The Greatest Risk You’ll Ever Take: “I Believe in God”

Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he
exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

The Bible declares God’s existence. It does not attempt to prove it. Certain things are so true that
philosophers call them “properly basic.” They are so true that you can’t properly understand reality
without them. From a biblical standpoint, the existence of God falls into that category.

Either you believe in God or you don’t. If you do, then you are in good company. According to a recent Fox
News poll, 92% of those surveyed say they believe in God. Other polls in recent years have returned the
same overwhelming numbers. Nine out of ten Americans say they believe in God. There are some atheists
out there, and their numbers may be growing, but they are still a tiny minority. Most Americans believe in
God, even if they can’t agree on what kind of God they believe in. If that’s true, then it may seem
unnecessary to devote a sermon to the first phrase of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in God.” And in a
sense, it may be unnecessary because we are a Bible-believing church. This may seem like a kindergarten
lesson, a truth we learned in Sunday School many years ago. But I think it’s always dangerous to take our
faith for granted. Maybe we don’t know everything we think we know.
Let’s unpack the phrase, “I believe in God,” by breaking it down into five statements.

I. Basic Declaration: “God is” is the central fact of the universe.

The very first verse of the Bible establishes this truth in these majestic and simple words: “In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). These are the headwaters of divine revelation.
Everything God wants us to know starts right here. This verse is a declaration—not an argument. A few
years ago, E. V. Hill preached a powerful sermon at a Promise Keepers gathering in Chicago. In his own
unforgettable style, he preached for 40 minutes on just two words: “God is.” He said it over and over
again. He whispered it and he shouted it. He illustrated it, declared it, proclaimed it, and dared anyone to
deny it. You wouldn’t think you could preach that long on just two words but he did, and when you think
about it, you could preach a lot longer when your topic is as profound as “God is.” Once you get it settled
in your heart that “God is,” a lot of other problems will be solved as well.

II. Logical Implication: All things owe their existence to God the Creator.
Because God is the Creator, he is also the owner of all things. If I make a toy boat, I can truly say, “This is
mine. I made it and I own it.” Since God made us, he has the absolute right of ownership over us. He can
do with us as he pleases. That’s not a popular topic in contemporary American life. We want to do our
own thing, go our own way, live the way we want, do whatever we feel like doing, whenever we want to
do it, and no one has the right to tell us what to do. But if God created us, he owns us. If he owns us, then
we are accountable to him for everything we say and do. That’s not a happy thought for many people.

As is so often the case, we get some very good help on this point from dear old Martin Luther. Writing
over 450 years ago, he asks what does it mean to say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of
heaven and earth?” Here is his answer: “I believe that God has created me and all that exists; that he has
given and still preserves my body and soul, my eyes and ears, and all my members, my reason and all the
power of my soul, together with food and raiment, home and family, and all my property; that he daily
provides abundantly for all the needs of my life, protects me from all danger, and guards and keeps me
from all evil; and that he does this purely out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, without any
merit or worthiness in me; for all which I am in duty bound to thank, praise, serve, and obey him. This is
most certainly true.”
To which I say, right on, brother!

III. Inescapable Revelation: The truth about God has been made known to everyone.
This fact comes from Romans 1:19-20. “Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because
God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal
power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that
men are without excuse.” Twice in verse 19 Paul uses the word “plain” to describe God’s revelation of
himself to all mankind. Then in verse 20 he adds that the truth about God is “clearly seen” in nature. We
can say it this way: Everyone knows there is a God, and the people who say they do not believe in God are
deceiving themselves. God created all that we see around us. He created the sun and the stars and the
moon and the planets. He created the comets and the asteroids. He created the quasars and the pulsars
and the black holes of space. Scientists estimate there are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. They
estimate there are more than 100 billion galaxies, each with at least 100 billion stars.

Imagine that. And God hung each one in space and calls each one by name (“He determines the number of
the stars and calls them each by name” [Psalm 147:4]). No wonder the Bible says, “The heavens declare
the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1 ESV).
God has left his fingerprints all over the universe. You have to be blind not to see them. Let me illustrate.
Suppose you were to visit my house while I was not there. How much could you learn about my family just
from looking around? You might suspect we had boys from the basketball goal above the garage door. You
would know that we love football from the picture of Mark in his uniform on the side of the refrigerator
and from the autograph of Eli Manning in Nick’s bedroom. Although you might not know I was a pastor,
you would certainly know I studied the Bible from seeing all the Bibles and commentaries strewn around
the computer in the corner of our dining room. All over the house you would find pictures and ceramic
recreations of Noah’s Ark. In our bedroom you would find artifacts from our trips to the Holy Land and
material relating to the Oak Park Christian Academy. By counting the beds you would figure out that we
probably have three boys. And if you looked in my closet, you’d discover I’m tall just by looking at my
suits. There’s a lot more a careful observer could discover about the Pritchard family just by rummaging
around through our drawers and bookshelves. In the end, you’d know a lot about me although you
wouldn’t know me personally. The clues are everywhere for those who care to look.

This world is God’s house. He’s left clues everywhere about what kind of God he is. When you stand at the
Grand Canyon, you can’t help but be overwhelmed at the mighty power of God to create such
magnificence. He must have had a mighty hand to scoop out the Royal Gorge in Colorado. He is as infinite
as the dark recesses of the mighty Atlantic Ocean. Each snowflake testifies to his uniqueness. The changing
colors of the Great Smoky Mountains proclaim his creativity.
The galaxies shout out, “He is there.” The wildflowers sing together, “He is there.” The rippling brooks join
in, “He is there.” The birds sing it, the lions roar it, the fish write it in the oceans—"He is there.” All
creation joins to sing his praise. The heavens declare it, the earth repeats it and the wind whispers it—"He
is there.” Deep cries out to deep, the mighty sequoia tells it to the eagle who soars overhead, the lamb
and the wolf agree on this one thing—"He is there.” No one can miss the message. God has left his
fingerprints all over this world. Truly, “This is my Father’s world,” and every rock, every twig, every river
and every mountain bears his signature. He signed his name to everything he made. The earth is marked
“Made By God” in letters so big that no one fails to see it. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies
proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).

That’s the point of Romans 1: No one fails to see it. Everyone knows something about God! No one has
ever lived who missed this revelation. It doesn’t matter whether they consciously thought about it or not.
The truth was there for all to see, so plainly laid out that no one could miss it. It doesn’t matter whether
you were a headhunter on some South Pacific island or an upscale yuppie in downtown Chicago. No one
could miss the truth about God … and no one has ever missed it because God made the truth about
himself as plain as day. That’s why Paul says in verse 20, “They are without excuse.” He means the whole
human race knows about God. No one can say, “I didn’t know.” Everyone knows. That explains why every
culture on earth has some conception of a Supreme Being—however flawed that conception might be.
Man was made to look for answers outside of himself. He is incurably religious by nature. The French
philosopher, Pascal, said that inside the heart of every man there is a “God-shaped vacuum.” And
Augustine said, “O Lord, you have made us for yourself. Our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put “eternity in the hearts of men,” meaning that the longing for
ultimate answers comes from God himself. God put that longing (the “God-shaped vacuum”) inside the
human heart to cause men to look to him.

That explains why atheism has never commanded the interest of a wide circle of people. Atheism is the
most unnatural philosophy on the face of the earth. Idolatry is more natural than atheism because at least
the idolater acknowledges a higher power outside of himself. For a man to be an atheist he must not only
deny the truth about God that he sees in nature, he must also deliberately and repeatedly suppress the
truth about God found in his own conscience. In the end it takes more faith not to believe in God. Several
years ago Ray Comfort wrote a book with the clever title, God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists. He’s right. God
exists whether you believe it or not because God doesn’t believe in atheists. “The fool says in his heart,
‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1). God loves the atheists just like he loves all the sinners of the world, and an
atheist can be saved just like anyone else. Down deep the atheist knows there is a God—he just won’t
admit it.

IV. Saving Manifestation: God revealed himself in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are not left to ourselves to decide who God is. He revealed himself in nature, and he revealed himself
in the human heart. But Christianity declares that God supremely revealed himself in Jesus. If we want to
know God, we must come on his terms—through his Son. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way and the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That verse isn’t very popular today—
but truth isn’t determined by majority vote. This week I flew to Florida where I spoke to a group of retired
SIM missionaries in Sebring, Florida. The average age of the missionaries was 80. Most had served in Africa
for 30 or 40 or 50 years. Their accumulated missionary service totals several thousand years. Many of
them did pioneer mission work in predominately Muslim areas. I ate lunch with one elderly woman who
worked at a mission station in a Muslim area where she taught a Bible class that attracted a group of
Muslim children. One day during the lesson she referred to Jesus as “God’s Son.” One of the boys became
angry, spit on the ground to show his contempt, and then walked out. Most of the children followed him.
The missionary felt bad about that, but then she said, “What else could I do? The Apostle Paul didn’t back
down from the truth.” In this day of theological compromise and evangelical weakness, we must proclaim
again the message that God’s love is broad, reaching to the ends of the earth, so that anyone can be
saved. But we must also tell the truth—that salvation comes through Jesus Christ and for those who will
not come to God through Jesus, there is no other way. If you reject Jesus, God has no other plan of
salvation.

V. Personal Transformation: Once we meet God, our lives are changed forever.
Hebrews 11:6 says this very clearly: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” There is a
hunger for God in our day that is insatiable. That’s why people read The Da Vinci Code and that’s why 12
million people have purchased Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose-Driven Life. Those two books could hardly
be more opposite but both are on the New York Times bestseller list.

On my way back to the Orlando airport on Friday, I rode with John & Anne Ockers, our Calvary
missionaries who served the Lord in Niger for many years. John told me how his first wife, Evelyn, died on
the mission field and how he buried her in the missionary graveyard in Miango, Nigeria. When Marlene
and I visited Greg & Carolyn Kirschner in Jos, Nigeria a few years ago, we visited the missionary graveyard.
It contains about 60 graves of men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the gospel.
Half or more of the graves are children—most of them dying in the first few days or weeks of life. In the
early part of the 20th century the life expectancy of a missionary to Africa was only eight years.

I saw a grave with a man’s name and then the dates—1919-1953. The marker read, “Placed in loving
memory by his wife and children"—then giving their names. Underneath were two words—"Abundantly
Satisfied.” Then I found the grave of Evelyn Ockers. So many markers. Here is a child who died after one
day. Then another one who lived a few days. And over here is a father and son buried side by side. He died
trying to rescue his son from an overflowing creek. Both drowned.

Why would God allow this to happen? Why would he permit such suffering for his servants who sacrificed
so much for the gospel? The missionary graveyard at Miango sends this message: God’s grace is free but it
is never cheap. The missionaries and their children buried there bear testimony to the high cost of the
Great Commission. Reaching the world has never been easy and Jesus knew that it wouldn’t be. That’s
why he said, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). It has always been true from the very first
day. Many centuries ago Tertullian declared that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
Wherever the church has gone, the cost of a new field has always been paid in blood. I saw a marker at
Miango for a little child—a boy, I think—who died in the 1950s. The inscription read something like this:
“We plant this seed in the hope that it will someday bear a harvest of souls for the Kingdom.” When I
walked back to my room, my eyes wet with tears, I said to Marlene, “When I think of how little I have
placed on the altar …” Compared to these men and women, I have made no sacrifice for Christ at all.

Our visit to the missionary graveyard took place in 1998. Now we run the clock forward to the week just
past. Day after day I listened to the aged missionaries look back over a lifetime of service for Christ. I never
heard the first word of regret by anyone for their decades of service in distant lands. No regrets. Any of
them could have had an easier life here in the States, but they heard the call of God and that settled the
matter for them. Some of them endured many years of difficulties, and those who labored in Muslim lands
often saw only a handful of converts at the end of it all. The woman I mentioned earlier said that at the
end of her time in Africa, she had known of “three or perhaps four” Muslim convents. She also said that
back in the 1940s, when she was just starting out, she met an elderly SIM missionary who said, “Focus on
the cross and not on the hardness of the Muslim religion.” That is what they have done—and they built
hospitals, clinics, schools, churches, and mission stations in very remote areas. Now they are 75, 80, 85, 90
years old and living their final years in the SIM village.
Besides the “no regrets,” I noticed all week long a very definite “gladness of heart.” As in, “Serve the Lord
with gladness, come before his presence with singing.” That’s the other side of it. Visible joy, deep
satisfaction with how things have turned out. It is bracing and good for the soul to be around saints of God
who have no regrets and gladness of heart. The missionaries have known their share of hardship,
discouragement, opposition, sickness, loss, frustration, loneliness, physical suffering, and spiritual warfare.
But they do not dwell on these matters. They speak with excitement of seeing God at work changing
hearts, lives, families, villages and whole tribes by the power of the gospel. They have “counted it all joy”
for the sake of serving Christ. And each morning they eagerly pray that God might grant further victories
for the gospel around the world. It is inspiring and humbling to be around these great saints of God. The
world barely knows they are here. In heaven their names are written in gold.
They have sought and found the promise of Hebrews 11:6. They have proved that God truly rewards those
who earnestly seek him. How else do you explain what they have done? There is no other reason to leave
the comfort of home for decades of difficulty in distant lands. Because they believe that “God is,” they
heard his call and responded with willing hearts. They sought him, they found him, and now at the end of
their pilgrimage, they have no regrets, gladness of heart, and a burning zeal to see the world come to
Christ.
The Creed begins with the words, “I believe in God,” for a good reason. It’s the biggest risk you’ll ever
take. If you’ve never met him, I challenge you to give your heart to Jesus here and now. Trust in Jesus and
you can have a relationship with the God of the universe right now. And as John & Anne Ockers and Greg
& Carolyn Kirschner and all our missionaries have proved—God rewards those who truly seek him. It’s not
an easy road, but there is gladness along the way and joy at the end of the journey. Start seeking God with
all your heart and your life will never be the same. Amen.
God’s Scapegoat: “Buried”
Leviticus 16

“I believe in Jesus Christ -- who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.” The
Apostles’ Creed

This is a sermon based on a word that doesn’t seem necessary. We know Jesus died. We know he rose
from the dead. If we know what happened on Friday and we know what happened on Sunday, why bother
adding the word “buried?” Of course, he was buried—that makes sense. That’s what you do with dead
bodies. You bury them. Jesus died for our sins. He rose on the third day. Surely that’s the part that matters
to us. We assume that he was buried for approximately 40 hours. In a Creed where words are used
sparingly, where whole areas of doctrine are either assumed or passed over in silence, where the whole of
Christ’s teaching ministry and all of his miracles are not even mentioned, why does the Creed say he was
buried? Why state the obvious when so much else is left out?

In putting the matter this way, I do not mean to cast the writers of the Apostles’ Creed in a bad light. After
all, they lived much closer to the events of Christ’s life than we do, so they had an appreciation of the
relative importance of things that we are perhaps lacking 2,000 years later. It’s always easy to assume that
we know better than the ancients about what really matters—but in this, as in so many other things, we
are more likely to be wrong than right. If they thought it important to include the word “buried” in the
Creed, then it must be important, and there must be something here we need to think about. As I ponder
the matter, it occurs to me that I’ve never actually heard a sermon on the burial of Jesus. Most of us, when
we read the story of Jesus’ life, tend to go straight from his death to his resurrection. Almost without
thinking, we go from “He gave up his spirit” to “Early on the first day of the week ¼” as if nothing
important happened in between. But it is precisely at this point that the Creed forces us to stop and take
another look at the biblical text. The simple word “buried” tells us more than what happened to the body
of Jesus. It alerts us to an area of biblical truth that we might otherwise overlook.

Three Key Passages

Before we look at the facts of his burial, let’s consider three passages that put it into a broader biblical
context:
1) Isaiah 53 contains the most extensive Old Testament prophecy concerning the death of our Lord.
Verse 9 contains an explicit reference to his burial—though it must have seemed mysterious at the
time it was given—700 years before Christ was born. “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” Since the
Romans reserved crucifixion for the worst criminals and for enemies of the state, they had little regard
for what happened to the dead bodies after they were taken down from the cross. They might be
tossed in a ditch and eaten by wild animals or they might be thrown onto a pile of burning garbage.
No doubt the Jewish leaders who hated Jesus had “assigned” this fate to him in their minds. But he
ended up being buried in a rich man’s tomb—though no one could have foreseen it in advance.

2) I Corinthians 15:1-6 contains a concise summary of the gospel. Paul even says in verse 1, “I want to
remind you of the gospel I preached to you.” Then he goes on to spell out the gospel in verses 4-5,
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to
the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and
 that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.” Notice how clearly, he lays out the gospel
message:
A) He was crucified
B) He was buried
C) He was raised on the third day
D) He appeared

Or you might look at it in two parts:

1. He was crucified. Proof: He was buried.
2. He was raised. Proof: He was seen.

Either way the result is the same. Paul regarded the burial of Jesus as an essential part of the gospel
message. When he preached the gospel, he included the burial of Jesus in his message.

3) Matthew 26:6-13 records the story of Mary anointing Jesus’ head with a jar of very expensive
perfume. When John told the same story, he added the fact Mary also anointed Jesus’ feet with the
pint of “pure nard,” an extremely expensive perfume imported from India. It would have cost a year’s
wages to buy a pint of the perfume. And Mary poured it all on Jesus’ head and his feet. When the
disciples (led by Judas) expressed consternation at her wasteful actions, Jesus defended Mary and
explained the meaning of her extravagance: “When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to
prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world,
what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (vv. 12-13). I don’t think Jesus meant that Mary
literally intended to anoint Jesus in view of his coming death. He means that in her extravagant
expression of love, she was doing more than she knew—what she was doing on that Saturday in
Bethany would be done to the dead body of Jesus the following Friday when he was taken down from
the cross. Note the phrase “this gospel.” That tells us once again the burial of Jesus is part of the
gospel message.

So, his burial is more than the fact that he was placed in the tomb. It is a part of prophecy and part of
the gospel message. And that’s why it appears in the Apostles’ Creed.

I. His Burial Explained

The details of Jesus’ burial appear in all four gospels: Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56;
John 19:38-42. Rather than look each passage individually, I’d like to combine them into one seamless
account.

The story begins late on Friday afternoon outside the city walls of Jerusalem. Jesus is dead by 3:00 p.m.
Sundown (marking the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath) begins at 6:00 p.m. Once it was clear that Jesus
had died, something had to be done with his body. For some period of time after his death, his corpse
hung on the cross, suspended by ropes and the spikes in his hands and feet. Eventually a man called
Joseph of Arimathea steps forward. All that we know about him comes from the four gospels. He was a
rich man, a righteous man, and a member of the Jewish ruling council, the Sanhedrin. That meant he
would have been highly respected and well known to many people. The gospels tell us he was a wise man
and a counselor who was looking for the Kingdom of God. They also tell us a key fact—he had not
consented to the death to Jesus. Although he could not stop the crucifixion, he cast his vote against it. But
the most important fact was not known to others on the ruling council: Joseph was a secret believer in
Jesus.

Although we don’t know how it happened, he had become convinced that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel,
the Son of God and the Son of Man, the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. Perhaps only
his family knew of his commitment. If others had known, he would have faced harassment and ridicule.

Mark tells us that Joseph bravely went to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body. The word “bravely” fits well
because Pilate had no use for the Jewish leaders, and they had no use for him. Joseph could not have
known how Pilate would respond at that crucial moment—but he went to him anyway. Pilate’s first
response was surprise that Jesus was dead. Normally men lasted longer than six hours on the cross. Jesus
had been crucified at 9:00 a.m. and he died by 3:00 p.m. Certainly part of that is due to the savage
treatment he received. But the greater explanation is this: He was not killed. He laid down his life
voluntarily. Pilate summoned the centurion on duty (presumably the lead officer) at the cross and asked if
Jesus had already died. When he learned that he was dead, he gave Joseph permission to take down the
body of Jesus from the cross. At this point John adds a fact that the other evangelists don’t mention.
Joseph was joined in his task by another secret disciple—Nicodemus. John 3 tells how Nicodemus (who
was also a member of the ruling council) came to Jesus at night, for fear that others would know of his
visit. Jesus told him he needed to be “born from above.” Sometime between that night and Good Friday,
Nicodemus had become a secret follower of our Lord. It is ironic that the two men who take care of Jesus’
body are Jewish leaders who are also secret believers.

Taking the body down was a difficult, messy business because Jesus’ body was in such bad shape. Blood
oozed from cuts and lacerations, there was a hole in his side from the spear, and holes in his hands and his
feet. His face had been beaten almost beyond recognition. After cleaning the body, Joseph and Nicodemus
began to wrap it tightly with a linen cloth. John tells us that they had 75 pounds of aloes and myrrh that
they interspersed with the linen as it wrapped around his body. This aromatic ointment would eventually
harden into a nearly impenetrable shell that protected the body from quick decay and made it difficult for
grave robbers to steal the body. They had to hurry in their work because according to Jewish law, they
could not handle a dead body on the Sabbath. So, if we run the clock backward, certain things had to
happen in sequence: Jesus dies, the soldiers realize he is dead, his side is pierced, the crowds begin to
disperse, Joseph goes to Pilate, Pilate summons the centurion who reports that Jesus is dead, Pilate gives
Joseph permission to take the body, Joseph returns to the cross where he and Nicodemus (no doubt aided
by the soldiers) take the body down from the cross. They clean it and begin to wrap it in linen cloth. All of
that would have taken the better part of two hours.

So now it is past 5:00 p.m. They have less than 60 minutes to finish their work. In one of the God-ordained
serendipities of this story, Joseph had purchased a tomb that had recently been hewn from the rock. No
doubt he intended to use it as the burial place for himself and his wife, and possibly for other members of
his family. Not only was the tomb available and unused, it was also in a garden near Skull Hill where Jesus
was crucified. If you ever go to the Holy Land, your tour guide will take you to a place called Gordon’s
Calvary outside the Damascus Gate. It’s a limestone outcropping that the weather has carved into what
might be the shape of a skull. Many people think this is the true spot of Jesus’ crucifixion. Next to it—
literally only a few yards away—is the Garden Tomb, a quiet, peaceful, restful location with a first-century
tomb cut into a hillside. There is even a trough in front of the tomb where the stone would have been
rolled in front of the entrance. I’ve been inside that tomb three times. There is a chamber for visitors and a
chamber where the body would be placed. Many people think this is the exact spot where our Lord’s body
was buried on Good Friday. Regardless, he must have been buried either there or someplace very similar. I
should add that having visited the Garden Tomb three times, I can testify that the tomb is empty.
Whoever was buried there left a long time ago.

It’s now only a few minutes before 6:00 p.m. Joseph and Nicodemus pick up the limp, lifeless corpse of
Jesus and half-carry, half-drag it to the garden tomb. Thank goodness it wasn’t far away. Between the
weight of the body ¼ and the linen ¼ and the spices ¼ it must have weighed almost 250 pounds.
Meanwhile the sun slowly sinks into the western horizon. Shadows fall across the olive trees. The two men
—secret disciples—carry the dead body of Jesus to the tomb. Close behind are Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary, weeping.

The entrance to the tomb was very small. Nicodemus and Joseph had to bend over to get inside. Inside the
tomb was dark, almost pitch-black. Musty and damp. They laid the body of Jesus on a ledge and turned to
go. When they got outside, Joseph and Nicodemus rolled a great stone over the entrance. The women sat
by the side watching.

Then Joseph and Nicodemus left. Then the two Marys’ left. Darkness fell on the garden cemetery.
Everyone had left. Inside the tomb ¼ silence. The smell of death was everywhere.

Why So Much Detail?

Why does the Bible provide so much detail regarding the burial of Christ? I can think of five answers to
that question.
A. To prove that he really died.
This was a huge issue in the early church—and remains so to this very day. The details of his burial
reinforce the central truth—that Jesus really and truly died on the cross.

B. To show the true cost our salvation.

We are accustomed to saying, “Our sins put Jesus on the cross.” That’s true, but we can say it stronger
than that. “Our sins sent him to the grave.” He was buried because he died carrying the heavy burden
of our guilt and shame. The burial of Jesus shows us the true end of our rebellion and lawlessness. Left
to ourselves, we end up in the grave—which is where our Lord ended up after he had suffered for our
sins.

C. To teach us that God does not forsake us when we die.

We know that “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Yet death in and of itself is
dark, cold, forbidding, frightening. Death seems anything but precious to us. We fear death, and
rightly so, for death cuts us off from the land of the living. Our Lord was cut off by the Father’s decree.
It pleased the Lord to crush his only Son (Isaiah 53:10). Yet in that crushing, God did not abandon his
Son forever. The ministrations of Joseph and Nicodemus and the kind care of the sorrowing women
were God’s way of saying, “I have not forsaken my Son in his death.” We learn from this that burying
the dead is a Christian duty and a Christian service to our loved ones. We do well to care for the dying
and to provide for a decent burial for the dead. If God cared enough for his Son to see that he was
properly buried, even so we should do the same for those we love.

D. To sanctify death so that we will not be afraid to die.

 Here we come even closer to the heart of the gospel. Is there any fear more fundamental than the
fear of death? Perhaps every other fear is but a subset of that great fear. But Jesus has transformed
death for those who follow him. What happens to us, happened first to him. What happened to him
will one day happen to us. He entered death’s dark realm and not only subdued it. He conquered it
once and for all. By his victory over death he has sanctified it so that we no longer need to fear it. He
went into the tomb and then he came out. Thus, we will not fear to go in, knowing that one day by
God’s grace, we too will come out.

E. To picture the complete removal of our sins.

We know that Jesus died so that our sins might be forgiven. But there is an aspect of this truth that we
often overlook. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of
the world” (John 1:29). One of the primary Hebrew words for forgiveness means to “lift and take
away.” That’s forgiveness. God removes the burden of our sin, and then he takes it far, far away.

II. His Burial Illustrated

We see an illustration of this in the story of the Day of Atonement from Leviticus 16. On one day each year
—Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement—the high priest (and only the high priest) would go behind the thick
veil to enter the “Most Holy Place.” That was the most sacred spot in ancient Judaism. It contained the Ark
of the Covenant, which was a small, ornate chest with a golden lid called the “Mercy Seat.”

One Man—the high priest

One Place—the Most Holy Place
One Day—the Day of Atonement

On that one day of the year, two goats were brought before the high priest. By lot one of the goats was
chosen for sacrifice. After the goat was killed, the high priest carried the goat’s blood into the Most Holy
Place and sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat. This signified that blood had been shed for the sins of the
people. But that was only part of the ritual. When the high priest came out of the tabernacle to stand
before the people, the second goat was brought to him. Placing his hands on the goat, he prayed a prayer
of confession, naming the sins of the people of Israel. You can imagine the tension as he called out the sins
of the people:

Adultery Profanity Lust

Fornication Bitterness Envy
Uncleanness Hatred Pride
Immorality Malice Jealousy
Impurity Murder Oath-breaking
Theft Greed

On and on the list would go until all the hearers were convicted of their own sinfulness. Eventually the
prayer was finished. A man then took the goat—called the scapegoat—and led it into the wilderness. He
walked until he was far out of sight of the Jews. Then he kept on walking until he was in a distant, desolate
corner of the wilderness. Only then did he release the scapegoat—allowing it to wander off on its own.
Then he returned to the camp without the scapegoat. Thus, did God demonstrate that he not only forgives
sins, he removes them from us so far that they can never come back again.
Not just forgiven. But forgiven and removed forever.
III. His Burial Applied
Now let’s apply this Old Testament truth to the burial of our Lord.
A. When Christ went into the tomb, he carried our sins with him.
B. When he came out of the tomb, our sins were gone forever.

When John Bunyan wrote the classic book, Pilgrim’s Progress, he included a section that perfectly
describes this truth. The book itself is an allegory of a pilgrim named Christian who makes his journey from
earth to heaven. But early in the story, he carries the burden of his own sins.

This is how he is set free:

He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little
below, in the bottom, a sepulcher. So, I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his
burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to
do till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.

Think about those last five words: “I saw it no more.” When our sins are forgiven and removed, we see
them no more. The burden is not only “lifted at Calvary,” it is rolled away so that we will never have to
carry that burden again. The Bible uses a number of images to describe how God deals with our sins:
 God blots out our sins as a thick cloud (Isaiah 44:22).
 God forgets our sins and remembers them no more (Jeremiah 31:34).
 God puts our sins behind His back (Isaiah 38:17).
 God buries our sins in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).
 God removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

I can think of only one gospel song that directly connects the removal of our sins with the burial of Christ.
It’s been a favorite of mine for more than 30 years, and even though we rarely sing it today, it deserves
recognition. In 1910 an evangelist named J. Wilbur Chapman (he was one of Billy Sunday’s mentors) wrote
a gospel song that traces the story of Christ’s life from his birth through his life, death, resurrection, and
his second coming. The song is called “One Day” and the chorus goes like this:

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;

Buried He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O glorious day!

That second line connects the burial of Jesus with the complete removal of our sins. Charles Spurgeon
called Jesus Christ the “great Scapegoat” who stands in our place, bearing our sins, taking them far away.
Then Spurgeon asks a personal question: “Can you feel assured that he carried your sin? As you look at the
cross upon his shoulders, does it represent your sin?” There is only one way to be sure. “Have you laid
your hand upon his head, confessed your sin, and trusted in him?” If you have, then he bears your sin and
you bear it no more. For all those who read these words, I press the question home to your heart. Have
you laid your sins on Jesus? Have you trusted in him who died to forgive your sins and take them far
away? Do not let the picture of God’s scapegoat vanish from your mind until you have laid your burden on
Jesus. Rejoice in your deliverance from sin and adore the Redeemer who paid the price and took the heavy
load, who went to the cross and then to the grave, that you might be set free. Amen.