The Last Breath; The First Ressurection

Series: The Gospel Truth

Text: Mark 15:33-16:8

Introduction: (What?)

Jesus had experienced the most horrible treatment that men could dream up. He was an innocent man who was paying for what others, including you and I, had done. Finally, He was nailed to a Roman Cross, the most heinous method of death that the Romans had devised. Death usually took hours and came through suffocation when the one being crucified could no longer push up against the nails in order to inhale. When Jesus breathed His last breath on the cross, salvation was secured for all who would surrender to Him. Today we will revisit His last breath and the first and ONLY spontaneous resurrection from the dead. Although others had been raised from the dead, there was always an agent, someone whom God used. Jesus alone ROSE from the dead. He had prophesied that Himself when He said, “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I received this command from my Father.” John 10:17-18

Explanation: (Why?)

1. The Last Breath (Mk. 15:33-41)

Last week our choir sang, “He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels.” The point is that at any point Jesus could have pulled the plug on the plan to redeem mankind. He had prayed about that in Gethsemane. The sacrifice for the sins of mankind, past, present and future, was not complete until Jesus drew His last breath. As He said in John 10:18 “I have the right to lay it (his life) down and I have the right to take it up again.” Having the right, and doing are two different things. However, the moment Jesus acted upon those rights, the salvation of all who believed in Him was secured.

.ark 15:33-37 we find the report of the last breath of Jesus. “When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?’ (This is a quote from Psalm 22) When some of those standing there heard this, they said, ‘See, He’s calling for Elijah.’ Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a stick, offered Him a drink and said, ‘Let’s see if Elijah comes to take Him down.’ Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last.”

When Jesus cried out to His Father, it was because for the first time in His life, God was not present with Him. The reason God withdrew His presence was because the past, present and future sins of the whole world had been heaped on Jesus, and God’s wrath was then poured out on Jesus. That is also the reason that in order for anyone to be saved, they must repent from sin. God can only punish sin or forgive it. He only forgives sin when we confess it and turn away from it (repent). Even though all of your sins were heaped on Jesus, you can still refuse His pardon. John made that clear in John 1:11-12 “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name...” Having the right to do something and doing it are two different things. To receive Jesus we must turn away from our sins and acknowledge the fact that Jesus paid the penalty that we deserved. Although we’ve been pardoned by the God of the universe, we can refuse to accept His gift. (George Wilson, 1829, sentenced to death. Pardoned by Pres. Andrew Jackson, but refused the pardon. The U. S. Supreme Court determined, “The court cannot give the prisoner the benefit of a pardon, unless he claims the benefits of it…it is a grant to him: it is his property; and he may accept it or not as he pleases.” Chief Justice John Marshall wrote, “A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power entrusted with the execution of the laws…But delivery is not completed without acceptance.”

In v 37 we find the last breath of Jesus. It was not the faint voice of one whose life was ebbing away, it was a shout of victory. Mark does not tell us what He shouted, but Luke does. “And Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I entrust My Spirit.”

Back in Mark 11:38 we find, “Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This was no ordinary curtain. It was 60 feet long, 20 feet wide and 4 inches thick. The fact that it was torn from “top to bottom” indicates that there was no human action that brought about the tear. God Himself tore the veil and the access to His throne was now available to all who received Jesus. This happened at the very moment that Jesus breathed his last breath. The immediate results was, “When the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God.’” This centurion had personally witnessed 100’s if not 1000’s of crucifixions. He knew that people grew progressively weaker, and most died with a moan or a whimper. Not so with Jesus. He remained strong to the end and cried out with a loud voice.

This passage ends with the acknowledgement of the women who followed Jesus. “There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women followed Him and took care of Him. Many other women had come up with Him to Jerusalem.” Although women have not been given a prominent place in the NT Church, they were and are the chief supporters of Jesus and His ministry.

2. The Burial of Jesus (vv 42-47)

The burial of Jesus was hastily performed because it was already Friday (the day of preparation) evening. At sunset, around 6 pm, the Sabbath would begin. No burial labors were permitted on the Sabbath, so Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had to hurry to get Jesus body buried before sundown. It was probably early evening, around 4 p.m. when he went to Pilate, which left him about two hours to complete the burial. Joseph was a secret follower of Jesus while maintaining his position on the Sanhedrin. He had opposed the counsel’s verdict that Jesus deserved death. For him to come publically to Pilate asking for the body of Jesus was risky at best. It seems that after the crucifixion Joseph chose to make his position regarding Christ known. Another “secret disciple”, Nicodemus, who was also a council member and who had come to Jesus by night in John 3, aided Joseph in burying Jesus. Most victims of crucifixion took days to perish. Jesus died in six hours. Most crucified persons were denied burial but were left for the vultures and various carrion to attack the bodies. The remains were then thrown into the Valley of Hinnon a garbage and sewage dump that was constantly burning. The stench was horrendous. It became a synonym for Hell.

In vv 42-45 we find the picture of these events. “When it was already early evening, because it was the day of preparation (that is the day before the Sabbath), Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, came and boldly went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’s body. Pilate was surprised that He was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had already died. When he found out from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph.” Jesus’ body had to be taken down from the cross, then ceremoniously washed, wrapped in linen cloth with a layer of spices between each layer of cloth before it was taken to the tomb. Assisting Joseph was Nicodemus, (John 19:38-42) also a member of the Sanhedrin. He brought 75 lbs of spices (myrrh and aloes) for the hurried burial. The normal amount of spices used in burying a Jewish person was about 5 lbs. Can you imagine Nicodemus transporting almost 100 lbs of spices, the amount usually used in burying a king, through the streets on the way to Calvary? This man who was afraid to visit Jesus in daylight in John 3 now openly displayed his love for Jesus. The tomb of Joseph was nearby. One had to stoop down to enter the tomb (as Peter and John had to do after the resurrection). Once inside, there was a little side room to the right with a stone slab on which the body was laid. The stone which covered the entrance of the tomb may have weighed 1 1/2 to 2 tons, and was a disk shaped rock which was rolled into a trench over the opening of the tomb. In his book “The Resurrection Factor” Josh McDowell noted that a parenthetical phrase in the Bezae manuscripts in Mk. 16:4 said, ‘And when He was laid there, he (Joseph) put against the tomb a stone which 20 men could not roll away.’

Today in Israel, there is a site called “The Garden Tomb” where visitors can actually go into the tomb. No one knows for certain if this was the actual tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The Catholic church has another site covered by the Church of the Sepulchre where they claim both Golgotha and the tomb of Joseph are. Vv 46-47 bring the burial account to a close. “After he bought some linen cloth, Joseph took him down and wrapped him in the linen. Then he laid him in a tomb cut out of the rock and rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid.” Once again the women, who never left the cross, were onlookers as Jesus was buried.

3. The FIRST and ONLY Resurrection (Mk 16:1-8)

The hastened burial of Jesus had not allowed time for proper anointing of the body according to the Jewish custom. In Mk 16:1-4 we find that the women who had followed Jesus had made plans to complete the burial process. “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome (mother of James and John) bought spices, so that they could go and anoint him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week (Sunday) they went to the tomb at sunrise. They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone from the entrance from the tomb for us?’ Looking up, they noticed that the stone---which was very large---had been rolled away.” They had no way of knowing that during the night the tomb had been sealed with the Roman seal and that guards had been posted because the Sanhedrin feared that Jesus’s disciples might come and steal the body. This was not their only surprise. Seeing the stone removed from the entrance, they ran to the tomb. “When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side; they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he told them. ‘You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put Him. But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will seem Hi there just as He told you.’” Notice the phrase, “He has risen!” The angel did not say, “He has been raised.” True to His word Jesus had “taken up His life again.”

This was the FIRST AND ONLY spontaneous resurrection. Others had been “raised from the dead” by some agent of God through whom He worked. Jesus needed no such agent. He has the power over death.

Also notice that the angel said, “Go tell His disciples…and Peter.” The angel wanted Peter to know that he had been forgiven for denying Christ 3 times. V8 seems to be an understatement of their response. “They went out from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.” They needed some time to process what they had experienced, seen and heard.

Application: (How does this impact my life today?)

There comes a time when each of us has to decide what we will do with Jesus. Several witness training programs open with the question, “if you were to stand before God today and He were to ask, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’ what do you think you would say?” It is a good question because the reality is, your answer will determine your destiny. My dad was 86 years old when my sister asked him that question. Both my brother, who was a missionary and I had tried to talk with Pops about his relationship with the LORD and he usually shut us down. However, the day my sister asked him that question, he gave all the stock answers about being a decent, honest, hard working man, etc. Then she asked, “May I tell you what the Bible says?” and he agreed. She shared the gospel and Pops gave his life to Jesus. My brother and I baptized him the next year when we were both home. Pops had to realize that he was lost before he could be saved. Listen to the great preacher Dr. S. M. Lockridge, and then I want to ask you a final question.

Is Jesus your king? If not, you can change that right now. A simple prayer, “Jesus, I give you my life” is all it takes.