will naturally obey his commands, but do not think that obedience to God somehow wins you into relationship with Him.

Already we see in the first verse the Jewish leaders striving to honor God based on their own worldly terms and based on their own desires instead of truly submitting themselves to Him and to His Messiah.

The Jewish leaders, in using God’s commands for their own gain, asked Pilet to break the legs of the men on the cross so that death would come quicker and so that the bodies could be taken away. Pilat obliges. And sends soldiers to break the bones of the three men on the cross.

John 19:32-33

And so we read, “So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.”

This act of breaking the legs of someone on the cross was truly terrible. The only good thing that can be said of it is that it would bring death quicker to the person being crucified. Normally the Romans would leave people on the cross, sometimes for days, until they died and the birds would pick at their flesh. The only way a person might breath while on the cross was by using what little strength they had to push themselves up to gasp for air on their nail pierced legs. Having the legs broken meant that they would be unable to breath and so suffocate to death within minutes. I can only imagine how hard his heart must have been to take a club or mallet and swing it at another human being, tearing flesh and breaking bone. He went to the first man and the deed was done, then went to the other to put him out of his misery.

It’s worth noting at this point that the soldier bringing about this command would have been so used to death, in a large respect, he would have been an expert in death. And then in coming to Jesus, he saw that he was dead already and skipped him. He must have been certain of Jesus’ death or risk punishment himself for disobeying an order.

As we will see in the verses ahead though, this was not just the doing of the soldier, but was to fulfill scripture. Unbeknownst to the soldier at the time, he was being used by God to fulfill what had already been foretold. Jesus’ bones would not be broken. Even in death, Jesus is in control of all things.

God is sovereign, at all times, even over the enemy.

John 19:34

John continues, “But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.”

The spear that roman soldiers used were massive, in fact the tip of the spear would have been as wide as a hand. So not only did the Roman soldiers see and know that Jesus had already died, but they made sure of it with this massive spear.

This makes the Swoon theory, the theory that states Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross but rather was in some sort of catatonic state, not only illogical, but simply impossible.

Many scholars believe that this spear would have gone through and punctured the casing around the heart that would have been filled with a water like substance and blood. Now I am no doctor, though I do consider myself somewhat of an amateur doctor after reading up on this. But the substance surrounding the heart is somewhat like oil and water, meaning these substances do not mix, which is why John would have seen blood and water coming out from His side.

So by all accounts this points to Jesus having a ruptured heart. Perhaps his cause of death, had their been an autopsy, would have most likely been a ruptured heart. The immense pain He must have been in to cause such a thing.

John MacArthur makes a connection to Psalm 69:20 where the psalmists writes, “Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.” I tend to agree with this connection considering Psalm 69:21 goes on to say, “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.”

In a very real sense, Jesus died of a broken heart because of the sins of the world. Not only the sins of the world, but for my sins. “It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished;” It was your sin that held him there until it was accomplished. Not only was He on the cross after being tortured and ridiculed, Jesus was experiecing the full weight of God’s wrath poured out on Him. The wrath that you and I deserve because we are guilty. The wrath that should flow on us for all of eternity because of our sin, the wrath that is just and true, was poured out on the innocent man Jesus because of His love for you.

Then from his side flows out blood and water. It is easy for many of us to read this in sort of a modern lens and only of what is happening physically here in this scene. But John is not including this just to give the facts of what is happening. He is including this here because of the theological implications. There is so much imagery that this envokes. From the side of our Lord we see the sacraments, communion and baptism. From the side of our Lord we see the birth of the church. From the side of the first man Adam, was Eve and then sin and from the side of this last man Jesus, is life.

The theologian Edward Klink talks about some of the theological implications well. He talks about the blood pointing to the perfect Passover sacrifice being poured out for us. And the Water pointing to the Spirit that can now indwell the believer. He writes

The mixture of blood and water forcefully unites the purification of the blood with the power of the Spirit, creating a universal and eternal atonement for the sins of the world.

Life, true Life where we are forgiven of our sins and filled with the Spirit of God, flows directly from Jesus

John 19:35

And so that we can have certainty in what we are reading John says John 19:35 “He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.”

These facts are not just meant to give us knowledge of a historical event. John is writing this so that we might believe. He is writing so that…

We can have certainty in what we have heard and believe (v.35)

John 19:36-37

Believe what? “For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.””

We can have certainty and believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That He is fulfilling scripture. That none of this, none of these events are outside of His will or His plan. Sinful man has put him on the cross only because He had allowed it so that we would be forgiven of our sin and made right with God.

Even in death, Jesus is in control of all things. And nothing is outside of His will.

This is the good news of Jesus. He is the messiah, God with us, come to save wicked sinners like me. Like you. He died on the cross taking the punishment that you and I deserve. The full weight of God’s wrath was on Him and He truly died. It was not someone else in His place, it was not that he was merely in some sort of coma. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, died on the cross. We can have certainty and believe…

Because in His death, prophecy is fulfilled (v.36-37)

Yet for the disciples, for those watching and living this, I imagine that all seems lost. From all outward appearances, the enemy has won. The shepherd has been struck and the sheep have scattered. In another fulfillment of prophecy, some disciples come and we read that…

Jesus was justly buried 19:38-42

That is to say, Jesus was taken away and laid in a tomb according to both Jewish custom and Old Testament prophecy. Lest anyone claim that his body was stolen by some of his disciples or that he was never buried but his body was disposed of in some unholy manner.

John 19:38a

John tells us, “After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission.”

Though we don’t know much about this secret disciple, from the other narratives about Jesus’ life we learn that he was actually a part of the Sanhedrin, that he was wealthy, that he opposed the council’s decision to crucify Jesus, and that he was a good and upright man.

But what is notable here to me is that this secret disciple now became public in such a big way. He revealed himself to Pilat and he revealed himself to the other leaders. Seeing Jesus unjustly tried and crucified and killed brings him out from the shadows and into the light.

So to for us, following Jesus necessitates a public witness. Now of course there is wisdom in how and when, but make no mistake, if you have heard this good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection and desire to follow Him in new life, that life must be lived in such a way so that others may see Christ in you and so too come to know Him. You must live so that you can…

Be known as a follower of Jesus (v.38a)

John 19:38b-40

John continues, “So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”

This scene is not something to gloss over. Here, so that what the prophet Isaiah had written could come to pass when he wrote in 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.” Rich men come and take the body of Jesus down from the cross.

I have never had to handle a dead body. I know some of you have. I can only imagine the weight of the scene as they pull the nails out. As they carry him down from the cross. As the fresh blood from his body dampens their clothes.

They would have taken him down and cleaned his body. They would have washed his blood stained skin. They would have meticulously picked out the splinters from the tree and the crown of thorns. They would have wrapped Him in linen cloths with oil and spices.

John notes that about 75 pounds of spices are brought for this burial ceremony. This amount was not for a common man but rather would have been given to a king. This rich men were honoring him as a king.

Though they tried Him and crucified Him as a criminal, He was buried as a King.

John 19:41-42

John concludes the scene by telling us, “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.”

John again tells us that the day was the day or preparation. The day that the Jewish community would not only be preparing for sabbath, but the day that they would be preparing for the passover festival. That festival inagurated so many years ago when spotless lambs were sacrificed and blood was put on the door posts so that God would pass over the peoples sin and wickedness. Perhaps unbeknownst to Joseph and Nicodemus, but they too during this day of preparation were preparing the lamb who had been slain. This perfect lamb whose blood was poured out as a ransom for many. Even in death, Jesus is in control of all things and goes to the grave as the sacrifice for our sins.

And this all taking place in the Garden. Again Klink writes,

John Explanation of the Text

the first garden was the place where death was born out of life; the second garden was the place where life was born out of death.

That first Garden was where humanity had forsaken God and where life had turned to death and sin had entered into the world and so here Jesus enters a second garden where through death, life and salvation has been made possible for everyone who repents and believes.

The lamb was prepared in the garden and brought forth life.

Conclusion

This whole episode is sometimes easy to overlook. We think often of the crucifixion and of the resurrection but don’t regularly think of this in between time. But it is one of such importance. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “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.” This is included in creeds, confessions, and catechisms like the Nicene and The Apostles Creed and the Heidelberg catechism.

John is writing this to show that Jesus truly died and was justly buried so that we can believe and have true life.

If you are sitting here this morning and have not fully believed in this message or are wrestling with doubt in what Jesus actually accomplished, then I want to point you John’s true testimony so that you might believe. These things took place so that you can have life. Repent and believe.

Once you do and for those of us who have already done so, there are a few things I want to remind us of as we close.

Much like this passage being the in between of death and resurrection, we live in a now and not yet reality where we have died to sin and are awaiting full and complete resurrection. In the same way that our passage ends with Jesus in the grave, we too are sort of living in the grave of this life. The final resurrection for us as not yet occurred. But it has been paid for. Therefore, hold fast to Him. Hope in Him.

One of my professors in college defined Hope in, I think, a helpful way. He says that “Hope is a reasonable expectation of future events based on passed experiences”. Our hope in Jesus is not some shot in the dark, but rather a deep founded trust and belief in who He is and what He has done. The Apostle Paul writes of this in Romans 6:5 saying, “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Do not forget this hope that we have.

This passage also teaches us that even in death, Jesus is in control. No amount of worry or stress that you can experience, no ikamet appointment, no marital strife, no depression or sickness or even loss of life is outside of His control.

His plan from the very beginning was to go back to the Garden so that we can be reconciled to the Father. The perfect lamb of God, sacrificed as payment for your sins. From his pierced side flows forgiveness and life. By His wounds we are healed. He was crucified as a criminal but buried as a King.

When everything looks hopeless, we have this hope, that Jesus rose and will come again. The battle is not over, but is has already been won. Even in death, Jesus is in control. So we can come to Him, hold fast to Him, die to sin with Him, knowing and trusting that we too will rise with Him.

Let’s pray.