Mark 15:40-16:8 (April 9, 2023)

The Resurrection as the Turning Point in Mark

And if you have your Bibles, you can turn to Mark 15, Mark 15, we're going to be in verses 40 through chapter 16, verse 8. We're just picking up where we left off last week, and so if you're new with us, we just go through books of the Bible, one section at a time normally, we've been going through the book of Mark for the better part of this past year, and we're getting near the end.

Next week will be our last sermon in the Gospel of Mark, but we come today to verses 40, chapter 15 verses 40 down through chapter 16, verse 8. So if you've been around church very much in your life, then you're familiar with the Easter story.

So this isn't new to you, but my hope for you this morning is that you will be strengthened by an age-old story, by an age-old truth, that the old familiar story of Jesus Christ dying on the cross, and being raised on the third day, that it would be a sure and steadfast anchor for your soul.

That returning to the Easter story would be like going back to your childhood home, or to that field you used to play in as a kid, some place with good memories for you, somewhere familiar, somewhere that reminds you of who you really are, and what is really important in this life.

And while we're there in that old familiar story, I hope to point out a few details in that story that maybe you hadn't seen in a while, and my prayer is that you'll be strengthened in your soul because of what Jesus has accomplished, that we read about here in Mark 15 and Mark 16.

So let me read these verses beginning in Mark 15, verse 40. This is the word of the Lord to us. And there were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Younger, and of Joses, and of Ann Salome.

When He was in Galilee, they followed Him and ministered to Him, and there were also many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died, and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.

And Joseph bought a linen shroud and, taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, brought spices so that they might go and anoint him.

And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back.

It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who is crucified.

He has 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 to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And he went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them.

And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Amen. This is the word of the Lord to us. And the first thing that I want you to see in this passage is that Mark is somewhat subtly setting up a birth scene.

There's a birth theme here in this passage. You'll notice the prominence of women. Those looking from a distance, verse 40 says, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome.

And so these call to mind midwives who help deliver a baby. Then you notice that there's a Joseph and a Mary in this story, reminding us of the story of Jesus' birth. And then we'll notice that Jesus' body is wrapped in linen cloths, down in verse 46, like those swaddling cloths that wrap Jesus as a baby.

And we see that the tomb functions as something of a womb, where the body of Jesus will lay until the third day, when He bursts forth in glorious day. Paul also describes the resurrection as a birth in Colossians 1 .18, when he calls Jesus the firstborn from the dead.

And so we have this birth scene that Mark describes for us. And then verse 16, we see the resurrection, the birth, the new birth made plain. You see Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He has risen, He is not here.

This is the crux of everything. This is the crux of all of human history. Made plain, therefore, is in verse 16. He has risen, He is not here. He has been resurrected, and this resurrection is a new birth.

We know it's a new birth because Jesus comes forth with a new body. He is resurrected with a new, heavenly, glorified body. We read about that in 1 Corinthians 15, where it says, where Paul is talking about the resurrection body that we will have one day.

And this is the body of which Jesus Christ has been raised in. He says, what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Jesus was raised to new life in a new, heavenly, glorified body. And in that body, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us, He appeared to Cephas. He appeared to the twelve.

He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. He appeared to the disciples, we read in the Gospels, where they were gathered in a locked room for fear of the Jews. He showed them His nail-scarred hands.

He showed them His pierced feet and side, which tells us that there is some content continuity between the old body and the new body, the earthly body and the heavenly body. Paul tells us that the earthly body is like a seed, which is planted in the ground in burial.

And the heavenly body is that which rises up from the ground. Jesus Christ emerged from that tomb on that first Easter morning in His new, heavenly body. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the first fruits of the resurrection.

And that's important that He's the first fruits of resurrection. Because what is first fruits? It's what's given first. It's a down payment. It's a promise of more to come. That Jesus Christ is the first fruits of resurrection is a promise that there is more resurrection to come.

For all who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into His death, buried with Christ in baptism, and then raised to newness of life. Romans 6 .5 says it like this, For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.

All who are united to Christ by faith will experience the same resurrection. He is the first fruits. And so this new birth of resurrection ought to fill us with hope. I can think of several groups of people that might need hope and will find it specifically in the resurrection of Jesus.

There's hope for the grieving. Have you lost someone in recent days or months, the last year? I want you to know there's resurrection hope for you. The Bible tells us that blessed are those who die in the Lord, for they shall not perish.

Physical, earthly death is not the end of the story. Death does not have the last say. And that's because Jesus walked out of the grave on that first Easter morning. Their souls are with Jesus in paradise today and their bodies will be raised up in glory on the last day.

So are you grieving the loss of someone dear to you? I know some of you are. I want you to remember the resurrection of Jesus. For it is in the resurrection of Jesus that those who are united by faith to Christ are promised resurrection themselves.

And so there's hope for the grieving. There's also hope for the aging. And when one gets up in years, things start to change, or so I've heard. Things start to hurt they didn't used to hurt. Things start creaking and cracking and aching.

There's more doctor's appointments, more medicines, more surgeries. And the decades begin to take their toll. I imagine that can be quite frustrating or just plain difficult. I want you to know that Easter gives you hope.

There's a new body coming. And Jesus is the firstfruits of that new body. The firstfruits of the resurrection. Or maybe you look back on your life with regrets. And wonder where it all went. I want you to know heaven's coming.

A place where there will be no more tears. Because Jesus rose from the dead. And so your life, your life, when you consider eternity, I don't care how old you are now, your life compared to eternity is just getting started.

So there's hope for those who look back with regrets. Or maybe you're fearful of death. I want you to know that in Christ Jesus you have a great high priest who can sympathize with your weakness. He's been tempted and tried in every way yet without sin.

And he went into the grave first. And he forged a way out. And so you don't have to fear death. Because Jesus has overcome it. Because death is not the final answer. Resurrection is the final answer for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So there's hope. There's hope for the aging. There's also hope for the anxious. I know in our culture today we have large scale anxiety in our land. People wondering what's becoming of our country? What's becoming of our culture?

What's happening to our economy? What will they do next to ruin life? I want you to know that whoever the they is and whatever they do, they cannot touch your soul. They cannot stop the resurrection of the dead.

And so they could do the worst thing to you. They could kill you. But if you are in Christ Jesus to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and you will outlast the sun. For on the last day your body will be raised up in glory.

And you will live forever. So we don't take, we don't fear, but we take heart. We take courage. There's hope for the anxious, for the worried. Because of the resurrection of Jesus. That is the first fruits of our own resurrection if we are in Him.

And so we have the resurrection. It was a new birth that brought forth a new body for Jesus. It was a new birth that brought forth the same type of body that we're going to have for those who are united in Christ by faith.

But the resurrection also birthed a new world. And so we see that the resurrection of Jesus is the central event in human history. And that the world was fundamentally changed when Jesus walked out of the grave.

For Satan's sin and death were all defeated at the resurrection. And because Satan's sin and death are defeated, the world was fundamentally changed. Satan was defeated and he is bound from deceiving the nations.

Sin was defeated and we're actually set free from our sins. From its totalizing slavery. Because in Christ we can not sin. We can live by the Spirit, not by the flesh. We can please God. As the hymn says, sin's grip has lost its curse on me.

And it's because of the resurrection of Jesus. Satan was defeated, sin was defeated, death was defeated. Though we shall physically die, yet we shall live because we share in that resurrection of Jesus.

And so death was put to death in the death of Christ. And it did not rise with Him. But we will. So we live in a new world. Isaiah speaks, in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah speaks of a new heavens and a new earth.

That's not the final new heavens and new earth. Because what he describes here in Isaiah 65 includes death and includes a sinner. Neither of which will be present in heaven. So what is he speaking of?

He's speaking of the world after the resurrection. The world that we live in now. This new order of things. Because the resurrection changed the world. And it changed the world because we now live in a world where a man has risen from the dead.

We now live in a world where Satan was defeated. Where sin wasn't just overlooked, it was dealt with finally. We live in a world where death has lost its sting. Where the old gods have been put to flight.

Now this isn't the first time in history that God has brought forth a new order of things. We read in Genesis, in Noah's day, God put the old world to death by pouring out His wrath in a flood. And Noah and the eight souls with him were brought safely through those waters of judgment by the ark.

And they stepped off that ark into a new world. And like God had commissioned Adam when He first created the world, He commissioned Noah, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He restated the commission to Noah.

And then He made a covenant with Noah. And He put His war bow in the sky as a sign of that covenant. We read about the crucifixion. There God poured out His wrath, not in a flood on the entire world, but He poured it out on His Son at the cross.

And Jesus went into the tomb. And He passed through the grave and He walked out of that tomb into a new world. He is the ark by whom all who are united to Him by faith will pass through judgment safely.

And like God commissioned Adam, and like God commissioned Noah, Jesus then commissioned the church. Saying, go, disciple the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything that I have commanded.

And again, God makes a covenant. A new covenant in His blood. In the blood of Jesus. And it's a far superior covenant because the mediator of the covenant is far superior. That mediator being Jesus Christ Himself.

And like the war bow that He put in the sky in the days of Noah, God puts faith in our hearts. A covenant signed to us that He will not destroy us. For He has already destroyed Jesus and raised Him back up again.

And so we live in the new world, birthed at the resurrection of Jesus. Then I want you to notice something down in verse 46 of chapter 15. It says,. And they laid Him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.

They laid Him in a tomb that they had cut out of the rock. It's an interesting detail that the tomb was cut out of the rock. It's small, but I believe it's significant. You see, Jesus will rise from the rock.

The grave is a quarry from which Jesus is hewn. Jesus is a rock, a stone. 1 Peter tells us, a cornerstone. He is the cornerstone of a new temple. You see, one of the themes that we have seen throughout the book of Mark, if you've been here to go through that with us, we've seen that Jesus, throughout the book, He's judging Israel.

He's judging the temple and the temple system there. And He's saying He's going to make a new one. The 12 apostles are the new patriarchs. And the church is the new temple. Paul calls the church the temple of the Spirit.

And Peter says that Jesus is the cornerstone. And that we, as members of the church, are living stones. All of us are stones dug out of the grave quarry with Jesus. We've been crucified with Christ. We've been buried with Him.

And we've been raised with Him to new life. And so in this new world, there's a new temple of which Christ is the cornerstone. And that temple is us. That temple is the church. Oh, that we would be holy as He has called us to be holy, as a temple should be.

Oh, that we would live in accordance with the new life that He has given to us, that He has raised us up to. That we would lay aside every sin which clings so closely and weighs us down. That we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith.

And Christ, the cornerstone, dug out from the grave. Another theme that we've seen in the book of Mark as we've gone through this, is not only is He bringing about a new Israel, a new temple, but we see that Jesus is the new and rightful King of the world.

We've seen it ever since the very first verses of Mark chapter 1. Jesus is the new and rightful King of the world. He is the Royal Son. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the King of Kings. And that detail about Jesus' grave being cut out from the rock also points us to the kingship of Jesus.

Do you remember Daniel chapter 2? In Daniel chapter 2, there's a dream that Nebuchadnezzar has. He's searching for somebody to interpret the dream for him. He had a dream of an image of gold and bronze and iron and clay representing various kingdoms of the world.

But then at the end of that dream, there's a final kingdom that's represented in the dream by a stone cut out from the mountain by no human hand. Daniel 2 .44 says, It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end.

And it shall stand forever. And that kingdom, cut out from the mountain by no human hand, that kingdom is the kingdom of Christ. The resurrection gave birth to a new world with a new kingdom. Jesus, emerging from that grave, cut out from the rock, cut out from the mountain, He is that rock.

He is, He brings that kingdom. And He ascended into heaven. And Daniel chapter 7 tells us, when He ascended, He received dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. And so you live on this side of the resurrection of Jesus and that means you live in a world where Jesus is King.

Where Jesus has all authority on heaven and on earth. He was declared, Romans 1 .4 tells us, He was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

He was declared to be the Son of God, that's a royal title. He's declared to be King by His resurrection. He won His kingdom, His perfect life, His obedient, sacrificial, substitutionary death in our place, and His glorious resurrection.

The message of Easter is that Jesus is King and all are called to submit to Him. All are called to come along quietly into the kingdom. And here's the thing, Jesus, He's a good King. Jesus is the King who makes everything right again.

He's the King who puts back together that which is broken in this world. I want you to read verse 5 with me in chapter 16. And entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed.

This is an angel that's in the tomb. But he's described as a young man dressed in a white robe. Why? When was the last time we encountered in the book of Mark a young man in something about a robe? Do you remember?

It's in Mark 14. Back when a young man followed Jesus with nothing but a linen cloth about his body and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. Remember that really odd little story in the middle of that account in Mark 14?

When Jesus is arrested you have a young man disrobed who flees naked. And when Jesus is resurrected you have a young man dressed in a white robe. And I think Mark is pointing us to the fact that Jesus restores all things.

He puts back together what is broken. He covers the shame of our rebellion. Not with a robe of linen, but with a robe of his own righteousness. If you notice down in verse 7 he then says, But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.

Tell the disciples and Peter, tell them to go to Galilee. So that the young naked man wasn't the only one who fled, if you'll remember. So did Peter. Peter denied Jesus. Three times. At this point in the story Peter is alienated.

Peter is cut off. He's cut himself off. And there's two things we can learn about that phrase, the disciples and Peter. One of which is that Peter's denial of Jesus has put distance between himself and Jesus.

Between himself and the disciples. So he's not included with the disciples, but it's the disciples and Peter. He's named separately. But also we see that Jesus names him specifically. Because he wants Peter to meet him in Galilee.

Because he intends to restore Peter. He's going to bring him back. And the message of Easter is good news to all of the Peters out there. To all those who have denied Christ. To all those who have fled.

To all those who have gone their own way. Maybe that's you this morning. Maybe you can identify with Peter at this point in the stories. There's the disciples and Peter. Maybe you've walked away from Jesus.

Maybe you've drifted from the faith of your youth. Maybe you've done some things that you're not proud of. And maybe you're not quite sure if you've just not gone too far this time. Maybe you've denied Jesus.

Maybe you've just lived for yourself. Doing what is right in your own eyes. Go to Galilee. Meet Jesus there. He was pierced for your transgressions. He was crushed for your iniquities. And he was raised that you too might be raised to new life.

That you too might be restored. You see, it's never too late for resurrection. What was dark and hopeless on Friday is bright and beautiful on Sunday morning. Because Jesus rose from the dead and his resurrection gave birth to a new world.

Hope in the Resurrection for the Grieving, the Aging, the Regretful, and the Anxious

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that you make all things new. We thank you that Jesus rose from the dead. And because Jesus rose from the dead, there's hope for us to rise from the dead too.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, he gives us a pattern to follow. And that all is not lost. And all is not hopeless. No matter what we've done or where we are, we're not left in the grave. But there's new life available to all.

So if there are any Peters out here this morning, Father, I pray you'll meet them like you met Peter in Galilee. And you'll restore them and bring them back. Lord, we thank you for the new world you've made in Jesus.

We thank you that he is King. Lord, we confess the truth that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, glory of the Father. The only question is, will people do that in this life?

Will they bow their knee to King Jesus now in this life? And it be unto their everlasting salvation. Or will it be after death when it is appointed unto man once to die and then comes the judgment when they stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account for the deeds done in the body.

Will they confess it then under everlasting condemnation? The fundamental fact is that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is King. He was declared to be that at the resurrection. I pray that everyone in here would confess with their mouth, believe with their heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and that you raised him on the third day.

And be saved. Let us all believe that and let us live in accordance with that new life that you have given to us, with that reality that Jesus Christ is Lord. We pray all of this in his name. Amen.