HE HAS RISEN!

Mark 16:1-20

Key Verse 6

“Don't be alarmed,” he said. 

“You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.

He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

Our Lord Jesus repeatedly said that he would rise from the dead. In the movie Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line is, “I'll be back!” This is a cool line. But, in the face of death, no one would dare say, “I'll be back!” For we know that when people die, their bodies rot in the grave, and they never come back to us. Yet, our Lord Jesus basically promised this very thing, that he would be back from the dead on the third day. And this passage tells us how his devoted followers, to their astonishment, saw him raised from the dead in fulfillment of his words. The proof that Jesus rose from the dead is going to be presented in this passage so that we might believe, and, through believing, receive all the benefits of his resurrection into our life. 

Part I:  He has risen (1-7)

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were among the women who had tasted of our Lord's forgiveness and healing grace. They loved him and were greatly thankful to him, so they followed him and supported him during his ministry (Mat 27:55). When Jesus was crucified, these women were present (Joh 19:25). They stood near the cross, watching him sorrowfully as he suffered and died. That Friday afternoon, just before the Sabbath began, Jesus was laid in the tomb. To the women, Jesus was dead and gone forever, yet that love he kindled in their heart was still alive. They wanted to anoint his body as their final act of love for him.

So, verse 1 tells us that the women purchased spices when the Sabbath was over (which was Saturday night). Then, the next day, Sunday, at the first light of dawn, they made their way to the tomb (v. 2). This was now the third day after Jesus was crucified, the day on which he promised to rise from the dead.

As the women were on their way, they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” (v. 3). They were concerned that they would not be able to go inside the tomb and anoint the body. Joseph of Arimathea had rolled a big grave stone in front of the entrance to the tomb (Mat 27:60). Grave stones were called “gloals”. They were wheel-shaped and were rolled down into a slightly depressed groove to seal the tomb's entrance. They weighed from one to two tons (2,000 - 4,000 lbs). So, once in place, these stones were difficult to move even for several men. 

But, on reaching the tomb, the women discovered, to their surprise, that the stone had been rolled away (v. 4). We know from Mat 28:2 that an angel had rolled it away. This was done so that everyone could look into the empty tomb and, thereby, know that Jesus was risen. 

So, in verse 5, the women tiptoed into the tomb. As they entered, they were startled to see an angel sitting there in the appearance of a young man. He was there to proclaim the good news of what had happened to Jesus. He told the women in verse 6, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” (This is the key verse, so let’s all read it aloud starting from “He has risen!”.) The angel here called their attention to where Jesus’ body had been. His grave clothes were lying there – the strips of linen that had been wrapped around his body (Joh 20:6-7) – but the body itself was gone. Why? Because Jesus was risen and had left the tomb in his risen body.

Now, let’s think of the implications of this. From the fact that he rose from the dead we are assured that we also will rise. For on the cross Jesus took our sin upon himself and paid the penalty for our sin which is death (Joh 1:29; Ro 6:23). But, if he himself did not rise from the dead, it would show that he did not pay that penalty of ours in full and that we remain under a death sentence for our sin. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead affirming that his death was accepted on our behalf and paid in full for our release from death. Hence, because he rose, we are assured that eternal life is ours. We have been given a new and living hope in the eternal kingdom of God.

But there is more: Because Jesus rose from the dead, we are assured that his power of resurrection is presently at work in us. For Jesus laid down his life as a ransom to purchase us from sin – not just from the consequence of sin which is death, but from the active power of sin so that we might no longer be in the sphere of its control. And he who purchased us was also raised to life. We belong to him and he now rules within us (Ro 7:4). For he could not exert his power within us if he had remained dead. But he is indeed alive and is assuredly working in us, sanctifying us from sin and making us to be like him. Praise be to God: Our former self who was ruled by sin has been done away with and a new person has arisen with Christ – a person who lives for him and loves him more and more. 

In verse 7, the angel continued, “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, `He is going ahead of you into Galilee.'” Here, the women were given a special message to tell the disciples. It was an invitation for the disciples to meet their Risen Lord in Galilee. This was to be glad news for his disciples who were mourning and weeping over his death (v. 10). But in another sense, there was a dreadful difficulty in facing Jesus again because they had deserted him on the night of his arrest. Still, he loved them and had completely forgiven them and wanted to meet with them and gather them back to a relationship with himself. 

Peter was invited specifically: “tell his disciples and Peter”. Peter had failed him worse than the others, having denied him three times. And the guilt of his terrible failure was weighing heavy upon him especially because he had boasted so emphatically before the Lord that same night that he would die rather than deny him (Mat 26:35). So the fact that he was mentioned specifically was wonderfully graceful showing that Jesus still loved him and was especially concerned for him. He earnestly wanted for Peter to come and be restored. And more than that. This was so that Peter, who had sinned the most, might taste of Jesus’ grace and of his resurrection power and be changed by that power more than any of the disciples. The same graceful invitation is extended to us – especially to those of us who have sinned the most – to come back to him and receive his forgiveness and be restored and renewed by his power. May the Lord give us the grace to do the same as he did for us by forgiving and receiving back those of us who repent of even horrible sins.

Part II: The Risen Christ visits his disciples (8-14)

So, the women were standing there inside the tomb in front of this angel with expensive spices in their hands. And the angel was basically telling them, ‘Oh, so you came here to anoint his body. Well, you just missed him. He has risen!’ Their reaction is recorded in verse 8. Their eyes must have widened and their mouths must have dropped. A dead body was walking and talking again – it was too spooky. So they dropped everything and fled from the tomb (just like my wife when she sees a cockroach). It says that they were too afraid to tell anyone. Ah, but we cannot believe that they kept this news to themselves for any more than five minutes because, as we all know so well, women always talk <smile>. Luke informs us that they did, indeed, spread the news to his disciples (Luk 24:9-10). And how did the disciples respond? They didn’t believe it. Luke 24:11 reads, “But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.” This was going to be the pattern for the disciples throughout that entire Sunday on which Jesus rose. Three times it would be reported to them that Jesus was alive and each time they would not believe it.

Verse 9 reads, “When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.” Out of all of Jesus’ followers, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene. It happened while she lingered at the entrance to the tomb, weeping over the loss of Jesus (Joh 20:11-16). All the others had fled, but she remained. She could not forget her King from whom she had received healing grace, for she was once possessed by seven demons (seven being the number of completeness). Complete hell had once possessed her and tormented her, but Jesus saved her.

That Jesus appeared first to her is remarkable. We might expect him to first appear to his eleven disciples or his top three rather than this silent follower – especially to this lady who had lived such a notoriously sinful life.  But, evidently, our Risen Lord was pleased to reveal himself first to her because she was the most devoted of all his followers, the one who followed him out of her great thanks and loving heart. Jesus shows by this that he really loves and honors those who are grateful for what he has done and who show it through their devotion. To such people – even to those whose past was terribly sinful – the Risen Jesus shows himself today (Joh 14:21). So the greatest blessing is in store for us when we love Jesus and devote ourselves to him – the blessing of knowing him intimately and of him revealing himself – his glory and power – to us. 

So, Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news. But, as I mentioned before, the disciples were stubbornly unbelieving that day. They were overcome with sorrow, convinced that Jesus was gone forever, and they did not believe her (v. 11). So, later on that same day, Jesus appeared to two of his followers while they were walking in the country on their way to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem (Luk 24:13). As verse 13 says, these followers then returned to Jerusalem and reported the news of what they saw to the disciples, but they did not believe them either. 

And so finally, on the evening of that same Sunday, Jesus appeared to the Eleven disciples as they were huddling together behind locked doors, having their dinner (Joh 20:19). It was not in Jesus’ itinerary to visit them that day in Jerusalem. As was stated in verse 7, the plan was to visit them later in Galilee. But, they were in a critical condition now spiritually, and so he changed his schedule and made an emergency visit to them. He appeared to them and rebuked them. It says in verse 14b, “he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen”. The significant thing here is that Jesus expected them to believe he had risen even without having seen him. This was not an unreasonable thing because they were provided with reliable eyewitness testimony. A couple months ago, I was one of the jurors in a murder trial. It was interesting. Two witnesses saw the murder right before their eyes and testified before the court that they saw the defendant shoot a guy. In legal terminology, their testimony proved “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the defendant was guilty and he was convicted of murder. But on that Sunday, there were three witnesses who testified before the disciples that they saw Jesus: Two men and one woman. So, Jesus’ expectation that his disciples should believe on just the basis of their testimony without having seen anything was very reasonable. The problem was their refusal to believe in spite of the powerful evidence. Christ’s expectation is that we also should believe based on the testimonies recorded in the Bible of those who had seen him after he had risen (Joh 20:29). Or, at least, we should believe on the evidence of the miracles he has done in men’s lives – in men like Peter, Paul, Augustine, Luther and the like. There are plenty of inspiring examples of lives whom the Lord Jesus has changed. (My wife loves Korean books about such things. She will speed read through a whole book like that in a single day shedding many tears.) It is our duty to believe these reports that he is alive and begin daringly to experience the life with him.

Part III: The Risen Christ gave them the world mission command (15-20)

In the verses that follow, we are accelerated at warp speed from the day of Jesus’ resurrection to his ascension, to the Pentecost, and beyond. There were 40 days (Acts 1:3) to Jesus’ ascension and 50 days to the Pentecost (Lev 23:15-16). But Mark takes us at warp speed through this time period, compressing the prominent events together so that we get the maximum impact of what happened. In verse 15 we are probably jumping in time. Jesus had promised back in verse 7 that he would meet his disciples in Galilee. And now in verse 15 we find the fulfillment of his promise. We have here the words he spoke to them on that very important occasion in which he met with them in Galilee. 

Look at verse 15. “He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."” This is Jesus’ blessed commandment. He commands, “Go,” meaning that he wants his disciples to go out with the gospel and reach people with it. And he said “all the world” – that they should go into ALL places, to ALL people with the gospel and preach it. But, this is supposed to be “gooood news” – something to be excited about and motivated to share. So we are encouraged to share it after we ourselves have personally tasted of the goodness of the news that Jesus is risen through a love relationship with him. Then, after having tasted even that one glorious first “sip”, we are to testify to the news that it is good, truthful and powerful with our lives and lips. 

Jesus continued in verse 16 saying, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved… ” Superficial or intellectual belief in the good news that Jesus died and rose from the dead is not what is referred to here. Nor is the mere ceremony of baptism. These things don’t save. Rather, what is referred to is a belief which brings about spiritual baptism – real belief which brings about that which baptism represents: A union with the Risen Jesus. This connection with him through believing in him is what brings salvation and all the benefits of his death and resurrection into our lives (Ro 3:22). This is what brings about a real change in us so that our lives show that he lives in us. 

The second half of verse 16 solemnly says, “…but whoever does not believe will be condemned”. Persuading people to believe the gospel is serious business. Those who don’t believe this gospel are cut off from the power of life that is in Jesus. To not believe this gospel is to reject that which saves us from sin and its penalty which is death. And so, whoever does not believe will certainly be condemned, eternally (Rev 21:8; Mat 25:46).

Verses 17-18 speak of five amazing miraculous signs. Three of them – driving out demons, speaking in new tongues, and healing the sick – are shown to be abundantly fulfilled in the NT. Now, with regard to the other two signs – picking up snakes and drinking deadly poison – a similar thing happened in Acts 28:5 when Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake and yet felt no ill effects. In the history of the Christian church we also find instances of people picking up snakes and drinking deadly poison. In fact, just last week, while preparing this message, I drank deadly dark coffee and I am still alive. So, in this list of five signs, some are Jesus’ promise of protection for his messengers. One of them – the miracle of speaking in new tongues or in unlearned foreign languages – this is for enabling his messengers to reach people of different languages with the gospel. These miracles are each different in nature and purpose, but all of them are “signs”. Signs, as we know, work as pointers. So these different miracles work as pointers, pointing men to Jesus. And miracles are really striking pointers, too, which astound people and convince them of the truth that Jesus is risen. 

Verses 19 and 20 refer to the day of Jesus’ ascension and then to the Pentecost when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and the disciples went out. They went out and preached having tasted of the goodness and power of the Spirit of the person whom they preached. These men, who were too cowardly to risk their lives at Gethsemane, now boldly and fearlessly preached, convinced that they would rise again with their Lord. It is said in verse 20 that “the Lord worked with them”. The Risen Jesus carries on his salvation work through us and works together with us. As we do his gospel work, we can expect the mighty working of his resurrection within us and through us in the lives of those whom we serve. And it says that he “confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it”. Christ is confirming the truth of his word by miraculous signs, the greatest sign of which is our resurrected lives – lives in which we live daringly for heaven, believing we will be raised to life.

One Word: He has risen!

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