Mark 15:42-4742And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. 44And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. 45And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. 47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid. (Mark 15:42‑47)
“AND NOW when the even was come,... Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.”
Do you remember the prophecy of Isaiah 53:99And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9): He “was with the rich in His death”? Two men came forward this evening before the Sabbath day who were to fulfill that prophecy. One of them, Joseph, is mentioned here and we are told in John’s Gospel of the other, Nicodemus. These were both rich and influential men and they both loved the Lord, but secretly, for fear of the Jews. Now their timidity is overcome by an impelling desire to give His blessed Person an honorable burial. Joseph apparently went first directly to Pilate, and besought the body of Jesus. Then, after he had secured approval, he and Nicodemus went to Calvary and there together they took His body from the cross—and wrapped that holy body in fine linen. Nicodemus, at great personal expense, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes (about a hundred-pound weight) and as they wrapped the body in linen, the spices were bound in, as the manner of the Jews was to bury. (See John 19:39,4039And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 40Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. (John 19:39‑40).)
These two prominent men thus publicly identified themselves with Jesus. We do not question that the Jews with whom they formerly associated would now turn from them in scorn. Their lives, from that day forward, would be marked by the hatred of their fellowmen. But in a coming day they will be counted among those spoken of in 2 Timothy 2:11, 1211It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: 12If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:11‑12): “For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.” Knowing full well the cost of their action, they did not deny their blessed Lord.
Then, after these careful preparations, the two, accompanied by sorrowing women, “laid Him in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulcher.” v. 46. In Matthew it is stated, “When Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb.” Luke further says of this tomb: “Wherein never man before was laid”; and John’s Gospel reads: “There was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus.”
This cross-section of the four gospel records is informative because it makes clear that He “was with the rich in His death.” Was there some special purpose of God connected with this? Indeed there was. David had spoken prophetically of this very event in Psalms 16:1010For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10), saying of Jesus: “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hades [the grave]; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.” If the Jews who had slain their Messiah had been compelled to bury Him, they would have been quite content to place His body in the potter’s field, in a common tomb with others. Joseph was able to provide a newly hewn tomb, uncorrupted by the death of others. Here a resting place for the body of the Saviour was found “with the rich.”
Again we are reminded that God’s Word is infallible and His ways perfect. He knew from eternity that His Holy One would indeed see no corruption and raised these servants to thus serve Him in their devotion to His Son.
ML-06/28/1964