GOD’S WORD FOR OCTOBER 24

We are using Charles Spurgeon book, “The Risen King.”  It’s a collection of well chosen excerpts from Spurgeon’s  “Easter” sermons in devotional form, put together by Jeff Medders.   Pastor Spurgeon lived from 1834 to 1892  in London, England, and had a unique gift of understanding and showing the depth of our faith.  Thus, his reverential title as the Prince of Preachers.   Even though we’re not in or near that season, every day is a good day to focus on Christ’s sacrifice and victory for us!

CHRIST THE SIN BEARER

John 19:41-42

“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. 42 So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.”

We are expressly told in Holy Scripture that our Lord was buried.  Why?  Was it not, first, that we might have a certificate of His death?  We do not bury living people. 

Further, the Lord Jesus would not have been buried if the centurion had not certified that He was certainly dead.  The Roman officer had probably seen Christ’s heart pierced by the soldier’s spear, when blood and water flowed from His side.  Christ’s being given up for burial was Pilate’s certificate that He had not merely pretended to die but that it was a real death, and that His body had no life remaining in it.  This is an essential point, for if Jesus did not die, He had made no atonement for sin.  If He died not, then He rose not; and if He rose not, then your faith is in vain – you are still in your sins.  This is how Paul explains it in 1 Corinthians 15:17.   The tomb, therefore, occupies a very important place in the story of the death of Jesus.  Today, let us meditate on the burial of our Lord.

First, it was a new tomb where no remains had been previously laid;  this would have removed the suspicion that another had arisen.  In this new tomb, no one could have claied that Christ’s body had touched the bones of se prophet or another holy man, and so came to life.  As Christ was born of a virgin mother, so was He buried in a virgin bomb. 

Second, it was a rocky tomb, and therefore nobody could dig into it by  night or tunnel through the earth and steal His body.  It would seem, too, to be the proper thing for our Lord to have a tomb in a rock.  You cannot fittingly put Him in sand who is Himself the rock of Ages.  No, let our Lord Jesus Christ, with that immutable love and eternal faithfulness of His, lie in the solid rock – the very kind of tomb that is wanted for Him who is the Rock of our Salvation.

The spiritual application lies here – if our sins are to die, it must be with Christ.  The best thing to do with our past sin, if it is indeed forgiven, is to bury it.  We hope to see all our tendencies to sin killed and buried – buried so deep that not even a bone of a sin shall be left above ground.  But first, sin must be to you a condemned, detestable thing, to be hunted down and put to death.  Sin must really and truly be crucified.  You will find you cannot kill the smallest viper in the nest of your heart if you get away from the cross.  There is no death for sin except in the death of Christ.  He took upon Himself the whole load of our iniquities;  He endured the entire weight of the crushing burden, and by His atoning death He cast our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

In the tomb of Jesus, all our sins are buried.  Christ Himself has put them away, and they can never rise against us in judgment anymore.  Let none of you labor under that fear.  Your old sins are buried, and they shall never have a resurrection.

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1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Ephesians 2:1

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

1 John 3:6

Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.

Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.

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