In the sermon 'Jesus is Buried' by Peter Allison, the focus is on Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Christ and a member of the Sanhedrin who asked Pilate for Jesus' body and buried it in his own tomb, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. Joseph's actions marked a transition from a timid disciple to one of bold public faith, a theme paralleled in biblical figures like Gideon. The sermon emphasizes the significance of Jesus' burial as a testament to his death and a component of his atoning sacrifice. Jesus' burial fulfilled many Old Testament prophecies, highlighting the divine orchestration of events. The sermon explores the theological significance of Jesus' dual nature as fully God and fully man, necessary for bearing God's wrath and being the perfect human sacrifice. It also discusses post-death events, such as Jesus' soul's descent to Sheol, and the hope of resurrection, drawing parallels with Old Testament believers and the ultimate defeat of death. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to live righteously, anticipate Christ's return, and courageously testify to their faith.

Please turn in your scriptures to Luke chapter 23. I'd like to begin reading at verse 50. Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. He had not consented to their decision, indeed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the Kingdom of God.

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock where no one had ever lain before. That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils, and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment." May we never forget these as precepts.

For by them He has given us life. Heavenly Father, we ask that Your Word may come to us in the power of Your Holy Spirit, and not with the wisdom of human speech. That our faith might be in your power and not in any man. We ask, Lord, that you would open our hearts to hear, to receive, and our ears to hear the truth of your word. And that you would sanctify, Lord, my sinful lips to this task.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Last week we looked at Jesus' death. Jesus died. This week, Jesus is buried. Both of these events are very significant for our salvation.

This passage tells us about a man named Joseph of Arimathea. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body. This is the body that unjustly and wickedly condemned Jesus to death. Mark says that he was a prominent member of this council. Meaning he took an active part in this assembly.

He was considered to be a leader in this assembly. He wasn't somebody who was quiet in the corner and just listened and voted when he was told to vote. But he was a prominent member of this body. He was a rich man, Matthew tells us. He was a rich man from Arimathea.

And he was also a disciple of Christ. Now that might seem like an amazing contradiction that somebody would be a disciple of Christ and a member of the Sanhedrin, this body that hated Christ and had been trying to kill Him and had finally succeeded or so they thought. But Luke tells us here that he was a good and just man. And he hadn't consented to this deed, but he was also waiting for the kingdom of God. He was a disciple of Christ.

This is like Anna. Anna, that woman, that widow who was at the temple, she, it says that she, Luke says that she looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Or Simeon who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Luke says that this Joseph of Arimathea was waiting for the Kingdom of God. That He was a disciple.

There were many people, Jews, who were expecting a Messianic kingdom that would deliver them from the Roman occupation. They were expecting a political messiah who would come in front of an army and drive the Romans away. These people weren't waiting for the Kingdom of God. They asked Him when it was coming and Jesus said, well, it's around you. You're not going to see it.

You're not going to be able to look and see it because it's within you. Those Jews weren't waiting for the true Kingdom. They were waiting for something of their own imagination. But Joseph M. I believe was a true disciple.

He was waiting for this kingdom. And like Anna and Simeon, he was waiting for the consolation of Israel and for the redemption in Jerusalem. And so he hadn't consented to this. But John tells us that he was a timid disciple. He was a secret disciple because he was afraid of the Jews.

Remember, the Jews, this body that he's a member of is casting out anybody that... They were casting out of the church even anyone that believed in Jesus. You remember this man that was born blind? You know, how they questioned him and they even questioned his parents. Here's this man who's 40 years of age practically.

He's a full grown man. And they're asking his parents about him, and eventually they cast him out. They excommunicated him from the church because he believed in Jesus. And he praised the God who had given him eyesight. And he even had the courage to witness and testify to Jesus Christ, to their own assembly.

Of course, that made them even more angry with Him. And remember they're asking Him, and He said, why this is an amazing thing. Do you want to know about Him too? And they cast him out. So Joseph of Arimathea has seen all this.

He's a wealthy man. There's a lot at stake. If he publicly acknowledges Jesus, he could be cast out of not only the Sanhedrin, but even the very church. He could become an outcast of society. His wealth could be taken from him.

Whatever his business was, people might not come to it anymore. And If nobody comes to your business, you don't have any income. He could very quickly cease to be wealthy. We don't know all the ins and outs, but just knowing the fact that he's wealthy, and the fact that the Sanhedrin is kicking people out of the church who believe in Jesus Christ, he had reason to be afraid. And He was a timid disciple.

His faith was not strong enough that he was able like the man born blind to publicly testify to this Sanhedrin who Christ was. But Luke says, the Scripture says that He was a disciple. He was a secret one. He was a timid one. He was afraid.

He had a lot to lose. And he wasn't quite willing to lose that yet. You know, he had one foot in both worlds, as it were. He wanted to keep his money. It's not money, it's not wrong to have.

And so he's a secret disciple. He didn't publicly defend Jesus at His trial. He was silent. There's no record of anybody testifying in the Sanhedrin against the sentence of to condemn. There's nobody speaking up for him.

In fact, the Scriptures say everybody deserted him. Even his disciples deserted him and didn't testify. So he was silent. Maybe he wasn't there. It's possible he wasn't at the trial, and it's possible...

But I suspect that being a prominent member of the Sanhedrin, he probably was there. His devotion to Christ is a secret at this point. The rest of the Sanhedrin doesn't know about it. So being that he was a prominent member, I suspect that he was at Jesus' trial. And that he did not raise a voice in Jesus' defense, which was wrong.

Jesus was innocent. Pilate knew he was innocent. The centurion that crucified Jesus knew he was innocent. Joseph of Arimathea knew he was innocent as well, but he's silent. He's unable to speak up.

But God brought in His grace a trial. And through that trial, this timid disciple became bold. And when Jesus had died, had suffered and died, a death that had a significant impact even on this hardened Roman centurion that crucified Him, who declared surely this was a man of God, righteous. God's Holy Spirit so moved in Him and gave him courage and boldness to go to Pilate and ask for the body of Jesus. That was a courageous thing to do because he now publicly testified, publicly exposed the fact that he was a disciple of Christ and that he had a desire to care for the body.

You know, for a non-Roman citizen who was crucified, There was no care given to their body. They could be left on the cross for the birds to eat their flesh. There's not only a horrific and humiliating death, but after death, There's no care given to these people. They're renegades. They're outcasts.

If they wanted to, they just left them on the cross as a sign to people, to everybody that this is what happens to you if you cross the Roman government. So Joseph, in asking for this body, is doing a brave thing, a courageous thing. Pilate is surprised that he's dead so quickly. Normally, crucifixion took three days, two, three, four days to die. Some people took longer.

And so Pilate is surprised he's dead. And he confirms that Jesus is in fact dead. He didn't want somebody taking Jesus off the cross before he had died and somehow revived. But When he learns that Jesus is indeed dead, then it's confirmed by the centurion, then he granted permission to Joseph to take the body. And so, Joseph publicly went to the cross and took the body.

Joseph went and took it down. This was a very public thing he did. This crucifixion had been public. There was crowds around him mocking him. There was the Roman army there.

There were all the Sanhedrin who finally had achieved their desire. So they would have all been there as well. And he in this very public way went up to that cross, and Luke says he took it down. Here's a rich man who wouldn't have ordinarily probably stooped to do a lot of manual labor. If he was a rich man, he had servants to do all of that.

Even people that weren't rich would have had servants to do all of that. Even people that weren't rich would have had servants to do work. But he was a rich man. He lived in finery. The Jewish rulers were very wealthy people in general.

Especially particularly the Sadducees. And yet here he went and took down this bloody body because you remember even though Jesus bones weren't broken, a spear pierced his side and water and blood came out. That's what happens when you have trauma to the body. All the fluid comes out of the blood and into the tissue and you have this swelling. So Jesus' side was pierced and blood and fluid came out.

Jesus' body was a mess. Remember, He'd been beaten? Crown of thorns upon his head. He's been crucified. Nails have been piercing his hands and his feet.

Joseph publicly went and took down this messy, dirty body because the Holy Spirit had given Him courage to be known publicly as a disciple of Christ. And He did so now without fear of what His public testimony would cost Him. Joseph, I think, would seem to be the first believer among the ruling class of the Jews. There were many priests, we read in Acts, that will come to that, Lord willing, who were converting. But it would seem that Joseph was the first Nicodemus came and he did come to Jesus.

He was also Seeking a seeker But he he only tags along with Joseph He's mentioned but he's he's not the one who took the lead in this. It seems that Joseph took the lead. Nicodemus followed along. All of the Jews received the promises, but their minds weren't set on things above. They were set here on the earth.

But God in His grace brought salvation. And He taught Joseph of Arimathea to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. To live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ Remember Joseph of Arimathea was one who was seeking looking for the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of God And that's how we ought to live, as those who are looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. And that's what Joseph of Arimathea began to do the day that Jesus died.

And He went up and publicly took down his body, wrapped it in a linen garment, and laid it in his own tomb that was hewn out of rock in which no one else had ever been laid. There are many other examples in the Scriptures of believers who initially are very timid, who by the grace of God gather courage and are able to publicly testify to the truth of God's Word and to Jesus Christ. Another example in the Old testament is Gideon. He was a fearful believer. He's threshing wheat in the winepress to hide himself from the Midianites.

Now that may not necessarily be a fear. It might just be wisdom in concealing his crops from the neopressor. But the angel of the Lord appeared to him and called him a mighty man of valor. And Gideon said, well, if that's the case, then why has all this happened to us? He was doubting that God's word was true.

He thought God had forsaken them. He said, didn't God bring us up from Egypt? And now why are we delivered into the hands of the Midianites? And the Lord said to him, go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. But Gideon didn't believe.

He said, I can't do that. I'm least of all in my Father's house. I'm least in Manasseh's house. Manasseh is least in Israel. His clan is weak in the tribe of Manasseh.

And so God continues to dialogue with Gideon. And Gideon went and prepared that sacrifice, remember, and offered it to the Lord there, the angel of the Lord. And then he realized it was the angel of the Lord. And then he was afraid. He said, I've seen the angel of God face to face, and he's afraid he's going to die.

But God said, you won't die. Go take your Father's bowl and sacrifice it. Tear down the altar of Baal and sacrifice it. And Gideon did that, but he did it at night, the Bible says, because he was afraid. He feared the people in the city.

So he did it by night. And you know the rest of that famous story, how he went on. God protected him. His father actually stood up and defended him before the people in the city who were demanding to know who tore down their altar of Baal. You know the rest of the story, how Gideon went on with 300 men to deliver Israel from the Amalekites and how he is listed in Hebrews 11 as a man of faith.

But it didn't start out that way. It's like Joseph of Arimathea. And maybe like some of us, you know, we're too afraid to pray publicly with our fellow workers. When we sit down to lunch, I know that has been true of me. But Maybe when we sit down to eat we can say, can I offer thanks for this food?

Most people will say yes, and the ones that don't, won't say anything. You can pray and publicly proclaim that you are a disciple of Christ, and that you want to thank the Lord for the food that is before you. So Joseph obtained the body of Jesus from Pilate, and he buried him. He buried him in his own tomb, and this fulfilled one of the Old Testament prophecies that with Isaiah they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death There were actually in many many prophecies that were fulfilled this in this day of crucifixion It would be a whole sermon to look in detail at all of them, but We've looked at some of them. The Messiah was betrayed by Judas.

That was foretold by David, a close friend. That Christ would be forsaken by His disciples was prophesied by Zechariah. To strike the shepherd, the sheep will be scattered. The price of his betrayal was also foretold by Zechariah. It's 30 pieces of silver.

Zechariah 11. Zechariah foretold what would be done with the betrayal money. They would throw it to the potter. Isaiah prophesied that Christ would be sacrificed as the Passover lamb of God. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter.

That there would be scourgings and mockings would follow. Isaiah and David both prophesied that Jesus' body would be mutilated. Isaiah 52, many were astonished at Him for His body was disfigured, even His form, beyond the sons of men. David prophesied that shame and dishonor, that Christ would suffer being condemned as a criminal. The reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen on me.

My enemies are all before you. Reproach has broken my heart. I am full of heaviness. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none." David foretold that the false witnesses that would testify against Christ, cruel witnesses rose up. They asked me things I knew nothing about.

In Psalm 35, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would not defend Himself. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth as a lamb brought to the slaughter. Isaiah foretold Jesus' crucifixion as a sin offering for the world. Isaiah prophesied that he was numbered among lawbreakers. He was counted among the transgressors in Isaiah 53.

And Luke tells us in the other writers that he was crucified between two malefactors. David prophesied that his hands and feet would be pierced. Dogs have surrounded me. A band of evildoers have encircled me. They have pierced my hands and my feet." The parting of his garments was also prophesied by David.

Another Psalm, David prophesied that they would give him vinegar to drink in Psalm 69. David prophesied that many would be watching Jesus during the crucifixion. They look and they gloat over Me." In Psalm 22. Among those watching would be Jesus' family and friends. Psalm 38 says, "...My loved ones and My friends stand apart from My plague, and My neighbors stand afar off.

That's what Luke tells us in Luke 49. Some of His observers would shake their heads at Him. Psalm 109, they looked upon Me, they shook their heads. Even the words of His reproachers were prophesied by David. He trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver him.

Let Him rescue him since He delights in him. Those were the words that were spoken at Jesus' crucifixion. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would make intercession for sinners, and this intercession began even before His crucifixion, when He prayed, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do. Isaiah 53 says, He bore the sins of many and made intercession for transgressors. David prophesied the thoughts of Jesus, the agony of Jesus at the height of His suffering, even the very words that He spoke, my God, my God, why have You forsaken me?

Zechariah prophesied additionally that His body would be pierced by a spear in Zechariah 12.10, they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced. David prophesied that, as we saw last week, that Jesus would commit His Spirit to God. David also prophesied His last words. It is finished. The Scriptures prophesied that not one bone of Jesus would be broken.

Psalm 34, He keeps all His bones, not one is broken. When the soldiers came to break the legs of the people so that they would be crucified, so they would die and could be taken down from the cross that day and wouldn't be on the cross overnight because it was not something the Jews would allow. They didn't break his legs because he was already dead. And lastly, his burial in a tomb of a rich man was foretold by Isaiah as well. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

And with His generation, who did not consider that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of My people, He was stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit found in His mouth." Why did Jesus have to be buried? When He suffered on the cross, He suffered the wrath of God for all the sins of all his people and he said, it is finished. It is finished. Well, there are several reasons.

And really to understand these reasons, and the second question which I would like to look at in closing this morning, that is, where did his soul go at his death? We need to understand the person of Jesus Christ. And so just a quick review. We know that Jesus is God and man in two distinct natures. In one person.

He has to be God, fully God, to be able to bear the wrath of God in a finite time without sinking into oblivion. No mere man could bear The wrath of God. Jesus bore the wrath of God for all people in a finite time. He had to be man to be our sacrifice. To be a sacrifice in our place.

If He didn't have a nature like ours, if He didn't have a human flesh like ours, He couldn't be our sacrifice. He couldn't be our Passover lamb. That's why the lamb sacrifice in the Old Testament could not actually atone for sin because it had to be a person, a righteous person in whom there is no blemish. And so Jesus had to be man as well. He had to be God and man together in one person to do both at the same time.

He died as respects His human nature. And His human body was put in the grave. His flesh. And His soul went to Sheol. But God didn't die in that.

Jesus, as He respects His divine nature, didn't die. And that's why He is able to, He said He voluntarily gave His life. No man takes My life. I lay it down and I take it up. If Jesus in His divine nature didn't die, He died with respect to His human nature.

Although we do say, just like with the sacraments, we do talk about those two natures and we say of one nature what is true of the other nature. And so there are some people who would say God died, but only in the sense that they are attributing to His divine nature what is true of His human nature. But so Christ is also a prophet, priest, and king. He is a prophet in testifying to the truth of God's Word. Testifying to his deity as the Son of God and to his kingship.

And he is a, he executes the office of a, carries out the office of a king in subduing us to himself. And he executes or does the office of a priest and is offering up of himself a sacrifice. And in doing this, he is humiliated. He underwent a state of humiliation in being born. Just to take on human flesh is a humiliation.

To be born, to be born of a woman. He is God. He was born of a woman. That was a humiliation. He lived under the law.

And he was unjustly condemned, tried, and crucified, and died, and buried. It's a part of his humiliation because then God exalts him. He raises him from the dead. He raises him up into heaven. He's seated at the right hand of the Father, and He comes again to judge the world at the last day.

And so Jesus has to be buried as a proof of his death. It shows that he truly died and he's buried. He has to be buried because he endured all as our priest. He has suffered and endured and been tested in every way as we are. And we must die and lay down not to pay for our sins, but in laying down this body of sin.

And we continue under the power of death. And so Jesus needed to do that in order to be our High Priest and be able to sympathize with us and be tested in all points as we are. He continued under the power of death for a time. That means that he continued in this state where his spirit and his body were separated. And we looked at that in more detail last week.

But Jesus continued under this for a time. In fact, another prophecy was that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the well, Jesus would be three days and three nights in the grave under the power of death. He's also buried Because that is how proper respect is shown to a human body. Until the late 20th century, Christians did not burn people. Bodies were always buried.

It's the people who desecrate the body that burned the body. But believers have always buried the body. In the Scriptures, enemies were burned, but his friends were always buried. God buried Moses and Aaron. It was the wicked that were burned.

It was a sign that they were haters of God. I didn't think cremation for many years until very recently. I didn't think there was an issue with cremation. We're not concerned about creation and the resurrection. That's not the issue.

When we die and we're put in the ground, the worms eat our body. And some fisherman digs up the worms that ate our body and catches a fish with them. And that takes that fish home and cooks it and eats it. Where is that person? That person is completely gone in the sense of our being able to track the physical part of that person.

God is able to raise that person up again, all of us. That's not the issue. The issue is what the Word of God says. And God judged a king of Moab because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime. When I read that recently, a few years ago, it struck me exactly what that was.

That is exactly what cremation does. It burns our bones to lime. And here I was reading in the Word of God that God brought a judgment on a king for doing that very thing. And then to me, all of the history of the Christian church and the testimony of the church fathers against cremation became very real and significant. When we die, our bodies should be buried.

That is a decent Christian burial. We shouldn't burn our bones to lime. And in the history of the church, The church has not done that. Burned bones to line. In fact, it wasn't even permitted to mark a living body in memory of the dead.

Certainly, to burn the body itself would be wrong. So if we want to die like Christ, then we should want to be buried as well, like Christ was. Now where did his spirit go? Once he's buried, he's under the power of death for a time, where did his spirit go? This is not an easy question.

It's one I've wrestled with for a while. But I believe that the scriptures tell us, and our creeds as well confirm to us, that Jesus' spirit went to Hades or to Sheol. Psalm 16 says, You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to seek corruption. You will show me the path of life, and your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." That's what the Bible says. God would not leave His soul in Sheol.

And in Acts 2, Peter quotes this at the sermon on Pentecost. For David says concerning Him, concerning Christ, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope, for you will not leave my soul in Hades." That's the Greek translation, the Greek word for shiel, the Hebrew word shiel, which in most Bibles is just transliterated into English as Hades. Peter said, quoting Psalm 16, You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to seek corruption.

Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." He was talking about Christ, as he said. Psalm 16 was talking about Christ. And he did not leave his soul in Hades. So how do we understand then Jesus saying to the thief, you will be with me in paradise today? Well, I think this is where Phil Kaiser has helped out a lot with his understanding of the Old Testament saints being raised out of Hades at Christ's coming.

And this being the first resurrection that's spoken of in Revelation. I think that's very significant and helpful here because we know that In the Old Testament, believers went to Sheol. Jacob talks about going down to Sheol. David talks about going to Sheol. And he would see his son.

He would be with his son down there in Sheol. So there is then two divisions in Sheol, upper and a lower. And the believers were in the upper Sheol and not the lower. And then in Revelation, in the first resurrection, all of the believers are removed from Sheol and taken into heaven. And Revelation says they live and reign with Christ in the millennium, which is now.

And so all those Old Testament believers would have been raised out of Sheol, but this would indicate then that Christ's soul went to Sheol, the place where believers' souls went at their death and where this thief would have gone as well. Now if you don't accept that, we also can understand that Jesus as His divine nature didn't die and was everywhere present and would have been in heaven. And if this thief went to heaven, then he could have also been there in that sense. But I believe that the souls of Old Testament believers went to Sheol, upper Sheol. And that's where Jesus was with the thief in paradise.

And Revelation tells us that in the final judgment, Sheol, Hades, is cast into the lake of fire. And The hope of the Gospel is that God delivered the saints out of Sheol. Christ was the first fruits. Remember there was 500 people that were resurrected at Christ's resurrection. So this was the first fruits, the first resurrection.

But Christ's soul was not left in Hades. His body did not see corruption. He was raised from the dead. The grave could not hold Him, because He was righteous. And because the grave could not hold Him, we too are able to be set free from the grave.

We too, most of us, unless Christ returns before we die, will live. Our bodies will be under the power of death. Our soul will be separated from our body. But of course now after this first resurrection and the emptying of Sheol, we go to heaven. Our souls go to heaven at our death.

But even when we are in this time under the power of death, where our spirit is separated from our body, we will not continue. And our body lies in the grave. We don't continue in that estate because Christ has broken those bonds now. So as we come to the Lord's table, we give thanks for his death and for his burial as well. It was a part of his atoning sacrifice in our place.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, there is so much that we do not understand. And we look forward to that day that we will understand. And we will be made perfectly blessed with spiritual bodies, perfectly blessed to the full enjoying of you to all eternity. For Lord, now we can do so but imperfectly.

Our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. We thank you for this reminder, this sign that you have given to us in the Lord's table. And we ask for your grace to come to us, to strengthen us, Lord, where we have been timid and fearful and quiet as Joseph of Arimathea was. May you give to us boldness and courage to publicly testify and own you as our Savior, and as our Lord, and as the King. Lord, may your praise and your glory always be upon our lips.

Lord, as we come to this table, we thank you for these elements and ask that you would set them apart as ceiling signs of your covenant with us, of your sacrifice in our place. We ask all these things in Jesus' name, Amen.