John Calvin Commentary Mark 15:43

"there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a councillor of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God; and he boldly went in unto Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus." — Mark 15:43 (ASV)

Mark 15:43 and Luke 23:51. Who also himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. The highest commendation bestowed on Joseph is that he waited for the kingdom of God. He is also praised, no doubt, for righteousness, but this waiting for the kingdom of God was the root and source of his righteousness.

By the kingdom of God, we must understand the renovation promised through Christ. For the perfection of order, which the prophets had everywhere promised would exist at the coming of Christ, cannot exist unless God assembles under His government those people who had gone astray.

Therefore, it is pointed out in commendation of Joseph’s piety that during the disorder which then prevailed, he cherished the hope of that redemption God had promised. From this also arises the fear of God and the desire of holiness and uprightness, for it is impossible for anyone to dedicate himself to God unless he expects that God will be his deliverer.

Yet let us observe that while salvation through Christ was promised indiscriminately to all the Jews, and while the promise of it was common to them all, it is only of a very few that the Holy Spirit testifies what we are told here of Joseph. Therefore, it is evident that nearly all the people had buried in shameful forgetfulness the inestimable grace of God.

All of them, indeed, had on their lips the language of boasting about the coming of Christ, which was approaching, but few had the covenant of God fixed in their minds so as to rise by faith to spiritual renovation. That was indeed a terrible insensibility, and therefore we need not wonder if pure religion fell into decay when the faith of salvation was extinguished.

Would that a similar corruption did not prevail in this unhappy age!

Christ once appeared as a Redeemer to the Jews and to the whole world, as had been declared in the predictions of the prophets. He set up the kingdom of God, by restoring affairs from confusion and disorder to a regular and proper condition. He has assigned to us a period of warfare to exercise our patience until He comes again from heaven to complete His reign which He has commenced.

How many are there who aspire to this hope, even in a moderate degree? Do not almost all cling to the earth, as if there had been no promise of a resurrection?

But while most people, forgetful of their end, fall away on all sides, let us remember that it is a virtue peculiar to believers to seek the things which are above (Colossians 3:1), and especially since the grace of God has shone upon us through the Gospel, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, justly, and piously, in the present world, looking for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of the great God,
(Titus 2:11–13).