The Gospel of John Lesson 50 INTRODUCTION: 1. The apostle Paul defines the
Gospel for us in I Corinthians 15:3, 4. 2. “For I delivered unto you
first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day according to the
scriptures.” 3. Last Sunday night we saw how
our Lord died for our sins according to the Scriptures (19:24, 28, 36,
37). 4. Lord willing, next Sunday we
will see how our Lord rose from the dead (John
20). 5. Tonight we will see how our
Lord was buried – “And that He was buried…” (I Cor. 15:4). The Jewish leaders did not want our
Lord’s body to stay up on the cross after sundown (John 19:31), but they did not
care what happened to it. They
would have been happy to see it tossed onto a pile of
garbage. 6. But God providentially saw
to it that His beloved Son was buried properly.
I. THE MEN WHO BURIED OUR LORDII. THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY BURIED OUR LORDIII. THE PLACE WHERE THEY BURIED OUR
LORD I. THE MEN WHO BURIED OUR LORD (JOHN 19:38,
39). 1. We are introduced here for
the first time to Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a secret disciple of our
Lord. 2. Matthew 27:57 tells us he
was a rich man (cf. Isaiah 53:9). 3. Mark 15:43 tells us Joseph
was “an honorable counselor” (a member of the
Sanhedrin). 4. Luke 23:50 says he was “a
counselor, and he was a good man, and a
just.” 5. The other man is Nicodemus
(also a member of the Sanhedrin), mentioned here in the Gospel of John for the
third time (John 3:1; 7:50). 6. FB Meyer, in his commentary
on the Gospel of John, writes, “As we pursue this narrative, many thoughts are
suggested.” He then goes on to
mention: a.
“We see
the minute fulfillment of prophetic Scriptures. – It has been written by Isaiah
on the page of inspiration, that the Messiah would make His grave with the
rich. When Jesus died that prophecy
seemed most unlikely of accomplishment; but it was literally
fulfilled.” b. “We learn, too, that there
are more friends of Christ in the world than we know. – They sit in our
legislatures, in our councils, in our pews; we meet them day after day; they
give little or no sign of their discipleship; the most large-hearted friend
would be surprised to hear that they were Christians. But they are Christ’s. Christ knows and owns them. But if they are secret disciples now,
they will not be secret disciples always.
A time will come when the fire of their love will burn the bushel that
hides it, and they will avow themselves on the Lord’s
side.” c. “We gather, too, that God
can always find instruments to carry out His purposes. – The immediate followers
of Christ could not see how to preserve the beloved corpse from defilement, but
God had His place and His servants ready; and at the very crisis of need He
brought them to the point.”
7. There is an interesting
phrase found here in John 19:38 – “for fear of the Jews” (cf. 7:13; 9:22; 20:19;
12:42). 8. I did not watch Mel Gibson’s
“Passion” movie and I do not know if I ever will but I recall that when he first
began filming it he could not find any producers or investors. He had to bankroll the entire project
himself. 9. Why? “For fear of the Jews.” Many Jewish organizations did
everything they could to hinder Gibson from making his movie. In fact, I read somewhere that they
forced him to omit Matthew 27:25.
“Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our
children.” 10. They can remove it from a
movie but they cannot remove it from the Word of
God. II. THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY BURIED OUR LORD
(19:40). 1. There is no mention anywhere in the Bible of the so-called “shroud of Turin,” yet millions of RC’s are convinced that this shroud is the actual burial cloth of our Lord. 2. “The Shroud Is A Fake!” — “Radiocarbon tests of the shroud done in 1988 dated the cloth at A.D. 1260 to 1390—seeming to rule it out as Jesus’ burial cloth and suggesting it is a medieval forgery (Huntsville Times 3/25/05). We do not need the Shroud or anything else to prove that Jesus died and rose again. Eyewitness accounts in the Bible are sufficient” (Calvary Contender). III. THE PLACE WHERE THEY BURIED OUR LORD
(19:41, 42). 1. How wonderful it is to read verse 41 – “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden…” A garden! Next to the cross! 2. W Graham Scroggie wrote, “A cross, a garden, a tomb, a body! Here ugliness and beauty, death and life meet; but it is the beauty and the life that triumph” (The Gospel of John). 3. Flowers were blooming around this symbol of suffering and shame. What a contrast! FB Meyer wrote, “One loves to dwell upon the thought that Golgotha was part of that garden – that earth’s fairest, brightest, gentlest nurslings were there, mingling their smiles and balm with the trampling angry footsteps and the cursings of malignant foes…Was it not symbolical? In the garden man fell; in a garden he was redeemed! And that death of Christ has sown our world with the flowers of peace and joy and blessedness, so that many a wilderness has begun to rejoice and to blossom as the rose.” CONCLUSION: 1. Once more we are reminded that for the Christian the grave is not the end. Just as Christ rose victoriously from the grave so will we. 2. Matthew Henry said, “Christ’s death should comfort us against the fear of death. The grave could not long keep Christ, and it shall not long keep us.” 3. But for the unbeliever the
grave is just the beginning of his troubles. Everlasting punishment awaits those who
reject the Gospel of
Christ. |