"The Resurrection of the Christ" - Mark 16:1-8

This morning we are once again privileged to sit under the preaching of the Word of God.

If you're able, please stand with me as I will read to you the passage that Brian has taken for today, Mark chapter 16, verses 1 through 8.

Mark 16:1–8

Remind you again, this is God's word.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary, Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salmone brought spices so that they might come and anoint him.

Very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

They were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?

Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large.

Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed.

He said to them, Do not be amazed.

You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified.

He is risen.

He is not here.

Behold, here is the place where they laid him.

But go and tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you to Galilee, and there you will see him, just as he told you.

They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them.

They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

This is the word of God.

You may be seated.

Brian, please come.

Father, we are humbled to be able to be here for worship.

This should not be our blessing, our privilege, but it is by your grace.

And so we ask you that as we worship in the Word, that you would change us and challenge us and encourage us and thrill us with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Especially the fact that he lives again.

And so we ask you to lead and guide our hearts and our very souls to be in tune with your word as we go through it.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

Well, today is the last sermon that we're going to have in our study through the book of Mark.

We have been going through this book for pretty close to a year now, and it's been wonderful.

There are some real highlights in the book of Mark that draw our attention to the glory and majesty of the gospel of this great God and this king.

I just say it's such a blessing to be in the Word as it points our hearts, our souls, and all of our affections to the life and work of this Redeemer, this Savior.

We have to remember that all scripture is inspired by God or God breathed, and Mark therefore has written this book under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

But I would say there's just some parts of this book, and as there is with most books of the Bible, that just really stand out, that just glow off of the page of Scripture.

For example, I would say in verse 15 of the first chapter, where Jesus tells us what his work and message is, it just stands out.

What we see there is after he's baptized and the Father pronounces his pleasure in his son, and then Jesus conquers some Satan's temptations in the wilderness.

Verse 15 goes on to tell us the time is fulfilled.

It says the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

This is Jesus' message for his ministry, and it's really a main theme throughout the account that Mark gives us.

We also see throughout its pages many people miraculously healed, including a leper.

One of my favorite accounts is that the guy who's lowered down on the mat as his friends tear apart the roof to get him to the feet of Jesus.

What a wonderful blessing to see that this guy's healed not only of his physical infirmity, but as a bondage to sin, and that he has such wonderful friends to be able to do such a thing.

We see great miracles such as the feeding of thousands twice, from hardly anything at all to begin with.

We see Jesus' continued rebuke of the religious elite of his day, one of my favorites.

Then in chapter 9, we see that wonderful time when Jesus is transfigured on the top of the mountain, where he reveals a glimpse of his glory to three of his apostles.

In Mark 10.45, we see maybe the most important verse in the whole book.

Mark 10.45 says, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

And I want you to think about this as I'm preaching.

Did Mark convince you?

Did he get the job done, so to speak?

He began his book by saying in verse 1 that this is a record of the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

So are you satisfied with his explanation?

He told us from the start that he's simply just going to tell us about the life of the Son of God and his gospel.

And so as we went through this book, studying and enjoying its truths, do you now see this is good news?

Or have you?

Well, after today's passage and after what we've studied, I hope so, because we're just going to finish this series where Mark finished the account, and that is with, of course, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

This is a passage to truly rejoice in.

Our Lord has been resurrected on high.

But before we dig into this passage and rejoice in what this text has to say to us about the resurrection of our Lord, and we're going to do that in just a moment, but I feel compelled to spend a few moments talking about the last 12 verses of the text.

Maybe you noticed that I said, this is our last one, and you're going, well, what about 9 through 20?

There's much to be said, and there's no shortage of discussions about these verses that have taken place down through the centuries, but for today I just want to help us to see what I believe is true about those passages and help clear it up, if you will, before we get to what's really important, which is again the resurrection of Christ.

And so I'm just going to begin that part of the message today by reiterating again that God's word is inspired, okay?

We have to remember that it is true, accurate, authoritative in every way.

What we have in our laps right now, whether it's the New American Standard, the ESV, the NIV, the New King James, the CSV, whatever it is, you have a trustworthy translation of the Bible.

And there's more than that.

Some, there are some that are not so trustworthy to be sure, and I'm happy to speak with you later on about that if you want.

But the point is, and I can't emphasize this enough, if you have one of those faithful translations, you have the authoritative, complete, and sufficient Word of God today, right now in your lap.

Praise God.

But that being said, if you look down at your Bible, most of you will likely see brackets.

Okay, brackets around verses 9 to 20.

Now, the reason that those are there is because those verses were almost certainly not found in the oldest of manuscripts.

They have likely been added later.

Not long after Mark wrote it, but it wasn't Mark.

Now, if you have a King James version right now, you're probably saying to yourself, mine doesn't have brackets.

That's because the King James was translated from much, much later manuscripts than the original.

But that doesn't mean that you should chuck it.

It's God's word, and it's still faithful to reveal to us the person and work of Jesus Christ and the redemptive story of our holy God.

It just doesn't take into account the oldest of manuscripts.

And so the manuscripts that most of the versions are drawn from today are very old.

These manuscripts are as old as the first century, and we have complete Bibles that are as old as the fourth century.

For example, there's a manuscript that is dated to the early second century that is written on paprus.

This is the most glorious part today.

Okay, ready?

The Chester Beoti Papyrus.

It consists of all four Gospels, the book of Acts, and this is well as others that they do not include those twelve verses, the oldest.

That's why we have it in modern translations, but it's in brackets to show us, yeah, it's there later on, but really probably not from the pen of Mark.

But again, don't let that keep you from resting in the Holy Spirit's ability to keep his word and to hold forth its truth continually, and don't let it keep you from reading the 16th chapter of the book of Mark, and just be overwhelmed at the power of God and his resurrection, because that's the theme either way.

I want to say one more thing about the fact that even though verses 9 to 20 are not found in the original manuscripts, it does not contradict nor take away from the truth of the word.

Okay?

And what I mean by that is twofold.

For starters, most of those verses, this is interesting, most of those verses can be found in other gospel accounts.

So most of verse 9 is taken straight out of Luke 8.1.

Verse 10 looks like it's taken straight out of John 20, verse 8.

John 20:8

Verse 12 can be found in Luke 24 about the account on the road to Emmaus.

Verse 15 is obviously drawn from Matthew 28 and so on.

So we can trust it.

Second and most importantly, though, this is an issue of transmission and not inspiration.

Okay, even though these last verses are probably not in the originals and not in the oldest manuscripts available, that's for sure.

That doesn't mean that God's word is now invalidated.

It's just an issue of transmission.

And this is what I mean by that.

As I've heard it said, it means that we have 100.5% of God's word.

We're not missing anything.

It's not that we have 99% and we're missing that key one.

We have it all, and we have some added words later on.

Again, it's not that they're in any way contradictory to the truth of the word, it's mainly a compilation of other passages that were added to Mark's account, and this is the key, by a good-hearted but wrong-headed scribe.

And I thank God that even though these words were added later on, we still have 25,000 manuscripts of the Bible.

Do you know that?

5,500 Greek New Testament manuscripts available at our disposal or so.

That is unheard of and unprecedented in society.

That should give you confidence in the Word of God.

Because even the most celebrated historical accounts, take Homer's writings, for example, they can be dated back as far as the 1200s.

The most recent manuscripts, celebrated uh writings of Homer from our culture, about Troy, for example, they are only dated back to 1200s AD.

That's interesting because there's very few of those, and Homer's writings were before the time of Christ, they say.

And we trust that, right?

But here's the thing: the amount of biblical record far, far, far surpasses.

There's probably under 20 of Homer's writings, as an example that we have that are translated from 1200s AD.

The Bible goes all the way back to the first century, our manuscripts, right up against what the apostles wrote, and we have thousands.

So take confidence in your God.

God's word has been preserved by God, and we can be confident of that.

Even if something may have been added later on, it's not contradictory.

Okay?

So I wanted to make sure that was clear before we move into the text itself, because I want us to be on the same page and not have any negative view of the scriptures.

It's just something that was in an addition.

Okay?

So that being said, let's look at Mark's account and relish in the power of our God, even over death.

So what we find in Mark 16 is that Sunday has come, three days have passed, and it's time for Jesus to be out of the tomb.

Back to those questions I posed a moment ago.

Same kind of thing.

Do you believe, really truly believe, not just with your voice, but do you believe that Jesus died on a cross?

Do you believe he went to the cross as a beaten and bruised human, fully human, that was conceived of by the Holy Spirit, by a virgin?

Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross in between two robbers?

Here's the thing.

I think even our non-Christian world believes most of what I just asked.

Most believe Jesus lived and they believe he died on a cross.

But what separates, what always separates is one huge thing, at least to begin with.

And that is that same thing that all the preachers in the book of Acts just hammer home.

It's the same thing that Paul says is absolutely essential to the Christian faith in 1 Corinthians 15.

It is what must be true if there's salvation for anybody.

And that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

This is the message that ended up electrifying the Middle Eastern world during the time of the apostles after the ascension of Christ.

And of course, it is what we need to remember as Christians every single day of our lives, not just Easter.

Because, brothers and sisters, as we like to say it Easter, he is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Christ had not raised from the dead, then their preaching is in vain.

They are false witnesses of God.

He goes on to say, our faith is worthless and we're still in our sins if Christ is not raised.

If I were to tell you the account of Christ and his gospel, and I were to leave off the part of the resurrection from the dead, you would say it's probably the worst story you ever heard, right?

You would say I was cruel to attempt to give you the message of hope of eternal life, and then come to find out it's wrong and can't be, and you might even lash out and hit me.

And you'd be right to do so.

But that's not what I would ever do.

That's not the story we tell at Prairie Baptist Church.

Christ's death on the cross is not the end.

It is not the end of the good news, because without Jesus rising from the dead, it's not good news at all, is it?

It's just a reminder of our fallen condition, and worse than that, a reminder that we are doomed for eternity if Jesus didn't rise.

But thankfully, Jesus did rise from the dead.

Paul's preaching is not in vain, and our faith is not worthless.

It is actually in something far more precious than gold.

Our faith is in the risen Christ, who is the ransom.

And one of the greatest proofs of this truth is found in the fact that there is a church of Jesus Christ.

You understand that?

I love what William Barclay said.

He said, one thing is for certain: if Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would have never heard of him.

By far the best proof of the resurrection is the existence of the Christian church, he says.

Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into radiant people with flaming joy and courage.

We're here today because Jesus did rise.

Chapter 16 begins by telling us that Mary Magdalene, the mother of uh Mary, the mother of James, who is James the Lesser, by the way, not the sons of not one of the sons of Thunder, still an apostle, and then Salome head off to the tomb where Jesus was laid by Joseph of Arimathea.

These are the same ladies that were witnesses to the crucifixion that we looked at last time.

And just like the apostles, they had to be feeling horrible for what just happened to their Lord, right?

I mean, think about being there.

Think about being one of them.

I would say their gloom was darker than the inside of the tomb.

Even though they should have been confident all along of his coming resurrection, since he told them it would happen.

The verse 1 says they head off after the Sabbath was over.

This is early Sunday morning for us.

They head off to anoint Jesus' body with spices, which is an act of love and adoration.

They were coming to bless his body, they think, with their sweet spices and their abundant tears.

You've got to remember the body was laid hurriedly, hurriedly, hurriedly, however that goes.

Given that they took him off the cross very late, uh, not long before the Sabbath, is the Sabbath beginning of night, and they couldn't do anything with Jesus on the Sabbath.

They knew that, so they just laid him in there.

And so these ladies go buy spices after the Sabbath is over to have that one final time with him and bless his body with the needed spices because they didn't embalm their dead back then in Israel.

And so as they're on their way to the tomb, they got their spices, they're hoping that there may be somebody, or I should say, some men plural, will be there so that they can get the stone rolled away.

This thing's huge.

It's immense.

Verse 4 says it's extremely large.

But they had a desire to anoint Jesus, and they're going anyway because nothing's gonna stop them.

These women love Jesus.

They love Jesus so much that they see it as nothing is gonna stand in their way of seeing him and anointing him with the spices they have.

They will not be deterred from their mission of adoration.

They had felt and tasted of the Lord's goodness and his mercy, and they were forever transformed through that pardoning grace.

As they're on their way, and we think of that, it should cause us to pause for a moment.

Remember, it was just a couple days prior to this that anyone who was with Jesus was to be persecuted as well.

And it hasn't changed in two, three days.

Yet they care not for themselves, they want to go bless their Lord.

This should be our countenance as Christians.

In every minute of our lives, we should be seeking to get close to our Lord, no matter the cost.

Their lives revolved around him, even though, even, even though they thought he was dead.

How much more should our lives be meant for the adoration of our Lord since we know that he's alive?

All of life is for him.

I mean, if we're honest with ourselves, we all tend to kind of think that the world and even our God revolves around us, right?

What I got going.

My priorities, my opinions, my personal choices, my traditions, my time, my ability, my preferences.

But these ladies, and especially Christ's example, show us something far different.

Our world and our affections are to revolve around Christ alone.

And one of the greatest and most challenging passages that all Christians should memorize, in my opinion, is I have been crucified with Christ.

It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And it goes on from there.

These women are living this out as they head off to the tomb in the midst of danger to simply bless the body of their Lord.

We ought to take note of that.

Text says that they went to meet their Lord in the very early hours of the morning, hoping to put spices on his body, but what they found was something they did not expect.

Something that caused them to fear and tremble.

Something that had been told to them by Jesus over and over again, and yet it still absolutely shocked them.

What they found was that what they were thinking about on the way, the stone that blocked their way, it had already been rolled aside, really brushed aside by supernatural power.

Again, brothers and sisters, just as a side application here, if we have a passion to get to Christ by the power of the Spirit, Spirit in us, nothing will stand in the way.

Nothing will prevent us from being with our Lord if we earnestly desire him.

He will draw us and we will draw to him.

This is exactly what happened to these women.

They wanted to get to their Lord and they found the way wide open.

They found this immense stone just rolled aside, not because Jesus needed it moved to get out, but because our Lord wanted the witnesses of his resurrection.

And there ended up being at least 500 before he ascended.

So they enter the tomb and they did not find their Lord there lying dead in the tomb.

Instead, what do they find?

An angel.

A servant of God's.

Now, again, picture the scene.

Okay?

They come up to the tomb, and just put yourself in their shoes, right?

They come up to the tomb, they see the stone rolled away to their fright, I'm sure.

They slowly begin to walk up and probably, I'm just assuming here, poked their heads into the opening to see what's going on.

Like, what?

I guarantee they didn't probably just run right in.

Oh good.

They didn't know if a robber had come or if the religious leaders had come to desecrate Jesus' body.

They didn't know what was going on, and there's proof of that in the fact that they thought that they had to get the stone rolled aside.

All kinds of things probably going through their minds, with hearts pounding, nerves going wild.

They probably peek in and find a man sitting there with a white robe, don't they?

Hmm.

And they're amazed, they're speechless, they're afraid, they're shocked.

Same response I would have had, right?

And you as well, probably.

Same response we would all expect.

Yes.

But here's the problem.

It's not the response they should have had if they had believed every word of Christ.

Instead, if they had believed Christ at his word, they would have gone expecting Jesus to be out of the tomb.

They would have gone running to the tomb to see the risen Lord waiting for them alive forevermore.

But they didn't.

They bought spices to go anoint his body instead.

These women love Jesus and they're comforted by the angel when they get there, but I believe we need to take application from that as well and their idea as to what they're going to find when they get there.

Let us learn from this to hold fast to the word of the Lord in all things.

Let us read God's word with belief and assurance in our hearts.

Let us read the inspired words of our Lord and never doubt that each promise of the Lord is going to ring true for us in our lives.

If the Lord says he's going to return, you can count on it.

If the Lord says your salvation is assured and reserved for you in heaven, live out that hope.

If the Lord says he is interceding for you right now, by name, at the right hand of the Father, pray with confidence, pray with boldness.

And if he says that he is going to die, but he be raised again, then by faith they should have believed that.

And so let us therefore learn to trust God by his word as we study it daily, even when those trials come our way.

Back to the text.

Again, put yourself in these women's positions.

They see this angel, and what do they hear?

What do their ears hear from the mouth of this angel of God?

They hear the sweetest words that a human can ever hear.

Think about it for Mary Magdalene, the one who had been forgiven so much.

She had heard that the forgiveness she felt was not in vain.

His proclamation that she has been forgiven can now be true in every way.

She heard that he is alive.

She heard that Jesus defeated her sin on the cross and now he is alive.

They heard news that they should have immediately had their mourning changed into uncontrollable joy, irresistible happiness, fanatical faith.

And our response to this true story ought to be the same.

Because he's risen.

My sin is defeated.

He's paid the penalty.

He died the death that I deserved in my place.

Hallelujah! Every time we read this, every time we think of it.

Because that's what eternity is going to look like.

The angel then says, Hey, don't be afraid.

Instead, there's a cause for Jubilee here.

Jesus has gained the victory.

You see, the angels not only rejoice at the conversion of sinners from death to life, but they also rejoice and are glad to be able to console sinners because it's God's work through them.

And so he's telling him, be comforted in the knowledge that the one that you love is alive.

This angel is joyfully telling him something he will forever be repeating in the presence of many saints, that Jesus has defeated sin and death and the evil one.

Salvation belongs to God alone.

And then he tells them to look.

Look at where Jesus was laying.

There was usually a little notch where they'd put the body, a little shelf, if you will.

There was a place in this tomb where it would have been obvious where he was laid.

And so the angel says, look, he's not here.

He first tells them Jesus is gone, he's risen, then he shows them proof by telling them, Look, look beyond me.

It's not about me, even though I'm an angel of the Lord.

Don't look at me.

Look at the empty tomb.

Look at the empty place.

This angel's announcement to these women is for us as well.

There is no body lying there.

Nor is Jesus still on the cross.

He is not to be depicted hanging there suffering.

Have you ever seen that crucifixion?

Or that crucifice, I should say?

Where Jesus is still on the cross?

Catha Church depicts that.

He's not.

He's risen.

He's not in the tomb.

He's alive and he's at the right hand of the Father.

And he's telling them that instead of them seeking to anoint him as dead, they should be rejoicing he's alive and he's risen indeed.

His body's not there, and the angel is there to tell them it wasn't stolen.

You're going to see him soon.

Death cannot hold the roaring lion.

Just as Jesus says in Revelation 1, 17 and 18 of himself, where he says that he was dead and he's alive forevermore.

The last thing the angel of the Lord says to them is, Go.

Okay, you've seen?

You got the proof?

You've heard me say it to you?

Now go.

You have a mission.

It says, go tell all the apostles, all the other disciples, and especially Peter.

This is not something they are to keep to themselves.

This is great news.

Remember what the angel said when Jesus was born?

I bring you glad tidings of great joy.

Well, standing in the tomb of the risen Lord was that joy coming to its fruition.

His death and resurrection was the reason why Jesus came.

That joy that came from his birth has now been fully realized with his power over sin and death.

And so the angels say, Go, run.

Tell all the disciples about what you've heard, what you've seen.

He's telling them that their mourning is to be now of comfort.

He's telling them that there is no reason to mourn any longer, or there's a call to rejoice.

Go tell it on the mountain.

Gather together, celebrate, and wait for his appearing, and especially make sure Peter knows.

Why does he list Peter by name?

You ever wondered that?

Is it because of his position in the group or that Jesus wanted him to be the first Pope?

No.

Any clout that Peter would have had prior to a few nights ago with the group was gone when he denied his Lord three times, even in Peter's own mind.

I believe that this is the kindness and mercy of our Lord in seeking to restore all of them, especially Peter as his disciples.

Remember, they had forsaken him, they'd abandoned him, they'd all fled.

And Peter denied him as was prophesied.

Jesus wants Peter to know that he will forgive him.

He has forgiven him.

Jesus wants Peter to know he's going to be restored to his place as an apostle chosen by Christ.

If we look to the other gospel accounts, we see this play out in even greater detail.

And John's account, for example, tells us after Jesus had made himself visible to them for the third time after the resurrection, he takes Peter aside and asks him if he loved him.

Do you remember that?

John 21, 15 to 17 says, So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, Tend my lambs.

He said to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

He said to him, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

He said to him, Shepherd my sheep.

Said to him a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

Peter was grieved because he had said to him a third time, Do you love me?

And he said to him, You know that I love you.

Jesus said to him, Tend my sheep.

As you probably know, by doing this, Jesus is restoring Peter fully.

Peter denies his Lord three times, so Jesus asks if he loves him three different times.

And in doing this, he is restoring Peter and giving him charge as his new role.

Jesus is concerned for his brother Peter's spiritual and emotional state after such a devastating series of events in his life.

After Peter's denials, we see him weeping at the end of chapter 14 in Mark.

And Jesus wants Peter to know, I've resurrected.

You can be forgiven.

You can be restored.

That's why this angel wants these ladies to immediately go and tell all, especially Peter.

So they head out as verse 8 tells us, but instead of going out joyfully reporting all they'd seen and heard, they head out of the tomb, trembling with fear and astonishment.

And they said nothing to anybody on the way.

They ran out of that tomb, half scared out of their minds, and half astonished at what they had just heard.

I would say it's it's excitement mixed with shaking fear.

You ever had that emotion before?

Maybe the first time you boarded a plane.

Maybe it's the first time you climb that mountain.

If you've climbed a mountain.

Cross a suspension bridge, maybe.

How about when your first child was born?

Especially if you're a guy.

I can think of many instances in my life where the mixed emotions of fear and excitement are present, but I cannot imagine all of what these ladies are feeling as they go running out of the presence of the angel in the tomb where their Lord once laid.

How to be the first, though, to be the first to hear that our Lord is risen.

I think two thousand-ish years later it still thrills my soul to read of it and to hear.

It's still sweet to the ears of those who believe.

And yet they go out shaking.

But they do go tell, don't they?

As we know from the other accounts.

As we draw to the end of this message, I want to end today the same way I believe Mark ends his account.

It seems abrupt in verse 8 to end that way.

But I think that's the point.

He ends his gospel account with one thing on his mind: the beauty of the resurrection, the proof of it, the heralding of the angel of this occurrence, and the gripping reality of Jesus' resurrection from the dead to his disciples and us here today.

I believe Mark wanted us to be struck with awe and reverence, like the ladies were at the thought of the Son of God rising from the dead after conquering sin and death on our behalf, just as he wanted us to be struck with awe and reverence at this king, and how he wrote the rest of the account, where he sought to display the grand power and majesty of Jesus the Christ.

Mark's as a fast-moving gospel with highlights of the big events.

That's how Mark writes.

And that's why it ends this way.

And so we find that chapter 16 is just all about the resurrection of our Lord, and it ends with a promise that he's going to go to Galilee, as he prophesied, as Jesus prophesied, and he's going to be there to restore his apostles, to prove his resurrection to all the nations, and to proclaim, I'm no longer dead, I'm alive, follow me.

In an even greater capacity.

Think of it this way.

Mark begins his account by showing us and telling us the kingdom of God is here, the call is to repent and believe in the gospel.

Mark 1.15.

And he ends by telling us now Jesus has provided a way for this.

Think of it this way: of all the letters you've read or books you've read in your lives, a book like the one that Mark wrote is one that actually provides life.

Because it's God's word to us.

It's worthy, therefore, of our careful study, our heart's desire, and our application, and it reveals to us that salvation is come.

Why?

Jesus is risen.

The call is to what?

Repent and believe.

Turn from sin, confess Christ, and to live out its faith in light of the truth.

And as you do it, the call is to praise the Lord with your brothers and sisters.

We must say today.

Jesus Christ is alive.

And he is stunningly glorious.

Look at this passage.

Death could not hold him.

He's the author of life, the ancient of days.

God could never die.

It's impossible, right?

And so to quickly recap, Mark, and bring us back to our text, think about it this way: God came to the earth, took on human flesh at what we call the incarnation, soon to celebrate at Christmas.

He took on flesh.

Why?

So that he could die.

So that he could die in the place of sinners.

God cannot die, only flesh can.

So Jesus took on flesh to be the perfect sacrifice.

Along the way, Jesus says, I am to the chief priest.

He is saying to them into Pilate, He's the first and the last, the living one.

And then he died, as we looked into last week, but as Revelation 1 says again, I was dead, and behold, I'm alive forevermore.

Do you know him?

Do you believe?

Did Mark succeed?

Do you see his glory with eyes of faith, my friends?

Because he is alive.

He's here with us.

He's the glorious Son of Man.

He's God who has forever taken on flesh and yet has not lost one ounce of his glory and deity as God.

Do you fall on your face as though dead before this great and mighty God when you think of him?

Do you attempt to gaze at the one who outshines the stars and the sun through his word?

Is your response to run from him in fear and frustration?

Or do you find yourself looking up at him through the very top of your eyeballs with your nose on the ground as you encounter him in his holy word?

The cross of Christ was meant for evil by evil men and evil spirits, but it turned into the greatest act of compassion and glory-inducing grace that has ever occurred.

The tomb could not hold such a glorious Savior.

Death itself became subject to the one we've seen here depicted.

Sunday morning came and the tomb submits itself to the Savior.

Think of it that way.

The Savior births out of that tomb with grace and power abounding.

Sin and death and the evil one defeated.

The shining and dazzling brilliance of the Savior is all that's left.

Standing, standing in that lopsided victory that he accomplished.

Jesus did die.

But oh, did he come alive three days later?

The roaring lion of the tribe of Judah, God in the flesh, is alive forevermore.

Rejoice, dear Christian.

Because as we see in the book of Philippians, our citizenship is in heaven with this resurrected one.

And we will one day gain a body of glory like his by his power, as Paul says.

We too will be resurrected with him.

As saints of the Lord, one day you and I will be resurrected with Christ, and then we will gain a body.

It's called glorification.

So I ask you again, have you come to this glorious Savior in repentance and faith?

Have you turned from your previous life?

Have you turned to Christ, confessing him?

I pray you do not leave here today without knowing this describes you.

Death stands powerless before the Son of Man.

Who can say that?

He is the all-wise and sovereign ruler, he is the great high priest, he is the glorious, all-seeing God of all, and he came to die in your place, and now he lives forevermore, and he's even interceding for you at the right hand of the Father, teaching us not to be afraid, but to rely on his sovereign work of grace.

Who can match that power, that goodness?

He's here now.

Therefore, cast your vision, cast your hope upon the one who conquered death and crushed the weight of the grave under the immensity of his divine glory.

He's alive.

He's risen.

The tomb is not famous for what was found in there, it is famous for what was not found.

Just look at how glorious he is.

Come before him with fear and trembling today.

Come before him with reverence and awe filled worship.

He is worthy and he is risen.

Let's pray.