The End Of The Beginning: Life After The Resurrection

Ryrie

• (1) Once the Sabbath was over, work could be done to prepare the body for permanent burial.
• (5) The young man here was evidently an angel. No single human could do this, let alone a young man!
• (6) The fact that Jesus is risen has served as the foundation of the Christian faith for 2,000 years.
• (7) “The Lord was especially concerned about Peter, who had denied Him.”
• (9-20) “These verses do not appear in 2 of the most trustworthy mss. Of the NT, though they are part of many other mss and versions. If they are not a part of the genuine text of Mark, the abrupt ending at vs 8 is probably because the original closing verses were lost. The doubtful genuineness of vss 9-20 makes it unwise to build a doctrine or base an experience on them.”
• (16) “baptized” “may be a reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13). If this refers to water baptism, notice that it is unbelief, not failure to be baptized, that condemns. Water baptism does not save.”
• (16) Ats 2:38
• (16) 1 Peter 3:21
• (18) “The NT records no instance of anyone drinking poison without harm.”

Henry

• The women “should have thought of [the fact that they wouldn't be able to move the stone] before they came out, and then discretion would have bid them not go, unless they had those to go with them, who could do it.”
• Beyond the stone, “there was another difficulty much greater than this, to be got over, which they knew nothing of, to wit, a guard of soldiers set to keep the sepulchre; who, had they come before they were frightened away, would have frightened them away.”
• “They who are carried by a holy zeal, to seek Christ diligently, will find the difficulties that lie in their way strangely to vanish, and themselves helped over them beyond their expectation.”
• “He, who by his death undertook to pay our debt, in his resurrection took out our acquittance, for it was a fair and legal discharge, by which it appealed that his satisfaction was accepted for all the purposes for which it was intended, and the matter in dispute was determined by an incontestable evidence that he was the Son of God.”
• “Many times that which should be matter of comfort to us, through our own mistakes and misapprehensions proves a terror to us.”
• “speaks of Jesus as one that was crucified; "The thing is past, that scene is over, ye must not dwell so much upon the sad circumstances of his crucifixion as to be unapt to believe the joyful news of his resurrection. He was crucified in weakness, yet that doth not hinder but that he may be raised in power, and therefore ye that seek him, be not afraid of missing of him." He was crucified, but he is glorified; and the shame of his sufferings is so far from lessening the glory of his exaltation, that that glory perfectly wipes away all the reproach of his sufferings. And therefore after his entrance upon his glory, he never drew any veil over his sufferings, nor was shy of having his cross spoken of. The angel here that proclaims his resurrection, calls him Jesus that was crucified.”
• The women “were made the apostles of the apostles, which was a recompence of their affection and fidelity to him, in attending him on the cross, to the grave, and in the grave. They first came, and were first served; no other of the disciples durst come near his sepulchre, or enquire after him; so little danger was there of their coming by night to steal him away, that none came near him but a few women, who were not able so much as to roll away the stone.”
• “It is a dismal time with [the disciples], their dear Master is dead, and all their hopes and joys are buried in his grave; they look upon their cause as sunk, and themselves ready to fall an easy prey into the hands of their enemies, so that there remains no more spirit in them, they are perfectly at their wits' end, and every one is contriving how to shift for himself.”
• “Christ is not ashamed to own his poor disciples, no, not now that he is in his exalted state; his preferment doth not make him shy of them, for he took early care to have it notified to them.”
• “Christ is not extreme to mark what they do amiss, whose hearts are upright with him. The disciples had very unkindly deserted him, and yet he testified this concern for them.”
• “Seasonable comforts shall be sent to those that are lamenting after the Lord Jesus, and he will find a time to manifest himself to them.”
• “They must be sure to tell Peter. This is particularly taken notice of by this evangelist, who is supposed to have written by Peter's direction.”
• “If it were told the disciples, it would be told Peter, for, as a token of his repentance for disowning his Master, he still associated with his disciples; yet he is particularly named.” Why? Two reasons: (1) “It will be good news to him, more welcome to him than to any of them; for he is in sorrow for sin, and no tidings can be more welcome to true penitents than to hear of the resurrection of Christ, because he rose again for their justification.” And (2) “He will be afraid, lest the joy of this good news do not belong to him.”
• “A sight of Christ will be very welcome to a true penitent, and a true penitent shall be very welcome to a sight of Christ, for there is joy in heaven concerning him.”
• “All the meetings between Christ and his disciples are of his own appointing.”
• “Christ never forgets his appointment, but will be sure to meet his people with the promised blessing in every place where he records his name.”
• “In all meetings between Christ and his disciples, he is the most forward. He goes before you.”
• “Christ had often told them, that the third day he would rise again; had they given that its due notice and credit, they would have come to the sepulchre, expecting to have found him risen, and would have received the news of it with a joyful assurance, and not with all this terror and amazement. But, being ordered to tell the disciples, because they were to tell it to all the world, they would not tell it to any one else, they showed not any thing of it to any man that they met by the way, for they were afraid, afraid it was too good news to be true.”
• “Our disquieting fears often hinder us from doing that service to Christ and to the souls of men, which if faith and the joy of faith were strong, we might do.

Reflecting God

• (1) The Sabbath would have ended appr 6:00 pm. No purchases were possible prior to that.
• (1) Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven demons.
• (1) Salome was “probably the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John.”
• (1) “Embalming was not practiced by the Jews. These spices were brought as an act of devotion and love.”
• (1) The fact that the women brought spices to embalm the body indicates that they “had no expectation of Jesus' resurrection.”
• (3) “Setting the large stone in place was a relatively easy task, but once it had slipped into the groove cut in bedrock in front of the entrance it was very difficult to remove.”
• (5) “Inside the large opening of the facade of the tomb was a forechamber, at the back of which a low rectangular opening led to the burial chamber.”
• (5) Matthew identifies the man in white as an angel.
• (5) The different Gospels describe the men differently. According to Luke, they looked like men with remarkable clothing.  Elsewhere (Matthew, Luke and John) they're referred to as angels. Matthew and Mark describe one angel. Luke notes the presence of two. The variance in accounts “is not strange because frequently only the spokesman is noted and an accompanying figure is not mentioned. Words and posture often change in the course of events, so these variations are not necessarily contradictory. They are merely evidence of independent accounts.”
• (6) “The climax of Mark's Gospel is the resurrection, wihout which Jesus' death, though noble, would be indescribably tragic. But in the resurrection he is declared to be the Son of God with power (Ro 1:4).”
• (7) “Jesus showed special concern for Peter, in view of his confident boasting and subsequent denials.”
• (9-20) “Serious doubt exists as to whether these verses belong to the Gospel of Mark. They are absent from important early mss and display certain peculiarities of vocabulary, style and theological content that are unlike the rest of Mark. His Gospel probably ended at 16:8, or its original ending has been lost.”
• (12-13) “A shortened account of the two men going to Emmaus.”
• (14) “Judas Iscariot had committed suicide,” leaving only 11.
• (16) “John was preaching repentance-baptism, i.e., baptism that was accompanied by repentance. Baptism was not new to John's audience. They knew of baptism for Gentile converts, but had not heard that the descendants of Abraham (Jews) needed to repent and be baptized.”
• (16) “In NT times baptism so closely followed conversion that the two were considered part of one event. So although baptism is not a means by which we enter into a vital faith relationship with Jesus Christ, it is closely associated with faith. Baptism depicts graphically what happens as a result of the Christian's union with Christ, which comes with faith – through faith we are united with christ, just as through our natural birth we are united with Adam. As we fell into sin and became subject to death in father Adam, so we now have died and been raised again with Christ – which baptism symbolizes.”
• (18) “No occurrence of drinking deadly poison without harm is found in the NT.”
• (19) The right hand of God is “a position of authority second only to God's.”