11.06.22 Morning - Mark 15:42-47

Open your Bibles to Mark 15:42-47.  •We are continuing our study of the Gospel of Mark.  •This morning we come to Mark’s account of the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I don’t know if you realize this or not, but all four Gospels rarely record the same event.  •As you get more familiar with the Gospels, you will find that some events in the life of Jesus are recorded only by one or two Gospels.  •Sometimes the Synoptics Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) will all record the same event, but John won’t.  •Likewise, there are things that John records that the other three are silent about.  •But there are a handful of events that are recorded by every single Gospel record: •The baptism of Jesus. The Feeding of the Five Thousand. The arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.  •But did you know that they all also record the BURIAL of Jesus? I highlight that to you this morning because, apparently, under the inspiration of God, our meditation upon the burial of Christ is IMPORTANT.  •Again, it is recorded in all four Gospels. And God doesn’t waste ink. He wants us to read about it often. Just as often as we read of the crucifixion and resurrection.  Now, most of the time, I would bet that we read about the burial of Christ and just kind of pass it by.  •We treat it like it’s just a stepping stone to the account of His Resurrection.  •Or we read it like a newspaper article and say, “Yep. They buried Jesus.” And we only register the bare facts with no further thought or meditation.  •I know I’ve done this in the past.  •But that’s a mistake.  •Since His burial is recorded in all four Gospels, it MUST be significant to the message of the Gospel as well as beneficial to the life of the Christian. More than that, we see that when the Gospel is summarized, the burial of Christ is always mentioned.  •Consider 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures… •Paul says that this is of FIRST IMPORTANCE. And then he mentions the burial of Christ as part of that truth.  •Likewise, the earliest creeds of the Church all mention that Jesus was buried.  •The Apostles Creed: “…crucified, died, and was buried.” •The Nicene Creed: “He suffered death and was buried.” So then, in light of these things, we ought not to move too quickly over the burial of our Lord.  •There are things for us to see in this text: •Things that will be help us to be faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.  •Things that will highlight the fullness and finality of His work of redemption.  •Things that will cause us to rejoice in Him and worship Him for the great God and Savior that He is.  So then, as I’ve done in the past, I simply want to walk through this text and then point out various things that will encourage you in Christ.  •We will go through the text fairly quickly and then come to the lessons we learn from it.  •May God bless us today as we sit under the ministry of His Word. Now, if you would, and are able, please stand with me for the reading of the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God.  Mark 15:42-47 [42] And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,  [43] Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  [44] Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.  [45] And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.  [46] And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.  [47] Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. (PRAY) Our Heavenly Father,  We thank you for your Word. It is a sure and steady guide for your People.  You have breathed it out of your holy mouth. And it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.  It is able to, by your grace, make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  And so we ask this morning that you would, by your Holy Spirit, make your Word effectual to the salvation and sanctification of your People.  Open our minds, hearts, eyes, and ears to receive the pure Word of God today.  We humble ourselves before your holy Word knowing that you will give grace to the humble.  So, Lord, instruct us and sanctify us today. Glorify yourself in us.  We ask these things in Jesus’ Name and for His sake.  Amen.  1.) As we come to the end of chapter 15, we remember that Mark has already recorded the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on a Cross.  •Atonement has been made for God’s People.  •The Son of God was hanged upon a Tree, bearing the curse of God in place of sinners.  •Darkness, the very wrath of God, descended upon Calvary. And Christ satisfied the wrath of God on behalf of all who ever did or ever would believe on Him.  •Divine justice has been satisfied in the suffering and death of Jesus.  •The Good Shepherd has willingly laid down His life in order to save His Sheep whom the Father had given to Him.  And that brings us to our text this morning: •Evening had come.  •Our Lord died around 3PM on the Friday of Passover. So it is now evening. •And it is “the day of Preparation.” That is, the day before the Sabbath. (Again, it is Friday.) •The sun will go down around 6PM. And once that happens, the Sabbath will begin for the Jews.  •So they must do something with the body of the Lord Jesus.  •According to OT Law, a dead body must be buried the day of death. (Deuteronomy 21:23)  •So they must work quickly.  Then in v43 a new person is introduced in Mark’s Gospel: Joseph of Arimathea.  •We don’t know anything about him from Scripture aside from the Gospel records of what he does here.  •Matthew 27:57 tells us that Joseph was rich. He was very well off.  •And that fits with what Mark tells us about him being “a respected member of the council.” •The council Mark refers to is the Sanhedrin. Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin. The same religious ruling body that succeeding in having Jesus killed.  •But Luke 23:50-51 tells us that Joseph was “a good and righteous man, who had not consented to their decision and action…”  •Joseph, along with Nicodemus, were the only two members of the Sanhedrin (that we know of) who objected to the condemnation of Jesus.  •And that makes sense because John 19:39 and Matthew 27:57 both tell us that Joseph was a disciple of Jesus.  •He was a secret disciple because he feared the Jews. But he was a disciple. He believed that Jesus is the Messiah.  •Joseph was a believer. No doubt he didn’t understand that Jesus would rise from the dead (none of them did). But he had believed that Jesus was God’s promised King who would save God’s People.  •And that’s why Mark says that Joseph was “also himself looking for the kingdom of God.” •The Kingdom of God is always connected to the King. And those who are connected to the Kingdom have faith in Jesus. Again, Joseph was a believer.  •Joseph loved the Lord Jesus. And he wanted to honor Him, even in His death.  And so, Joseph “took courage” and went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.  •(Remember that. He “took courage.” We’ll come back to that later.) •As a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph was a high-status man who would’ve had access to the Roman Governor, Pilate.  •And as governor and judge at Jesus’ trial, Pilate alone has authority over what would happen to the body of Jesus after His execution.  •Usually, the Romans would bury the bodies of the condemned in a mass grave. Or they would simply leave them on the cross for days and allow birds and other animals to eat the corpse.  •Joseph doesn’t want that to happen to Jesus. So Joseph asks Pilate for the body of Christ.  In vv44-45 we read of how Pilate was surprised that Jesus had already died.  •You see, crucifixion victims could take days to finally die. But Jesus died within six hours, with nothing to speed up the process.  •NOTE: Truly, our Lord LAID DOWN HIS LIFE. Nobody took it from Him. And that’s why He died so quickly. And that’s why Pilate was shocked.  •But Pilate, knowing that no one was allowed to survive crucifixion, wanted to verify that Jesus was truly dead before agreeing to give the body to Joseph.  •So, Pilate sent for the centurion who oversaw the crucifixion.  •And “when he learned from the centurion that He was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.” Then in v46 we read of the respect that Joseph showed our Lord.  •He saw to it that Jesus was taken down from the cross, prepared for burial, and placed in a “tomb that had been cut out of the rock.” •This was a nice tomb, by the way. An expensive tomb. Something only the rich could afford.  •Matthew 27:60 tells us that this tomb was Joseph’s. It was a rich man’s tomb. (Remember that.) •Luke 23:53 says that nobody had ever used that tomb before.  It was probably meant to be Joseph’s family tomb. (It would’ve been large with many chambers and places for bodies.) •Joseph showed Jesus great honor by doing all of this for Him. Joseph showed much respect and love for Christ by ensuring that He had a proper burial in a nice tomb.  Then Joseph put a stone in front of a tomb to seal it closed.  •It was probably a round stone. Something similar to a millstone that would roll downhill, angled toward the tomb. (A very, very heavy stone.)  •One man could set the stone. But it would take many men to roll it away.  •The tomb was sealed. This was done to keep animals and grave robbers out, while also keeping any from going in and becoming ceremonially defiled while corpses decomposed.  •But our Lord has been laid to rest in the tomb. He has been buried. And the tomb is sealed.  And in v47 Mark adds that there were eyewitnesses to this: The two Marys.  •They saw where His body was laid. They, along with many others, could verify that Jesus was truly dead and truly buried.  •And they wanted to know where He was buried because they intended to come back after the Sabbath and finish the work of anointing His body for burial.  •But, praise be to God, we know that they never got the chance! For on the Third Day, He would rise from the dead.  This passage is very simple. It’s easy to understand.  •Jesus has been crucified, has died, and is buried.  •And He was buried by a disciple, Joseph of Arimathea.  •But there are things for us to meditate upon from this simple narrative.  •There are lessons for us to learn from this text.  •And to those we now turn our attention.  2.) First, why does God want us to know that Jesus was buried? Why is this so important? •The answer is very simple: That He was buried confirms the fact that He really, truly DIED.  •He did not seem to be dead. He did not pass out on the Cross and was later resuscitated. No, He DIED.  Pilate would not have let Joseph have the body if he were not sure that Jesus was dead.  •The Centurion would not have told Pilate that He was dead if it were not so.  •It would mean certain death for whoever was responsible if a crucifixion victim lived through it.  •Everyone involved was absolutely SURE that Jesus was dead before they gave the body to Joseph.  •Furthermore, Joseph, as a member of the Sanhedrin, would’ve used Jewish protocol to confirm that Jesus was dead before burying Him. (Part of their ceremonies.) •Even more than that, there were multiple witnesses to testify that Jesus was truly dead: The centurion, Joseph, Nicodemus, the two Marys, the servants who no doubt helped Joseph, and maybe more.  •Brothers and sisters, know this for a fact: Jesus truly DIED on the Cross.  Now, why is this so significant? Why do we need to be absolutely convinced that Jesus truly died? •Answer: Because if He did not die, then full atonement was not made for sinners.  •In Genesis 2:17, God told Adam, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely DIE.” •The curse of sin is death.  •As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” •As God says in Ezekiel 18:4, “…the soul who sins shall die.” Wherever there is sin, there must be death.  •And if sin is to be atoned for, a death must occur in the place of sinners.  •Jesus Christ had to DIE in our place in order to fully take away our sins.  •He must suffer the exact punishment that we deserve: God’s wrath and DEATH.  •Just as under the Old Covenant, the sacrificial lamb had to shed it’s blood and DIE in the place of the sinner, so also the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world had to DIE in the place of those who would believe.  Brothers and sisters, if we are to be saved, Jesus had to die.  •Nothing less would take away our sins.  •Nothing less would satisfy the justice of God.  •Nothing less would wash us clean and make us acceptable to God.  •Nothing less than the death of the Son of God can save sinners.  But, praise be to God, as our text shows us clearly, Jesus died. He was buried.  •How odd it sounds to the unbeliever, but how precious it is to those who believe: We rejoice because Jesus died.  •We do not rejoice that He had to die.  •No, we mourn that it was our sin that sent Him to the Cross. We mourn the fact that in order for us to be saved, He had to die.  •But nevertheless, we glory and praise God that Jesus died.  •For in His death, we have been given life. By His death, we are saved. By His death, a full atonement has been made on our behalf.  •Praise be to God! The Lamb of God for sinners was slain! •He died. And so, we go free! He died. So we live! Brothers and sisters, hear this and receive it with faith: •A full atonement has been made for you.  •A full satisfaction has been rendered in your room and stead by the Savior who DIED.  •He really died. And so, you are really saved.  •He really died. And you are really forgiven.  •RECEIVE THIS BY FAITH AND HAVE PEACE WITH GOD! Hear the words of the Apostle in Romans 5:6-9: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ DIED for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ DIED for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.”  •He died. And we are saved from the wrath of God that was due to us for our sins.  •“Full atonement! Can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!” Brothers and sisters, His burial is part of our assurance of salvation.  •Take your assurance! God offers it to you! •Do not doubt, only believe!  •I tell you today with the full authority of Almighty God from the Scriptures: You who believe on Christ are saved! •You have been pardoned because One died for you. Oh, Christian, remember His burial. •Every week when we confess that Jesus was buried, I want you to remember that you are indeed saved because the Savior has truly died for you.  •And when Satan tempts you to believe that you’re not forgiven, and that God still holds your sins over your head to condemn and damn you, I want you to say to yourself,  •“My Lord has died and was buried. And my sins were paid for and buried with Him. And when He came forth from the grave, HE came out, but my sins remained in the tomb. I am forgiven, for the Savior has died for me.” My dear brothers and sisters, take your assurance! •It is yours! •It has been purchased by the blood of Christ and give to you who believe the testimony of the Word of God.  3.) A second lesson: The Burial of Christ points us forward to His Exaltation.  •Joseph of Arimathea was permitted to bury our Lord.  •This was unusual. It was strange.  •Sometimes, a family member would, upon request, be granted the body of one who had been executed by the state.  •But not someone who was executed for high treason, like Jesus was. (Remember, He was crucified for claiming to be King.) •And not to a non-family member. And Joseph was not related to Jesus.  But, nevertheless, Pilate granted the body to Joseph. And Joseph, a disciple, buried Jesus.  •With the help of servants, no doubt, Joseph saw to it that Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross, washed with water (an absolute non-negotiable for Jewish burial), wrapped tightly in a clean, fine, linen shroud, anointed with some burial spices, and placed in a rock hewn tomb.  Here is the big picture thing I want you to see: Jesus received an HONORABLE burial.  •Honor and respect were shown to Jesus in His burial.  •His body would’ve probably been put in a shallow, mass grave. But it wasn’t.  •He was placed in the tomb of a rich man with a good burial.  •Again, this is HONOR shown from Joseph.  Here is what I want you to see:  •Though He has not yet been resurrected, and He is still dead in the body, we see that, to some degree, the humiliation of Christ has ceased.  •Nobody is disrespecting Him anymore. Nobody is desecrating His body.  •Rather, He is being shown honor for the first time since His Passion began.  •And only more and more glory and honor and majesty will follow for Him in the days to come and for all eternity.  We now that our Lord humbled Himself and came to earth to become man, live, obey God perfectly, suffer, and die.  •This is what we refer to as the humiliation of Christ. It was His time of humility and suffering. His time of “low-ness.” •And His humiliation was for a very specific purpose: It was to save His People from their sins.  •But now that He has finished that work, there is no more need for Him to ever be lowly again.  •And so, He will not be lowly any longer. Though He is in the grave, He is shown honor in His burial.  •And on the Third Day, our Lord will burst forth from the grave in glory, being exalted forevermore.  •As you consider His burial, I want you to remember what it points to: His exaltation.  •Shown honor in His burial, more honor was to come.  And with this theme of exaltation, I want to point something else out to you: Prophecy is being fulfilled in our text this morning.  •Joseph of Arimathea, a RICH MAN, buried Jesus.  •And in Isaiah’s great Gospel prophecy, in Isaiah 53:9, we read this: “And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death…” •Speaking of the Messiah, Isaiah tells us that He would be condemned with the wicked (“they made His grave with the wicked”), but He would also be “with a rich man in His death.” •They had planned to bury Him with the wicked, but He was buried where the rich would also be buried: Joseph’s tomb.  •This is yet another fulfilled prophecy, even in the burial of our Lord Jesus.  As we know, His death was no common death.  •His death was the fulfillment of the work that Isaiah prophesied the Messiah would accomplish: To make many be accounted righteous in the eyes of God.  •It was the substitutionary death of the Messiah and His subsequent burial that Isaiah spoke of.  And what is the final word of Isaiah’s great prophecy? •What does Isaiah say after he speaks of the burial of the Messiah? •Isaiah 53:10-11 says this: “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul He shall see and be satisfied; by His knowledge shall the righteous One, my Servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.” •Isaiah tells us that after the death of the Messiah, after the death of our Lord, after being crushed by God in order to make an offering for guilt, HE WILL SEE HIS OFFSPRING. He will prolong His days. He shall see and be satisfied. And He will save many.  •And if He, though buried, is to SEE, and have length of days, and be satisfied, He must be resurrected from the grave.  Though He had died and was buried, yet He shall live.  •He must live again in order for the Word of God to be fulfilled.  •And indeed, His burial was but the setting of the stage for His resurrection.  •His exaltation was coming. And it was coming on the morning of the Third Day.  •His burial in honor was but a shadow of the honor and glory that are His after He is raised from the dead.  •There is glory and honor and dominion and power and praise that will come to the One who died and was buried.  •The Lord Jesus will rise again.  •His burial in the rich man’s tomb points forward to the fact that there is glory upon glory to come for Christ.  Brothers and sisters, Jesus’ burial in honor points forward to His exaltation that began at His Resurrection.  •And in light of that, I want to say something that maybe you’ve never heard before. (Or at least not with this language.) •I want you to rejoice FOR YOUR LORD.  •Not only IN HIM, as your Savior, but FOR HIM as One who is no longer lowly and suffering, but is rightly exalted above all.  We often rejoice when our friends who have been made low for a long time are raised up to an honorable position.  •When a friend has been mistreated, but is finally vindicated, we rejoice FOR THEM, don’t we? •When a friend is made low in order to do a great work, but then receives praise after the work is completed, we rejoice FOR THEM, don’t we? •How much more should we be glad for our Lord Jesus to know that He is now exalted? •He, the Holy One was mistreated beyond measure. But never again.  •He, the Redeemer, has done the greatest work of all time: The work of salvation.  •Surely, we should rejoice FOR HIM in His exaltation.  This should bring a smile to your face and joy to your heart, Christian: Your Lord Jesus is high and lifted up.  •Never to suffer again. Never to be humiliated again. Never to be brought low again.  •He has been given the name that is above all other names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.  •After being made so low, He is now higher than all. And we rejoice for Him! For He is now high as He should be! He is now, in both the divine and human natures, LORD OF ALL! •And this makes our hearts sing. Because now, in His exaltation, things are as they should be for Him.  •For so long, He was not recognized for who He is, but now He is surrounded by the heavenly host, praised day and night without ceasing. HE IS KING! •And one Day, that we look forward to with great anticipation, every tongue will confess that He is Lord.  •He is exalted!  •And His burial in honor was a shadow of His exaltation.  4.) A third lesson that we learn from our text today is a lesson in discipleship.  •Joseph of Arimathea was a DISCIPLE of our Lord. (John 19:38 and Matthew 27:57 explicitly say this.) •As Mark says, he was “looking for the kingdom of God.” •He was a good and righteous man who did not consent to the condemnation of Jesus.  •He clearly had affection for Christ. He was a disciple.  And our text tells us that Joseph had to “take courage” in order to ask Pilate for Jesus’ body.  •Why courage?  •Because Joseph was certainly going to be outed as a follower and believer in Jesus Christ.  •Nobody else would want His body. Only people who loved Him would want His body.  And Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin.  •They would certainly remove him from the council.  •They would maybe even persecute him for following a “heretic” all this time while being in their midst. •He would be viewed by the powerful Jews in Jerusalem as an enemy of God, Judaism, and the Jewish People.  •And this could cost him everything.  And he had to “take courage” because of the Roman government as well.  •Pilate may want to kill him too for being a follower of one who claimed to be the King of the Jews.  •Or Pilate could’ve taken Joseph’s request as a criticism of his judgment and the Roman justice system.  •And that would be a dangerous thing to insinuate for a Jew under Roman rule.  In this act of respect and love for Jesus Christ, Joseph put everything on the line.  •His reputation, his family, his career, his future, his livelihood, even his very life was risked in this act.  •He risked everything in order to show honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.  •And he went anyway. He counted all that as nothing compared to honoring Jesus.  •WHAT AN EXAMPLE OF DISCIPLESHIP! Joseph had been a secret disciple (John 19:38). But no more.  •He was publicly aligned with Jesus now, come what may.  •Joseph made it known that he loved Jesus.  NOTE: There ought to be no secret disciples.  •Joseph had been a coward for some time, it seems.  •But not anymore. The time had come. And it was time for the cowardice to die because love for Jesus had taken it’s place.  •His love for Christ and desire to honor Him had pushed Joseph out of the shadows and into public affiliation with Jesus.  •REMEMBER THIS, brother and sisters: Love for Christ will cause us to make ourselves known as His disciples.  •Love for Christ will drive fear out of hearts because we love Him more than we fear men.  •That’s what happened to Joseph here. I know of no other sufficient explanation for such a risk that day.  Oh, Christian, pray that God would grow your love for the Savior.  •Spend time meditating on His great love for you shown at the Cross.  •And, loving Him in return, make yourself known to the world as His disciple.  •Make it known in how you speak, in how you treat others, in how you tell people about the Lord.  •Christian, you’ve taken on His Name in your baptism. Now bear that name before men! •Where there is burning love for Jesus, there is no more room for cowardice before men.  And did you catch this about our brother Joseph? He did this BY HIMSELF.  •Nobody went with him. The other disciples had fled. The Eleven were in hiding. But Joseph goes alone to Pilate to honor Christ.  •Oh, brothers and sisters, even if nobody goes with you or stands with you, make yourself known as a disciple and be faithful to Christ! •Honor Him in your life, and in your speech, even if nobody else will honor Him with you! •He is worthy of your praise and your life, even if nobody else around you sees that He is worthy.  •You know that He is exalted. You know that He is King.  •The opinions of this vain world will one day be damned by Him in the judgment. So stop acting as if they matter.  •Live for Him. Stand for Him, even if you must stand alone. He will stand beside you and strengthen you in that day.  Brothers and sisters, I hope you can see that He is worthy.  •If Joseph was willing to honor the dead Jesus, not understanding that His resurrection was coming, surely, we are willing to honor the Jesus we know IS RISEN AN EXALTED! •He is worthy of our all! He died for us! He has saved us! He is reining as we speak! And He is coming again in glory and power! •Away with our cowardice!  •Do not be ashamed of your King. There is nothing to be ashamed of! •There is coming a Day when shame will only be for those who did not love the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him before men.  •Forget what may happen to you today. Live for that future Day! •In light of these things, like your brother Joseph “take courage” and live for Christ!  •Make yourself known as a disciple! 5.) A final thing I want to put before from the burial of our Lord.  •And this is more of a devotional thought than something I’ll expound on. But I think it’s worth saying to lead you to adore and worship our Lord.  •John 19:41 tells us that the tomb that Jesus was buried in was in a garden.  •And this is no accident. John’s recording it is no accident, either. All is superintended by God.  •There is significance here. There is One Author of Scripture. And there is One Story of Scripture: Jesus Christ and the redemption of God’s People in Him.  So hear this: In a Garden, the Garden of Eden, sin came into the world because the First Adam sinned.  •And by the sin of the First Adam, death came and spread to all men.  •But in another Garden, the Garden where the body of the Last Adam was laid, sin and death would be defeated on the Third Day.  In a garden, the curse came to men.  •In a garden, the Curse-Bearer for men was laid.  •And in a garden, the curse was reversed.  •Our Lord has done it.  •And we are saved.  6.) So, brothers and sisters, in closing let me say this: •Your Lord has died and taken away your sins.  •Your Lord is glorified and forever exalted.  •Your Lord has reversed the curse of sin and death by conquering both in His resurrection.  So, Christian, rejoice in Him, rejoice for Him, and live for Him! •He is the crucified, dead, and risen Lord of all who has saved your soul and is coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead.  •Live for this King! And glory in Him from this time forth and forevermore.  •He is worthy!  •Amen.