Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices on the
Lord's Day to anoint the body of Jesus. Mark says they came when the Sabbath
was past. There may be more to that statement that meets the eye.
The Sabbath really was past. From now on it would be the Lord's Day. Jesus
arose from the dead on Sunday. He made at least five of His appearances on
Sunday. The Church began on Sunday. The first gospel sermon was preached
on Sunday. The first converts were baptized on Sunday. The Church observed
the Lord's Supper on Sunday and they took a special offering on Sunday and
John started the book of Revelation on Sunday. What a grim joke the Lord
would play on the nominal Church members if He staged His Second Coming on
Sunday. WOW!
As they approached the tomb the question uppermost in their mind was who
shall roll away the stone from the door of the tomb. Mark says it was
exceeding great. Three women realized they did not have the physical
strength to do it. The door to the tomb must have been about four feet by
three and that size rock might take two or three men to move.
Of course there should not be any problem here--does not the Bible say, He
shall give His angels charge concerning thee lest haply thou dash thy foot
against a stone? I suppose He'll take care of such things as rolling away
tombstones. Who shall role away the stone from the door of the tomb the
question for us all. Go to the grave of a departed love one and the
question is there, "Who shall roll away this great big rock? For it is
exceeding great." The three women did not have strength to roll away the
stone, but neither did the combined strength of the human race have the
power to roll away that great big rock. For it was exceeding great. The
story of Mark sixteen is the story of the One who did have strength enough
to roll away the stone even though it was exceeding great. It tells us about
what HE did. First it says HE IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN
He is risen is the announcement the angel made to the women. The three
women saw a young man sitting on the right side of the tomb and they were
amazed He was arrayed in white robe of consider that. He was a young man.
Not an old man or a middle-aged man. He was a young man in the prime of
life. Some folk have the idea that Church is for women and kids. Men
sometimes think that religion is for them when they are to old to do
anything else. This young man was no wimp. He rolled away the stone by
himself even though it was exceeding great. Not only that but Matthew tells
us that his countenance was as lightning and the entire Roman guard fell on
their faces and became as dead men.
Maybe you have seen the sign on automobiles and T-shirts that proclaim the
message NO FEAR, that sign is a lot of baloney. When they see the Lord in
His glory with His holy angels all with a countenance of 1ightening they
will fear. Note too that the robe was white, the symbol of purity. That
does not mean that anyone who parades around in a white robe is holy. Any
person can wear a white robe, act holy and still be in reality the grossest
sinner.
The story of the empty tomb is the story of how the fountain of youth was
rediscovered. Anything less that a young man would not suffice. I went to
the fountain of youth about fifty years ago and drank from the fountain of
youth and it did not do me one bit of Good. Only once in human history did a
man say, "Sun stand thou still on Gibeon and moon stand thou still on the
valley of Ajalon. For the rest of us the sun of our earthly life reaches
it's zenith all too soon and poises there for a brief moment and then begins
to set. But here at the empty tomb is youth forever.
We may wish for it here as someone has said in these lines. Let me grow
lovely growing old, so many fine things do. Laces and ivory and gold need
not be new. And there is a beauty in old trees, old streets a glamour
hold. And why may not I as well as these grow lovely growing old. This may
be fine sentiment, but I would rather sing:
I have heard of a land on the far away strand.
In that beautiful home of the soul.
Built by Jesus on high, there we never shall die,
'Tis a land where we'll never grow old.
In that beautiful home where we'll never more roam,
We shall be in the sweet by and by,
Happy praise to the King through eternity sing,
'Tis a land where we never shall die.
When our work here is done, and the life crown is won
And our troubles and trials are o'er.
All our sorrows will end and our voices will blend
With the loved ones who have gone on before
O then come let us go from the toils here below,
To the city where streets are of gold.
The rejoicing to share with the loved ones now there
In the land where we'll never grow old.
The message of the angel was "He is risen" He is not here. There were no
two ways about it. The angel was emphatic. He is risen--He is not here.
He was risen because it was not possible that the bonds of death should hold
Him. If it was not possible for the bonds of death to hold the Christ then
it is not possible for the bonds of death to hold the Christ like. He not
only told them that He is risen, but he also said, "Behold the place where
they laid Him." He showed them the place. It is always good to show others
the place. Show them the place where it tells them what to do to be saved.
Show them the place. By show them the place. When talking of the Lord's
Supper I show them the place. Show them the place where it says upon the
first day of the week we were gathered together to break bread. Not only
does it say He is risen' here is something else that we are told HE DID. He
goeth before you.
HE GOETH BEFORE YOU
He goeth before you into Galilee He told them before He died that after the
resurrection He would go before them into Galilee. He said go tell my
disciples and Peter. He said, "Go tell Peter." Why would He say, tell Peter
when Peter had denied three times that he even knew Him. He said go tell
Peter because Peter has wept. He said go tell Peter because Peter has
repented. He said go tell Peter because Peter has suffered. He said go tell
Peter because he has sinned. He said go tell Peter because I forgive him.
He said go tell Peter because I love him. He said go tell Peter because I
want to use him. He said go tell Peter and the others that I go before them
into Galilee. One has to wonder why make that long trip. They were all in
Judaea at the time. It would be many miles away and transportation was not
what is now. For the benefit of those of you who never read the Bible, and
who don't know any better, there were no planes or buses in the Holy Land in
the time of the Apostles so why would He tell them to go all that distance
when He could just as well have met them in Judaea? It is a question worth
pondering. He may have gone to Galilee before them because, some things the
Lord wants us to do requires effort. Sometimes it is not convenient to do
what the Lord requires of us. Surely there are a lot of things that many
can think of doing on the Lord's Day besides timing up at least half a day
going to the worship service.
I read recently of a boy about five years of age who was being fitted for a
new suit. He looked at himself in the mirror and said, I will sure look
good at Sunday School next Sunday. The sales lady said, "Are you going to
Sunday School next Sunday?" The kid said, "Where else is there to go on
Sunday morning?" The woman said, "That is the best sermon I ever heard."
He may have gone before them into Galilee because Galilee was a despised
place. Nazareth was there and the saying was 'can any good thing come out
of Nazareth?' Judaea was the center of religious activity. Maybe the Lord
wanted to show that the gospel was for the worst of sinners u I go before
them into Galilee maybe it was because He wanted to put emphasis on the need
to carry the gospel over a wide area.
Now let us remember that Jesus had made an appointment for us each peek at
the Lords Table. I read of a Christian Church that had their Easter Sunday
services at a big city convention center recently where thousands would
attend. The announcement was made that, since so many people would be
present who did take the Lord's Supper on a regular basis, it would be
better not to have the Lord's Supper on that day because the many visitors
would feel awkward to have the loaf and cup passed under their nose. What
an opportunity to preach a sermon in action for the unsaved! Remember
whether you keep the appointment or not. There is an appointment that you
will keep. No one will be too busy to keep it. It is appointed unto men
once to die and after this the judgment; you will keep that appointment.
Now here is something else that He did.
HE APPEARED FIRST TO MARY MAGDALENE
He appeared first to Mary Magdalene from whom He had cast out seven demons.
Mary was a woman who could not forget. She could not forget what it was
like to share her body with seven rotten, stinking, filthy, putrid, dirty,
lewd, obscene, coarse, grows, polluted, vulgar, despicable, low down, good
for nothing demons. Woman was first in transgression so I was a woman who
would be first in seeing the risen Lord.
How may times have you heard preachers glibly say that Mary Magdalene was a
prostitute. There is not a shred of scripture that males that statement,
That rumor was probably started by a Church leader in the fourth century
whose name was Ambrose. He was good at starting rumors and this is one of
them: It is axiomatic that if you tell a lie long enough it will be regarded
as truth one gram of scripture will out weigh a ton of man's tradition. This
is the trouble people get into when they look to tradition as a basis for
what they believe. He appeared first unto Mary Magdalene.
Mark also tells us about something else He did. He appeared unto two of them
in another form.
HE APPEARED IN ANOTHER FORM
Luke tells us that there were two of them on their way to the village of
Emmaus. He says they did not know Him at first because their eyes were
Golden. Mark tells us why their eyes were holder. He appeared to them in
another form.
His resurrected body is different. Now He could pass through walls even if
the doors were shuts He could disappear and then appear. Yet He was the same
Jesus. He still had concern for their welfare. He helped them catch a
boatload of fish. He showed compassion for the weeping women at the tomb.
Yet the Apostles saw the difference. No one now leans his head on His
bosom. The old familiarity is gone. The Devil is not tempting Him now His
enemies are completely out of the picture.
We also in our resurrected state will be seen in another form. Different yet
the same. Paul says this body is sown in corruption and raised in
incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness; it is raised in powers. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body.
HE SAID UNTO THEM
He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He said preach the gospel. He did not say preach something else.
He said' he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth
not shall be damned. Jesus says He wants everyone to obey the gospels He
says He all people of every religion, every denomination, of every or creed
to submit to His authority and His authority alone. Is this? Because he
wants all creatures to be saved. I am reporting what Jesus said He said he
that believeth not be damned Now why did Jesus say that? It isn't because He
anyone it is because He loves everyone. If I tell you, that if you go
outside with no clothes on in zero weather with the wind chill at forty
below for a couple of you will die. Your death would be a natural
consequence of action and not because I was unkind If I tell you that you
die if you jump out of an airplane without a parachute, your will be a
natural consequence of your action and not. When Jesus says he that
believeth not shall be damned, your damnation is the natural consequence of
your rejection of Jesus and not because He was unkind. He did not say he
that is baptized and believes later shall be saved He said, He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He did not say, he that believeth
and is saved shall be baptized but He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved. I do not come to argue the point. I do not come to debate the
point. I do not come to what if the point. I do not come to suppose if the
point, I came to announce it. I came to declare it. I came to tell you
what Jesus said. Now you do with it what you will. Jesus said; He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
This has been a critical question for a long time. One of the great
reformers was Huldrych Zwingli. He was a contemporary of Martin Luther, and
John Calvin. There were some foil at that time that did not believe you
could scripturally baptize an infant. Baptism was for those who were old
enough to believe and must be done by immersion.
Zwingli believed that the best way to deal with these deviates was to drown
them. They want water--let's give them water. On the fifth of January 152.
They took a man whose name was Felix Manz out into deep water. They
immersed him, holding him down long enough to drown him. His mother stood on
the shore and proudly observed the martyrdom of her son. He believed in a
believer being immersed so they immersed him.
I must make this confession to you at this time. I have baptized a few live
people myself. Paul says that we died to sin. That is why you are buried in
baptism. If a person has not died to sin--if there is no repentance. That
person was buried alive and arose to live the same old Godless life he lived
before. This is a far greater tragedy than the case of Felix Manz who gave
his life for the truth of God's word. And now consider one more thing He did
He was received up into Heaven.
HE WAS RECEIVED UP INTO HEAVEN
He told them these signs shall accompany them that believe they shall speak
with new tongues, they shall take up serpents if they drink any deadly thing
it shall in no wise hurt them' they shall lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover.
At this point He was received up into Heaven, and sat down at the right hand
of the throne of God. Paul repeats this when he says that Jesus made
purification for sins and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
He said it again when he said that we have a great High Priest who sat down
on the right hand of God.
After His Ascension they went forth and preached everywhere, and the Lord
confirmed the word by the signs that followed. The word does not need a
second confirmation. We don't need to pick up snakes drink poison, or do
something called speaking in tongues to prove the word of God. You don't
need to prove it--just preach its Preach it as they did in the days of the
Apostles and the Lord will still work with us as we preach the word that He
has already confirmed. And this is the story of the resurrection of Jesus
according to Mark This is what He did.
I will now close with the words Paul used at the end of the book of Hebrews:
Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of
the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus makes
us perfect in every good thing to do His will working in us that which is
well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory for
ever and ever Amen.