Since He Was Buried for Us!

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and go to Matthew's Gospel. Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27. Matthew 27.

[0:11] If you're visiting with us, that black Bible in the chair in front of you, go towards the back and find page 25. Page 25, where you'll find Matthew chapter 27.

[0:27] Matthew chapter 27. And we'll finish off the chapter this morning. Verse 57 to 66. And then we have two more weeks in Matthew's Gospel.

[0:41] Wow. I figured out, since I've been here, I've done almost 22 books of the Bible. So we've done like a third.

[0:54] Actually, 21 and a half, excuse me, because I've only done half of the Psalms. Only then 75 Psalms. So it should be half, technically. So wow. So it's almost a third of Scripture.

[1:05] And the last book we'll look at, that I'll preach to is Revelation. So don't even be thinking I'm even going to touch that book. No way. Anyways.

[1:16] Moving right along. Matthew chapter 27, starting in verse 57 to 66. Let me read. Then we'll jump in. And becoming evening, And becoming evening, a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, came, himself also had become a disciple of Jesus.

[1:38] This one going to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it be given. And Joseph, taking the body, wrapped it in a clean cloth, and laying it in his own tomb, which he cut out in the rock, and rolling a large stone against the entrance of the tomb, he went away.

[2:00] And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave. 62. And on the next day, which is after the preparation, the chief priests, and the scribes, excuse me, and the Pharisees, gathered together towards Pilate, saying, Sir, remember that deceiver, being still alive, said, After three days, I rise again.

[2:22] Therefore, give orders for the grave to be guarded until the third day. Lest the disciples come in, they steal him away, and say to the people, He's risen from the dead.

[2:33] And the last deception will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a guard? Go secure as you know. And going away, they made the grave secure, sending a seal on the stone, along with the guarding soldiers.

[2:58] There's a classic movie, some of you might know what it is, that does a parody about death. The main character is only mostly dead.

[3:14] Because you realize there's a huge difference between being mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead, he's slightly alive. All dead, there's only one thing to do, run through his clothes and look for loose change, says the character.

[3:28] But the main character gets a pill, and then he's revived, he's kind of weak, but he comes to, and he saves the day, relatively speaking. It's funny to watch the whole thing take place.

[3:44] And yet we laugh, with a sense of sobriety, because there's no such thing. There's no such thing as being mostly dead versus all dead.

[3:57] Death is death. And yet, while we may cringe at this for ourselves, it's a very important truth when it comes to Jesus.

[4:14] It's very important, which is why you have this in the Gospels, and what we'll see here in Matthew's Gospel specifically, why Jesus was buried, why is it so important, and why was he guarded?

[4:31] So, again, Matthew's driving theme of his Gospel, bow down, worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel, the Judge of the world, bow down, worship Jesus, since he was buried for us.

[4:44] He was buried for us. He was buried in our place. Put in a statement, Jesus was buried to finalize true, total separation from God as the perfect sacrifice for us, and to fulfill Old Testament prophecy.

[5:07] Part of that we read, Isaiah 53 verse 9. Fulfilling prophecy. Psalm 16. What's the other one? I wrote it down.

[5:17] Where did I write it down? Oh, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Paul says that. Christ died according to the Scriptures, and he was buried, and he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. He was buried to finalize true separation, total separation from God as our perfect sacrifice.

[5:41] And he fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. He fulfilled Scripture. And as I began to tell you a few moments ago, this historicity, this historical event gives further testimony to the death of Jesus, but it also gives greater weight to the truth of his resurrection.

[5:59] Because when you come to this, it's like, why do the writers do this? Why do they take the time to tell you that he was buried?

[6:11] Why do they go through all these details? Why not just, come on, let's get to the good part. You know, you're in a book, or you're in a movie. Let's fast forward to a really cool part. Why not just go to the resurrection?

[6:22] Why go through all this other stuff? There's a reason why. It gives further testimony to the death of Jesus, but it gives greater weight to the truth of his resurrection.

[6:36] Jesus truly died and was buried, and to make sure he stayed in that grave, the religious leaders had the tomb guarded. Thus, the only way to explain the resurrection is God's power.

[6:51] He was really dead. And he was really guarded. And all that does, it gives further weight to the fact that Jesus truly did resurrect from the dead.

[7:03] The only way you can explain it is the power of God. It's the only way. So, Jesus truly died, was buried, they guarded the tomb, so the only way to explain the resurrection is God's power.

[7:19] So, we deny the swoon theory, was the swoon theory, that Jesus did not truly die on the cross, but fell unconscious into a swoon, and later became conscious in the tomb only to escape.

[7:43] We reject that. We deny that. If you believe in the swoon theory, you believe in false teaching, that's a heresy.

[7:55] That's not true. We also deny the disciples came by night to steal his body. Both falsities are refuted by these verses.

[8:09] He was truly buried, he was gone, he was dead. He was just unconscious. And the disciples didn't come by night to steal his body because it was guarded.

[8:22] He was buried, and the religious leaders, they secured that tomb. Interesting, when we come later on to Matthew's gospel, which we'll look at next week and the week after, these guards will go to report to the religious leaders, and then the exalted, resurrected Jesus, he would not be buried, he would not be dead, he'd be raised, and he would commission his disciples, and all of us as well.

[8:48] So when you come to this part, it's like, it's a huge depressing part, but it's setting us up for what's gonna come in the resurrection.

[9:00] But it helps to solidify what will happen, what's gonna happen with his resurrection, why that's so important, why it's so vital. So let's dive in, we'll dive into the text, and we'll see that.

[9:13] I wanted to let you know one more point. This is so vital because it reassures us of the finality of Jesus' death, and gives us the confidence of complete, total forgiveness of all our sins, and of being justified in God's sight, for by his blood, we are justified.

[9:31] It's so vital for us to see this, and let this truth about Jesus' burial, being buried for us, let it impact you in that way.

[9:44] It's the finality of his death, and it gives us complete confidence that our sins are totally forgiven, because Paul says in Romans 5, 9, we're justified by his blood. You're declared righteous by Jesus giving his life for you.

[9:57] The God-man truly died for our sins, which leads to the first point. He truly died, verse 57 to 61.

[10:10] Notice how it begins, becoming evening, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph came.

[10:22] Who is this guy? Just kind of pops out of nowhere. I wrote this down. This was unexpected, and then I expect the arrival from, again, an unexpected person. Very, another sub-theme in Matthew's gospel.

[10:37] You see this throughout Matthew's gospel. Matthew loved to do this to us. He loved to throw in these characters which you wouldn't even expect. Like, well, who's this guy? A rich man from Arimathea.

[10:50] Where's that? I don't know. They're just trying to figure out where that is. Wherever that is. you notice he emphasizes, he tells us he's a rich man.

[11:06] God's power can save rich people. And here, he used his wealth to help someone who was poor. He buried Christ.

[11:19] Now, understand, crucified victims were normally left on the cross after they died for days even to further solidify Rome's powerful hand so that you're coming into Jerusalem and you see these people hanging on the cross and they're dead and birds are eating them and you're dry heaving as you walk by but it's telling you something.

[11:50] You mess with Rome, that's gonna be you. That's why they did that. Or then, they would discard the bodies in a trash heap as a way to further desecrate this person, this criminal.

[12:06] And yet, here comes Joseph. This, who is this guy? This no-name guy from who knows where but notice, he himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

[12:26] So interesting. While Jesus' disciples were nowhere to be found, I know John was there but hmm. Joseph was brave and courageous enough to step up and ask for Jesus' body.

[12:39] Jesus' followers went into hiding and Joseph, he comes out in the open. Now, we would think a family member would come, a close follower of Christ would come and make funeral arrangements.

[12:59] No. That's why it's impressive for Joseph to do this plus, I mean, he's talking to the governor I mean, it says, verse 58, this one, going to Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus.

[13:13] He must be some important guy. If he can go down to the governor. Again, a fulfillment of Isaiah 53, 9. Joseph received permission from Pilate to take the body as it says that end part of verse 58 than Pilate ordered to be given.

[13:30] Notice verse 59, Joseph, Joseph, taking the body, wrapped it in a clean cloth, clean, specified by Matthew, only in Matthew's gospel. And notice, he buried it in his own grave, a new tomb, which he cut out in the rock.

[13:48] So this is no ordinary grave. The cost of such a grave would be expensive, especially given the location close to where Jesus was crucified, but he willingly gave it to Jesus.

[14:04] Notice how, I just want to point this out to you, his faith and trust in Jesus were demonstrated by his respectful, reverential treatment of Jesus' body, not to mention this being a huge act of generosity on his part.

[14:20] Again, this was a big deal for him to do this. He displayed his trust in Jesus. I'll take it. I will not let it be thrown away because that's what they would have done. Notice the next part there, verse 60.

[14:35] And rolling a large stone against the entrance of the tomb, he went away. It would roll in a channel. I'm sure you've probably done studies on this. It would roll in a channel which is carved into the front of the tomb.

[14:47] If you've been to Israel, they have those still. You can see them. So it would be difficult to push it back up onto the plain. I mean, I think it was one writer that I read these stones could weigh up to 2,000 pounds.

[15:01] I mean, even if it was 500 pounds, like less than half that. I mean, it would be hard to try and push that thing out. Think of Jesus as a swoon theory. He comes to. He was unconscious. He becomes conscious.

[15:12] He's going to roll that stone back up. That's insane. And these rock tombs, they held several bodies.

[15:24] And yet, Jesus was a condemned criminal. And for Jews, they would not allow other Jews to be buried with bodies of those who were condemned criminals.

[15:38] That's why Jesus had his own tomb. Notice something else, though. Verse 61, Mary Magdalene was there and the other Mary sitting opposite the grave.

[15:49] The two Marys had arrived at the grave. They were watching Joseph lay Jesus' body in the tomb and they stayed after Joseph left. They arrived at the grave.

[16:01] They're watching him lay Jesus' body in the tomb and they stayed after Joseph left. They were the last to leave the tomb and the first to discover it, the resurrection. resurrection. This is important.

[16:14] Matthew's trying to communicate to us as his readers because more than one would testify to the place of Jesus' burial. In other words, they didn't get the wrong tomb.

[16:28] Oh, the disciples, the women, they went to the wrong tomb. They were so upset they went to the wrong tomb so Jesus didn't really resurrect from the dead. No, they watched Joseph do this whole thing. And they were there for the resurrection.

[16:42] They were not simply hallucinating. Plus, you see God's grace to women. We've thought about this before. I'm not talking about 21st century.

[16:54] Put your 1st century glasses on. 1st century, women were nothing. So this is huge. You see God's grace given to women here.

[17:05] They'd be the first ones to see his resurrection. Two of them. Actually more. But the fact that Jesus was buried, it shows that Jesus truly died.

[17:17] He finalized separation so we can have the perfect relationship with God the Father through him. That's why Matthew's emphasizing this for us. He was buried.

[17:28] He truly was gone. There was separation because the wages of sin is death. But even more so, to give more weight to what happened, more weight to what's going to happen in the resurrection, he truly died.

[17:44] He was fully guarded. Notice verse 62. And on the next day, which is after the preparation, this is the Sabbath now.

[17:57] So Jesus died on Friday. This is now Sabbath. The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together towards Pilate. It's not there. Here are these guys again.

[18:11] These religious leaders. These guys, these guys were relentless. They would not give up. They hated Jesus so much that they even went to speak to Pilate on the Sabbath.

[18:30] Again, they're breaking their own rules when it was convenient for them. Remember they were telling Jesus, it's not lawful for you to... Right? They would constantly say that to Jesus.

[18:40] It's not lawful for you... And yet here, they're breaking their own rules to make sure Jesus would stay dead and gone. We're going to guard that tomb.

[18:51] And notice something else. Chief priests and the Pharisees. The priests and the Pharisees, they were bitter enemies.

[19:02] They didn't like each other. It was like Democrats and Republicans in Congress. They can't stand each other. Oh, but one thing they became united on, not Democrats or Republicans, well, maybe so, they both hated Jesus.

[19:21] They would go to great lengths to stop Christ and yet once again, they would underestimate Jesus and the power of God.

[19:32] And actually, it would prove being futile and useless and them doing this action. Actually, it was going to be such great irony. Perfect. Put more people guarding.

[19:44] Put hundreds and... Put thousands of soldiers if you want because it would make the resurrection even more glorious, right? So, they said, sure, verse 63.

[20:00] Remember, that deceiver being alive said, after three days I rise again. So somehow they found out about Jesus predicting the promise of His resurrection. Although He kind of did that in their presence in chapter 12 of Matthew's gospel verse 40.

[20:15] Did they actually get it? Who knows? But apparently, they figured it out or heard it about or whatever. Of course, they didn't believe it. But they truly thought, notice verse 64, therefore give orders for the grave to be guarded until the third day lest the disciples come in and they steal Him away.

[20:37] they truly thought His disciples would come steal the body and proclaim He's risen. So they asked Pilate to provide soldiers to guard the tomb lest these disciples come to steal the body.

[20:50] And guarding the tomb with Roman soldiers would give it maximum security. And I'll talk about that a little bit more. Was it Roman soldiers or not? And notice, though, what they say here about Jesus with the disciples that come to steal the body, say to the people He's risen from the dead.

[21:06] Notice the last part of verse 64. And the last deception will be worse than the first. This tells you what they really believed. They thought Jesus proclaiming Himself to be a Messiah was a sham.

[21:24] And now they thought that His resurrection would be an even bigger hoax. A great deception. Verse 65, Pilate said to them, you have a guard, go secure as you know.

[21:42] Now, it's not clear here what Pilate is saying. As Pilate is saying, he's allowing them to have their temple. Remember they had their temple police? They have their own little band of soldiers, whatever, these religious leaders, to guard the tomb.

[22:01] or if He gave them permission to have a group of Roman soldiers to guard the tomb. Well, since the guards are actually called soldiers, later on in verse 66, they're actually called guarding.

[22:17] It says, guarding the tomb along with the guard. And from the Greek, it's guarding soldiers. And also, because later on in chapter 28, they were the ones who were going to be accountable to Pilate, not to the religious leaders.

[22:33] It seems more like these were actually Roman soldiers. That Pilate was telling them, well here, I'm going to give you a guard, go make it secure as you know. So they were given the freedom to do what they wanted so that the tomb would be made secure from any potential robbery.

[22:53] Notice, Matthew wants us to see this truth. Not only was He dead, His tomb was guarded. And then, you have verse 66 to put even more weight upon the resurrection.

[23:13] And going out, verse 66, they secured or guarded the grave, setting a seal on the stone along with the guarding soldiers or with the guarding soldiers.

[23:27] So these soldiers not only stood guard over the tomb, but a seal was used to seal the stone. Which was a stamp, one writer put it like this, quote, imperial authority.

[23:46] Imperial authority over the grave. And they would use a seal, it was like a clay or a wax. It was pressed into the crack between the rolling stone and the tomb's entrance. So that, this is Roman authority.

[24:01] If you mess with this stone, you mess with Rome. And we'll take you out. So the seal was set, the guards were placed.

[24:13] And all of this was the perfect setup. Because in doing these actions, they ensured that the disciples, the disciples would not be able to steal Jesus' body and ensured that Jesus truly did resurrect from the dead.

[24:31] They're just underlying the truth of the resurrection the more they did this. Bring more soldiers, go ahead. Seal it 50,000 times for all we care. it's worthy to note, by the way, which we'll see next week, when their plan backfired on them, they still promulgated the false report of Christ's disciples stealing his body.

[25:06] Justin, in the second century, middle of the second century, he said the Jews were still claiming the disciples stole Jesus' body. Like a hundred years later, the Jews were saying that.

[25:23] So Matthew's doing this on purpose. He's telling us this historical account on purpose to emphasize, yes, Jesus truly did die. He was gone and then he was guarded.

[25:36] It just gives more oomph to that resurrection. He was all dead. And yet the sad historical account is going to be balanced by the buried Jesus made fully alive with great authority and he's going to commission his disciples.

[25:59] So again, this is vital. As I said this earlier, it's vital because what it does, it reassures us of the finality of Jesus' death and gives us the confidence of complete, total forgiveness of all our sins and of being justified in God's sight for by his blood we're justified.

[26:17] The God man truly died for our sins. Are you here? And do you need to trust that Jesus Christ died for your sins?

[26:30] Do you need to repent and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you need to trust Christ? Do you need to take in the fact that, wait, Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. Have you trusted Christ today?

[26:42] You need to. You should. You'll get forgiveness. Jesus truly died and was buried and to make sure he stayed in that grave, the religious leaders guarded the tomb.

[26:54] So the only way to explain the resurrection is the power of God. This historicity, it gives further testimony to the death of Jesus, but it gives greater weight to the truth of his resurrection which we'll see next week.

[27:13] Be encouraged. I pray you're encouraged by this truth today. Jesus was buried to finalize true total separation from God as the perfect sacrifice for us and to fulfill Old Testament prophecy.

[27:26] The perfect setup passage for the dramatic true historical account of Jesus resurrecting from the dead. Would you take a moment and pray with me?

[27:38] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We believe in the truth and the infallibility and the inerrancy of your word, O Lord.

[27:57] Every word is God breathed. And this passage is profitable for us. It's sufficient for us.

[28:09] thank you Jesus that you truly were separated from God in death you fulfilled scripture and the only way this can be explained is by the power of the father resurrecting you from the dead help us help us with our unbelief help us to keep trusting you and your promises for father you've kept the promise of resurrecting your son you've kept the promise of bringing your son and resurrecting your son so may encourage us that you're a God who always keeps your promises thank you

[29:14] I want to encourage you just these few moments which will take these few moments of silence to allow your mind to to be filled with truth maybe it's reading through the passage again maybe it's reading through your notes maybe it's verse or verses that triggered your thinking you go to those verses whichever let your mind be filled with gospel truth pondering thinking mulling over in your brain and may it affect your emotions for deeper affections for your savior and I'll be praying and we'll all be praying that it will also affect our wills to love him with our lives so do that in these next few moments if you would please acort Jazz bend