The Empty Tomb | Mark 16:1-8 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Welcome, church. I invite you to mark chapter 16. I come before you today with a message of joy, message of encouragement, a message of hope. And we're gonna discover that together here in these verses as we reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. An old, old preacher numbered among the Puritans from the 16 hundreds said the following, Christ's resurrection is the victory of the church.

The purchase of their liberty, the cause of their justification, the pledge for their own resurrection, and the demonstration of the certainty of eternal life. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no Christianity. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, there is no forgiveness. There is no freedom. There is no salvation.

There is no hope in death. There is no everlasting life. There is no empowerment in this life. All in all, without the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no true or lasting purpose in this life or in the next. It is paramount.

It is the event of all events. It is the climax of the gospel. It was the necessary miracle that made everything that Jesus did and said legitimate and applicable to you and I. The resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's what we're going to reflect on today, and here's my prayer as we do that, that your faith in the resurrection would increase while your love for the resurrected Lord would enlarge as you and I now behold his heart for you and me.

That's what we're going to see here. We're not going to just merely look at a supernatural occurrence. We're going to see the character of the one who performed it. And so I hope none of these things sound too familiar to you. I pray that God would give us actually fresh eyes to see familiar truths with a new touch, new enlightenment.

Can you believe that we're in Mark 16? I'm not sure if you know, but there's nothing past Mark 16. So over the past months, years actually, we have now arrived to the final chapter of our study in the gospel of Mark. Ain't that wonderful? I think we've reached close to 100 sermons in the gospel of Mark.

God has been good to us every single week. And, you know, after we finish this, I ask you to really pray to see where the Lord would lead us next as a church, because I want to ultimately I'm here to serve you. I'm here to help you. I'm here to do whatever I can to help you fall more in love with the Lord Jesus Christ through his word. But we're not there yet, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Let's come to Mark 16. You're there with me, I'm sure. And let's read there in verse one. When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought 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 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. Lord, it's it's our sincere prayer that we would not just study about your resurrection, that we would experience it. Help us experience the resurrected Lord. Only you can make that possible, and so we pray for it to be made known in this place on this Sunday.

We love you with every ounce of who we are. Help us love you more as we reflect on your love for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So a couple of weeks ago, you and I touched on one of these verses concerning these women who bought spices to go and anoint the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we concluded that this act was really a reflection of their unbelief. Because they should have known that on this particular day, the same Jesus that they were going to honor fled the grave, conquered the grave, overcame death. So there is no need to buy these herbs and spices. There is no need to try to anoint his lifeless body. He's alive.

The anointed one said what he said he would do, accomplished what he said he would do. And so for the for the fact that these women are going and making their way to the tomb in this way reveals a level of unbelief, but you also can't deny. You cannot object to the reality that this is an act of pure devotion as well. Why take the time to buy spices and prepare them when you and I learned a couple weeks ago that Joseph of Arimathea and his friend Nicodemus brought 75 pounds worth of herbs and applied it to him. You would think nothing else is necessary after that, but you see, these women were not satisfied.

They themselves longed to lavish their love on Jesus Christ. And for you and I, that is really a reflection of true worship. Listen, a worshiper doesn't just rejoice when they see that their Lord is being honored, when they see others giving, when they see others praising, when they see others serving, when they see others blessing. A true worshiper says, I must glorify him myself. I must contribute to the cause of Christ.

It's not enough for me to be a part of something or to be with others who are advancing the kingdom. What do I need to do, oh, Lord, to show you that I love you? And so you have these band of women who are doing just that. Yes, they saw Jesus' body anointed, but they said we must do it for ourselves. We must show our last act, the final act of our love and devotion to the Christ.

And so they're making their way to do that. And what makes these women even more inspiring, if we overlook their unbelief, is that they chose to seek and serve the Lord in a very distressing time. Uneasy time. Matthew adds a detail about the scene that makes it more suspenseful. You don't have to turn there, but let me read it to you.

It's a very brief verse in Matthew 27 verse 66. It says, so they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard. Speaking about the Pharisees and the Romans. So not only was there a stone covering the mouth of that tomb, there was surveillance. Aggressive, vicious soldiers were at the mouth of that tomb as well.

We don't know if the woman knew this or not, but if we assume that they did know about it, then it says something about the extent of their love for Christ. That they are willing to even go and honor him with the presence of danger. It didn't prevent them from their worship. Now that might not resonate with you and I, here in the West because I'm not prophetic, but I'm sure that not one person in this place got in their cars and worried that coming to church might be met with terrorists or the police stopping you. Right?

Nobody. Probably the greatest challenge is, okay, how am I gonna get parking? But if your devotion in mind ever reaches the point where it does become costly to serve Jesus Christ, and that can happen very quickly even in this nation, then I want you to never forget the inspiration of these women. They did not flinch when their commitment to Christ was leading them into a hostile circumstance. Christ is worthy to be served even if it gets dangerous to serve him.

He's worthy of that kind of devotion. And if you think it stops there, it doesn't because it wasn't just danger that they were about to face. There were obstacles. What was the obstacle? Look at Mark sixteen three.

I'll remind you. And they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? So obviously, the stone was large enough where even in their collective efforts, they wouldn't be able to move it. And so now, they're pondering and thinking, how how are we going to do this? And this was a roadblock, so to speak, and it's no different for servants of God today, who sometimes will face obstacles in their pursuit of wanting to honor and serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes those challenges are natural, other times they are caused by the enemies of the truth. Regardless, you know what you can say about these women? Even though they were aware that there was a stone, keeping them from doing what they truly wanna do from their heart, it was not an excuse. It was not an excuse for them to not go and lavish their love upon Christ. It's not like they discovered it when they got there.

Remember, we're told there in verse 47. Look at Matthew, excuse me, Mark 15. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid. They saw where Jesus was laid. They knew the exact tomb and they saw a stone being rolled in front of it.

So they knew it. It's not like it was a surprise to them. But it didn't matter, because they were willing to make their way to the burial site, I believe, with a level of faith that they were gonna get in there somehow. That something was gonna be done. And even if nothing was gonna be done, they at least went for it, and they were going to try.

Now, I have a feeling that I would know how some modern Christians would have approached this situation. So they have a chance to honor the Lord Jesus in this way, and just imagine knowing about a large stone that restricts you. Yeah. You know, I don't think it's worth it. It's, it's gonna be in vain.

Let's save our time. Let's save our money. We wanted to do it and, Mary over there reminded us that there's a stone, so let's just forget about it and move on. That's not what these Christians, these followers of Christ were like. They had it in their hearts, and it was gonna take more than danger and inconvenience to keep them from serving Jesus.

I hope that the same can be said about you. I hope it takes way more than dangerous situations or minor, even major inconveniences to keep you from giving the Lord what is his due, loving the Lord with all your heart. And notice what happens here, that as they are worried about what's gonna happen to the tomb, verse four tells us that it was solved. And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large.

Do you know what happens when your heart is set to devoting yourself to the Lord with that level of determination? God will make a way for you. Do you understand that? God will make listen. When you put God first, the things that you're worried about that are trying to get in the way of God being first, God will take care of those things.

He promises us that. And we see it by way of example here. And we're gonna elaborate this on this in a moment here, but many people mistaken the idea of why the the stone was rolled away from the tomb. They think that the stone was rolled away so that Jesus can get out. No.

Jesus didn't need to get out in that way. Do you know why? Because he was glorified. And you've read the gospels enough to know that Jesus wasn't hindered in his glorified state by walls or locked doors. Right?

He didn't need the stone to be moved. He can walk right through the walls. Lazarus, on the other hand, in John 11, when Jesus was ready to raise him from the dead, said take away the stone. Why? So that Lazarus could wiggle his way out.

Because the Lazarus resurrection was not a glorified resurrection. That was Jesus' resurrection. That's why his resurrection was so unique. A transformation took place, and it's a prototype of what our resurrection is going to look like. So the the the stone in Jesus case being rolled away was not so that Christ could come out, it's so that his disciples could go in and see with their own eyes that he did in fact keep his promise that on the third day he would rise.

So don't you find it wonderful that these women who are trying to brainstorm how they're gonna move remove this stone in their attempt to love the Lord and honor the Lord, discovered that it was solved before they even arrived? Many of the things that you and I are worried about and wondering how it's gonna happen, God already has taken care of. You know why? Because your God and mine has lived our tomorrows. I know that's hard to wrap your mind around, but he's already lived your tomorrows.

He's not bound by time. He sees it all. He's at your birthday and your funeral at the same time. Think about that. You might get a headache.

So he's already there. And so they're figuring out how is it gonna happen, and he already dealt with it. It's no different for you and I in our own lives. So they arrive and they realize that the stone was rolled away. Now we touch on verse one and verse three and four but we skipped over verse two.

Let's look at it quickly. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. Very early. I wonder if they even slept. So you have to remember that the Sabbath, which is on a Saturday, took place and they couldn't come and visit Jesus then because they couldn't come in contact with a dead body on the Sabbath.

And so they waited until that Saturday was complete and very early on the first day of the week, which is Sunday, they went to the tomb. Now here's what's interesting here, they went to the tomb on the first day of the week to do what? In essence, to worship. And what's amazing here is that the timing of the worship sets a precedent for Christ followers for all ages. In what way?

You and I too gather on the first day of the week, do we not? That's why we're here today. But we don't do it for the same reason these women did. Why? Because these women came on Sunday to pay tribute to the lifeless body of Jesus Christ.

You and I come here every Sunday to remember his resurrection and proclaim that he's alive. That's the difference. That's why you and I gather on Sundays, if you didn't know, to commemorate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see scriptural proof. We see actually a pattern of how this was established from the earliest days of the church.

I want you to see a progression of thought here in your Bibles. You're gonna have to flip to a few places though. So look at acts 20 verse seven. You're gonna have some people, I'm sure, at some point ask you, why do you worship on Sunday as a Christian with the church? Because you have some people who think you're not saved unless you do it on the Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath.

And it's good to just know why we do what we do as Christians anyway, even if nobody asks you why you do it. Look at acts 20 verse seven. Luke writes, on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them intending to depart on the next day and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Read this very carefully. We're told that they met on the first day of the week.

Well, if you ever read the book of acts, you notice that they met more than one day a week. Did they not? Plenty of days. Actually, early on they met every day. But here, we're told that they met on the first day of the week and not just meeting on the first day, they broke bread.

They were recognizing one of the ordinances of the church, communion, the Lord's supper. So they're doing that on a particular day. Luke highlights that. Then as you read through your new testament, you discover something in first Corinthians 16. Look at it with me in verse two.

I'll wait for you. First Corinthians 16 verse two. Look what Paul says to these believers. He says, on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come. So he's talking about a fundraising effort for the church in Jerusalem, and he's telling them, listen.

Be before now and then, I'm asking you as the Corinthians that every first day of every week, when you gather, that you put together based on what you're able to provide so that a collection can be made for this church in in need. So we went from acts 20, it says, on the first day of the week. And then now Paul says, on the first day of every week. A tradition is being established here. A standard is being raised.

And now the church seems, it's common knowledge to be meeting at least once a week on Sunday to worship, to collect, to serve. And over the years now, you come to the very last book of the bible and you read something interesting in Revelation chapter one. Look at verse 10 of Revelation chapter one. John writes and testifies, I was in the spirit on what day? On the Lord's day.

And I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. So as the years went on, the church no longer just recognized the essential meeting time of the first day of the week. It now became known as the Lord's day. And what's interesting is when you look at extra biblical sources like early church writings, the Lord's day is recognized as Sunday. Unmistakable.

The early Christians would refer to the Lord's day as the first day of the week. For what purpose? Because that's when Christ raised. That's when he rose from the dead. Now, can I give you a word of caution, please?

It would be incorrect and it would be untrue to say that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath. It's not. It's not the Christian Sabbath. People have this understanding that once Jesus came and inaugurated the new covenant, the Sabbath, under the Mosaic law which was honored on the seventh day, Saturday, was transferred now to Sunday. So we as Christians, our Sabbath is on Sunday.

That's not true. That's not how the Bible actually describes the Sabbath. The Sabbath wasn't changed in terms of the timing, it was fulfilled in the new covenant. And what are you talking about? I'm telling you that the Sabbath, according to the New Testament, was realized in the person of Jesus Christ.

Let me take some time to explain that. Out of the 10 commandments, nine are repeated in the New Testament. Guess which one is left out? Keep the Sabbath. Why is that the case?

Because when you read you don't have to turn there, but when you read Hebrews chapter four, you learn that the spirit is instructing that Jesus Christ is ultimately our Sabbath. Saying how does that work? Well, the Sabbath in the old testament represents rest. It was a time of the week where you as a faithful follower, worshiper of God would rest from your works and you would take the time to meditate and it was an act of faith and recognizing that God is your ultimate provider and sustainer. Now we come to the new testament, we realize that the Sabbath as instrumental and as practical as it was, was a shadow.

The substance was realized in Jesus. The connection? In the same way the Sabbath represented rest, now when we come into Jesus, we rest. In what way do we rest? Well, in the Old Testament, you rested from your works.

In the New Testament, you rest in Jesus' works. In the Old Testament, you would rest one day a week as an act of trust. In the New Testament, you rest every single day trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. So our Sabbath is in a person now. That's what we believe as Christians.

So when people come up to me and say, you don't honor the Sabbath. I say, actually, I do. His name is Jesus. Scratch your heads up. He's my rest.

That's what he He's the fulfillment of He's the fulfillment of many things including that day. So then, what's Sunday all about? Well, the Bible commands us as Christians to regularly gather so that we can edify one another, receive the word of God, equip, encourage, reprove, rebuke, teach, all that takes place. It's commanded that we do so consistently And through the leading of the Holy Spirit and the leading of the apostles, Sunday became that standard day where we do that. And that's why you read things like in Colossians two and Romans 14, where Paul is dealing with issues in the church, especially with Jews who converted to Christianity, who made such a big deal about the Sabbath.

And he goes, listen. If you wanna recognize a holy day, you're free to do that. It's a matter of personal convenience. If you wanna even honor Saturday as as a Sabbath day, you can do that, but don't make it binding on other Christians. Don't judge those who don't recognize the Sabbath.

And those who don't recognize the Sabbath, don't judge those who do. It's a matter of conscience. It's not a matter of law, even under the law of Christ. So we come on the first day of the week, we come on the Lord's day because that is the pattern that we see in the New Testament. We are commanded to meet here, but this is not Sunday, it's not Christian Sabbath.

Jesus is our Sabbath. And that's Hebrews chapter four, just in case you don't believe me. You have to read another time though. And so we see here that there is something being established, unknowing to these women. But notice what happens in verse five, Mark 16.

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. So they walk into this tomb, and as I said earlier, it wasn't open so that Christ could leave, it was so that they could go in. And when they came in, they saw a young man. Now other gospel accounts tells us that this was an angel. I find it interesting that an angel is described as with human appearance, and that's a regular thing.

That's a consistent thing throughout the bible. When you look at Hebrews 13, we're told to be hospitable because you might even be entertaining angels unaware. So another Christian misconception. I'm sorry to tell you this. Angels don't have giant wings.

I know you saw it on cartoons. I know. I I know you saw it in maybe children's bible stories, but they don't have wings. They they have human appearance. Are there other heavenly creatures in heaven that do have such characteristics?

Yes. But more than anything else, when it comes to angels, they have very similar traits as you and I as humans. Now we talked about many weeks ago, why Mark chose the language of young men to describe this angel. Right? You have to go back to the last sermon in Mark 14, I believe, to rediscover that.

So we won't we won't delve into that here. The point that I wanna make is though they saw this young man sitting at the right side of the slab where Jesus body was laid, he was not alone. He wasn't alone. Can I tell you who else was with him? Go to John in chapter 20.

John chapter 20 beginning in verse 11. Now, if you're willing to go from scripture to scripture with me at this point, it's gonna be rewarding. I'll tell you that in advance. So let's start in John 20, look at verse 11. I want you to see that this angel was not by himself.

John twenty eleven. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain. One at the head and one at the feet. Contradiction? No.

The Bible does this over and over again. It could be that the reason why Mark highlights one of them is because he was a spokesperson. He was the one that was communicating to these ladies while the other one silently was there. So we see that there are actually two angels at the scene. And what I want to draw to your attention is where they were sitting.

What are we told by John? There was one who was sitting at the head. There is one sitting at the feet. Now, John, I believe is describing this in detail by the Spirit ultimately, because he hopes that you and I will be familiar enough with the Old Testament to realize that he is making a very striking parallel. You're saying, have I ever seen anything where there are these heavenly creatures positioned in a similar way?

Well, if there's nothing happening, come to Exodus 25 with me. We're gonna make some connections here. Okay. God told the nation of Israel when they came out of Egypt going into the promised land, I want you to build me a house of worship, and he puts all these furnishings in place with all these elaborate instructions of how to construct them. The most prominent one was this thing called the Ark of the Covenant.

Do you remember it? It looks like a chest piece. Right? It's it's not too large, but we're given every measurement the the layering of the material and even the inscriptions and the designs of it. What's the purpose of this ark?

You're gonna find out in a moment, but it really symbolized God's throne on earth. And it would be tucked behind in the deepest part of that tabernacle, later the temple, and it was where he would manifest his glory. And it was really God's attempt to convince the people, yes, though I inhabit heaven, I long to dwell with you. And so I want you to make me this chess piece to symbolize it. You can't come into contact it freely, but I want you to at least know that my presence is here.

And there's gonna be a few things that I'm gonna give you in terms of instruction on how to interact with my presence. And I want you to look at one particular set of instructions concerning the ark. In Exodus 25 beginning in verse 17, we read, you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Pause. He's talking about the Ark of the Covenant.

The mercy seat Let me just tell you so you don't get lost here. The mercy seat is the lid. It's the lid that's gonna go on top of this chest. So we're told here, you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. You shall make two cherubim of gold.

Cherubim are heavenly creatures. You can make this claim that they're in the category of angelic beings. And you shall make two cherubim of gold of hammered work, shall you make them on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends.

The cherubim shall spread out their wings above overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings. Their faces one to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. So you have these two cherubim, unique heavenly creatures and they're to be infused on the lid and the way they would be positioned is like this. They'd be facing one another and their wings would be covering like this and they would be facing each other, but they would be looking down at the mercy seat.

Now, here's my question when I read this. I have many questions. My main one was, why call the lid? Why don't just call it lid? Why call the lid the mercy seat?

I'll tell you why. But you have to go to Leviticus. Leviticus. Yes. Leviticus.

And these are the instructions that God gives to the priest on one particular day out of the year called the day of atonement, where this would be the ordinance observed to forgive and cover the sins of the nation. And I want you to look at one particular set of instructions of what they were to do as they interacted with the ark of the covenant, which was in the most holy place. They can only enter into that place once a year. And notice what we're told in Leviticus 16 verse 14. Leviticus 16 verse 14.

About the high priest he is told, and he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side. And in front of the mercy seat, he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his fingers seven times. Do you now know why it was called the mercy seat? Because it represented the place where God's mercy and atonement for sin were symbolically administered, especially on the day of atonement. Remember what we read in Exodus that, yeah, we talked about the lid, but we're also told what's to go inside the ark.

One of the main instruments that are supposed to be in the ark was the testimony, the law. The 10 commandments were supposed to be placed in the ark of the covenant. So look at this imagery. You have the law in the ark. Question.

Did the Israelites faithfully observe the law or did they continually break it? Break it all the time. So you have the law in the ark, then you have the mercy seat on top of it, and then once a year, the priest would take the sacrifice and sprinkle the animal's blood on the lid. Blood covering our breaking of the law. This is what it's symbolizing.

So now you have this background because you're faithfully reading your Old Testament. Right? Now you come to the new testament library and you're reading the gospel of Mark and you come to where Jesus died, where he was placed in a tomb, where he was raised, but you learn that at the burial site, the place that was carved out where he would lay his body, there's an angel. One at the head, one at his feet. Why?

To make this connection, this imagery that Jesus Christ is the new and greater mercy seat. That's why. And you and I now, in the new covenant, don't have to wait once a year and hope that the high priest will be faithful and careful to observe the complex and elaborate protocol to ensure that we can endure another year. What Christ has done once and for all is sufficient for all sinners of all time. He is the new and the greater mercy seat.

You see it right here. This is why I say it over and over again, and I'll never stop saying it. You can't do anything about it. Unless you want to know the depths of the New Testament, you have to have a grasp on the old. You have to.

And so they see these two angels in John, and Mark, it's only one young man, and they have a message for these women. Verse six of Mark 16. And he said to them, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth. So they're confirming you came to the right tomb.

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. Don't you love that the first message of these witnesses Now, yes, we got the imagery that you have two angels that make a connection to the mercy seat, but the scriptures also tell us that according to the law, you need two witnesses to establish a matter. Right? Deuteronomy 19. So you have two angelic beings who are there to testify the resurrection happened.

Because as much as the resurrection is found in every single gospel account, do you know that we don't have the actual play by play of how the resurrection happened? It's concealed to us. We don't have that. But we have witnesses, angelic beings who said, he's risen. Jesus of Nazareth?

Yeah. He's not here. And the first message of these witnesses of the resurrection, you know what it is? Do not be alarmed. Now in context, we know that they said this because they were bewildered.

They were just caught off guard. They can't believe what's taking place here, these heavenly beings. Jesus is not here. This tomb is vacant. So we understand why they said do not be alarmed.

However, what they said to these women echoes throughout the years, throughout the ages for all people of all time when they understand the resurrection. The resurrection doesn't just conquer death. The resurrection conquers our fears. Every fear. If you really understand the implications of what Christ has done by raising from the grave, then we understand that we have no reason to be afraid.

I have no reason to be afraid of judgment. Eternal judgment. Why? Because the resurrection is the seal that I am no longer condemned. The resurrection makes me fearless in the face of death.

Why? Because he's the prototype of my resurrection. And the way that he transitioned into glory, so will I also enter into his presence in the same way. I have no reason to fear anything in this life. Why?

Because the resurrected Lord not only conquered death, not only ascended on high, not only is gonna scoop me out of here at one time, but he walks with me day by day by day. He's not just my savior, he's my shepherd. Living shepherd, not a theoretical one. Not a crutch to lean on. No.

A real living being that relates to me, speaks to me, guides me providentially. Sometimes supernaturally because he's alive. Do not be alarmed. Not just in this moment, for the rest of your days. You have no reason to be fearful if he's alive and you belong to him.

Do not be alarmed. But that's not the only message that these first witnesses of the resurrection had to share. Verse seven. Oh, I've referred to this verse many times from this pulpit, but I never grow tired of explaining it. I hope you never grow weary of hearing it.

They tell him, don't be alarmed, but I have a mission for you now. I'm speaking on behalf of the resurrected one. Look at verse seven. He says, go. Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.

Forgive me if you heard this before. Again, I don't grow tired of hearing it and knowing it. We believe, as we studied Mark, that Peter was the main contributor to the data of Mark's account. And And it's funny because only in this gospel account are we told that Peter's name was explicitly said, highlighted and underscored at this point of his life. Go tell the disciples, not just the disciples, go tell the disciples and Peter.

Why? Because if the ladies went back to the fearful disciples and they said, the Lord said to the disciples to go meet him in Galilee. You know what Peter would have said to himself? That's definitely not me. I'm not one of the disciples.

I committed that sin. I heard my own with my own ears, this Jesus saying, if anybody denies before men, I'll deny you before my father and his angels. I did that not once, three times. And And now these ladies come in and say, the Lord is alive. He told me to tell you the disciples to go meet him in Galilee.

What do you think Peter would have felt? Have fun, guys. Not me. Jesus knowing just how overcome he was by his own failure, telling these angels, dispatching them, and making sure that they were crystal clear, highlight Peter's name. Make this invitation personal to Peter.

Make sure that Peter doesn't miss the opportunity for me to be restored to him. So you know what one of the first messages in connection to the resurrection is? Not just you have no reason to fear, but grace. Grace. The resurrected Lord is ready to forgive.

Ready, eager, longing even today. His zeal in wanting to forgive sinners, his fallen servants, hasn't diminished one bit. In fact, one of the main reasons why he hasn't come back yet is so that all would reach repentance according to second Peter. Make sure you tell the disciples and Peter. You know what's so interesting?

God's grace in Christ is not just seen in how he deals and treats Peter. It's with all the disciples. Because the instruction in verse seven is, go and tell the disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee, There he you will see him just as he told you. So this is not the first time the command to go to Galilee after the resurrection was given. Can I show you where else it was given?

Go to Mark 14. And look at verse 28. This is on the night that he was going to be betrayed, and he gives these instructions in Mark 14. Let's read it from verse 26, actually. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount Of Olives and Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Now, you would think that for Jesus to say, I already set up a meeting place for you and I after I defeat death, that that would that would be the thing that catches your attention more than anything else. Right? But after I'm raised, I will go before you to Galilee. Now for him to say, I will go before you to Galilee means I'm expecting to meet you in Galilee.

I'll be there ahead of you, but I'm expecting you to be there. Right? So look, if I'm there, I'm saying, woah, woah, woah, woah, I need to know more about this. Wait. You're gonna raise?

And you're gonna meet us somewhere after you defeat death? I I have a lot of questions. Here's how Peter answers in verse 29. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away, I will not. With all with all that Jesus said, he's he's caught up in self.

He missed it. And not just him we read later on in the same place in verse 31 and they all said the same. The only thing that they were concerned about was, we're gonna be loyal to you. You totally missed how you're supposed to meet him. If somebody tells you, hey, at a certain time, at a certain place, we're gonna meet.

You're gonna wanna know more details so that you can meet. No. Right over the heads. And what do you see? Jesus does conquer the grave.

He sends angels to remind the disciples what they forgot to grasp to begin with. Go to Galilee. I already told you this. Meet me there. So what do you see here?

I'm telling you, you see the patience of Jesus Christ. That's what you see here. This is Christ here reflecting his long suffering. Listen, he is incredibly loyal. How many times have you heard something from the word?

God trying to reveal something about himself. God trying to instruct you about something that would please him and honor him and And what does the Lord do when we fail to hear him? The perfect savior, the perfect king. What does he do? He's willing to revisit it and instruct us again.

Patiently, gently, lovingly. I told you to go to Galilee. And so they were gonna hear it again. And if you're not convinced, I hope Matthew's additional notes will win your trust. So the ladies hear this.

Right? We read it early in the beginning of the service in verse eight of Mark 16, 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. But something happens when some of these women make their way to the disciples that make this event even more spectacular. So here's our final text in Matthew 28, and look what happens here in verse eight. It might be our final text.

Matthew 28 verse eight. So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. Very similar to Mark. Right? And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings.

And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. And Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee and there they will see me. So I wanna end with three thoughts from this final scene of Mark's depiction of the resurrection with Matthew's help. Some of these ladies, they make their way back.

As they're running, Jesus appears. And the way He appears grips me. Because He appears and what does He say? Greetings. You know what greetings is?

It's the normal way you would say hi to somebody at this time. Translation? Hello. That's how he did it. I'm thinking, you just defeated death.

The last time that these followers of yours saw you, you were hanging on a cross, bleeding, bruised, according to Isaiah, unrecognizable. And in one of your first resurrection appearances, the way you choose to do it is say, hi. I'm not trying to be facetious here. This is what it's saying. Greetings, according to the ESV.

But it's intentional. Why is it intentional? Because we've seen how Christ reveals himself to others in his resurrected form. Right? Remember Saul of Tarsus, ready to go to Damascus to arrest some Christians?

How did Jesus reveal to him on the road to Damascus? Not greetings. He showed up and he was shining brighter than the sun in such majesty and glory that Saul of Tarsus couldn't even stay on his feet. He crumbled to the ground. Why didn't he do that here?

It's a different audience. Different group of people. Different heart posture. Their heart posture at this point, they're fearful. They're bewildered.

They're astonished. They're trying to make sense of this as they're running and trying to obey these instructions. And so when the Lord reveals himself, you know how he does it? Delicately. Informally.

Greetings. And it was enough to bring them to their faces, not like Saul of Tarsus, but to grab his feet and to worship him. And again, we don't just see the patience of Jesus with Peter or with the 10 other disciples. We see it with these women. Why?

Because they were told by the angels, do not be alarmed. Fear is not God's will for us. But we read that they ran back and they were still fearful and then Jesus appears and he personally says, what? We read it. This is the second point in verse 10.

Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. So they didn't learn from the first time, but he instructs them again. He guides them patiently. He revisits something that they missed just like the 10. Do not be afraid.

And lastly, he repeats the charge that he gave through the angels, but notice that when he personally addresses his disciples how he does it. Look at verse 10. Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. Not my servants, not my apostles, not my slaves, not my disciples, go tell my brothers.

Now this is not the first time Jesus addressed his disciples as his brothers. There was a time where Jesus was teaching and, a messenger came in where he was and said, Jesus, your mother and your brothers have come to meet with you. And Jesus looked at him and said, who are my mother and my brothers? And it says there in Matthew twelve forty nine, and stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and what? My brothers.

And then he goes on to explain that it is those who do the will of God who are my mother and my brothers. But hold on. When Jesus resurrects and He tells these sisters, go and tell my brothers, was their spiritual state strong? Would you say that they are completely honoring the will of God and yet he still calls them my brothers. Why?

Because he's loyal. Why? Because the resurrection seals our adoption in him. That's why. Go tell my brothers.

At the weakest point in their faith, he still calls them my brothers. He still provides this term of endearment and of one of the deepest bonds of relationship that you can experience. That's the heart of the resurrected Christ. And so amazing because in Hebrews chapter two, and this is where we will end, we're told something about Christ. I I assure you this is the last place.

In chapter two, look what he says here by the spirit about Jesus. My brothers, how can it be? Verse 11 of Hebrews two. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified pause. Who's that?

Who are being sanctified? I hope you are if you're in Christ. So we're talking about he who sanctifies, that's Christ, and those who are being sanctified. What happens? All have one source.

That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers. Jesus is not ashamed to call you his brother. You know what's convicting about this verse as much as it's comforting? Who are the ones who tend to be ashamed to be associated with Jesus? Us.

But he's not ashamed. Why should we? We should never be ashamed. Christ is never ashamed of you. What do we have to be ashamed about concerning our Jesus?

What is it about the gospel and serving the Lord and representing him that makes us hesitant and recoil and reconsider what we say or why? He's perfect. I understand how he can be ashamed of me. I get it. I understand.

But why would I ever for a moment even entertain the idea? He's perfect. He died for me. He's faithful. Why should I gain from his reward?

I cannot give an answer. And so this is what we have to understand here that the love of Christ is stronger than you can ever imagine. Don't you doubt that? We're looking at the resurrected Lord. This is Christ today.

This is Christ now. This is how Christ looks at you. Yes, you, even you stumbling Christian, Inconsistent follower of Christ. Man, if you're truly born of the spirit, that's gonna strengthen your holiness, not weaken it. That's gonna encourage you to love him more.

Does it not does it not melt you? Does it make your knees weak? Only the unregenerate can hear what I'm saying at the end of this message and say, yeah, I could sin. No. You need to get saved.

But the one who truly belongs to him, though they know their weaknesses, know they know what they're supposed to be doing but, oh, they they fail. I want you to hear this loud and clear. Go tell my brothers. I want you to hear this loud and clear. He's not ashamed of us.

All of that strengthen your faith that on that final day when you give your final breath, if you belong to him, if you truly belong to him, you have no reason to fear to give that final breath. You have no reason to cower. I'm going to the one who is not ashamed of me. I'm gonna stand before the one who will defend me. Though Satan and all his hordes have things against you, things that you even forgot about, things that you didn't even know were wrong, he's not ashamed of you.

Why? Because he died and not only did he die, he resurrected. The father amened his sacrifice on your behalf. That's what the resurrection is all about. And that's why we come every week to celebrate as a church, but every day we rest in Jesus being our Sabbath.

Let's pray. I I wanna take this time and give this time to you to reflect whenever it was that ministered to your heart, but I want you to also talk to the Lord and thank him and glorify him in your own way before we collectively read words off the screen. I want you in your own way to take this time on this Lord's day to say thank you. Thank you that you love me enough to die and to resurrect. Is it true, Lord, that you see me with such love?

I believe it because it's in your word. I'll just marinate in that truth for a moment, and I'll join you before we sing, and the praise team can even come now to prepare us to sing, but I'll give you some time. Yes. Lord, we ask that you receive glory from our lips today. Thank you that your yoke is easy and your burden is light.

Thank you that we can rest in you every day. We pray that the strength of your love would not just have been heard and learned, experienced, and that the experience of your love would break shackles and liberate us and help us to come into the fullness of the Christian life. Lord, only by your spirit can you make these truths real and experiential to us. We commit that into your hands. Your word went forth, but we pray that it would be applied and it would change us.

Receive the sacrifice of praise. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being so patient. Thank you for willing to teach us over and over. Thank you that you call us each by name.

Help us never forget. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand, church, and let's exalt the resurrected Christ.