Mark: Jesus Resurrection [Mark 16:1-8]

Mark: Jesus Resurrection []

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

What is the bottom line when it comes to Christianity? What is the one thing that sets Christianity apart? The resurrection of Jesus Christ! You see if the resurrection is true, then so are a number of things: (1) there is a God; (2) Jesus is that God; (3) the Bible is true; (4) heaven and hell are real; and (5) Jesus makes the difference whether you go to one or the other.

Christianity stands or falls on the historical, bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. No resurrection, no Christianity. In , Paul plainly writes, “and if Christ has not been raised from the dead, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.” But we know Jesus has risen from the dead and In 16:1-8, Mark notes several evidences for the resurrection. We will examine the evidence this morning and note its relevance.

The women’s approach to the tomb []

The first observation that’s worth noting is, in all the gospels the women are the discoverers of the empty tomb. All of the gospels emphasize the essential role of the women as witnesses to the resurrection. That may not seem like much to us today, but in that day women didn’t have the rights men did…why does that matter? Women, for example, in Jesus’ time, were not allowed to give witness in a court. Women’s testimonies did not matter and were not permitted…so if you were going to fabricate a story and you wanted it to be believable, in that day, you wouldn’t have women as your primary witnesses. This is actually one of the evidences in support of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fact that the women saw the empty tomb first. You wouldn’t make up a story like that then. Notice...

1. The time of their approach. “the Sabbath was past…very early in the morning, the first day of the week…when the sun had risen.” Remember Mark doesn’t generally give this much detail about anything…so what’s Mark doing? He’s drawing the attention of the reader to what day it is…it’s Sunday. What day do Christians typically gather for corporate worship? Sunday…why? Because Christ was risen on Sunday, the first day of the week.

Another evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the change in the day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday. I always have people ask me why we don’t worship on the Sabbath and here’s why. For centuries Jewish identity had been connected to the observance of the Sabbath, a day that was honored and kept sacred to the Lord. Yet something extraordinary happened around AD 30 that caused a large group of Jews in Jerusalem to change their day of worship from the Sabbath to Sunday. That event was the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The reason we worship on Sunday and not on the Sabbath is we worship a risen Lord on the day He was risen on…simple as that. When someone asks you you say we don’t worship on the Sabbath, we worship on resurrection day.

2. The purpose of their visit. Their purpose was simply to anoint His dead body. It was customary for relatives to visit a grave of a deceased loved one for three days after burial, not necessarily for the purpose of anointing, which typically was done before burial. Joseph and Nicodemus had already done this on Friday, tells us. Some critics use this to critic the gospels, but there’s nothing here for that. The fact that the women are coming three days late for anointing doesn’t mean the gospel accounts are false. This is more of an act of devotion than an embalming ceremony. Ordinarily, nobody would think to give a victim of crucifixion the dignity of anointing…but then again, there was nothing ordinary about Jesus was there.

3. Their concern about the stone. On the way to the tomb reality sets in…how were they going to move the stone from in front of the tomb to go in and anoint Jesus? Typical grave stones were very large and very heavy, it took several men with pry poles to move it. What this indicates to us is the fact that the women clearly didn’t expect a resurrection, even though it doesn’t surprise us. Remember in Luke’s account the angels asked the women, “why do you seek the living among the dead?” the answer was… they were not looking for the living…they were looking for a dead Jesus…but He wasn’t there…He is Risen! One of the beauties of Christianity that sets it apart is, we don’t honor a dead prophet, we worship a risen Lord!

The Empty tomb []

1. The stone had been rolled away. When the women arrived at the tomb the stone had already been rolled away. the implication is obvious: the resurrection had already occured and the stone had been rolled back by supernatural power.

2. The obstacle’s been removed. This great obstacle that had concerned them had already been removed. A point of practical application: what seemingly immovable obstacles are you focusing on that the Lord has already removed. What the women will find out is that the obstacle that controlled their attention and had caused them such anxiety, had already been taken care of by the Lord, that’s a great word for us today isn’t it?…is there something controlling your attention, what is giving you anxiety, is there some obstacle in your way that you’re focused on???…quite focusing on the obstacle and let God take care of it…odds are He’s already removed it.

Mark’s use of language can be somewhat lost in translation here, but he uses the Greek perfect tense…it had already been moved…torn away to allow access. Mark uses a common word for rolled away or torn back that he had used a few times earlier. At Jesus baptism the heavens were torn apart and the Spirit descended like a dove and the Father’s voice said, “this is my beloved Son”; At the death of Jesus on the cross, in chapter 15:37-38, after Jesus died the veil in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, signifying the now open access to God through Jesus sacrifice. Here the tomb was torn back to allow the witnesses in to see...

3. The tomb is empty. The stone wasn’t rolled away so Jesus could get out it was rolled away so the disciples could come in and see for themselves He is risen. The same God that tore the heavens open, that tore the veil apart, the rolled the stone away is the same God who allows men and women access to Him through His Son. As Paul wrote in death where is your sting? Death had no hold on Jesus the creator of life…and the good news is when we put our faith in Jesus the grave has no hold on us as well because Jesus has already conquered the grave. AMEN! When I was in Israel we went to the garden tomb [show pictures] our tour guide through the garden said something I liked, He said, “whether this tomb is actually the tomb Jesus was in is not for sure…but it doesn’t really matter…He’s not there…it’s empty.

An angelic messenger []

1. A “young man” clothed in white linen. Upon entering the tomb they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe, or white linen sitting on the right side. While Mark doesn’t call him an angel, the description makes clear it is. Once again critics use Mark as a point to say the scriptures contradict themselves…but that’s not the case. Just because Mark doesn’t mention two angels like John’s gospel does doesn’t make any difference…perhaps only one angel did the talking and that’s all Mark noted…he’s not always very descriptive remember?

2. The women were afraid. The women’s fear is understandable, this fear is the same fear the disciples felt toward Jesus when they were on the boat and a storm came on while Jesus was sleeping, they woke Jesus up, he rebuked the storm and it was instantly calm…and the disciples were more afraid than they were during the storm. While the women feared the angels message was crystal clear...

3. Do not fear…He is risen! Read verse 6 again. He was dead for sure, He was not in a coma or sleeping or drugged as some have suggested…He surely died…but He is no longer dead…HE IS RISEN!!! I know we are closer to Christmas than Easter, but every Sunday is Easter Sunday because HE IS RISEN!

A word for the disciples []

1. Go tell the disciples…and Peter. After the incredible news of Jesus resurrection, the angel gave a charge to the women and a message for the disciples. It’s especially interesting that the angel said for them to go tell the disciples and Peter. Given Peter had a special need for this message. Peter had denied the Lord three times, and this message was especially needed. It’s when you fail miserably that you especially need God’s hand to pick you up right....and that’s what God does. The message...

2. He is going before you. This goes back to what Jesus had told them before, , Jesus said, “after I rise, I will go before you to Galilee.” This reassurance is that Jesus still calls them His, even after they failed Him. What reassurance it is that Jesus goes before us, I heard a popular modern preacher, that I don’t agree with on many things, say “God’s got your back” and once again I disagree with him…no God goes before us! Amen.

3. You will see Him. This again goes back to what Jesus had already told them. They will see Him, the bodily risen Lord Jesus Christ…they will see Him. This is another one of the evidences of the resurrection. Postresurrection appearances. The NT records many occasions when Jesus appeared to His followers after His resurrection [; ; ; ; ; ]. The disciples claimed that Jesus appeared at different times and to different people. Some appearances were to groups while others were to individuals. The appearances lasted for 40 days and then came an abrupt stop after Jesus’ ascension back to heaven.

And the bible tells us that one day..that every person will see Jesus again and bow before Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.

The women’s response []

1. They made haste to go and tell. So they fled from the tomb to go and tell. They were in a hurry to get away.

2. They trembled and were amazed. their trembling and amazement, in the Greek, suggests they were ‘outside themselves’ or ‘beside themselves’. It has the idea of a loss self-control…they were so amazed they left and...

3. They said nothing to anyone. the double negative is good Greek for emphatic language. they said nothing to no one! Now that isn’t to say they never said nothing to no one, because we know they eventually did. But at first their shock left them speechless.

Sinclair Ferguson puts in perspective: he said… “Should they not have returned home rejoicing in the news they had heard? Is there not something unexpected about this response? That in itself is a mark of its authenticity [if we were to invent a story we wouldn’t end it this way.] In Mark’s gospel, this fear is always man’s response to the breaking in of the power of God. It is the fear the disciples experienced when Jesus stilled the storm; the fear of the Gerasenes when Jesus delivered Legion; the fear of the disciples as they saw Jesus setting his face to Jerusalem to die on the cross. This fear is the response of men and women to Jesus as he shows his power and majesty as the Son of God.”

What is our response to the resurrection of Jesus Christ? We’ll come back to that question in a moment.

I just want point out a few more evidences for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

One, The radically changed lives of the disciples. We’ve seen the disciples throughout Mark’s gospel, and we’ve gotten familiar with them. Something happened to them that caused them to believe they had genuine encounters with the risen Lord. And these encounters changed them from fearful cowards in hiding to bold witnesses of the resurrected Christ. In addition to witnesses, all but John died as martyrs, still proclaiming Jesus as the risen Lord. Even though people will die for a lie if they believe it’s true, what people will not do is die for what they know is a lie. These disciples laid down their lives proclaiming the risen Lord.

another evidence is, The claims of Jesus. On numerous occasions Jesus spoke of His crucifixion and resurrection. he claimed He was God and He said He would come back from the dead. To claim Jesus as a great religious figure and moral teacher while believing that His prediction of His resurrection was wrong would make Him either a liar or a lunatic. The resurrection is essential to the confession that Jesus is Lord. Everything hinges on it.

Another evidence is, the reliable eyewitness documents recording the events. The NT is the most well-authenticated document of all time, a fact no textual critic of any theological persuasion would deny. More than 5,600 Greek manuscripts of the NT exist. These are of earlier date and more reliable in nature than any other literary work in history. And they were written by eyewitness followers of Christ. No other religion has in its sacred writings what Christians have in the NT.

One final evidence I’ll share, though there are numerous more, is the slight variation in the gospel record about the resurrection. You might think that doesn’t sound like evidence supporting it? But it actually does. Take for example a newspaper article, if you took several different newspapers all covering the same thing they would vary slightly in the minor details but the major points remain the same…that is in fact evidence of authenticity…if every account was exactly the same that would be suspicious…what you have in the gospels. The minor details vary from author to author, but the major points stay the same.

Why is the resurrection so important? The resurrection verifies the truthfulness of the deity of Jesus Christ and provides hope for the believers resurrection [; ; ; ; ;] The resurrection indicates God’s approval of Jesus-who He is and what he said. God’s approval includes Jesus’ message about the way people can receive eternal life… Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.”

The resurrection tells us that the God who raised Jesus from the dead exists. It establishes Jesus’ lordship. The resurrection promises victory over death and it is a pledge of God’s final judgment.

The defining text on the resurrection if [study for yourself]. It is both apologetic and theological in its treatment of this great doctrine. Both the death of Christ and the resurrection are part of the definition of the gospel. The gospel is Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and He was raised again the third day-according to the scriptures. The resurrection is the crowning moment of the work of atonement provided by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The relevance of the resurrection is applicable as well. Just take for example the daily routines of people. You get up, to go to work, to buy what you need to live, to go home, to go to sleep, to get up, to go to work, to get what you need, to go home, to go to sleep, to get up.... How many people caught up in this routine ask…is there more than this? Is this it? Is life only about getting up, to go to work, to get food, to go to sleep, to get up, and do it all over again? The resurrection says…there is more, much more. There is more to life than this rat race of getting up, going to work, to get food, to come home, to go to sleep, to get up…there’s life abundantly in Christ Jesus because...

Jesus is indeed risen…you can reject Him, but you cannot ignore Him. What Jesus did in rising from the dead demands a response…how have you responded to the Risen Lord Jesus?

Let me illustrate it this way… [you need a chair to sit in]

I believe this chair will hold me when I sit in it, I can tell everyone, I believe it will hold me up, it’s well made, it’s held up other people, I’ve been around it for a long time, it’ll surely hold me…but have you sat in it? Well no, I’ve never sat in it before, then how do you know it’ll hold you up? I believe it will.

[Pause…should I sit in it?]

Sit down…see I knew it would. This may be where someone is today, I believe the whole Jesus thing but never really sat in Him…have you placed your trust in Him? Maybe you had a sort of intellectual assent but never placed your trust in Jesus as Lord of your life and Savior of your soul. Today might be the moment you finally sit down in what you say you believe in.