Again, Mark 16, one through 14, this is God’s holy word. 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 next 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 to 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 said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was 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 they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them.
And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.
After these things, he appeared in another form to two of them as they were walking into the country, and they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. Afterward, he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.
Thus far, God’s holy, inspired, and infallible word. It will please the Lord to take his word and to transform it in our lives into service for himself. Thanks be to God. Heavenly Father, now as we take these moments to consider this passage and related passages concerning the resurrection of our Lord, may we be blessed, may we be enlightened, may we have words to share with others concerning the truth. We pray that the risen Lord Jesus Christ would appear at least in terms of what the Scripture says to men everywhere, to women, children, to all, Lord, who need this Word today. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
One of the characteristics of Mark’s Gospel is how it consistently focuses on Jesus. He is always in the center of the picture, and usually is viewed with what we might call a close-up lens. And so when we read the concluding verses of Mark, there’s a bit of a shock, at least in that portion where Jesus isn’t in the picture. The angel’s words describe it perfectly.
He is not here. The record tells us he was everywhere he needed to be. This Easter morning, let us consider what it means for us that he is not there, that is in some tomb in Palestine, but he is here. So our main points this morning are these. First, we are confronted by the great impossibility And that simply put is the resurrection of the body. And then secondly, we’re asking a question, one that you might expect under the circumstances.
Well, if he is not here, then where is he? We follow then with another question. If he is here, exactly what is he doing? Fourthly, what about His promise never to leave us or never to fail to take us to heaven? And finally, if Jesus is here, how shall we recognize Him? How shall we know that He is here?
Those are our main points this morning. Well, this is a great impossibility in the eyes of the world. not in the eyes and hearts of believers, but can the dead rise? Can they bodily rise? Can they rise so that they are recognized? Can they rise so that they are still part of us? Well, one did, and many shall rise again.
Now the world, of course, is convinced that the dead do not rise. Impossible, they say. But the Bible says that something else is impossible. This is from Acts 2.24, where it says that it was impossible for death to hold Jesus. The world says rising is impossible. The dead stay dead. And we say no. Jesus is risen. And it’s impossible that he should stay unrisen. Well, first of all, he did not deserve death. Now, there have been a lot of people who have died, been killed, didn’t deserve it.
Although, as sinners, we all deserve it. But Scripture says that Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Hebrews 7, verse 26. So he did not deserve death, even though we as sinners deserve death because the wages of sin is death and we’re all sinners. Secondly, he was not forced to die.
Now, soldiers did lay their hands on him, did carry him to the cross, having beaten him up, and they nailed his hands and his feet to the cross And we might say, well, then he was forced to die. But he said, John chapter 10 verse 17, I lay my life down of my own accord. There was no forcing of Jesus in this. At one point, he said, I could call 12 legions of angels to deliver me if that were what God wanted. but he was not forced to die and he willingly laid down his life. Why? Because that was the only way to save us, to save sinners.
Thirdly, once dead, he was not held in death against his will. He was not saying, let me out, let me out. He said, I also have authority to take it up again. I lay it down of my own accord, but I have authority to take it up again. I can come forth whenever I desire to do so. The point was, though, that he was dead. He died our death. He took death upon himself, but could not be held by it.
He arose according to his own wishes and according to his father’s desire, for he and the father were working very closely. very much together, and Scripture says, and this is Jesus now speaking, my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work. Why did Jesus die on the cross? We can come at that from a lot of different angles, but the simple one is, it was the will of the Father. It was God’s will that He die for sinners in that situation.
And then he also arose as something called the first fruits. And he intends that we should rise also. In other words, he’s the first one. And we will follow him if we believe in him, if we have our faith and trust in him. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
And that term fallen asleep is simply a euphemism for having died. To us all, this seems impossible. That is, from a human point of view. When you die, that’s it. I had an English professor once who said to me, I believe that when you die, it’s all over. That’s the end of it. There’s nothing else after that.
But Jesus says, no, there’s more after that, and especially for those who believe in me. For they’ll not perish, but have everlasting life. With God, Scripture says, all things are possible. Well, secondly, we’re asking what we might call the expected question. After the settling of this matter, is it impossible or not, and we said it’s not impossible that people rise bodily from the dead, that Jesus rose bodily first of all, then what?
If not here, If He is not here, in other words, then where is He? If you were told, if I were told, in the natural circumstances of things, He is not here, then we would say, well, where is He? Where is He? But we would not even think of His being alive as we just mentioned. We would think it’s impossible for Him to be alive in any way. But Scripture says He now has a resurrected body.
And in Philippians chapter 3 we read that we’re going to have one too, that we who belong to him will also have a resurrected body and that in his case he is now at the right hand of God, Acts 2.33. Scripture also says that not only is he at the right hand of the Father, but that he is with us as well.
How is that possible? It’s another one of those impossible things that turns out to be possible because with God nothing is impossible. Scripture says he is with us always even to the end of the age. Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age. Matthew chapter 28 verse 20.
So when we think of the risen Christ, bodily risen from the dead, He is the right hand of the Father in heaven, but He is also with us. His presence with us is possible by the Word, by the Scriptures, and by the Spirit. He is here in our midst. He stands among us to fellowship with us, and to glorify us. If we were writing a speech for him to say, we might put these words in his mouth. Though I reside in heaven, I have come in the Spirit to be among you and to assure you that nothing can part us. I am with you always. Well, where is he? He is here beside us. He is here before us. He is in the pews, we don’t have pews, but he’s here on the couches and in the chairs. And he’s here at the front as well, because he said, I’ll never leave you. What a wonderful thing. How is that possible? It’s impossible, isn’t it? No. With God, all things are possible. And if He’s not there in the tomb, and if He’s in heaven, how can He be here with us? Because with God, nothing is impossible. If not there, where? Here. Here, where we are.
And I hope this morning, my heart’s desire this morning is that you really can sense the presence of the Lord. Remember Jacob when he was fleeing from his brother Esau and he laid down, had a rock for a pillow and he saw the angels ascending and descending. He said, surely the Lord is in this place. You know, that’s what we need today. And to think of it especially with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. Surely the Lord Jesus is in this place.
Jacob said, and I knew it not, but I hope you know it even as we continue on through the scriptures. He is here beside us, before us, and nothing can separate us from Him. Then we follow with another question. What exactly is He doing? If He is here, if He is seated unseen around us, what is He doing? Or if He is up and at Him, as we say, what is He doing?
If He’s not there in heaven, well, He is there in heaven. Well, then, if He’s here, how can He? Well, it’s impossible. No, with God all things are possible. What is He doing exactly? Well, first of all, Jesus is using His glorious resurrection body in the same way that we will use ours someday. What do I mean by that? I mean that He didn’t go to heaven and find a chair beside the Father, a similar throne, if you will, but He said, let’s get at it. Let’s do the work. than I’ve been called to do. Well, you did that on earth, didn’t you? You died on the cross and you rose from the dead and you continued teaching for a while and you ascended.
But Jesus says, no, my work is never done. Now, the saving part is done. There’s nothing to be added to that. And the teaching is all out there for people to understand through the apostles and scriptures. It’s all there, but there’s still an eternity of things to do. A lot of people think that heaven is a place where you float on clouds and play harps. But Jesus says there’s work to be done. And you know, we just saw these people leave and they’re on their way today to the moon. They’re going way beyond the moon and circle around and come back.
And they’re just tasting the tiniest bit of what’s out there. And the Lord did not say, oh, I created that just for a while. And you might as well forget it. But all those planets and stars and stuff that we don’t even know and understand, that’s all for us to work on with Him. Exactly how and what all the particulars are, I can’t tell you that.
But I do know that if you have a body and you have hands and eyes and feet and can do things, you have a brain to control these things, and that’s what the resurrection body means, then there’s stuff for you to do. And God will explain it all to us when we get there.
But in terms of what Jesus is doing, He’s finishing up what has to be done here on earth, and that is to bring many people to Himself. From every tribe and tongue and nation, He’s bringing people to Himself. He’s working now. We don’t see everything that He does in heaven, but we certainly see how He works through His angels, through His people here on earth.
In His glorious resurrection body, He is working, and that’s what lies before us as well. The new heavens and the new earth, as they’re called, will be full of saints with resurrection bodies, and they all have jobs to do. all things assigned to them. And whereas now we fumble and stumble and don’t quite get the job done and neglect and disappoint Him in Heaven, there’s not going to be any of that. We’re going to be right-minded and rightly configured and rightly assigned, and what a glorious eternity there lies before us. Jesus is communicating with us now. That’s so important.
If we could visibly see Him, we might sort of do what He’s doing, following His actions, as it were. But He says, let Me communicate with you what I want you to do, and then you do it as I give you the help of My Holy Spirit. He’s communicating with His disciples, both the ancient ones and the modern ones. And He’s doing it by means of prayer. That’s how we speak to Him. And by the Word, that’s how He speaks to us. We have that great privilege of talking to the Lord, and He talks to us out of His Word, out of the Scriptures, applies them. So what is He doing?
Yes, He’s ruling and reigning in heaven. And if you’re ruling and reigning, whether you’re a president or a prime minister or whoever you may be, but you’ve got things to do, Well, he’s doing that in heaven, but he’s also at work through us, working in us and for us and getting things ready for that day when we’re all with him in glory. Jesus is on the throne, yes, but he’s still gaining the victory. He’s victorious in so many ways, but the victory is not yet complete until the last unsaved one that he has chosen for himself comes to him.
Jesus is watching over us and interceding for us. in the same way that sometimes in the Scriptures apply to angels. For example, it says concerning the Son, Jesus, that they, the angels, shall bear you up in their hands lest you dash your foot against a stone.
And here’s an argument from the lesser to the greater. If it’s true of Jesus in the confined circumstances of this world, think what it means for us and what lies before us in glory. We follow with this question, exactly what is he doing? I hope I’ve given you just a little bit of sense of that.
Well, what about his promises, never to leave us, and his promise to take us to heaven? Well, first of all, we should rejoice that Jesus brings heaven to us. Wherever Jesus is, now I hope we’ve established that yes, he’s in heaven, but he’s here with us as well. Wherever Jesus is, there is heaven. There is heavenly activity, praise, intercession, helping, outreaching, inventing, all kinds of marvelous things that are going on because He never leaves us. And what He is doing ultimately brings us to heaven. Wherever Jesus is at work, we must focus on Him and the heaven that accompanies Him. Before He takes us to heaven, He brings heaven to us.” Nice little phrase there to remember. Before He takes us to heaven, He brings heaven to us. Jesus comes to us from heaven, and while He is with us, He entices us to join Him there.
I go to prepare a place for you, He says, where I am, you may be also. John 14 verse 3. Jesus comes to us and he says, wouldn’t you like to be where I am? Wouldn’t you like to sit with me, to get up with me, to work with me, to take on this universe that we know so little about here on earth? Wouldn’t you like to be there with me as we involve ourselves in it?
All his promises are going to come true because he isn’t there. He isn’t in the tomb. He isn’t buried somewhere over there in Palestine. And always people are digging up bones and say, maybe this is he. No, he risen from the dead, seated at the right hand of the father. And now with us in spirit, he says, all my promises I’m delivering to you now and more to come later on. His promises will come true because He isn’t there in the tomb, but He is with us. Well, one last thing.
If Jesus is here, how do we recognize Him? As we’ve already said, we can’t see Him. We don’t even know for sure what He looks like. Now, I know all these famous artists have drawn Jesus in the garden, Jesus doing this and that, Jesus smiling, Jesus crying. But the truth is they have not the slightest idea of what Jesus looks like, nor do we.
Well, what about the Shroud of Turin? Doesn’t that tell you anything? It just is a, whether it’s the right shroud or the wrong shroud, I don’t know, but it doesn’t give you a real picture of Jesus. You can put it in a computer and try to make it come out to be somebody.
But the fact is that we don’t recognize him because we don’t see him and we never have seen him. We will see him someday. Remember those women who were the first at the open tomb did not see Jesus. That’s why I started off the way I did. They didn’t see Jesus. But Jesus says, you will still know I’m there. How can that be? Because you don’t need to see Him to know that He’s with you, to know that He’s present with you.
All they had to go on were the angels that were in the tomb, and they didn’t recognize them as angels, actually. But they said there were men in there, and in our passage, there’s just one, but there was another one according to other gospels. But they got the word from these men, and they looked around, and there were these grave clothes. Scripture says they were folded up. I don’t know exactly what the… arrangement was, but that’s all they had to go by. Just grave clothes and a couple of men, they thought, who told them that he isn’t here, he’s risen. Well, that’s where we have to start, because we can’t see him either, but we get the same word from those angels as the women got, and through the scriptures we know that the grave clothes were lying there with nobody in them, as it were, Nobody being wrapped in them, however they did that.
And that’s where we start. We start believing. And when Jesus spoke to different ones, He rebuked them. Why? Because they didn’t believe. But what didn’t they believe? They didn’t believe what was told them. We saw the grave clothes. We saw these men. We heard them say these things. And what they said and what they saw now is presented to us as evidence as well.
Do you doubt? Impossible! No, it’s not. All things are possible with God. And of course, subsequently, many saw Him. Many looked upon Him. So we begin with the same evidence and we follow the trail He blazed until again, at last, we see Him face to face.
Instead of angels and clothes, we have people. People who have been saved. We have a room filled with worship items like Bibles, and hymns, and a lectern, and a piano, and all these things used for worship. I don’t care what they’re used for at other times, but when we’re here, they’re for worship.
And all these things tell us that Jesus meets His people here. Does that mean He can’t meet us out there somewhere in the building? No. It just means that when we come to worship Him, when we take His command to use the Lord’s day to worship God, He’s here with us.
In another place, He said something that’s applicable here. He said, where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them. And I want to tell you this morning that the Lord Jesus is here. Yes, he still has his place in heaven. He hasn’t abandoned it or anything like that, but he’s here by the Word and the Spirit. He’s here with us.
And later he said to the apostle, blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. That’s not a telephone from heaven, by the way. There was an old gospel song about telephone to glory, oh what joy divine. You can feel the spirit moving on the line. Well, forget that. We’re always challenged how to walk. By faith, not by sight. We walk by faith and not by sight.
In the Bible, we have every appearance of Jesus after His resurrection described before us. Every one. Nobody said, oh, you left out something. It’s all there for us to see that He is risen. Everything Jesus had to say, everything He taught after His resurrection, as well as everything before that, but everything that He said and taught after His resurrection, we have in the Scriptures also.
The minister, whoever it may be, is a visible representative of the fact that Jesus, though out of sight, is here with us. We can see Jesus in our fellow saints, those who live for Him. Those in the church are His hands, His feet, His determination. All that is to tell us that He does have hands and feet and eyes and a mouth and all these things, a brain. These are just to remind us that He is at work and that He uses us in His service, but one day we’ll work with Him and beside Him and see Him and know Him. The Spirit works in hearts and minds so that we see Jesus and are aware of His presence even more than if we could see Him sitting somewhere in the room here.
I want to close with this verse from 1 Peter 1.18.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. Heavenly Father, we pray now that we can say with Jacob, surely the Lord, the Lord Jesus is in this place. We didn’t know it, but now we know it. Because Lord, you’ve impressed yourselves upon our hearts and minds this morning. And may that be true throughout this day that we celebrate the resurrection, that that same Jesus who rose so many years ago, thousands of years ago, that He is with us and will never leave us. And one day when we see Him, we’ll be like Him and we’ll work with Him and enjoy every single moment of it. Help us to enjoy a lot of it now, Lord, by Your grace, in Jesus’ name, amen. Well, I’ve asked that we sing something different for our closing today, so if you turn to the back of your bulletin, Christ the Lord is risen today. Hallelujah.