Mark 16:1-3
Almost Impenetrable
It is strange how much the Bible leaves out. For the last three
Wednesdays—at least—I have mentioned the darkness. The darkness that
swept into the Upper Room; the darkness that followed Jesus to
Gethsemane. The darkness that grew darker on that hillside, heavier,
thicker in the chambers of the Sanhedrin, Pilate, and King Herod.
And while Jesus hung on the cross, it became so dark that it could be
seen. Dark, darker, darker still, and then Jesus died. When Jesus
died, it must have been the darkest yet.
I wonder, did the world feel it? God the Son, dead. His body laying
in the tomb. It seems like the world would have that. If creation
closed its eyes to refuse to watch Him die, how much more it should
have reacted when He died.
I wonder what heaven felt? I know the grave can only hold the body.
It cannot hold the soul. Jesus was more than a soul. Jesus was God,
so as soon as Jesus was dead, His eternal Being went back to the
Father; but still, with what was done to Him. Did the angels, the
arch angels, the four unique beasts, and whatever other beings there
are in that place feel it? Did they stop their praise or did they
increase it? Did they mourn or did they rejoice? Did they want to
weep or did they want to gird on their swords?
My mind imagines what the followers of Jesus felt. The Bible gives us
a few glimpses. Judas, so guilt-ridden that he hung himself. Peter
was so ashamed, shaken, that he seemed to want to crawl into a hole
and then pull the hole in on himself. The two on the road to Emmaus,
seemingly despondent, confused.
Yet the Bible gives us very little information of what happened
during those hours of darkness, only that it was almost
impenetrable.
I. \\#1-8\\ The Empty Tomb
Mark 16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and
Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might
come and anoint him.
2 And very early in the morning the first day of
the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the
rising of the sun.
3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll
us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
A. \\#1-3\\\ The Ladies Came.
1. \\#1\\ They did not come to SEE Jesus, but they came to
anoint the BODY of Jesus.
2. \\#3\\ They wondered who would roll the stone away.
3. Bless those ladies:
a. They came in love but not faith.
b. They were coming to anoint a dead man not to worship
the living Savior.
c. Notice that for one person to does something for
another person for love, it is probably the highest
motive.
d. But not for God. Even over love, God would prefer
that we do things for Him to:
(1) Glorify Him.
(2) Believe in Him.
e. Please note: The sun may be rising, but it is still
dark.
B. \\#4-5\\ They saw things unexpected.
Mark 16:4 And when they looked, they saw that
the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a
young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a
long white garment; and they were affrighted.
1. \\#4\\ The stone has been rolled away.
2. \\#5\\ A young man sitting on the right side of the tomb.
a. There were actually two beings there at one time.
b. They were angels who appeared to be young men.
c. \\#Luke 24:4\\ tells us that two were inside the tomb.
d. Mark told us one was sitting on the right side and
does not mention the one who is somewhere else.
e. The fact that Mark told us one angel was sitting on
the right side doesn’t mean there were not two angels
there.
f. John told the same story and was one of the first to
both hear the story and to investigate it, but he did
not mention ANY angels.
(1) So were there no angels?
(2) One angel?
(3) Or two angels?
(4) There were at least two. Just because every
writer does not mention them all, does not mean
they were not there.
3. Notice that there was still no faith.
a. The preaching of Jesus had not produced it.
b. The third day dawning had not produced it.
c. The stone being rolled away had not produced it.
d. Seeing a being, of whom Matthew said "His countenance
like lightning," had not produced it.
e. The darkness was still there, heavy, weighty, to thick
to pierce; so the angels will have to jump start their
faith.
(1) Consider, the angels are about to speak, but they
will not speak from faith.
(a) They are angels, spiritual beings, typically
those from the realm of faith.
(b) We are earthly beings, physical beings,
typically from the world of sight.
(c) But the roles are reversed right now.
(2) As far as we know, they have been where Jesus
was.
(a) They did not come by faith.
(b) They came by sight.
(c) They have seen Jesus, and told what they had
seen, had heard, and were commanded.
(d) Once they tell the women what they have seen
and heard, it will dull the woman’s ability
to obey by faith alone.
(3) It is a shame that mankind has such difficulty
with faith and believing God.
(a) It would have been nice if the disciples and
women had shown up WITHOUT the spices, but
with faith that Jesus was going to somehow
rise from the dead ON the third day—as He
had said.
(b) It would have been nice if somebody’s faith
could have pierced the darkness of doubt
and dread, like a saber might cut through
the vines of a jungle.
(c) But the faith sword never got pulled from
its sheath.
(4) Now beings from another world, who have brought
with them the news of what they had seen and
heard, will attempt to get that sword of faith
out of its sheath and into the hands of some
confident swordsmen.
C. \\6-8\\ The angels speak.
Mark 16:6 And he saith unto them, 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.
7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter
that he goeth before you into Galilee: there
shall ye see him, as he said unto you.
1. The angels with a message of truth are like steel and
flint to these ladies.
2. They are attempting to spark the fire of faith within
them by explaining what had happened, by reminding them
of what Jesus had said, and by telling them what they
should do; yet, I am not convinced the flames of faith
were ignited in them.
a. When you put the chronology of events together, you
will see that one woman, Mary, broke away from the
other women.
b. She found Peter and John, came back with them to the
tomb, examined the evidence, watched both men leave,
and saw Jesus before the other ladies ever got back
to the city.
(1) \\#John 20:1-18\\ gives us the account of what
Mary did.
(2) \\#Matt 28:1-10\\ gives us the account of what
happened to the women.
(3) How is it that Mary had enough to time to do so
much before the remainder of the women even
made it back to the city?
(a) I don’t know, but I suppose they must have
stopped somewhere.
(b) Instead of running on in faith to find the
disciples, they MAY have stopped along the
way to discuss what they had seen and what
they would do with it.
(c) Perhaps the tree they stopped under was the
Tree of Doubt.
Mark 16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled
from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were
amazed: neither said they any thing to any man;
for they were afraid.
(4) But then Mary herself still had doubt, did she
not?
John 20:15 …She, supposing him to be the
gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne
him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and
I will take him away.
3. So the darkness abode, heavy, thick, even upon the ladies
who were the first to the tomb, to the ladies who had
seen the angels.
a. Even all of them needed to SEE Jesus, the risen Lord,
before they would believe.
b. And all of them did.
(1) Mary saw Jesus first, after she had told Peter
and John.
(2) The other ladies saw Him second, before they
told anyone would they had seen.
D. But how did the men do?
1. Was their faith any stronger?
2. It should be noted that the men did not bother going to
the tomb at all, not for faith nor for love!
II. \\#9-13\\ The Doubted Message
A. Mark only summarizes, but it is not a good report he gave.
Mark 16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the
first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary
Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
10 And she went and told them that had been with
him, as they mourned and wept.
11 And they, when they had heard that he was
alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.
12 After that he appeared in another form unto
two of them, as they walked, and went into the
country.
13 And they went and told it unto the residue:
neither believed they them.
B. Although they had the witness of several, the men did not
believe either. The darkness was very heavy, very thick.
1. Mary Magdalene bought word, not just of an empty tomb and
angels; but of a risen Lord. But they believed her not.
2. The group of lades brought word second; and again, not of
merely and empty tomb and angels, but they had seen the
risen lord.
3. \\#12-13\\ Then the two who had travelled on the road to
Emmaus brought word.
a. They had not even been to the tomb.
b. Neither did they profess to have seen angels.
c. Their word was that they had seen, spoken with, and
broke bread with the risen Lord.
C. Still, verse 13 clearly says:
Mark 16:13 …neither believed they them.
1. Oh, how thick this darkness was! How heavy!
2. Faith could not be kindled even by the many sparks of
sight!
3. Something more was needed.
a. Something more than an empty tomb.
b. Something more than the word of an angel.
c. Something more than the word of another who had seen
Him.
III. \\#14-20\\ The Appearance of the Lord
Mark 16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven
as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with
their unbelief and hardness of heart, because
they believed not them which had seen him after
he was risen.
A. And so Jesus appeared to the ten first and then the next
Sunday, the eleven.
1. Mark the summarizing gospel writer was just summarizing.
2. In fact, he summarized the next forty plus days into seven
verses.
a. \\#14\\ Mark summarized the first meeting in the Upper
Room.
b. \\#15-19\\ Mark summarized the forty days that Jesus
walked with the disciples.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that
believe; In my name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover.
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them,
he was received up into heaven, and sat on the
right hand of God.
c. \\#20\\ Mark summarized a good portion of the book of
Acts.
20 And they went forth, and preached every
where, the Lord working with them, and
confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
B. Perhaps we can understand why the miracles were needed in the
New Testament church for a time.
1. Even the inner-most eleven disciples would not believe
without some evidence first.
2. They had to see Jesus, but Jesus could not be seen after
He ascended; so God gave to them the ability that Jesus
had, the ability to do miracles.
(a) That is why there were miracles.
(b) That is why there was tongues—which was one of the
many miracles.
3. But when That which was perfect came, the Word of God, that
which was imperfect was done away with \\#1Cor 13:10\\.
(1) The darkness is still here.
(a) It did not lift.
(b) It was never supposed to.
(2) In fact, it is growing heavier and thicker with each
passing day.
(3) But there is one and only one saber to cut through
the darkness, the preaching of the Word of God.
(a) And you and I are part of the most blessed
Christians that will ever walk on this planet.
(b) The generation who without sight or signs have
seen through the darkness into the Light!
Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed.
I began this message by asking what did they feel when Jesus died,
the world, the angels, heaven itself. What did they feel? But the
biggest question is what have you felt? You and I who have known
Jesus died for our sins, known that He arose from the grave, known
that He has asked us to be lights in a dark world. What do we feel?
I hope enough to be saved. I hope enough to be changed. I hope
enough to serve.
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