The Burial of Jesus Part 2 | Matthew 27:62-66

Scripture

• Matthew 27:62–66

About this sermon

Introduction: One of the ways that our God is exalted in Scripture is with the recognition that no one can withstand His will. ESV Psalm 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us." 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. “The peoples plot in vain.” “He who sits in the heavens laughs.” David amplifies a general truth, but looks forward to a specific situation. ANYONE who plots against the will of God, plots in vain. NO ONE is a threat to God’s will. He laughs at imagined rivals. But that truth was demonstrated in the life of God’s Son. That Psalm is magnified by the early church when Peter and John are threatened by the council. ESV Acts 4:21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old. 23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, "'Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed'-- 27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. As I said, this is a general truth about God that the Scriptures celebrate. God exalts Himself through Isaiah when He draws a contrast between the so-called gods of false religion that have no real existence, and living God whose will is irresistible. ESV Isaiah 46:3 "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; 4 even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save. 5 "To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? 6 Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! 7 They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. 8 "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' 11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. When Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his right mind, this is what he confessed. ESV Daniel 4:34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" Well, as we look at the burial of Jesus, we see this very truth on display. At His burial our Savior was honored by His disciples. But we also see our Lord, unwittingly, honored by His enemies. THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF THE JEWS, THOSE WHO HAD WORKED FOR THE MURDER OF JESUS, WOULD HAVE NEVER INTENTIONALLY PAID HIM HOMAGE. And yet, in a strange way, that is exactly what they did — by the way they responded to His burial. OUR LORD’S BURIAL EXPOSES HIS ENEMIES. HE EXPOSES THEIR SPIRITUAL CONDITION. HE EXPOSES THEIR FEARS. HE EXPOSES THE FUTILITY OF THEIR DESIRE TO STOP WHAT HE PROMISED HE WOULD DO. Tonight, we look again at the burial of Jesus, and as we do, we see the fear and the futility of His enemies.

Topics

• Jesus Christ