Sermon 33

Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Every passage of our Lord's way in prosecuting the work of redemption has somewhat wonderful in it; we heard of several of them, especially in his humiliation, how very low the blessed cautioner condescended to come for relief of the captivity; how he was put to wrestle and fight, and what great strengths or strong holds he was put as it were to take in; there is one strong hold (to speak so) not spoken of as yet which must also be stormed, and the fortifications of it pulled down by the mediator, and that is the grave; the prophet tells us, that as he declined not death, so neither did he decline the grave, but as he was cut off out of the land of the living as a wicked man in the account of men, so in the account of men he was taken down from the cross with the thieves and buried in the grave as one of them.

I shall not trouble you with diversity of interpretations, but shall only hint at two things for your better understanding of the words, in which the difficulty lies, The first is this, Whether does this relate to his humiliation only, or to his exaltation, or to both? For it cannot be reasonably thought but his being buried with the wicked is a piece of his humiliation; to make it only an evidence of his humiliation, seems not to stand with the next part of the words, because he had done no violence, etc., which is a causal reason of that which goes before: But we answer, that there may be here a respect had to both; the first words respect his humiliation, comparing them with the truth of the history as it is set down in Matthew, chapter 27, where it is clear that he was destined in the account of men, and by their appointment, to be buried with wicked men: for they thought no more of him than if he had been a wicked man. The next words, And with the rich in his death, look to his exaltation, and the meaning of them is, that however he was in the account of men buried with thieves, and laid in the grave as a malefactor or wicked man; yet in God's account and by his appointment and overruling providence it was otherwise, for he put a difference between him and others, and gave him an honorable burial with the rich, though he was designed by men to be buried with thieves; yet as we have it in Matthew 27:57, Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and begged his body and wrapped it in clean linen, and laid it in a new tomb; which in God's providence was so ordered, both to show a difference between him and those thieves, and also to declare that he was innocent, as the reason subjoined tells, Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth; and to make way for the clearing of his resurrection, he being buried in such a remarkable place where never man had been buried before.

So then the sum of the words is this, he was [reconstructed: humbled] in coming to the grave, and in men's account and destination was buried as a wicked man, yet by God's decree and providence it was so ordered, that though he was poor all his days, he had an honorable burial such as rich men use to have, because he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth: God will not have it going as men designed, but will have him honorably buried and laid in the grave, that thereby there might be the greater evidence of his innocency, and a more full clearing and confirmation of the truth of his resurrection.

What is rendered death here in our translation, is deaths in the plural number in the Hebrew; to show the greatness and terribleness of the death which he underwent, and the sore spiritual as well as bodily exercise that he was put to, at, and in, his death, so that it was a complication of many deaths in one, and at once which he suffered. 2. Where it is said in our translation, that He made his grave; In the original it is, He gave his grave with the wicked; so that the pronoun He, may be meant, rather of the Father his giving, or it may be understood of the Mediator himself his giving; and so the meaning is, that it came not to pass by guess on God's side, but was by him well ordered; and upon the Mediator's side it sets out his willingness to go to the grave, and his having an overruling hand, as God, in his own death and burial; as he says in John 10:18, No man takes my life from me, but I lay it down of myself; His death and burial were determined and well-ordered as to all the circumstances of both, by a divine decree and by an overruling hand of providence; and this agrees well with the reason subjoined, because he willingly condescended to die; God put a difference between him and others, as is clear in that of John 10:17, Therefore does my father love me, because I lay down my life for my sheep. The verse has two parts, 1. Something foretold concerning the Messiah, and that is, that he shall make or give his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. 2. There is a reason subjoined, especially to the last part, taken from his innocency, and from the difference that was in his life between him and all men in the world, that therefore God put a difference between him and them in his death and burial.

First then, this point of doctrine is implied here, that coming to the grave is a thing common and certain to all men; I mean, that death, or a state of death and to be in the grave, in an ordinary way is common to all men; and whoever wants the privilege of burial, their condition in that respect is rather worse than better; it is supposed here that wicked men come to the grave, therefore our Lord is said to make his grave with them; and it is also supposed that rich men come to the grave, therefore it is said, and with the rich in his death. That which Solomon has (Ecclesiastes 8:8) of death, may well be applied to the grave: there is no man that has power over the spirit to retain it, neither has he power in the day of death, and there is no discharge in that war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. The most powerful wicked man cannot prevail over it, nor is he able to resist and withstand it; those who conquer most of the world are constrained at length to be content with some few feet of ground, and their bodies are turned into dust. Job in the third chapter of his book speaks of it as common to all, to rich and poor, to high and low, to the king and the beggar, all are there in one category; if any were freed from it, it would readily be rich men, but as it is (Psalm 49:6-7), their riches will not be a ransom for them. They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him, so precious is the soul that the redemption of it ceases for ever. Among all mortals there is none that can buy himself from coming to the churchyard, or from coming to the grave; but were he never so rich and honorable, he must be laid in a hole as well as the poor man; the bravest and best guided tomb is but a grave. That sentence passed by God must stand and will stand, Dust you are and to dust you shall return. The translation of Enoch and Elias, who did not see death, do not alter the common rule, though it shows the sovereignty and power of God, what he can do.

Use 1. O, think more on death and on the grave — these surely would be much more profitable subjects of thought than many things which our thoughts run ordinarily on. It is appointed for men once to die, and thereafter comes the judgment. As we walk over and tread on the graves of others now, so some will be walking over and treading on ours before long; and within a few years our bodies will be turned into dust, and our dust will not be known from the dust of others that lived before us. It were good to have the faith of this more rooted, and that we did meditate more frequently and seriously on it.

Use 2. It reproves the pride of men and women, and their lusting after earthly vanities; when death and the grave come, where will all their brave houses, and clothes, and well-dressed beds be? And what will become of your silver and gold? These things will not go to the grave with you; as you brought nothing into the world, so it is certain that you shall carry nothing out of it. The consideration of this would be a restraint and awe-band to men's exorbitant desires; the time is coming when six or seven feet in length, and two or three feet in breadth of ground will serve the richest and most honorable. And within a few years the Lord Provost's dust will not be known from the dust of the poor body that got a share of the common contribution; the dust of both will be alike. Dress and pamper the body as you will, that beauty will not abide with you; therefore, why does all this pride, vanity, and bravery serve? Seeing a very little while will lay it all in the dust; and when all our projects will come to an end, as Job says (Job 17), my purposes are broken, and what did break them off? The grave (says he) is waiting for me; I have said to corruption, to the rottenness of the earth, you are my mother, and to the worms, you are my brothers and sisters — they and I must lie together. Those that now cannot get their bed made fine and soft enough, the worms and they will lie together before long in the grave; the chest or coffin will not be so close but they will get in — or rather, they will breed in their own bodies; do we not see this daily? Were it not then good that when you are going to the burials and graves of others, you were thinking on your own lying down in the grave? And what will be your thoughts in that day of all things in this world? If dead corpses could speak out of their graves, they would preach sharp warning to those that are alive, and would say to such as are carrying them there, Beware of putting off thoughts of death and of the grave. Though this be a common point of truth, yet few walk suitably to it, but we are generally in our practice as if it were not a truth, no more minding death and the grave than if we were eternally to live here.

Use 3. As this should make people sober in prosperity, so it should make them patient in adversity; a little time will make us all equal, and what does it matter what our condition be if our peace be made sure with God? Heathens may shame many of us that are professing Christians, who, by the consideration of death, have been brought to be much more sober in their carriage than, alas, many of us are.

Secondly, observe that the Messiah had to come to the grave and be buried; it was so designed, foretold, and prophesied of him: 'He made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.' Hence the Apostle (Acts 2:30, citing Psalm 16:8) gathers that as there was a necessity of his being in the grave, so there was a necessity of his resurrection out of it, because he should not see corruption in it: 'His soul was not left in hell, or in the grave, neither did his flesh see corruption.' And in all the Evangelists it is clear that after death he was remarkably laid in the grave, and very particular and special notice is taken of it. Take here shortly some few reasons of this necessity according to the Lord's appointment, and no further. The first of which is this: that the unstainedness and purity of divine justice may appear, and that thereby the completeness and perfection of his satisfaction as Mediator, to the justice of God, may be confirmed. If he had not been buried it might have been questioned whether that which folk suffer after death be a reality or not. But his three days lying in the grave is a greater evidence of the unstainedness and purity of justice, and of its impartiality, than the imprisoning of many creatures for many thousands of years would have been. This shows him to be a just God, when the sinner's Cautioner is not only pursued to death, but to the grave. And therefore this is always accounted the lowest part or step of his sufferings. And in the Creed his descending into hell is spoken of, which in our excellent Catechism is expounded to be his continuing under the power of death for a time. Second, it is much for the manifestation of the great love of God, and of the rich condescending grace of the Mediator, who is not only content to die, but to come to the grave, and to suffer death to have a kind of dominion over him for a time. So that as death had power to separate his soul from his body, so it prolongs that power during his being in the grave. His enemies, as it were, cry, 'Take him up now,' and they seal the stone and set a watch to keep him in the grave. Third, it is for the consolation of the believer, and serves mightily to strengthen him against the fear of death and the grave. So that the believer need not be afraid of death, but may lie down quietly in the grave, because it was Christ's bed, warmed, to say so, by him; he was there before him, and the grave is now to the believer no part of the curse, any more than death is. The grave will not swallow him up with a sort of dominion and right, as it does the reprobate. Fourth, it serves to confirm the truth of the resurrection of Christ, more than if he had never been in the grave, as the Apostle proves (1 Corinthians 15), from the beginning to the close, even until he comes to that: 'O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?' Our Lord by dying and being buried has delivered his people from both. As neither a great stone, nor a seal put on it could keep him in the grave, but that he rose again the third day, so nothing will be able forever to keep believers down. And as he died to disarm death, so his entering the grave was to disarm the grave, and to open a door for believers to come through it, by his power who was dead and laid in the grave, but now is risen and alive forevermore.

The uses are: first, to show the full conformity and agreeableness between what was foretold of the Messiah and what is fulfilled — and so it serves to confirm our faith in this, that he is the true Messiah, who was crucified, dead, and buried. This is one of the articles of our faith foretold by Isaiah, now fulfilled and recorded to be so in the Gospel. Second, it shows the severity of justice, that when any person is made liable to the lash of it, were it but as Cautioner, it will exact of him satisfaction to the uttermost. Therefore when Christ enters himself as our Cautioner, it not only exacts death and pursues him until he gives up the ghost, but after death pursues him to the grave. It needs to have that satisfaction of the Mediator, and he yields to it so as to lay himself by as a dead man. O what a vengeful thing is justice when a sinner must answer to it? When the Mediator was so pursued by it, what will it do to others who are out of him? Here we may apply that word: 'Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your children; if it be done so to the green tree, what will be done to the dry?' When the fire of the vengeance of God shall kindle that lake that burns with fire and brimstone, and when sinners shall be cast into it as so many pieces of wood, or as so many pieces of dry sticks, what will be their condition? It were good in time to fear falling into the hands of the living God, which is indeed a most fearful thing (Hebrews 10:31).

3. It shows the believer's obligation to God that has so fully provided a satisfaction for him, and has furnished him with such a ground of consolation; besides what is done for the satisfying of justice (which is the great consolation) there is here ground of consolation against all crosses, pain, sickness, death and the grave. There is not a step in the way to heaven but our Lord has gone it before us; we have not only a Mediator that died, but that was buried. And O! but this is much when believers come to think on their going to the grave; will it devour them, or feed upon them forever? No, he has muzzled it, to say so; they rest in their grave as in a bed, in their bodies being united to him, and their dust must be counted for. It is true, the bodies of the reprobate must be raised up, yet upon another account, and not by virtue of their union with Christ, and of Christ's victory over death in their stead, as believers are. In a word, they have many advantages that have Christ, and they have a miserable life, a comfortless death, and a hard lying in the grave that lack him. Therefore, as the short cut, to have a happy life, and a comfortable death and burial, and the grave sanctified to you; seek to have your interest in Christ made sure, then all things are yours, and particularly death and the grave, which will be as a box to keep the particles of your dust till it restore them faithfully to Christ, to whom it must give an account. But as for you that slight and disregard Christ, you have a dreadful lot of it, no interest in Christ living, no union with him in the grave, nor at the resurrection; and if you did but seriously consider that you will die, you would also consider that it is good dying and being in the grave with Christ, and that it is a woeful thing to be, and to be in it without him.

Thirdly, observe that all the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the least particular circumstance of them, were ordered of God, and beforehand determined and concluded upon; none of them came by guess upon him. That he should suffer and die, and what sort of death he should die, and that he should be laid in the grave, all was before concluded and determined. When we read through the Gospel, it were good to take a look of the Old Testament prophecies of the covenant of redemption, and of the ancient determinations concerning him, as Peter does (Acts 2:27): Him being delivered by the determinate counsel of God, you have with wicked hands crucified. God's foreknowledge and determination fixed the bounds, and laid down the rule (to speak so) to these wicked hands in the crucifying of him, without all tincture or touch of culpable accession to their sin. And in looking over his sufferings, we would call to mind, that this and this was the Lord's purpose, and that in these sufferings, and in every part and piece of them, the Mediator is telling down the price that he undertook to pay. All which demonstrates the verity of our Lord's being the true Messiah.

Fourthly, from comparing the two parts of the first part of the verse together, He made his grave with the wicked, as to the estimation of men, and with the rich in his death, in respect of God's ordering it. Observe, that often God has one design, and men another, and that God will have his design to stand, and infrustrably to take effect: when some would design shame to his people, he will have them honored.

The first use serves to comfort God's people when they are in their lowest condition, and when their enemies are in highest power; our Lord is driving on his design, and making his and their enemies to fulfill it. Pilate and the chief priests with the scribes and Pharisees are putting Christ to death, the multitude are crying, Crucify him, and preferring a robber to him. But in all this, they were fulfilling what God had before determined to be done, which we say is matter of great consolation both as to our own particular case, and as to God's general guiding of the world, and especially of his church therein. There is nothing wherein the malice of men seems to be most prevalent, but our Lord is still gaining his point upon, and by them; they are all the while executing God's determination, though to their own ruin.

2. See here an exact correspondence between all the circumstances of our Lord's sufferings and God's determination, and a concurrence of all of them for the promoting of it in the history of the Gospel. A bone of him is not broken, when the bones of the two thieves crucified with him are broken, a spear is run at him, and his side is pierced, when they are not pierced. And all this, because it was prophesied of him, that A bone of him shall not be broken, and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced. And when it comes to his burial, Pilate knows not what he is doing when yet he is fulfilling the Lord's design in giving his body to a rich man Joseph of Arimathea, when he asked it from him to be buried by him, whereby the prophecy of the text is fulfilled. The wickedness of some, the contingent actions of others, and the ignorance of many, concur all together, to make out the same holy and unalterable design and purpose of God.

And therefore, thirdly, let us stay our faith here, that our Lord is yet still working in all these confusions, and when matters returned upside down to human appearance, our blessed Lord is not nonplussed and at a stand when we are. He knows well what he is doing, and will make all things most certainly, infallibly, and infrustrably to work for his own glory, and for the good of his people.

From its being said that He gave his grave with the wicked, as holding forth Christ's willingness to be buried, (as he says of his death, (John 10:17) No man takes away my life from me, but I lay it down, and take it up again.) Observe, That in the whole performance of the work of Redemption, even in the lowest and most shameful steps of it our Lord was a most willing condescender, He gave his grave with the wicked; He was a most free and willing undertaker, when as it were, the question was put, Who will satisfy for Elect sinners? He comes in and says (as we have it, (Psalm 40)) Lo, I come, in the volume of your book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God; I am here, Father, as if he had said, I offer myself and accept of the terms heartily and delightfully; I rejoiced, says he, (Proverbs 8:28) in the habitable parts of the earth, before the foundation of the world was laid my delight was with the sons of men: So it may be made evident, that in all the parts of his sufferings, and in every step thereof, he did most exactly, and also most willingly perform whatever was carved out to him; He preached and worked miracles, and did all with delight, as himself says, (John 4:32) It is my meat and my drink to do my Father's will, and to finish his work; It refreshed him when his body was hungry and faint to be carrying on the work of Redemption in speaking to a poor straying sinner. If we yet look a little forward we will find that he so longed for the saddest part of this exercise, that he is pained till it be accomplished. (Luke 12:50) I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I constrained till it be accomplished? His heart longed so much to be at it, that he would approve nor admit of nothing that might stand in the way of it, therefore he rejected Peter's advice with holy detestation, with a Get you behind me Satan; He knew well what was in Judas' mind, and yet would not divert him, but bid him do what he was about, quickly; He went to the Garden where he was known to resort, and gave his enemies opportunity to [reconstructed: take] him, and would not suffer his Disciples to draw a sword to oppose them; When he was before Pilate he would not open his mouth; When he was buffeted he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to him that plucked off the hair, and hid not his face from shame and spitting; Because he knew what was aimed at in all this, and accordingly says (Matthew 20:20) The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many; When His Holy Human Nature shrank from the Cup, and when he was thereby put to pray, Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, he sweetly subjoins, but for this cause came I to this hour; And the nearer it came to his death he vented his desire after it the more, With desire have I desired, says he, or with special desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; Even when he was to eat the last Passover, and to take his last good night, and to be in readiness for what was coming: What could have been the mean or motive to bring it about, if he had not been willing? It was this willingness that Jehovah was pleased with, and that made his sacrifice to smell sweetly to his Father, who loves a cheerful giver, and it had never been satisfactory if it had not been willing but extorted, and therefore says he, (John 10) No man takes my life from me, but I lay it down; And I delight to do your will, (Psalm 40).

Use 1. See here a great evidence of the love of God and of the Mediator; Behold what manner of love this is, that when it was not required, he should offer and freely give himself to death and to the grave, this is the love of a friend and beyond it, that he should have so loved his Church as to give himself for her to death, and to the grave; Well may he say as he does, (John 15:15) Greater love has no man than this, etc.

Secondly, it shows what great ground of consolation and encouragement a sinner has that would fain be at Christ, to believe on him, and to expect life and salvation through him. Our Lord was most willing to lay down his life and to come to the grave for that end, and is it possible that he will refuse a sinner that comes to him, and that would fain share in the benefit of his sufferings, which was his great end in suffering? This one thing, to wit the willingness that he had to suffer, and the delight that he had in suffering, to purchase redemption to sinners, may be as a strong cordial to strengthen the heart of a swooning sinner, and a great motive and encouragement to come forward to him. You will, it may be, say, I know not if Christ loves me. O! Consider these sweet words, (Romans 5:10). If he died for us while we were yet enemies, how much more shall we be saved by his life? I shall close this discourse with these two words, the first of which is, for encouragement. If there be any body here that would fain have Christ's love, and partake of his death: take courage, seeing our Lord out of the great desire he had to promote the salvation of sinners, gave himself to death and to the grave, will he not willingly make application of his purchase to them when they seek it? That he was willing to undergo all this is a far greater matter than to welcome a sinner coming home to him; and if he did all that he did for this very end, will he stand on it when it comes to the application? The second word is, that this is, and will be a ground of conviction to all who think little of our blessed Lord Jesus, and of his love, and who will not part with a base lust for him, and who will not make choice of him, but will refuse, reject, undervalue and despise him, with all that he has done and suffered. It will exceedingly aggravate your condemnation, that when he was so willing to die for the good of sinners, you were not willing to live for his satisfaction. Think on it, O! think seriously on it. These things are the truths of God, and the main truths of the gospel, that lie very near the engaging of hearts to Christ; and if such truths do you no good, none other readily will. God give us the faith of them.