SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/18/2024 8:13 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-5
“Joseph of Arimathea”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
27:57-60
Message of the verses: “And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given over to him. And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.”
In my last SD I talked about how most of the bodies of
those who had been crucified were just dumped into places where they were
either eaten by animals or burned up.
This surely was not the case with the Lord Jesus Christ’s body for at the
exact moment necessary, God moved in the heart of a godly man, a man that was
not only godly but a man who was a rich man, a man who was a follower of Jesus
Christ in kind of a secret way, and a man who was known to the Roman officials as
we see that he went right to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. “When it was evening, there came a rich man
from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.”
Now evening was from the hours of 3:00
to 6:00 P. M. at which time the next day, in this case the Sabbath, was
considered to begin. “Had Joseph asked
for the body any earlier, Jesus would not have been dead, and had he come any
later, he could not have prepared the body for burial before the Sabbath began”
writes John MacArthur.
MacArthur goes on to explain “Joseph not only was a rich
man, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa. 53:9), but was ‘a prominent member of
the Council,’ the Sanhedrin, and ‘was waiting for the kingdom of God’ (Mark
15:43). Contrary to the other members,
however, he was ‘a good and righteous man’ who had not consented to their plan
and action’ to condemn and execute Jesus (Luke 23:50-51).
“The only thing known with certainty about Arimathea is
that it was ‘a city of the Jews’ (Luke 23:51), that is, in Judea. Although Galilee was in the heartland of
ancient Israel, it had to become populated with many Gentiles and often was
associated with the region to the east frequently referred to as Galilee of the
Gentiles (see Matt. 4:15; cf. Isa. 9:1).”
“"The land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles”
(Matt. 4:15). “1 But there will be no more
gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it
glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the
Gentiles” (Isa. 9:1). “Judea, however,
was by far the most distinctly Jewish area of Palestine and was considered the
land of the Jews. Because Joseph
presumably would have had his burial site close to where he lived, it is
generally assumed that Arimathea was near Jerusalem. Many scholars believe Arimathea was a form of
the ancient Ramah, the city a few miles north of Jerusalem from which Samuel
came.”
Now it was at some point during the
past three years that Joseph had become a disciple of Jesus, although he was a
secret one, for fear of the Jews” (John 19:38).
I suppose that some would think that the word “disciple” connected him
directly to being one of Jesus’ followers like the twelve disciples that are
spoken much of in the New Testament, but they would be apostles as there were
many disciples of Jesus. MacArthur writes “The Greek text uses the verb form of
disciple and could be translated, ‘was discipled to (or by) Jesus.’ Joseph was
a follower of and learner from Jesus, suggesting that he must have heard our
Lord preach and teach and that he probably witnessed many of His miracles.”
Being a secret “disciple” of Jesus
Joseph must have learned about Him from his place being a member of the
Sanhedrin, and then must have investigated more about Jesus and then came to
realize that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. He still kept that a secret as we see in John
19:38, but none the less a true believer in Jesus as His Messiah and Lord. Joseph may have seen miracles and listened to
Jesus preach as it must have been at that point the He became a secret follower
(disciple) of Jesus. He was at the right
place and at the right time for God to use him to fulfill OT prophecy as he
would bury the Lord in his own grave.
Mark 15:43 says “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.” Now we learn from Mark that “Pilate wondered
if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as
to whether He was already dead. And
ascertaining this from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph” (Mark
15:44-45).
With that we will stop, but Lord willing will
continue this rather long section in the next SD. I can’t help but think that as I think about
the time that Jesus died that He died exactly when God planned for Him to die
and think that this must happen to everyone’s death, that is die exactly when
the God plans for them to die. I believe
that there is comfort in this.
9/18/2024 8:53 AM
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