You know, no doubt we all remember the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic. It actually grossed more than any other movie in history until Avatar came along. But whether you saw the movie or not, I think we all know the story. In April 1912, the Titanic, the pride of the White Star line, set out on her maiden voyage from England to the United States. And at the time, she was the largest sea liner afloat with her new watertight compartments.
Everybody regarded her as unsinkable. But on April 14, 1912, the Titanic met her match. It was, of course, a huge iceberg in the North Atlantic that punched a gaping hole in her side and sunk her in less than three hours. In one of the most poignant moments in the movie, just after Titanic has struck this iceberg, Iceberg, Joseph Ismay, the director of the White Star Line, says to Thomas Andrews, the ship's builder, he says, this ship can't sink, to which Thomas Andrews says, it is made of iron, sir, and I assure you that it can. And of course, it did.
Now, the problem here is that as unsinkable as people thought Titanic was, Titanic tangled with an irresistible force in the person of this huge iceberg, and as is always the case, the irresistible force, one. This is what we're going to talk about today as we continue in our series, People Jesus Met. Today, Jesus meets a man named Joseph of Arimathea, who becomes part of a situation where some folks try to stop the greatest irresistible force in the universe, the Living God himself from doing what he said he was going to do. We want to go back 2,000 years and see what happened, and then we want to bring all of that forward and talk about, well, what difference does that make to you and me today?
So, our passage is Matthew chapter 27. And as we pick up the story, remember that the Lord Jesus Christ has just died on the cross. Here we go, verse 57. The Bible says, as evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
Now, not only was Joseph of Arimathea rich, but the Bible also tells us in Mark 15, 43 that he was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the Jewish high council, the very council that had tried Jesus, that had accused him of blasphemy, that had taken him to Pontius Pilate. And that had demanded his crucifixion. And you say, well, on. Wait a minute. If this guy, Joseph, was a true follower of Christ, then I mean, why didn't he stand up during that trial for Jesus?
Why didn't he try to prevent them from crucifying Jesus and taking him to Pilate for that purpose?
Well, my friends, I can't answer that question. Maybe he did try to stand up for Jesus in the trial. Maybe he did oppose them taking Jesus to Pilate. The Bible never says what the Bible does say about Joseph here in Matthew 27 is that he was a genuine follower of Christ. Verse 58.
And going to Pilate, he, Joseph, asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
So Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.
Now, Joseph's tomb was something that only a rich person would have owned. Most people were simply buried in the ground in those days. But Joseph's tomb was actually a cave that had been cut out of the hillside. It would have been large enough for a person to walk into. It would have been large enough to actually have several burial chambers.
And it would have had a massive stone that was shaped perfectly to roll over the entrance of the cave and seal it off when the cave was closed.
So it was in this very elaborate burial site that Joseph took and deposited the body of Jesus. But Joseph did something else. Also, according to John chapter 19, before he closed the tomb, Joseph embalmed Jesus' body. In fact, the Gospel of John tells us that another fellow whose name we already know Actually, helped Joseph do this, a man named Nicodemus. Listen, John 19, verse 38, the Bible says, with Pilate's permission, Joseph came and took Jesus' body away.
He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. You remember this, right? John chapter 3. And Jesus said to Nicodemus, You must be born again.
Well, it's encouraging to note that somewhere between John chapter 3 and John chapter 19, Nicodemus indeed did that exact thing. And here he is now helping with the burial of Jesus' body. The Bible goes on to say: Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds, and taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with spices in strips of linen in accordance with Jewish burial customs. The point is that when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus finally laid Jesus' body in that tomb, Jesus' body looked like a wrapped-up tight mummy. You say, well, on.
Why is this important for us to know? I mean, why does the Bible go to such lengths to tell us this?
Well, the answer is because when Peter and John, the next Sunday morning, ran to the empty tomb, if you remember, the Bible says, John 20, verse 6, that they found the strips of linen lying there. They saw it and they believed.
Now, what was it about those strips of linen lying there in the tomb that at that moment caused Peter and John to say, you know what? The resurrection really did happen. Jesus has really risen from the dead.
Well, the answer is that Peter and John knew that as tightly as Jesus' body had been wrapped and embalmed when placed in the tomb, there was no way in the world anybody could have gotten Jesus' body out of those linens without totally shredding those linens to Pieces, but Jesus's body was gone, and the linens were still lying there perfectly intact, like an empty, undamaged cocoon. And this made it patently clear to Peter and to John that whatever had happened in that tomb, certainly it was not the work of human beings. They looked and saw this and realized something supernatural had happened in that tomb, that Jesus had really risen from the dead, and that he had morphed right through those linens, leaving them lying there untattered and unfettered and uncut. Praise the Lord, huh? That's pretty cool, praise the Lord.
Now, just before we go on, let's ask one more question, and that is: why was Joseph of Arimathea the one who was taking care of Jesus' body and not Jesus' disciples?
Well, the answer is Jesus' disciples had all run away.
So, Joseph ended up with this job sort of by default, and yet, in that happening, God used this to fulfill one of the greatest messianic prophecies of the Old Testament, Isaiah 53, verse 9, which says, He, Jesus, was assigned to die with the wicked, that is, the two thieves, one on either side, and with the rich in his death, talking, of course, about the fact that he was buried in a rich man's tomb, our friend Joseph of Arimathea. Had the disciples buried Jesus, they would have buried him in the ground, not in the tomb of a rich man.
So, God was in control of this thing the whole time. Verse 62.
Now the next day, the chief priests and rabbis went to Pilate and said, Sir, We remember that while he was still alive, this deceiver said, After three days, I will rise again.
So they said to Pilate, Please give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell people that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and this last deception will be worse than the first.
So Pilate said to them, Take a squad of Roman soldiers, go make the tomb as secure as you know how.
So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a wax seal on the tomb and posting the guard.
Now, friends, these rabbis didn't really believe that Jesus was going to rise from the dead. But they knew that if his body disappeared from that tomb for any reason, even more people. Would believe in him than believed in him before he was crucified, and they were determined to take every measure possible to see to it that his body stayed in that tomb.
Now, they went and got a Roman security team to do this, and a team like this to guard a prisoner consisted of 15 Roman enlisted men and one officer. And these soldiers had a deep and vested interest in making sure that the body of Jesus stayed in that tomb because if a Roman soldier lost his prisoner, even his dead prisoner, that soldier lost his head. And this explains why the rabbis did what they did. I mean, they could have posted a few friends outside the tomb to keep an eye on it, but they wanted somebody there who would treat the job with deadly seriousness, which is why they went and got the soldiers.
So, let's summarize. Matthew 27 and say that here in this chapter we have the rabbis and Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers all combining forces to make sure the Lord Jesus Christ stayed in that tomb.
Well, did it work? No, it didn't work. Of course not, it didn't work. I love what that great commentator Matthew Henry said in this regard. He said, and I quote: to guard the tomb against the disciples was needless, and to try to guard the tomb against the power of God was folly, end of quote.
Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our passage because it's time now for us to ask our most important questions.
So, all of you at Loudoun and Prince William and at Bethesda and in the Edge and on the Internet and here at Tyson's, are we ready? You sure? All right, here we go. Come on now. One, two, three.
Okay. Yeah, you say, Lon, so what? You say, I mean, this is a nice story. I know this story. Joseph of Arimathea was a nice guy to give up his tomb.
What difference does any of this make to my life in the 21st century?
Well, let's answer that, shall we? Not long ago, I was talking to a politician here in Northern Virginia, and you say, Lon, Lon, Lon, stop. I got to know. Was he a Democrat? Was he a Republican?
Was he tea partying?
Well, I'm sorry, Senator. I have no recollection of those events. Not going to tell you. But what I will tell you is that he's a genuine follower of Christ. And we were talking about how unlikely his political success had been, about how badly the odds had been against him getting where he is today.
And here's what he said to me: he said, and I quote, you know, I never really fretted about it much. I decided that if God wanted my career to go somewhere, nobody was going to stop it. End of quote. And folks, this is the worldview of the Bible: namely, that God is the creator, God is the ruler, God is the irresistible Lord and potentate of every detail in the universe. And when God decides something is going to happen, friend, it's going to happen.
When God decided Jesus was going to rise from the dead, all the rabbis and all the Roman soldiers and all the wax seals put together weren't going to stop it. And, friend, when God decides something's going to happen in your life as a believer or in my life as a believer, ain't nobody going to stop that either. In theology, we call this the irresistibility of God. It is one of God's eternal attributes. And you know, people can try to stand in the way of God if they want, but the Bible strongly advises against it.
And the Bible's full of examples of people who learned this lesson the hard way. How about our good friend Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon? Daniel chapter 4, verse 29 says, As the king was walking on the roof of his royal palace, he said, Is this not the great Babylon that I have built by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty? Uh-oh, watch out. And while the words were still on his lips, a voice came from heaven and said, Your royal authority has been taken from you, and you will be driven away from people, and will live among the wild animals, and will eat grass like the cattle until Until you acknowledge that the Most High God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and He gives them to whomever He wishes.
See, Nebuchadnezzar regarded himself as the irresistible force here in the universe, and God said, Oh, yeah, Nebuchadnezzar, well, let's just see about that. And immediately, what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. You say, Well, Lon, did all Nebuchadnezzar ever get the point? Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
Verse 34: At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes to heaven, he says, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High God, not myself, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever. Watch. He does, Nebuchadnezzar says, as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the people. Of the earth, and no one can hold back his hand.
Hey, Nebuchadnezzar learned who the irresistible force in the universe was, didn't he? And he learned it wasn't him. And how about our good friend Pharaoh? You remember our good friend Pharaoh? Sure, you do.
Well, in Exodus chapter 5, verse 1, then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord? that I should obey him. and let Israel go. I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.
But hey, ten plagues later, Jul Brenner had learned who the Lord is, and he had also learned that it was the Lord and not him who was the irresistible force in this universe. And then, how about Haman? Remember Haman from the book of Esther? Esther chapter 3, verse 1. King Xerxes honored Haman and elevated him above all other nobles.
All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, but Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. And when Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or honor him, he was enraged. Yet, having learned who Mordecai's people were, that is the Jews, Haman scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Persia. Here we have a gentleman named Haman, believing himself to be the irresistible force in the universe, and this man sets out to destroy the people of God, whom Almighty God had promised would never be destroyed.
And once again, just like with Nebuchadnezzar, once again, just like With Pharaoh, God needed to teach this gentleman a lesson about thinking that he was the irresistible force in the universe.
So God orchestrated things.
So the king became very angry at Haman. Esther 7, verse 9. Then one of the eunuchs attending the king said, A gallows 75 feet high stands by Haman's house. He had it made for Mordecai. Who spoke up to help the king?
Then the king said, Hang him on it.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. You say, Lon, what's the point? Friends, the point is our world is full of people who think that they're the irresistible force in their little corner of the universe, just like Nebuchadnezzar did, just like Haman did, just like Pharaoh did. Maybe you have a boss like this, or maybe you have a teacher in school like this, or maybe you have a co-worker like this, or maybe some enemy like this, or some of us have neighbors like this, or relatives like this, or maybe it's some county official, or some other government official, and often these people are determined that they are going to stand in the way of what you know are God's purposes for your life. Just like the rabbis were determined to stand in the way of Jesus coming out of that tomb.
Well, friends, I'm here to tell you, don't worry about them. Don't worry about them. Because the real truth is what King Nebuchadnezzar said. Daniel 4, verse 35. He said, God.
is the one. Who does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth? And no one. No one can hold back his hand. God and God alone, my friends, is the irresistible force in this universe.
And as such, he's bigger than our boss. He's bigger than our teacher. He's bigger than our neighbor. He's bigger than our co-workers or our relatives or any enemy we have. God's will for our life is going to happen just the way God ordains, regardless how many Pharaohs or how many Hamans or how many Roman soldiers try to get in the way.
Amen. Amen. Now. As a follower of Jesus, knowing this brings great confidence to our lives. It means we can relax.
It means we can be calm. Even in the most threatening situations, even when facing the most impossible-looking obstacles, we can relax because we know something. And what do we know? We know, Revelation 3:7, that what God opens, no man can shut. And what God shuts, no man can open.
We know something. We know that our God is irresistible, which is just a fancy theological way of saying that the last word always belongs to Almighty God and to Him alone, praise the Lord. You know, um Years ago, when I first finished seminary, I knew the Lord wanted me to go on to graduate school in Hebrew and Old Testament studies, and so I applied, among other places, to Johns Hopkins University, probably the premier program at that time in Near Eastern Studies. I didn't think I had a chance to get in. It's a very liberal department, but I got in.
I was the token evangelical. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah. And so there was one professor there who was from Texas. He's a big, tall, 6'3 guy, always wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat around campus.
He had gone to Abilene Christian College, which is very conservative theologically, but then he had gone to Harvard for his PhD and had gone completely liberal. And for some strange reason, he just didn't like me.
Now I don't know why. But we would be sitting in class, and he would say things like, Now, all of us in here know that Moses didn't write the Pentateuch, and then he would stop for a moment and say, Well, at least most of us in here know that.
Well, guess who that was aimed at? Hello.
Well, anyway, it was spring, one of the years I was studying there. And in the spring, we all take every year, everybody takes a seminar class. The whole department gets together in a room on Wednesday afternoons with the professors, and everybody's assigned papers, and you work on them, and then you read them. And so, the paper I was assigned that spring was on Isaiah 1, verse 18, which says, Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Even though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
It's a promise of forgiveness.
Well, there's another way of interpreting this that many liberals use, and that is they interpret it as a rhetorical question. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Even though your sins are as scarlet, shall they be white as snow? No way. The exact opposite.
And so my paper was decide, research the grammar and the syntax of rhetorical questions and decide: do we have a rhetorical question here, or do we have it the way the King James Bible translates it? And so I did. For months, I worked on this. There was a time when I believed that I knew more about rhetorical questions in Hebrew than any living person. Not anymore, but there was a moment when I did.
And so I came in and I read my paper, and I concluded that it was a declarative promise of forgiveness. Even though your sins are at scarlet, they shall be white as snow. I read my paper. And when I got done, I said, are any comments?
So, this professor was sitting at the other end of this long lecture table. I'm at one end, he's at the other. And he says, Mr.
Solomon, do you mean to tell me that there are no rhetorical questions anywhere in Hebrew that have a form of Isaiah 118? And I said, Yes, sir, there aren't. He said, Well, I believe that I can find one. And I said, Well, sir, you can look, but I looked at all of them and there's none in there. And he said, Well, Mr.
Solomon, it doesn't even matter whether I can find any of them in there. He said, My theology demands that this must be a rhetorical question, and that's the way I'm going to take it.
Well, now that would probably have been a good point for me to stop. But it didn't. And I turned to him and I said, Doctor so-and-so. I called him by his name. I said, you know, if we're going to ignore all the grammar and the syntax of the passage and we're just going to interpret this according to your theology, I said, then my suggestion is here at Johns Hopkins University, we stop studying syntax and we stop studying grammar and we simply study your theology.
Well There was a hush. It's set over the room. And suddenly he stood up, all six foot three of him in his cowboy boots. And he had Biblia Hebraica, this Hebrew Bible that we used to use. It's big and it's heavy and it's massive.
And he took it off the table and he slammed it together and then. He slammed it down. And he pointed down the table at me with his finger and he said, Mr.
Solomon, you know. He said, so help me. He said, as long as I am at this university, you will never get a degree from this place. Picked up his Bible. And walked out.
So We're all just sitting there. Everybody's got like I got home, and Brenda said, How was your day? That's in uh Not so good. And I thought, well, you know what? I might as well just drop out of Johns Hopkins.
I'm never getting a degree from this place after doing this. And I called the dean of the seminary where I was teaching, a godly man, and he said to me, Lon, he said, wait a minute, don't just go dropping out of there. He said, you know what? This guy doesn't have the last word on who gets degrees from Johns Hopkins University. God does.
Just give God some time to work. All right.
Well, you know. This gentleman, this professor, was finishing his 11th year of teaching there, and Hopkins had a policy then that when you came as a new professor, if you didn't get tenure within 11 years, you had to leave the university.
Well, this man was well published. He was well respected in the academic community. But Hopkins was thinking about abolishing the department and swallowing it up into the classics department, so they didn't want to give any more professors tenure.
So in the summer, when his time to get tenure came, guess what? He didn't get it. And in September, guess who was still at Johns Hopkins University? And guess who wasn't? And friends, guess who got a degree from Johns Hopkins University?
Now you say, Lawn. What's the point? What's the point? What's the point? Are you serious?
What's the point? The point is: Psalm 138, verse 8: The Lord will accomplish that which concerneth me. The point is what Corey Tenboom, the great woman of God, said. She said, God doesn't have problems, only plans. And as followers of Jesus Christ, my friends, this is our confidence.
This is our hope. And it's not a hope-so hope. It's a no-so hope. Our hope is that when God's timing is perfect, not when your timing is perfect, when God's timing is perfect, the Lord will accomplish that which concerneth me. His plans for your life and his plans for my life will be done.
No matter who tries to stand in the way, it doesn't matter. This is the irresistibility of God, and this part of his character and his nature guarantees this.
So Look at your boss. And smile. Look at your enemy and smile. Look at all those people who would like to get in the way of what God wants to do in your life and just smile and relax. In fact, just look right past them.
And to the irresistible God of the universe, and you can just say in your heart, I wouldn't maybe necessarily recommend saying it out loud, but you could say in your heart: you know what, you don't really matter. Because In the end, God's going to do with my life what God's going to do with my life. And no matter how hard you try to oppose it, it's not going to make a bit of difference.
So, good morning. How are you? You got it? You got it? All right.
Hey, I carry a quote in my Bible. I look at it at least once a day. Here's what it says. It says It is impossible for that man to despair. Who remembers the That his helper Is omnipotent, all-powerful.
Is that awesome? It's impossible for that woman to despair. who remembers that her helper is omnipotent. And with an omnipotent, irresistible God, friends, we don't need to despair about anything. And so let me just leave you with a talk about question.
Here's something just to think and talk about. Where are you? Trusting God. To be bigger. To be greater in his timing, not yours, in his timing.
Than anyone trying to hinder God's will for your life. Where are you doing that? And friend, that's okay. That's okay. God's never going to let you and me get to the point where we don't have to trust him for something.
And so, if he uses your boss or he uses your teacher, fine, what difference does it make? Good morning. How are you? God is bigger. Amen.
Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thanks for speaking to us today from your word. And reassuring us of what we already knew, but boy, it sure is great to hear it again. And that is that People. Do not have the final say in this universe.
I don't care how powerful or irresistible they think they are. Lord Jesus, you have the final say in this universe about our lives.
So help us look past people who would love to stand in the way of what you want to do in our lives. And help us see you, Lord Jesus, not them, but you. Help us be able to be calm and relaxed because we know that a sovereign, irresistible, omnipotent God is running this universe. And as his children His will for our lives will be done. I don't care who stands in the way.
Lord, with that confidence. Take us through life. With a song in our heart. and a relaxed spirit In our mind. Because our trust is in you.
Not in people. And we pray these things. In Jesus' name, And God's people said, Amen.
