The Not-So-Empty-Tomb! Mark 16:1-8

Text: “...Be not affrighted; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was Crucified, He is risen, He is not here, behold the place where they laid Him.”

Mark 16:6.

Good morning, thinking Christian!  For you the Scriptures live, because you take time to pray before studying God’s Word, and then take more time to think the message through.  When once one discovers this method of Bible study, nothing remains hidden from one’s eyes; Scripture interprets Scripture; and one’s times of Bible study become times of sheer delight.  Hallelujah! 

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  (Psalm 37:4)

We hear much today from Evangelical Christians, myself included, concerning ‘The Empty Tomb’ of the Risen Christ.  Yet, when one studies the gospel accounts, one discovers that Christ’s tomb was far from EMPTY!    

Oh yes, praise God, the tomb was devoid of Christ’s Risen Body - the Resurrection is a very real miraculous event - and at the very centre of the Christian faith.  But, physically speaking, the tomb was far from empty.  It contained the following important Spiritual truths which, when examined in the light of Gospel discernment, only reinforces the whole concept of Christ’s Resurrection and thrills the born again, thinking Christian’s heart.

A Young Man: (V.5a) Angels throughout God’s Word are consistently reported as appearing in the form of men.  (Genesis 18:2)

“Be not forgetful to entertain (receive) strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2)

This ‘young man’ seated in the not-so-empty-tomb, is obviously an angel with a message from God concerning the fact of Christ’s Resurrection.  He appears as ‘a young man’ to fulfil a Spiritual purpose.  The angels of Heaven grow not old, neither do they decay, but are everlastingly young and stand continually in God’s Holy Presence.  We who have, in this life, received the Lord Jesus into our hearts shall also experience the bliss of Eternal youth one sweet and longed for day.  (Revelation 21:1-5)

On the Right Side: (V.5b) Of course, the angel was ‘on the right side’!  He was on God’s side; the side of the Righteous - one could, perhaps, say he was, literally, ‘on the side of the angels’.  (Matthew 25:31-46)

A Long White Garment: (V.5c) As his garment is, so is he.  The Created angel’s existence is for evermore; therefore, his garment is an Eternal garment of absolute angelic purity.

Those who are redeemed of God through the precious Blood of Christ Jesus, are clothed in the Spiritual Robe of His Righteousness as alluded to by the prophet Isaiah.  “…for He hath clothed me with the garments of Salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness (Christ’s Blood), as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” (Isaiah 61:10) The true, Spiritually regenerated church, IS the Bride of Christ Jesus.  We are ‘born again’ of Him and shall live, forever.

The Psalmist affirms this fact of our faith when he says,” Blessed (literally, ‘blessed with multiple blessings’) is he/she whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Psalm 32:1)

‘Covered’ in what we may ask?  Why, covered in the precious Robe of Christ’s Blood, our blessed and Eternal Wedding Garment.  (Genesis 3:21)

Thinking Christians, study God’s Word – Old Testament and New – with the Spiritual discernment we have been blessed of God, and see that, even in the place of death, at a graveside funeral, or amongst the sadly bereaved – we can find Spiritual reason for the hope that is in us, in Christ Jesus, and share that hope with a world so lost in sin.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us notice, lastly, in this passage, what honour our Lord Jesus Christ has placed on the grave, by allowing Himself to be laid in it. We read that he was “laid in a sepulchre hewn out of a rock,” and a “stone rolled unto the door.”

“This is a fact that in a dying world we should always remember. It is appointed unto men once to die. We are all going to one place, and we naturally shrink from it. The coffin and the funeral, the worm and corrup­tion, are all painful subjects. They chill us, sadden us, and fill our minds with heaviness. It is not in flesh and blood to regard them without solemn feelings. One thing, however, ought to comfort believers, and that is the thought, that the grave is “the place where the Lord once lay.” As surely as He rose again victorious from the tomb, so surely shall all who believe in Him rise gloriously in the day of His appearing. Remember­ing this, they may look down with calmness into the “house appointed for all living.” They may recollect that Jesus Himself was once there on their behalf, and has robbed death of his sting. They may say to themselves, “the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law: but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57)

“The great matter that concerns us all, is to make sure that we are spiritually buried with Christ, while we are yet alive. We must be joined to Him by faith, and con­formed to His image. With Him we must die to sin, and be buried by baptism into His death. (Romans 6:6) With Him we must rise again, and be quickened by His Spirit. Except we know these things, Christ’s death and burial will profit us nothing at all.” (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Thought: Receive, therefore, the blessings of God proceeding in gracious plentifulness from a not-so-empty-tomb.  Amen!  Thanks be to God for all His wondrous works!                                                       

Salvation! From Top to Bottom! Mark 15:38-47

Text: “And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.  And the veil of the temple was rent (torn) in twain (two) from the top to the bottom.”

Mark 15:37-38.

Good morning, Eternally saved Christian!  Not only have you and I been saved by Christ in time, but have been saved to spend a full Eternity with Christ in that Holy and Heavenly place He is off now preparing for us to reside there with Him.  Wow!  What a realisation!  God the Son, the Creator of all things, is today preparing a place for redeemed sinners to dwell with Him in an Eternal Heaven of perpetual bliss!  Does this thought not compel us to shout, "Hallelujah!?  Glory to the Lamb Who is worthy!  Amen."

“In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And wither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”  (John 14:2-4)

Such a full Atonement for sins could never have been accomplished by fallen mankind.  It took a Divine and miraculous love for sinners; a selfless and gracious suffering and lying down of sinless life; a Spiritual ‘quickening’, making alive, of spirits dead in sin and trespasses against a Holy Lord God – to bring Eternal Salvation down from Heaven to an earth filled with gross disobedience and sin.  It took Salvation – from Top to bottom – as shown in the temple veil torn from top to bottom when the sinless Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily ‘gave up the ghost’ of His human life for love of ‘His people’.

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own (sinless) Blood He entered in once into the Holy place, having obtained Eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:12)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“We have in these verses the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. All deaths are solemn events. Nothing in the whole history of a man is so important as His end. But never was there a death of such solemn moment as that which is now before us. In the instant that our Lord drew His last breath, the work of atonement for a world’s sin was accomplished. The ransom for sinners was at length paid. The kingdom of heaven was thrown fully open to all believers. All the solid hope that mortal men enjoy about their souls, may be traced to the giving up the ghost on the cross.

“Let us observe, in these verses, the visible signs and wonders which accompanied our Lord’s death. St. Mark mentions two in particular, which demand our attention. One is the darkening of the sun for the space of three hours. The other is the rending of the veil which divided the holy of holies from the holy place in the temple. Both were miraculous events. Both had, no doubt, a deep meaning about them. Both were calculated to arrest the attention of the whole multitude assembled at Jerusalem. The darkness would strike even thoughtless Gentiles, like Pilate and the Roman soldiers. The rent veil would strike even Annas and Caiaphas and their unbelieving companions. There were probably few houses in Jerusalem that evening in which men would not say, “we have heard and seen strange things today.”

“What did the miraculous darkness teach? It taught the exceeding wickedness of the Jewish nation. They were actually crucifying their own Messiah, and slaying their own King. The sun itself hid his face at the sight. It taught the exceeding sinfulness of sin in the eyes of God. The Son of God himself must needs be left with­out the cheering light of day, when He became sin for us and carried our transgressions.

“What did the miraculous rending of the veil mean? It taught the abolition and termination of the whole Jewish law of ceremonies. It taught that the way into the holiest of all was now thrown open to all elect mankind by Christ’s death. (Hebrews 9:8) It taught that Gentiles as well as Jews might now draw nigh to God with boldness, through Jesus the one High Priest, and that all barriers between man and God were forever cast down.

“May we never forget the practical lesson of the rent veil! To attempt to revive the Jewish ceremonial in the Church of Christ, by returning to altars, sacrifices, and a priesthood, is nothing better than closing up again the rent veil, and lighting a candle at noon day.  May we never forget the practical lesson of the mi­raculous darkness! It should lead our minds on to that blackness of darkness which is reserved for all obstinate unbelievers. (Jude 13.) The darkness endured by our blessed Surety on the cross was only for three hours. The chains of darkness which shall bind all who reject His atonement and die in sin, shall be for evermore.” (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Significance of the torn veil: The significance of the rent (torn) temple veil for you and I today, Eternally saved Christian, is that the way into Heaven in prayer is now completely OPEN for you and I to worship, praise, make thanksgiving to God, and to petition our Father in Heaven for our daily needs and make Spirit-inspired requests for others. 

We come to God, hidden in Christ Jesus, covered from all sins by His sinless shed Blood, and are permitted to fellowship with Almighty Lord God in all Three Persons without fear or dread of harm.  Our Holy Lord God of wrath against all sin, only sees His dear Lamb, Jesus Christ, when He now looks upon us, Christ’s people.  What a Salvation - from TOP to BOTTOM - we have!

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace (in the Holy of Holies), that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Thought: In Mark chapter 15, we find a front-row observer of Christ’s Crucifixion realising that the man he had Crucified was indeed ‘the Son of God.’  We find Christ’s followers receiving His dead body, and laying Jesus in a sepulchre made of rock, with a stone rolled across to secure the entrance. Mark 16 continues to record God’s Supernatural Salvation of Christ’s people – from top to bottom. Glory to God!

Three Hours of Darkness Mark 15:33-37

Text: “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the nineth hour. And at the nineth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, E-lo`-i, E-lo`-i, la`-ma sa-bach`-tha-ni?  Which is being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

Mark 15:33-34

Good morning, enlightened Christian!  Not for you or I, a mere listening to what a church leader, Pastor, or Bible Teacher spoon-feeds us from a pulpit, or a university lectern, and swallowing it whole as absolute truth. No! You and I seek to be like the Bereans, we listen intently to what is being preached or taught, then, “…search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were/are so.”     (Acts 17:11) 

We become more ‘enlightened’ in Scriptural truth and knowledge of Christ Jesus, by making sure our KJV Bibles are our measuring sticks for God’s inspired truths.  Praise God for an open KJV Bible!  (Psalm 119:105)

“The entrance of Thy Words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” (Psalm 119:130)

We can cry out with Christ our prayer to our Father God in Heaven: “…I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in Thy sight.” (Matthew 11:25-26)

When studying our Bibles, it is always a most beneficial practice to think through what we are reading, and ask ourselves many questions as to the deeper meaning of what is being revealed by God the Holy Spirit to us.  Therefore, when we read about the Lord Jesus on that cruel Cross at Calvary, crying out a Divine question to our Father in Heaven – we NEED to fully understand exactly why His cry was being made at that crucial time of Crucifixion.

Rhetorical Question: “E-lo`-i; E-lo`-i; la`-mas sa-bach`-tha-ni? My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

Dictionary Definition: A rhetorical question is a question in form, for rhetorical effect, not calling for an answer to the one asking, but used to persuade listeners to ask the question posed for themselves, in order to receive the answer for themselves, personally. (Chambers Dictionary, page 1415)

The Lord Jesus Christ - being at all times, both God and man - obviously knew the answer as to why God the Father and God the Spirit had to forsake Him, while hanging there upon that cruel Roman Cross.  He had taken upon Himself the vile sins of all of ‘His people’ from all over the world; all that had died in faith believing in the coming Messiah Christ, and all who would come to faith following Christ’s Crucifixion for our sins. 

The other two Divine Persons of the Triune Godhead – God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost – were compelled to turn their Divine faces away from our sins which Christ Jesus bore upon Himself, because a Holy Lord God cannot for one moment look upon SIN without punishing it. 

“Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity…”  (Habakkuk 1:13)

Punishing Christ with all our vile sins upon Himself on that Cross, and shedding His sinless Blood, was the only way to redeem God’s elect people from all our sins! Christ’s once-for-all-time Sacrifice on Calvary’s Cross, made a full propitiation; an atoning Sacrifice, for the sins of those Jesus Christ came to save. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord (God the Father) hath laid on Him (God the Son) the iniquity of us all (all ‘His people’).” (Isaiah 53:6) (Matthew 1:21)

“He (Christ Jesus) shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My (God the Father) righteous servant (Jesus Christ) justify MANY (not all!), for He shall bear their iniquities (on the Cross).” (Isaiah 53:11)

The Lord Jesus Christ, as the God-man, knew the answer to His rhetorical question from the Cross, but He needed you and I, and all others, to ask ourselves this vital question, for it was for the sins of ‘His people’ that Christ was so forsaken as He bore the punishment we fully deserved, and, like the Old Testament scapegoat, took all our sins – past, present and future sins – away forever.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us observe, secondly, in these verses, how truly and really our Lord Jesus Christ was made a curse for us, and bore our sins. We see it strikingly brought out in those marvellous words which He used at the ninth hour, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.”

It would be useless to pretend to fathom all the depth of meaning which these words contain. They imply an amount of mental suffering, such as we are unable to conceive. The agony of some of God’s holiest servants has been occasionally very great, under an impression of God’s favour being withdrawn from them. What then may we suppose was the agony of the holy Son of God, when all the sin of all the world was laid upon His head, when He felt Himself reckoned guilty, though without sin, when He felt His Father’s countenance turned away from Him? The agony of that season must have been something past understanding. It is a high thing. We cannot attain to a comprehension of it. We may believe it, but we cannot explain and find it out to perfection.  (J.C. Ryle’s Exposition of Mark’s Gospel)

Thought: Christ Jesus took all our vile sins upon Himself, and suffered in our place, died, and rose again from the dead to prove His power to justify all who trust in Him.