Today we celebrate our Lord's resurrection so last time we jumped ahead in our study of Mark to look at some of what Mark recorded about our Lord's capture, death, burial and resurrection.

Last time we left off with Simon of Cyrene assisting Jesus with carrying the crossbeam of the cross from the city of Jerusalem to the place of His crucifixion.

We saw that Simon was a North African Jew who had come to Jerusalem to observe the spring holy days, beginning with the Passover, the days of Unleavened Bread and terminated with the Feast of Pentecost.

Mark 15:22,25 Jesus was crucified at Golgotha that is an Aramaic word that means "skull" at the third hour. (9AM)

Golgotha was a barren hill that had been razed of all vegetation so that it looked something like a skull so it was called the skull.

The word "Calvary" comes from the Latin translation Calvaria, a variation of calva that also means "skull." An excellent name for it because it is the place of death.

During these first 3 hours He was constantly mocked and ridiculed by the bystanders.

Mark 15:33; At the 6th hour darkness covered the whole land until the 9th hour. This was from 12 noon to 3PM.

God is going to make sure no one is going to see His Son being judged for the sins of the world. They can see His humiliation from men but no man is going to see His humiliation from God while He was bearing our sins.

During the period of darkness from twelve noon until three o'clock in the afternoon Jesus was judged for every sin that would ever be committed by the human race.

Mark 15:37; When he made His last exhale with at loud cry the Temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom.

"Loud cry" means to scream, and this bears out the prophecy in Psalm 22:1, "saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" "Eloi" is Aramaic. The translation is" My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

The first vocative, "My God," is addressed to God the Father; the second one is addressed to God the Holy Spirit. This is because when Christ died on the cross and bore the judgment for the sins of the world He suffered forensic spiritual death for three hours as God was judging Him for the sins of the world.

Spiritual death is separation from God. Gen 2:17;"Dying you will surely die." is translated from "muwth muwth" in the Hebrew The word death occurs twice. "muwth muwth" The first refers to spiritual death, second refers to physical death.

Spiritual death inevitably results in Physical death. The wages of sin is (spiritual) death. When Adam sinned he immediately died spiritually but it was another 930 years before he died physically. Gen 5:5;

The Hebrew of Isa 53:9; tells us that Christ died twice on the cross. His spiritual death provided our eternal salvation. The Father forsook Jesus Christ on the cross because he was experiencing spiritual death and God cannot look upon sin.

Once His spiritual work was complete He had no reason to remain on this planet so He exhaled and did not inhale. This was His physical death and he would be resurrected body, soul and spirit 3 days and 3 nights or at least 72 hours but not more than 78 hours later.

Mark 15:38; The veil of the temple had 72 twisted braids with 24 threads in each braid. It was 60 feet high and 30 feet wide. A human could not tear it. It was torn in half from the "top to the bottom" while it was hanging there so God tore the curtain.

This veil separated the holy place from the holy of holies and God's tearing it indicates that the Jewish Age is coming to an end and that the way into the holy of holies is now open to anyone. This is the "whoever" of the Church Age. John 3:16;

Mark 15:42-46; By this time it was evening on the preparation day (Wednesday) for the First Day of Unleavened Bread (Thursday )so Joseph of Arimathea requested Jesus body from Pilate.

Once the centurions confirmed to Pilate that Jesus was dead he gave the body to Joseph and he placed it into his hewn tomb and rolled a large rock over the entrance to the tomb.

The Greek word translated "stone" is "lithos" that refers to a large stone or a millstone. It was a large round rock so it was like a millstone that rolled into place in front of the entrance to the hewn of tomb.

Mark 16:1; The Greek says, "After the Sabbath." because according to Jewish time a day was from sundown to sundown. Christ could have arisen any time after sundown on Saturday "after the Sabbath" ended at sundown Saturday.

However another specification arises from the way the Romans counted time and 1Cor 15:4; states that "Christ rose on the third day." According to Roman time the third day was from midnight Friday to midnight Saturday.

This means that Jesus could have risen any time after sundown on Saturday according to, Jewish time but for Him to rise on the third day according to Roman time Jesus had to rise before midnight Saturday night.

Jesus was resurrected sometime between sundown and midnight that Saturday night.

Mark 16:2; The women arrived at the tomb "very early on the first day of the week." They came as soon as there was sufficient pre-dawn sunlight for them to walk there.

This was their first opportunity to go to the tomb because of the series of Jewish Sabbaths that had occurred that week. They didn't know it but this was several hours after the resurrection but they had decided the night before they would be there at the grave as early as possible.

Mark 16:3; Their main concern was how they were going to roll back the millstone that blocked the entrance to the tomb. The word translated "were saying" is the imperfect active indicative of the Greek word lego that means "kept on saying." to each other "Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?"

This was their major concern because the stone was so large that they knew that they would not be able to move it without help.

Mark 16:4; But when they arrived they saw that it had already been rolled away even though it was very large.

Matthew tells us how the stone was rolled back Matt 28:2; An angel rolled back the stone in order to let people in. Jesus had been out of the tomb for some time but He didn't have to go through an opening.

His resurrection body was able to pass directly through the stone and that is exactly what He had done. He walked through the stone and left the tomb between sundown and midnight.

After rolling back the stone the angel was sitting on it waiting for them to get there. The word translated "sat upon it" is the third person imperfect middle indicative of "kathemai" that means he "kept on sitting" on it waiting for them to arrive.

Mark 16:5; Matt 28:3; His appearance kept on being like lightning and His clothes were white as snow and they were amazed.

The Greek word translated "amazed" in the NASB is "ekthambeo" that means to be greatly afraid or terrified.

Matt 28:4; The guards were so terrified that they shook and fainted from fear.

Mark 16:6; And the angel said to them stop being terrified; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene who has been crucified. He has risen, He is not here, look there is the place where they laid Him.

Mark 16:7-8; Net note 9

Mark 16:9; Early on the first day of the week, after he arose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons.

Mark 16:12; After that He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country (to Emmaus). Luke 24:13;

Mark 16:14; Then he appeared to the eleven themselves, while they were eating, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him resurrected.

The following events validate the resurrection:

1. The empty tomb.

2. The conviction and tenacity of the witnesses. Those who witnessed to His resurrection were those who knew Him best so they could not be deceived. In addition they chose to die rather than recant.

3. The change in the disciples after the resurrection. After the cross the disciples were despondent and frightened; after the resurrection they were fearless and happy.

4. On the day of Pentecost. Peter's sermon that was the first sermon preached in the Church Age was taken from Psalm 16. Subject: resurrection.

5. The historical existence of the Church depends upon resurrection. Christ is the Head of the Church. To Head of the Church He must be alive.

What does God's Word tell us about the nature of the resurrection body?

1. The resurrection body retained the nail prints in the hands and in the feet. We know this prophetically from Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; historically from John 20:25-29.

Thomas recognized Jesus because of the scars in His hands and the scar from the wound in His side.

2. Jesus' disciples recognized Him in His resurrection body. There were seventeen appearances of Christ after His resurrection. This means that taking on a resurrection body does not destroy one's ability to visually identity the person.

3. Jesus could eat in His resurrection body, Luke 24:42,43, but He didn't need to.

4. Christ's resurrection body had substance. It could be seen, touched and felt. Matt 28:9; Luke 24:39; John 20:17;

5. Christ's resurrection body could breathe, but He didn't necessarily need to. John 20:22;

6. His resurrection body possessed flesh and bones. Luke 24:39, 40;

7. His resurrection body could walk through closed doors. Luke 24:36; John 20:19;

8. The resurrection body was able to be cloaked. Luke 24:16;

9. The resurrection body of Christ could move vertically or horizontally. Matt 28:10; Acts 1:9,10;

And when we see Him we will be Like He is. 1John 3:2-3; that is our
confident expectation. 1Cor 15:51-58;

v51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
v52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

v53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
v54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.

v55 "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
v56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;

v57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
v58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Happy Resurrection Day