Trinity Faith Church
Come join us for Christ-exalting Worship, preaching of the Word, and fellowship with some of God's choice people!! Come early for Adult Sunday School (9:30), "Life Support" Discussion Group, and Coffee and Donuts at 9:15-10:30!! Hope to see you here!
Mark 16:1-8 NLT
I. One of the unique aspects of Christianity, when compared to any other faiths or religious movements, is that it traces its origin to one particular event, on one particular day in history.
II. There are four biographies of Jesus in the New Testament: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; in all four, the last week of Jesus' life is given the most attention.
III. When Jesus’ resurrection took place, the women knew it was true news, but it took a while for them to understand that it was good news.
IV. Many of us don't really understand that there is a back story to this idea of resurrection, and that back story is critical to understanding why we celebrate this day we call Easter. It's also a powerful reason for understanding that this resurrection of Jesus really did happen!
V. The human race has always been troubled by what happens to you when you die; the Jews had long believed that the problem isn't just that we all die, but that the world is a mess, filled with pain and suffering; the heart of this problem, in their way of thinking, was that humans couldn't fix the mess! They believed that there is a great God who created all things, and that one day, He would bring the righteous back to life, and heal all of His creation. They believed that when this happened, it would be dramatic, obvious, undeniable, done in mass to all of God's children, AND—this is important—they believed it all would happen at what would be the end of history!
John 11:24 NLT
John 11:44 NLT
VI. While just about everybody else in the ancient world believed that life was an endless cycle, the people of Israel, God’s chosen people, introduced to the human race the idea that history was headed somewhere. What does this have to do with Jesus' resurrection? No one in Israel would have ever thought to claim that one individual could be resurrected in the middle of history!
VII. None of them saw the twist that was coming: Jesus would be crucified, and die! When Jesus died, even though He had told them that this was going to happen, none of His followers said, “Everything is going according to plan!” Not one of His followers thought His death was a good thing; in fact, we're told that when it became clear that He was going to die, all the disciples deserted Him.
VIII. As we would expect, Jesus' followers believed they were finished in the wake of Jesus' execution; but then two things happened: First, witnesses saw that the tomb was empty; and secondly, Jesus appeared to His followers.
1 Corinthians 15:6 NLT
X. This is simply not a story that could have been made up by somebody, because it violated their understanding of what was going to happen in history.
XI. There is another reason we know the Resurrection really happened; Mark says that the empty tomb was first discovered by “Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.” Notice what all three of those people have in common: they're all women! Nowadays, we might not notice something like that, but in ancient Israel, women were so low in status that they were not regarded as credible witnesses!
XII. If someone was going to make up a story of Jesus' resurrection, there was no advantage to having women serve as the eyewitnesses; it would have seriously undermined the credibility of the claim. The only plausible explanation for why all four Gospels say the first witnesses of the empty tomb were women, is that it was women who found the empty tomb, and the tomb was, in fact, empty!
XIII. Soon after the Resurrection, Jesus’ followers realized that when He died on the cross, it was more than just His death; they realized it was their death, too! It suddenly occurred to them, “We were dead—dead in our sins! We were cut off from God! God had promised He would fix the world—that He would forgive sin, and heal suffering. He promised He would redeem humanity. That healing and redemption has begun now, because God is being faithful to His promise in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead!”
XIV. They realized that on the third day, the greatest step in human history was taken; the stone was rolled away, and Jesus stood at the threshold of that tomb!--and that first step He took, forever changed the world!
John 11:26 NLT