We find ourselves once again in Mark's gospel as we continue to make our journey through it verse by verse, we will be looking at Mark 15, beginning in verse 42, and going through verse 47. So while you're turning there, may I just remind you why we're here? Why I'm doing what I'm doing, in opening up the word to you. It's because we know from scripture, for example, in Second Corinthians 31:8, that the more we behold the glory of Christ, the more we become like him. And the Spirit of God helps us see the glory of Christ, all of his infinite perfections through his word, and certainly through his people, his church as well, and even in creation, but ultimately through His Word. The point is, you will simply not grow in Christ, apart from the systematic in-depth, teaching, preaching and application of the Word of God. That is my responsibility: to exposit the Scripture so that you will know what it says, clearly. And it's your job to learn these things, and to apply them to your heart, and thus avail yourself of how the Spirit of God accomplishes this divine operation of sanctification.

So, with that, let me remind you of the context here before I read the passage, you will recall that Jesus has voluntarily poured out his life on the cross as the prophet Isaiah, as prophesied in Isaiah 53, in verse 12. And Jesus said that no one has taken it away from me. So now the work of redemption is accomplished. Atonement has been made. The work the Father had given him is now over. He has now given his life as a ransom for many. So therefore, all of the sins of those whom the Father had given him in eternity past, are paid. That's why he said, at about 3pm, "'It is finished.'" "Tetelestai" - it is finished, which literally means the debt has been paid, the victory has been won, the judgment has been served. Then he said to the Father "'Into Your hands, I commit My spirit.'" And so now, in this unfathomable drama, we see Christ hanging on the cross, his body remaining on the cross, though his spirit is now in paradise.

And with this, we come to Mark 15, beginning in verse 42.

"When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he asked him as to whether He was already dead.

And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of Joses, were looking on to see where He was laid.

It's fascinating as we look at the gospel record, we see that every gospel writer gives great detail with respect to the death, the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's fascinating, as you look at all of this is, once again, you see the miracle of divine providence operating, superintending all of these things to accomplish the purposes of God that were ordained in eternity past, and were prophesied in the scriptures. Do you realize that you are here today because of divine providence? It's not by accident that you just stumbled in here. But rather God has orchestrated the events in your life, to bring you here, to hear whatever he has for you, to ultimately bring glory to himself. Do you realize that God has sovereignly ordained to allow even wickedness in this world so that he can dramatically display the glory of his attributes? While our holy God is never the cause of evil, we know that he does bring it about indirectly through the willing, voluntary actions of moral creatures. Indeed, he has ordained to allow everything from the corruption and buffoonery that we see in government, to what the drag queen and transgender perverts grooming children in our country. He has ordained to allow all of these things. And ultimately, we see that this is providing for us a stark contrast between light and darkness, between good and evil, between the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God.

We know that currently, God has ordained to allow, according to First John 5:19, "...the whole world to lie in the power of the evil one." That's part of his purpose today. We know for example, that the world is being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist, the second coming of Christ. And we look at the constellation of prophetic signs, and we believe that that could be very, very soon; we see, for example, the Coalition of Muslim nations and Russia, coming against Israel, that's consistent with the prophecies in Ezekiel 38, and 39, and so forth. And every event in past history, including the death and the burial, and the resurrection of Christ, and all the things that come about in the future, all of those things are under the control the governance of a sovereign God, and he operates all of these things through the agency of his providence.

May I just remind you that biblically, we see essentially two different basic categories of providence. One is general providence, where he is in control of the whole universe through the laws of nature. For example, in Psalm 103, verse 19, we read, "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all..." Aren't you glad to know that? Colossians 1:17, we read, "In Christ, all things hold together”; Acts 17:28, "In Him, we live and move and have our being"; Ephesians 1:11, "He works all things after the counsel of His will." So we see this in general providence, but also there is what we would call special or sometimes it's referred to as specific providence, where he super-intends, not only the details of the universe, but also the details of history, even the details of the lives of every individual person, especially the elect. Ephesians one beginning of verse four, "...He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world..." Why? ".... That we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will..." He went on to say in verse 11, "...we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will..." I trust dear friends, that you will be comforted by these great truths, never forget them. Remember that we serve a sovereign God, not a contingent god, that's trying to figure out what to do because of all the craziness that's going on in the world. He has ordained the end from the beginning to bring glory to himself, and to bring eternal joy to the redeemed.

My prayer this morning, is that each one of you will be deeply encouraged by these truths as you see them played out in the context of Christ's burial. And that you will also see the majesty of Christ; and that majesty being a fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures. Now, as we examine the Gospel accounts, we're going to look at Mark, but certainly the Gospel of John as well. Here we're going to see the providence of God superintending three groups of people, Okay? Number one, the corrupt Sanhedrinists. Number two, the calloused soldiers, and number three, the compassionate saints. The point here is that at every turn, God was at work accomplishing his purposes, even as he is doing right now in your life and in mine.

We know that he causes most things to work together for good right? No, I think it's all things, thank you. He causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose. I think of Proverbs 19:21, "Many plans are in man's heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand."

So, with this in mind, we come to our text. Let me read those first three verses once again and then give you John's additional insight; beginning in verse 42, "When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; he had gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether he was already dead." Now John gives us further insight in John 19, beginning in verse 31, "Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."

Now bear in mind, by Jewish reckoning, the Sabbath, that is Saturday, began at sundown on Friday evening. This means that Jesus was crucified on Friday, the day before the preparation of the Sabbath, which on that occasion was a special Sabbath, because it was, it occurred during the the Passover feast. And because the second, what would be called the Paschal day, according to Leviticus 23:11, because that fell on the Sabbath. This was a day devoted to a very important offering with the Jews, which would include according to Leviticus 23 and verse 12, the offering of, "... a male lamb a year old without blemish, as a burnt offering to the LORD." Now, obviously, it is by no accident, that all of this is occurring at this precise time in history. The unblemished lamb of God is offering himself up as a sacrifice, at this precise time, and occasion.

So first, what I want you to look at, is the providence of God superintending, number one, the corrupt Sanhedrinists, alright? Now, it was the custom of the Jews according to the Mosaic law, to never allow a person to remain hanging on a gibbet, or a gallows, or a cross, overnight after an execution; lest that body, cursed by God, defile the land. Alright? So you got to get them off of there; you don't want that body to defile the land because that person was cursed by God. So being the self-righteous, law keepers that they were, they asked Pilate to have the legs of Jesus broken so that he would die quickly, and they could dispose of him quickly, in order to honor God. I mean, hypocrisy knows no bounds, right? It's amazing. Now normally, the Romans would leave a crucified man or woman on the cross until they died, which would often take several days. And then as a final disgrace, and a final warning to any other insurrectionists or criminals, they would just leave the decaying body on the cross to be devoured by the vultures. But if they needed to hasten the death, what they would do is they would break the legs of the victims with an iron bar, or sometimes they would use a heavy mallet. And it was a practice called the "crurifragium." And suddenly, that excruciating pain and loss of blood, combined with the victim's inability to hold himself up any longer, would cause the person to collapse and the air in their lungs would cause them to suffocate and they would die very, very quickly. So to be good law keepers, and not jeopardize their righteous standing before God, they wanted to make sure that they didn't violate their high Sabbath. So they go to Pilate and they ask him to make sure that the legs of Jesus are broken, so that they can take him away.

Now, if we go to John 19, beginning of verse 32, we pick up on what happened. "So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other, who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs." Now, we know as we examine the gospel record, that Jesus hung upon the cross from the third hour, that was 9am, according to Mark 15:25, and he died in the evening hour, it would be called, which would be 3pm. We would call that the afternoon; that would be their evening, they had also a second evening hour that began at six. So, Jesus was on the cross for a total of six hours before he voluntarily gave up his life, as he said he would. And this is a point you must understand. This is a point that John wants to make abundantly clear. That's why he said in John 10, beginning verse 17, that Jesus declared, "'I lay down My life, so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.'"

So, it's a relatively short period of time before Jesus gave up his life. However, bear in mind because of the earlier beatings that he had endured, and the loss of blood, even from the crown of thorns that were penetrating all around his head, the unimaginable torture, of the flogging, that would have exposed all of the muscles and bones and some of the entrails in his back. And because of all of that unimaginable suffering, not to mention, drinking, to the very dregs, the cup of divine wrath on our behalf. All of these things contributed to an early death. And you will remember, however, as we would read in John 19:30, that he gave a final shout - "tetelestai", it is finished. And to think that he still had the strength to cry out, as he did, reveals to us that he was not totally drained of life. In fact, when Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate to ask him for Jesus body, you will remember, Pilate didn't even think that he was dead yet. So he had to check on that; he had to summon the centurion for confirmation. And at the end of John 19, and verse 30, John says that Jesus, "...bowed His head and gave up His spirit." "Gave up" in the original language could be translated, "handed over," he handed over his spirit. So no one took his life from him, he gave it up on his own authority.

But here we see the providence of God at work, which again, just points to the glory and the majesty of Christ, the Son of God. Jesus had predicted that he would be killed and the third day he would rise again, Luke 18:33. And for this to be fulfilled, he had to be buried on the same day he died. Now this is really fascinating to see how God used wicked men to execute orders that he had made in eternity past. Think about that. Yet another testimony to the fact that Jesus is who he said, he is - the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel.

So we move to our second point, and that's the sovereignty of God superintending, the calloused soldiers. They break the legs of the two men on either side of Jesus, but they see that Jesus is already dead, so they did not break his legs. And according to John 19:34, "But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out." Now, you must understand, culturally, that the ancients believed that the body was made up of blood and water. And so this proved that Jesus was indeed physically dead. And this was a fact that John wants to underscore very clearly, given the popularity of a heresy known as Docetism. It comes from a Greek, "dokeó," which means "it seems." And the Docetist believed that Jesus never really took on human flesh, it just seemed like he did. And he only appeared to be human. Likewise, they would say, well, he only seemed to be dead, but he wasn't dead. And like all heretics that want nothing to do with Christ, they will come up with the most incredible, ridiculous heresies. And they will embrace them, every demonic doctrine they possibly can to somehow discredit Christ. And John knew this. And so John was aware of this satanic heresy, and he's going to refute it head on. And that's why, as an eyewitness, he adds in verse 35 of John 19, "And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe." So he saw, the spear, the blood, the water, so forth.

Now, the blood and water that flowed from Jesus side, may also be symbolic of both life and cleansing that flowed from Jesus' death. Some have suggested that the blood of Jesus, that is his sacrificial and redemptive death, is the basis of eternal life in the believer; and we know that from scripture, and it purifies us from every sin, and while, water we know is symbolic of cleansing; it can also be symbolic of life and the Holy Spirit. And these astounding blessings are all conditioned by the death of the Lamb of God, and they flow from the lifting up of the Son. Different theologians would argue this; and I think there's some real merit to this. And I might also add that it was from this verse and these themes, that Fanny Crosby derives her inspiration for the first verse of her hymn, "Near the Cross," that we heard a little bit ago. "Jesus keeps me near the Cross, there a precious fountain; Free to all a healing stream flows from Calvary mountain."

While others would suggest that it is also possible, but not certain, that John the Evangelist is alluding to Exodus 17, especially verse six that says, "'...Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, for the people to drink.'" There's maybe some merit to that as well. We know that John has already used water to refer to the Holy Spirit in his Gospel, apparently, alluding to the too water from the rock episodes and Exodus 17, and I believe Numbers 20. And we also know that the long suffering Yaweh is described as the "rock of His people" in Psalms 18:31, also in verse 46, and chapter 95 nd verse one. He even discloses himself, in his words, saying that he is stricken for his people, that they may receive the promised spirit. And it is from these theological concepts, that we have the great hymn written by Augustus Toplady, who lived from 1740 to 1778, "Rock of ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee; Let the water and the blood from the wounded side which flowed; be of sin the double cure; cleanse me from its guilt and power."

So back to the text, in the providence of God, the soldiers pierced Jesus' side, and they spare him of the crurifragium; they did not break his legs. And in verse 36, we read, "For these things came to pass to fulfill the scripture," quote, "'NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN.'" That comes out of Psalm 34 and verse 20; prophecy written some 1000 years earlier. I might also add that that Psalm, and those concepts, are rooted in God's instructions concerning the Passover lamb. You will recall in Exodus 12 and verse 46, "'It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.'" My what a coincidence how all these things just seem to fit together, right?

Back to John 19, verse 37, he says, "And again another Scripture says, 'THEY SHALL LOOK ON HIM WHO THEY PIERCED.'" And this comes from Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah 12 and verse 10, written about 520 BCE; a prophecy that actually speaks to a future repentant remnant of Israel that will confess Jesus as Messiah when he returns in glory. And there we read, "'I will pour out on the house of David on on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only so, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the better weeping over a firstborn.'" Yet another prophecy, my friends, that affirms the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which John proves over and over in his Gospel.

Now I want to move to the providence of God and the compassionate saints; such an amazing story. Let's go back to Mark's gospel and chapter 15, verse 43, "Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus." And John says this in John 19:38, "After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. Now we know from the synoptic gospel writers that Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin; we know that he was a very wealthy man; he was looking for the kingdom of God. We know that he was one that did not agree with the decision to condemn Jesus. A good and righteous man, who both Matthew and John state that was, that was a "disciple of Jesus, but a secret one for fear of the Jews." Let me camp on that for a moment.

As I was thinking about that statement, cancel culture is nothing new, right? I mean, this has been going on for millennia. This is how Satan advances his agenda. Let me let me give you an example. You will recall in John nine, the Jewish leaders are all upset because Jesus now healed this man born blind. And they're all upset about this and so they question the parents. And in John 9:19, and following we read what they say, "'Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?' His parents answered them and said, 'We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.'" And then we read this, "His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason, his parents said, 'He is of age; ask him.'' Cancel culture in the first century.

Likewise, in John 12, verse 42, we read that, "many, even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him..." and here's why, "...for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." I might add that I know from my friends, and contacts in Israel in particular, that there are a number of Jewish rabbis even this day, Orthodox Jewish rabbis, that secretly believe in Jesus as Messiah. And there's an increasing number of them that are enrolled in online Bible studies in order to understand the New Testament truths. Now sadly, often we fear man more than God; aren't we all guilty of that, somehow it just crops up in us and we decide, I'm just not going to go there. It's a hard lesson to learn. But I was reminded of what Jesus said in Luke 14, verse 27, "'Whoever does not carry his own cross, and come after Me cannot be My disciple.'"

Folks, you want to ask yourself, "Am I ashamed of the gospel? Am I ashamed of Christ? When an opportunity arises to stand up for him, do I start looking away and looking for something else to do so that I don't get in trouble?" Are you afraid to take a stand that might cost you dearly? Beloved, let me remind you of something that I had to learn early on in my ministry, you cannot be faithful and popular. You will be one, or you will be the other, and you must choose.

I might add that Nicodemus, and we're going to see this in a few minutes in verse 39; you remember, he came and also cared for Jesus body. Remember how he came to to Jesus at night and wanted to know how you can get into the kingdom, remember John three? But we know that according to tradition that Nicodemus actually defended Jesus at his trial before Pilate. And tradition tells us that Nicodemus was baptized by Peter and John. And he was like the leading teacher. And his profession of faith, and love for Christ, we know cost him his office, cost him his position as a teacher, it cost him his entire fortune, cost him all of his property, all of his possessions and he was banished along with his family, to live outside of Jerusalem; banished by the Sanhedrin that he had served, he along with his entire family were to live outside of the city in abject poverty. O the high cost, but infinite value, of following Christ.

We also know according to tradition, one story tells us how his daughter was so hungry, that she had to pick through dung piles for pieces of grain to find nourishment to keep from starving. And a rabbi saw her and felt compassion on her and said, "Who are you?" And she said, "I am the daughter of Nicodemus." And the rabbi said to her, "Whatever happened to your father?" And she said, "He came to be a follower of Jesus and was banished." And at that, the rabbi refused to help her. Folks, we never know what the cost might be following Jesus, but we do know what the reward will be right? Glory of an eternal heaven.

I'm reminded of the lyrics of that song that we sing, "You can have all this world, but give me Jesus." You know, the victory of the wicked will always be short lived, but their punishment will be for eternity. And as you think of the Christ mockers that live around us today, we hear them on television all the time, you probably work with some of them. So sad to know that one day they will stand before the one they mock. And he will be their judge and executioner. And they will have an opportunity, then to blaspheme him forever in the torments of hell. Today, we see persecution mounting in the United States and I'm reminded of what the Apostle Paul said in Second Corinthians four the universe, beginning of verse 17, "For momentary, light, affliction." Whenever I think about that, and I think, all that he went through and he called that "momentary, light affliction." What I endure is momentary light affliction. But all of that, he said, "...is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." Then he went on to say, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are unseen are eternal." And that must be the focus of our gaze.

Now back to our text. Maybe it was out of shame, out of guilt, probably a mixture of all of that, and his love for Christ, Joseph asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. No doubt because of his rank, Pilate agreed to that. And Mark says in verse 43, of chapter 15, that, "... he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate..." No doubt he had seen enough of all the wickedness, enough of all the lies, all the hypocrisy of his fellow Sanhedrinists, and he was probably convicted over his timidity. But once again, what I want you to see here is the unseen hand of divine providence at work in all of this. None of this is catching God by surprise. He is orchestrating all of these events to fulfill his decrees that were made in eternity past. Here's why I would say that. We know that under Roman law, no man crucified for sedition would ever be taken down from a cross; they would be left there to essentially rot and be eaten by the vultures, every shred of flesh would be picked away. And only then would the body be taken down and buried with other criminals. And the Jews would only bury criminals outside the walls of Jerusalem. But what John wants us to see is that this was no ordinary man. This was the Son of God, whose death, and now burial, was for ordained, and it was predicted in the Old Testament prophecies, especially Isaiah 53, verse nine. There the Prophet declared that through Messiah's quote, that though Messiah's, "...grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth." And it's at this stage then that John goes on to introduce another member of the Sanhedrin that was also a secret disciple of Jesus that joined Joseph and that was, of course Nicodemus. We see this in verse 39, "Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 100 pounds weight." Now, let me give you a sense of what's going on here. You see, the Jews did not embalm people, corpses like the Egyptians did, but they use fragrant spices to partially cover up the stench of putrefaction. And this is what's going on here. Nicodemus brings 100 pounds, he must have had some servants with him. That's a lot 100 pounds of this mixture. These spices would be in powder form and they would layer them with cloths; layer upon layer, multiple layers. And obviously, neither Joseph of Arimathea, nor Nicodemus, nor I might add, the other women who were around watching all of this; they weren't expecting Jesus to literally rise from the dead. So they were preparing him.

In John 19, verse 40, we pick it up. "So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. Therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." Not outside the city, but right there. And little did Joseph and Nicodemus know that by burying Jesus while it was Friday, before the Sabbath, they were fulfilling God's eternal plan that had been prophesied earlier in Matthew 12, in verse 40, by Jesus himself when he said, "'For just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IIN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So, as we look at it, Jesus is buried before sundown on Friday, and he rose again on Saturday, I mean on Sunday, and according to Jewish reckoning, a part of a day was considered the whole day. So Jesus was in the tomb three days he was there part of Friday afternoon, he was there Saturday and a part of Sunday morning. It's also interesting that the writer of Hebrews explains that this was a picture that was seen when Isaac was delivered from the altar, and he had been given up to death three days before. And we read about this in Hebrews 11, verse 19, Abraham "... considered that God is able to raise men even from the dead, from which he also received him," referring to Isaac, "back as a type." Isn't amazing how the Word of God all fits together in such a profound way?

So Mark summarizes this, back to Mark's gospel, Mark 15:43. Joseph of Arimathea comes, he's a prominent member, he asked for the body of Jesus. And all of this happens in verse 45, "And ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb, which had been hewn out in the rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb." Think about this, were it not for the compassion, and the bravery of these two brothers in Christ, Jesus' body, doubtless, would have been buried in just a common sepulcher because of the ignominious death that he suffered. But that was not God's plan. And that would have been a violation of Isaiah 53 and verse nine that we read earlier.

Now, back to the corrupt Sanhedrinists for a moment. The hypocritical Jewish leaders are aware of Jesus' predictions, alright? That he would rise from the dead. And of course, in whatever culture, like we have in our culture, whenever you have a ruling political class, they're going to use any means necessary to stay in power, alright? We're very familiar with that in our culture. And so we read this and Matthew's account in Matthew 27 beginning in verse 62. "Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, and said, 'Sir, we remember that when He was still alive, that deceiver said, "After three days, I am to rise again." Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead," and the last deception will be worse than the first.'" We can't have that. They're trying to prevent a hoax. But unwittingly, what they are doing, is actually accomplishing the purposes of God. Because you see, the security that they were demanding, the security that they wanted to be implemented to somehow seal the tomb, and station Roman guards around it, would later thoroughly refute this ridiculous claim that the disciples came and stowed the body away. I mean, who's going to believe that? People that are blinded by Satan, right? I mean, who's gonna believe a lot of the stuff that we hear today? I mean, we're just gaslighted all the time.

Them, "Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.' And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard, they set a seal on the stone." So again, we see the marvel of divine providence in all of these things. And I also find it fascinating, think about this, isn't it amazing to think that Yahweh delivered his covenant people from the Egyptians in parting the Red Sea, and he did this three days after the slaying of the Passover lamb? My, what a coincidence. And here we have another picture of our deliverance from the penalty, the power, and one day, the very presence of sin through Christ, in whom we have died and have been raised again with him. And folks, I would submit to you that only the most calloused heart could possibly see and hear all of these things from these eyewitness accounts, and say that somehow it was all a fraud, and to say that somehow Jesus was not indeed who he says he was. And he is, namely the Son of God.

Well finally Mark says this in verse 47, such a precious statement, "Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid." It's a fascinating statement to me. I mean, these were some of the faithful women that were mentioned earlier in verse 40. And they're going to be mentioned again in chapter 16 and verse one, as witnesses of the empty tomb. Bear in mind, they're mention here is not incidental. The Spirit of God isn't just trying to, you know, fill up some space here. I mean, this demonstrates that there were eyewitnesses that saw all of this; eyewitnesses of the death, and the burial and the resurrection of Christ; thus ruling out any suggestions that might come up later that well, he wasn't buried. He wasn't really dead. Or they got the location of the tomb wrong; that wasn't where they put his body, it wasn't empty, I mean, you know how people are, it refutes all of that. And I also have to say, praise God, for faithful women. They stood when the men ran, right? They maintained a vigil during these hours. Think about this, during the hours of darkness, during the earthquake, they saw Jesus hanging there; they come and they see the burial. They're watching all of this. They will be the first to see the empty tomb.

Folks, God's governance encompasses all of history, all of his works, past, present and future, I want you to be comforted with these truths. In fact, he is over even the most minute and mundane things. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10, and I was thinking about this this morning, when I was walking in my prayer time early; there were some sparrows that that lived there. He knows all about the sparrows that fall. I know it sounds stupid, but there was one that was watching me there. And I just started talking to him, that, you know, he made you, he made me and he knows all about you, like he knows all about me. I'm sure if my neighbors saw that they're wondering what's wrong with this guy? But seriously I'd happened this morning.

And Jesus went on to say that he knows all the hairs of our head. And I think that includes the random hair growth now in my ears and my nose. You know, as I get older, he knows all of these things. He superintends things that many times we might consider is random chance. Proverbs 16, verse 33, "The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the LORD." He's over all the acts of men both good and evil. Philippians 2:13, "For, it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure." And he has ultimate authority over all of the earth; we read about that earlier in our scripture reading. Contrary to the opinions of many of the narcissistic politicians that we have, that have always existed, Psalm 47, beginning in verse one, "O clap your hands, all peoples, shout to God with the voice of joy, for the Lord Most High is to be feared a great king over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us and nations under our feet."

Well, in closing, may I challenge each of you to examine your opinion of who God is. Is he who he says he is? The Creator, the sustainer, the Redeemer, the sovereign ruler over all things. Indeed, the consummate or of all things. Is that who you see him to be? Or is he something far less in your mind? I want you to hear me folks, your view of God will determine the eternal destiny of your soul. He is either the thrice Holy God that will cause you to bow down before him in humble desperation, seeking his mercy, or he will be something else that you have made up. If you have a high view of God, you will have a proper view of yourself. If you have a high view of God, you will see yourself as lower than the amoeba on a worm’s belly. And because of this, you will celebrate his grace all the more to know that he would love us as he does. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the infinite wonders of your grace. Thank you for the glory of your providence that we have even examined here today. May these things encourage our hearts as we endeavor to live to the praise of your glory. And Father, if there be one that does never come to a place of genuine saving faith, where they've been so overwhelmed by their sin that they've cried out to you and desperation, Lord, have mercy on me a sinner, Lord, please convict them so greatly that they will have no rest on their pillow until they bow before you in repentant faith. We thank you, we give you praise, and we ask Lord Jesus that you will come quickly, for it's in your name that we pray. Amen.