Mark Chapter 16, I mentioned that the first week that we began Mark Chapter 15, that Mark 15 is much slower than the chapters before it, and it's much, much slower than Chapter 16. So we'll read Mark 16. Don't expect 10 more sermons from the Gospel of Mark. Mark lands the plane rather quickly. So Mark 16, I'll begin reading at verse 1. If you are using the Pew Bible, it's page 716. But in your Bible, maybe you bring your own copy of the Word of God with you. And I would encourage, actually, everybody to bring a copy of the Bible and follow along and get to know your physical copy of the Bible. That's a good thing. you may notice, if you brought your own Bible, that I'm gonna read past what you may have in your Bible. So there's a textual issue for the ending of Mark. There's a long ending and there's a short ending. We're not dealing with that today. We will deal with that, but not today. But I want you to know that if I keep reading, don't think this guy's got a cold and now he's making stuff up. I'm reading what's here. So we'll deal with that in a future lesson from Mark 16. But tonight we will read the whole of the chapter and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 8 this evening. So Mark 16, hear God's word. Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices that they might come and anoint him. Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. And they said among themselves, who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us? But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he said to you. So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb. For they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, and they mourned and wept. And when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After that, he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. Later, he appeared to the 11 as they sat at table And he rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents. And if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. So then after the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven. and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen." And here ends the reading of the Gospel of Mark. May God bless that reading to our hearts and our minds. In Mark 15, the Lord Jesus died and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, which we saw last time. This was on a Friday, right before sundown. And the Sabbath, remember, for the Jews, the Sabbath is on Saturday and then it changes the Sabbath is upon them. So Jesus is laid in a grave, Friday night, and there's silence. And then there's Saturday, often called Holy Saturday, and there's silence. Sunday morning comes before the sun rises. and there is silence. One writer said, never was there such a Sabbath since it was first instituted, which the first words of this chapter tell us were now past. During all this Sabbath, our Lord Jesus lay in the grave. It was to him a Sabbath of rest, but a silent Sabbath. It was to his disciples a melancholy Sabbath, spent in tears and in fears. Never were the Sabbath services in the temple such an abomination to God when the chief priests who presided in them had their hands full of blood. Well, this Sabbath is over, and the first day of the week is the first day of a new world. When we think about Jesus here laying dead in the grave in the silence that's upon them, in all of that, whatever that experience was of the disciples. Peter going back to the nets, as we know, he goes back to fishing. Disciples scattered in fear of what the Jews may do to them. The women in tears as they watch our Lord die. This was not the end of Jesus Christ. Brahma was dead in 1400 BC. Zoroaster was dead in 1000 BC. Buddha died in 483 BC. Confucius died in 479 BC. Muhammad died in 632. Jesus Christ died, but rose again. Our text is Mark 16, one through eight. And we see in this text that Jesus is raised from the dead, that he is alive. There is a resurrection that happens. Jesus is not a religious leader who dies and is in the grave and you and I can go and visit his body in a tomb. You know, if we were good communists, we could go and see Lenin dead in the tomb. But when you go to the alleged places where Jesus was buried, the thing that is common among them, you know, there's a Protestant tradition and a Catholic tradition for where Jesus was buried, if you go to Jerusalem. The thing that is common of them is that they are both empty. because Jesus Christ was resurrected. Now, what can we learn from this resurrection this evening? I want to share a few things with you. The first being that this resurrection was a historical resurrection. It was a historical resurrection. If you look at verses one through four, time and time again in the gospel writers, including Mark, what they do right after the story of Jesus being placed in the grave, they begin to tie historical facts together. They don't pull a big curtain over the grave and let a whole bunch of things happen behind the scene that you and I are not privy to. There are historical facts that are unfolded that you and I may go and discover those truths. You can remember the Jews at the time, the leadership. Upon hearing that the resurrection has happened, they desire to create a scandal around it. They want to say that it's not true, and they begin to create a myth, an early myth around the resurrection. But there are eyewitnesses. There are people there that can say, here's what I saw. Here's what I experienced. And you can pull all of those eyewitnesses from among the women, from among the many that after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to and spoke with. And you could ask them to give an account of the historicity of the resurrection. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that women were not allowed to serve as eyewitnesses in Roman society. Don't you think that if Mark or any of the other gospel writers were sitting in a room coming up with a conspiracy about the resurrection of Christ. And they said, who are we going to put down as witnesses? Who are we going to say are witnesses? If it was a conspiracy, somebody might say, you know, say Mark says, well, I think we need some women on that list. The other guys would be like, no, you can't have women on that list. Because they're not credible eyewitnesses according to Roman society. But in the historical account of the resurrection, the gospel writers are quite happy to say, here's the women, you can interview them. They don't necessarily like or dislike that women are the ones that saw the facts of the resurrection. They're just saying, check out the account for yourself. These women come to properly care for the body of Jesus. And as they come to prepare it for burial, remember Joseph of Arimathea, he, with the help of Nicodemus, they take Jesus off the cross. They would have bathed the body, wrapped the body in new linens. They put him, his body, in the grave that belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. But because the clock was ticking, because it was getting close to that time where the Sabbath began, one thing they didn't have time to do was to properly anoint the body with the spices that were customary at the time for preparing a body for burial. There would be certain spices that were included on the body so that as it decomposed, those spices would cover some of that smell. And they did not have time, because of the Sabbath day, to properly do that for Jesus. Maybe you've been to a predominantly Jewish neighborhood You know, maybe some of you have been to Pittsburgh, and in Pittsburgh, there's Squirrel Hill, and if you go and you walk on the commercial area of Squirrel Hill, on doors, it will say, you know, open Monday, open Tuesday, and it'll give the times, and then for Saturday, because it's a Jewish neighborhood, it will say what time the sun is going down. And the stores will close just a couple of minutes before that, saying we're going to keep the Sabbath beginning at this time. So here, last week, Joseph of Arimathea is preparing the body, and the clock is ticking and ticking and ticking, and he comes to the end and he says, I don't have time to do anything more. The Sabbath comes, they go through the worship services, they're doing what they do on the Sabbath, and now the sun is about to come up on Sunday morning, and these women go with the spices to finish what they planned on doing on Friday evening. But what I want you to see is that the women going to the grave in itself is something that points to the fact that this is a historical resurrection. And the reason why is that these women, as they go, they are coming with great anxiety. They're coming with great difficulty. They're not coming with any expectation that the body of Jesus is not going to be there. It's part of their thinking and their conversation, and they come. And they use historical words. There are markers that show the historicity of the event. The names of the women are given. We know it's right as the sun comes up. So you can say, where were you at 5.30 in the morning on this date? And they're there. And the day is given, a Sunday morning They did not come with a conspiracy. And if you'll pardon me, in one sense, they came foolishly. They came with the spices, but what's their conversation around? We're not going to be able to get in there. That door is too heavy for us. We can't open that door. We can't roll around. We can't roll this stone away. You see the tombs of the wealthy, were essentially caves. Jews were not buried underground. Jews were buried in caves. And they did not go into the ground the way we think of going into the ground. But so to deter grave robbers from robbing these caves where people were buried The wealthy were able to come up with really an expensive yet brilliant idea where there's a round stone, rather flat but round, and it's on a line in the ground that angles down. So if you are going to close the tomb because of the angle of it, you can close it rather easily. But to open the tomb, you need all of this strength to push this round stone uphill. that opens the tomb. So these women come, and they've got their spices, they're ready to anoint the body, and they're not thinking, as I noted, of conspiracy. They're not thinking, okay, now we have to come up with a story about Jesus. They're coming without even the ability to do what they want to do. It's a historical resurrection. These women had not thought this through, and yet it is open. Now, of course, there's grander discussion around the historicity of the resurrection. There's often three markers that are spoken of when talking about the historicity of the resurrection. The first is called the Jerusalem factor, meaning that The tomb in Jerusalem is empty, and the first disciples preach about the resurrection. This is right away, as part of the Christian message, that a resurrection had occurred. And if people within the city of Jerusalem are hearing that the disciples are preaching the resurrection, and they keep pointing to an empty tomb, If this were a conspiracy, then you would think that somebody, maybe from the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the scribes or somebody that wants the gospel to not be true, they could show the body. They could say, what they're preaching is not true. Here's the body, here's what they've done with it. But it never occurs. Secondly, we talk about the enemies of Jesus saying that the body had been stolen. Well, why is that a proof for the historicity of the resurrection? It's a proof because it proves that there's not a body. There's not a body there. They don't know what happens with it. So they're like, clearly these guys stole it and moved it. So the historical fact is that the body of Christ was not in the tomb Sunday morning. And then thirdly, as I've noted, the testimony of the women seeing the resurrection of Jesus, the testimony coming from women was questionable at best at the time. And if it was a conspiracy, they really did it in the worst way possible, by getting women to testify rather than men. And I know that sounds terribly sexist, but it is the way of the ancient world So no one is expecting a resurrection, but the resurrection occurs, and it is a historical fact. It's something that you can test against history. You can read ancient accounts of this discussion, and you can find that this is something that is historical. But also, in verses five and six, we see that the resurrection of Jesus is a supernatural resurrection. Verses five and six says, in entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. So there's several things to note about the supernatural aspect of the resurrection. The first being in verse five, where it says a young man clothed in a white robe is there. So the women, they come in the tomb and we're told on the right side, another historical fact of course, on the right side there is this young man and he's got a long robe on and he's interacting with them. But Matthew 28 verse 2 tells us, behold, there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it. So Matthew tells us that this is an angel who comes down from heaven, moves the door and is sitting there waiting for these women to come. And this young man, this angel, he comes, he opens the tomb, and this angel is the first one that announces the resurrection. Jesus Christ has been raised. He is risen. He is not here. That was said supernaturally. It was said by an angel. Now, we know that that's something that is extraordinary, like you're not going to go home and you say, oh, I was going to make lunch for tomorrow. Where's the cheese? And, you know, an angel is not going to appear and say the cheese is here or anything to that effect. This is something supernatural that is connected specifically to this time of transition where Jesus Christ is raised and this new world is going to be upon us. And we know that this is a time of transition within the life of the people of God. That quote that I began with, as the Sabbath ends and Sunday, which is the Christian Sabbath, as that Christian Sabbath begins and the sun rises and it arises to a new world, that's not hyperbole. It is a new world. It is a new time of God's dealing with men. It is supernatural in the sense that this angel makes a pronouncement that should cause you, in your ear, to go back to other times within the Word of God and think of other great times of transition. And that message was or that word from the Lord is do not be alarmed or do not fear. You can think of all of the history of redemption. And as these great times of transition occur, these supernatural times when, say, worship changes tremendously, or the people are moved from this area to this area, or a time of special blessing, or if I can use a word that our confession does use, a new dispensation comes upon the people of God. That proclamation of do not fear accompanies it. It is a supernatural thing what is happening here as the way of God dealing with the children of men changes. Why is this? Why do not fear? Why should the people of God and these women in particular not fear? It is because Jesus Christ is risen. And what supernatural message is connected to that is something that we all have to look forward to. And it is this. that all will be right in the world. Think of that. Think of all the mess within your life, all of the hurts and the pains. Think of all of those times of difficulty. And the reality is, Because that tomb is open and because Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, it may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, it may not be the next day, but all will be right in the world for Jesus has made all things new. That's what the word of God says. And it is super natural. Notice our text says, he is risen. He is risen. Revelation says, I am he that lives and was dead. He appears in the midst of the praises of the heavenly hosts as the one who is the lamb who has been slain. And friends, it is good for you to hear that he is risen. He is not dead, but he is alive again. Jesus Christ has conquered death. See, the Bible indicates, in context of this being a supernatural resurrection, that all three persons of the Trinity are involved in this resurrection. Galatians 1, verse 1, says that the Father raised Jesus from the dead. 1 Peter 3, verse 18, says that the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. You can also look at Romans 1 or Romans 8. And in John 2, Jesus predicts that he will raise himself from the dead. So when we talk about this, He is risen. Well, who raised Jesus from the dead? It is the Father. It is the Son. It is the Holy Spirit. It is a Trinitarian and supernatural work of God to raise Jesus from the dead. This angelic announcement that He is risen, the first pronouncement of this fact in beginning this Christian era, It is supernatural. But we see one other aspect of this resurrection in the text. We see, thirdly, that it is a proclaimed resurrection. Draw your attention to verse 7 and 8. It says, Go and tell his disciples. This is what the angel says. And Peter. that he is going before you in Galilee, and there you will see him, as he said to you. And they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." So this gospel, this gospel of a resurrected Jesus Christ is a gospel that is intended to be proclaimed. The resurrection is intended to be proclaimed. The angel doesn't say, He is not here. He is risen. It is a new day. Now, go back to doing whatever you were going to do. He tells them to go and to tell that Master is dead, their hopes and joys were buried. These women had come to an end of themselves. And this angel says to go. And as they were told to go and to tell, the angel's very specific. He says, go tell the disciples. Go tell those that have been following me. But I also want you to hear, and maybe we can mentally connect this to this morning's sermon. I want you to see that the gospel goes to those who are also in need of restoration. Jesus is not done with Peter. Peter may be done with Jesus. But Jesus is not done with Peter. So he says, go tell the disciples and Peter. See, Peter had walked away. He is mentally checked out. And that resurrection message goes to those who are in need of restoration. where essentially those that have turned away from the Lord or turned away from the things of God or the kingdom of God, that proclamation of restoration being available is there from the Lord. And notice also that we're told that Jesus is going to go before them into Galilee. and that they will see him. We know that this is something that Jesus has been preparing them for. He's told them what he's going to do. He's told them where to meet after he is raised. And all of this has been missed in some way. But the angel says, go and tell them this and where Jesus will meet you and go and tell Peter. And then I want to draw your attention to their response. The text says that in all of this, there was three things, trembling and amazement and fear. Fear being honor, respect. trembling amazement and fear. Friends, as you consider the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and what the resurrection means for both the history of the world, as well as God's dealing with men, as well as you in particular, your response should be something that fills you with response. This should not be something where we've spent. I mentioned it in the pastor's report, however many sermons, lots of sermons through the gospel of Mark, and we come here to the resurrection. And you say, OK, he's raised. And get on with your life. You must call on yourself, as Psalm 103 calls, on the heart of David to bless the Lord. As David calls on his own heart, so too you ought to call on your own heart and say, what is my response to a resurrected Jesus? Does it matter to me? Would it change my life at all if Jesus was dead in the grave? Or does it change everything for you? that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. The response of these women, trembling, amazement, fear. So honor, respect, filled with the excitement of it, filled with the wonder, what is this that God is doing? Friends, does the resurrection move you? Does it cause you to consider the great lengths that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, go back in your mind to the very first words, the opening words of Mark's gospel. Does it cause you to consider the great lengths that Jesus Christ has gone to, to change the history of the world? and to change God's dealings with men and to even change your own life. You see, Jesus is raised from the dead, and we are called to apply that. I'll give you a couple of applications as we close, the first of which is that the way that resurrection is often talked about, either in art or in literature or in religion, in all of these different ways that resurrection is talked about, it's always a metaphor, isn't it? It's always a metaphor for something, new life, et cetera. Jesus's resurrection secures things that are applications. But Jesus's resurrection is not a metaphor. It is historical. It is reality. It is documented. It is witnessed. And it is real. The gospel went forth right from the beginning of the Christian faith with the central message of Christianity being the message of a resurrected and then ascending and seated Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 3, without controversy, Great is the mystery of godliness. Meaning, there is no controversy here. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory. The Apostle Paul says, this isn't even controversial. This is the reality of Christianity. It is not a metaphor. It is a fact. Secondly, salvation for God's people was secured through the resurrection. Why are you a Christian? Why are you able, as we say, why are you able to be saved? Why are your sins forgiven? It is because Jesus Christ is risen. It is because he secured what he claimed he was going to do. If Jesus failed at securing salvation, God would have left him in the grave. But he is vindicated, which means you are able to be right. with God, and others are able to be right with God. Jesus Christ lives that you may live. Connected to that, the third application is that Jesus Christ is called, and we'll get to this way at the end of the first Corinthian series, he is called the first fruit for a reason. He is the first fruit of those who are raised from the dead. Jesus Christ has conquered death. He's the first one, the first fruit. He's raised from the dead so that you and I can look to Him who conquered death and to know that death no longer has the sting that it once had. That you and I can go even to that time where we will die and everyone here will die unless the Lord returns beforehand. But every one of us will die. and you are able to come to death knowing that Jesus Christ has conquered death, that your Redeemer lives, and one day you will walk on this earth with Him. Friends, this is such a great encouragement to us as Christians. For so many, the death of a loved one is something that they're never able to get past or never able to get over. And I understand there's certain aspects of mourning that we'll always have with us. But the big picture of mourning death and longing for that person and never the idea that you'll never see that person again. Jesus Christ has conquered that for all of those who are in him. Meaning those who have gone before you in Christ. Those loved ones, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children that are lost, good friends, college roommates. All of these people that die in our lives. Those that die in Christ die in the hope that Jesus Christ has conquered death. And that is because of the resurrection. And lastly, The resurrection changes worship. I alluded to that with that phrase, fear not, or do not be afraid, that these great transitions, there's these beautiful times that you can read about in the word of God as worship goes from here, and then there's this major shift, and as major shifts happen, everyone's like, I'm scared, I'm scared, I don't like change. And the Lord says, do not be afraid, fear not. And the change happens, and things are going, and things are going, and the people of God. And there's this big transition that happens, and the people of God look on and they say, I'm afraid, I'm scared, I don't like change. And the Lord says, do not fear. The resurrection brings that last great change to worship until eternity. And God says, don't be afraid. Don't fear. This great change is going to come upon worship. And friends, it is a great change. You have never seen me slaughter an animal in worship. And if you do, call the presbytery. That is a change because the sacrifice is done. It is finished. And all of the great ceremony and all of the smells and bells of the temple that were so well known, all of those go away and they're replaced with this. What is this? Simplicity. Salvation has been secured. Jesus is risen. The Sabbath transitions, public worship transitions, the leadership of the new church transitions, all of worship changes. And the change occurs with the focus no longer being on a God that saved his people in the time of Moses, on a lamb that was slaughtered, But the new transition is on a lamb that was slaughtered and was raised from the dead. The resurrection becomes central to worship. Friends, the resurrection as we consider it, it is something that we can look at and we can know that it is historical. and that it is supernatural and it is proclaimed and it changes everything. Jesus Christ is risen. Amen. Lord, we thank you for the resurrection of Christ. We thank you that he was not left in the grave. but instead will be or was raised to newness of life, even pointing us to this very fact that we too will be raised from the dead. Amen.