From Gloom to Glory

Well today is the day that we celebrate the greatest event in all of human history. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There's a sense in which every Lord's day is a celebration of the resurrection. The early church in the book of Acts chose the first day of the week to worship because it was the day that Christ was resurrected. They broke from Jewish routine of worship on the Sabbath day, which was Saturday, and began to announce that the first day of the week was now the Lord's day. It was the day that was celebrating our Lord and His resurrection. And for that reason, the day of worship was changed. So every Sunday really is a resurrection Sunday, but it surely is fitting that we take a special time to focus upon the resurrection of our Lord. Typically, when we do, Easter weekend is given over to a focus on, first of all, the cross on Friday, His death on Good Friday, and then the resurrection on Easter Sunday or resurrection Sunday. And typically we focus on either both or one of those two events on this weekend. And it's certainly fitting that we should do that because those are the most important events of this weekend, the most important events of our lives. So the fact that Jesus came and died for us according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. So I would like to do something a little different this morning. I would like for us to focus this morning upon the time between those two. I would like for us to put ourselves back into the first century to try to imagine what it would be like to experience those hours between Friday afternoon at three o'clock and early Sunday morning. What would it be like if you were one of the disciples? What would it be like to go through those agonizing moments, those agonizing hours when you are trying to figure out what happened? What I would like for us to do this morning is fill in the gap, if you will, and to help us to understand better what happened during those times, but also what it would be like when resurrection morning came. We really can't understand the impact on the disciples of what the resurrection morning was like unless we understand what they had gone through since Friday. And so that will be our focus today. Today we examine an incredible journey from gloom to glory, from gloom at three o'clock on Friday afternoon to glory on Sunday morning. An incredible journey packed into those hours is an amazing journey of the disciples. I want to approach this message this morning much like an investigative reporter would. We're going to go back and take the sources that are available to us and piece together a story, a story that tells what happened in those dark hours. We're going to use four sources. Two of them were eyewitnesses to the events of those days. Matthew and John. One of our four sources gives a first hand report from someone else, his mentor, the first hand account of Peter is recorded for us by Mark. And then our fourth source is a man who carefully pulled together the research of his day from the documents from eyewitnesses, from interviews which he himself conducted, pulled together much like an investigative reporter would do. The story from several sources, his name is Dr. Luke. And from those four sources, what I would like to do is piece together the events of those hours between the crucifixion and the resurrection. I want us to step back in time. I want us to live the story today. I want us to put ourselves in the apostles' sandals and see if we can experience what it was like for them and the others surrounding these events to live through those awful hours and those glorious hours to follow. As though we were writing this report for a newspaper account, I want to separate it into three headings. The first having to do with Friday evening is entitled a garden tomb, grief and gloom. And that certainly describes the setting on Friday afternoon to begin with. Let's look at John's account in John Chapter 19. John Chapter 19 where we find John describing the first of the events on Friday afternoon. Jesus dies at three o'clock in the afternoon. What happened next is recorded by John in his account, John Chapter 19 beginning in verse 38. Later Joseph of Eramothia asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate's permission he came and took the body away. As soon as it was clear that Jesus was dead, this man named Joseph from Eramothia requests to claim the body of Jesus. So the first thing that happens is Joseph and Nicodemus claim the body. Joseph is not mentioned anywhere else in the Gospels. He is mentioned in the other Gospels but only in this account. Only in this one event we don't know anything about him except what is told us on this occasion. So we know that he was a disciple of Jesus but we also know that he was a secret disciple because he feared the Jewish leaders. Interestingly enough the other Gospels tell us, Mark and Luke tell us that he was one of those leaders. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, a group of 70 Jewish elders, the leaders of the land, some of them Pharisees, some of them Sadducees from the two religious parties, but these 70 men were the ruling council in Israel. Under the constraint of the Roman Empire and the Roman governor they were the ones who made decisions for the Jewish people. They were the ones who settled judicial things except for cases that must go to the Roman governor. So Joseph himself was one of those men but the Bible says in Mark and Luke that he did not consent to the death of Jesus. He did not cast his vote for Jesus to be crucified because he was a secret follower of Jesus. He had not let it out yet because he feared his peers. He feared the other Jewish leaders and so he had not let it out but he was secretly a follower of Jesus. It's possible that he was not even at that meeting that Friday morning that was hastily called as different members of the Sanhedrin were called together. It's possible that the other members of the Sanhedrin may have suspected his sympathies, didn't even invite him to come to the meeting. But for whatever reason he did not cast his vote with the others to put Jesus to death. But the death of Jesus has had an amazing impact upon this man. It affects him deeply. Mark says that he goes boldly to pile it to request the body of Jesus. John just says he goes to pile it to ask him for the body. Mark includes that word boldly which indicates to me here is a man who probably realizes I've stayed underground too long. I've been secret too long. I should have done more for the Lord Jesus while he was alive. And so now I'm going to boldly make known my allegiance. It was customary for a good burial to be given. A proper burial was very important to Jews in that day. And possibly he felt that as a member of the Sanhedrin he was in the best position to request the body from pilot. And so he makes this decision to boldly go into pilot to let it be known. I am a follower of Jesus. I want to claim his body for burial. I identify with him now openly, publicly. I'm not afraid any longer of what my fellow Sanhedrin members will think of me. It's interesting to me that pilot is surprised. Mark's account tells us that Jesus is already dead. Crucifixion usually took a long, long time. But Jesus had commended his spirit voluntarily given up his life. And it commended his spirit to the father. He was dead in six hours after being placed upon the cross. But pilot is surprised that he's dead already. So he calls the Sanhedrin who was in charge of the crucifixion scene and asks him. And when it is confirmed that Jesus indeed is dead, he says, okay, you can have the body. And so Joseph goes back to claiming the body of Jesus. These two artists' representations that we will see give us maybe an indication of what it would be like for someone to remove a body from the cross. Joseph, maybe others who are with him, removing Jesus' body from the cross, lying on the ground in the next picture and beginning to prepare his body for burial. This is very typical of what would have happened in that day. But notice the account goes on to tell us in verse 39, someone else was with Joseph. Verse 39, he was accompanied by Nicodemus. The man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of mer and allos about 75 pounds. Nicodemus of all people, Nicodemus and John refers to him as the one that he had talked about earlier in his book in John 3, the one who had come to Jesus at night. John 3 tells us that Nicodemus was also a member of the Sanhedrin, that he was a religious teacher, that he was one of the rulers of the Jews. He had come to Jesus at night to ask him some questions. And you remember that was when Jesus talked to you about the kingdom of God and you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you're born again. Nicodemus had trouble grasping that, but now we find that he must have fought deeply about that conversation. We know from other accounts and other mentions of Nicodemus that he had become a follower of Christ, that he had committed himself to Christ. And now here again, this man who had come secretly to Jesus at night now comes out in the open and says, I want to be identified with him. Along with Joseph of Arimathea, I now publicly identify myself as one of his followers. I will help claim the body and give him a decent burial. Isn't it interesting that the events of Jesus' death drove public disciples underground. The 11, they flee in fear while it motivates secret disciples, these two, boldly out into the open to proclaim their allegiance to Christ. Jesus Christ is the great divider of humanity. Now we know there are lots of reasons for what happened to the disciples. They were true followers of Christ, but they had been anticipating his kingdom. They had not yet fully grasped his prophecies and his predictions of his death. Couldn't grasp what that was about or how that must happen. And so they were shattered by the events that had happened on this day. There's a rest in the garden early that morning, the trials. They couldn't grasp what had happened and they had scattered. They had fled for their lives. But there were two men who, those same events, caused to reason I have not yet stood for Christ as I should have. I should have stood more boldly for him why he was alive. Now that he is dead, I will make my allegiance known. I wonder about you this morning. Now I wonder about me, where is our allegiance and do others know it? Do other people know that we're followers of Christ? Have you tried to hide that? Have you been a secret disciple at work? Have you been a secret disciple in your neighborhood, maybe even with your own family? Or have you boldly proclaimed your allegiance to Jesus Christ? Jesus death ought to cause us all to be bold witnesses of Christ. And to boldly take our stand with him. That's what it did for Nicodemus. That's what it did for Joseph. Notice what they do, verse 40. Oh, by the way, verse 39 says that Nicodemus brought a mixture of Muren, Allos. Those are spices that were used in the burial of a person. But notes that he brought 75 pounds of spices. While it's typical to prepare a body for burial in Jewish culture with spices to decrease the possibility of the smell from a decomposing body. While that's very normal, 75 pounds is very unusual. In fact, we know from the literature of that day that 75 pounds of spices would be fitting for a royal burial. This kind of amount of spices would be reserved for a king, for someone in authority. Nicodemus is telling us by this very act that I do accept what he told me about the kingdom. He is the king. His kingdom is the only true kingdom, and he deserves a burial fitting of a king. Nicodemus is giving his own testimony in that way. So in verse 40, taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. It was customary in that day to first of all wrap the body in strips of linen cloth. Intermingled as they would wrap the body, intermingled with the spices that would be placed all along the body and wrapped up with those strips of cloth, the other gospels tell us that once that was finished, a linen cloth was laid over Jesus' body. What is typically referred to as the shroud that would cover Jesus' entire body. That was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. Verse 41, at the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid near the side of the crucifixion is a tomb. This place, close, it's handy, this has to be done quickly. Tooms were often used in that day over and over again because they were designed to be temporary. First of all, they were very expensive to make. Tooms were just carved out of, chiseled out of solid rock. And they were only designed to be used until the body decomposed and then the bones would be gathered and placed in a box called an ashywery. And that would be the final resting place of a Jewish person. This tomb is a new tomb. No one has ever been laid in it yet. And the other gospels, particularly Matthew, says that this is Joseph's own tomb. Joseph of Arimathea is going to bury Jesus in the tomb that has been prepared for him. So this picture, next picture, signifies what possibly it may have looked like as they had prepared his body. And they're carrying it to the place of burial, a place chiseled out in the side of the hill. Verse 42 tells us, because it was the Jewish day of preparation, what is that? It's the day that is used to prepare for Sabbath. Luke's gospel tells us that the Sabbath was about to come, that it was close to the Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath was on Saturday, but in the Jewish reckoning of time, it started on Friday at sundown. Let's just say for ease of identifying it somewhere around 6 o'clock in the evening. Typically, the Jewish Sabbath would begin on Friday evening and it would go all the way through Saturday until Saturday evening. It about the same time, sundown around 6 o'clock. The Sabbath was about to start, Luke's gospel tells us. Preparation day is the day where Jewish homes would prepare the home, clean out all the yeast, the leaven from the home. Prepare the meal for the Sabbath meal on Friday evening. It was called the day of preparation. Luke says this was a special Sabbath because it was the Sabbath that was identified along with the Passover time. But this is Friday. We're just about to the time of Sabbath. Remember, Sabbath begins about 6 o'clock. Jesus didn't die till 3 o'clock. And so they got to move quickly. That's the reason why in verse 42 it says because it was the Jewish day of preparation. And since the tomb was nearby, they lay Jesus there. Things have to happen quickly before the Sabbath begins and no work can be done. So the first event after Jesus' death, Joseph and Nicodemus, claimed the body. There's one other event that the Bible quickly tells us happens on that evening before the Sabbath begins. And it's this. The women note the tomb and begin preparing spices. Look at Luke's account in Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter 23 and verse 54. There are women, they are named in some of the other gospels. There are at least three of them who note the place of burial and begin to prepare spices for his body. Luke 23 verse 54 says it was preparation day and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. They wanted to make sure that they knew exactly where he was going to be buried so that they would know how to get back. To the burial site. All of this has happened quickly, unexpectedly. There's no burial picked out for Jesus. No no tomb picked out for Jesus. And so nobody had any indication of where Jesus would be buried. So the women in order to find out must follow Joseph to wherever he's taking the body of Christ. Then what they do, verse 56, then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath and obedience to the commandment. So they go home to prepare more spices. Possibly they didn't realize what Joseph and Nicodemus had already done, but more likely since they were with them, they realize his body has been prepared. They want to add more to that. They want to honor him themselves and bring their own spices and ointments. So they quickly go back to prepare those, but six o'clock catches them before they can get done. And the Sabbath starts and they have to stop and will not be able to pick up this work until Saturday evening. Those are the events of grief and gloom surrounding a garden tomb. What an awful dark day this is in their minds as Jesus dies and they prepare him for burial. But next we move into Saturday. Actually the Sabbath begins on Friday evening and goes until Saturday evening, but for our purposes we'll just say it's Saturday. The Bible records three events on this day of Sabbath, which is supposed to be a day of rest, but I've entitled this heading, this event, this day, a day of unrest. Because although it's intended to be a day of rest, there will be no rest, at least of heart and mind for the disciples. Three events, as I said, are recorded by our sources about this day. We don't know a lot about what happened on that day, but the first event quite clearly is that the disciples observed the Sabbath. Again, look at verse 56 here in Luke 23. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes, but they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. That's obviously speaking of the women who were preparing the spices. When Sabbath comes Friday evening, 6 o'clock or whatever, sundown, they realize that it is time to stop. All work must cease. Well, no doubt the disciples being good Jews would observe Sabbath as well, but we don't have any record of the disciples on this Sabbath day. We know they must have observed the Sabbath, at least not have done any work. They would not be allowed to work or travel very far on the Sabbath. But all we have is our imagination and questions as to what was going on with the disciples. As you think about that Saturday, you have to wonder, are they still scattered? They fled the Garden of Gethsemane. We know that John eventually makes his way to the place where Jesus is being tried and follows him all the way to the cross, where Jesus commits the care of his mother to John. We know that Peter found his way to the place of trial, but that's where he denied Jesus. And he runs out, recognizing the awfulness of what he's done and he weeps bitterly. Luke 22 tells us what happened to the other disciples. We don't know. They fled the Garden. They scattered by Saturday. Had they found their way back together? We know that by Sunday they are together in the upper room. Were they there on Saturday? And what happened to them? What would they talk about? Were they questioning each other? Did you see something? Did you see anything happen? What happened to him after he left the Garden? John would no doubt fill them in on the trials and the scourging, the beatings and the crucifixion. I'm sure they asked questions. Maybe they blamed each other. Maybe they tried to figure out what this happened. They're in shock. They're in denial. I wonder if they were angry with each other. I'm sure they asked themselves, what will we do now? Everything's gone now. What will we do? We know that they even struggled with this later on. And after they'd seen Jesus, surely on this day, this day of unrest for them. They're wondering what happens to us now? What do we do next? Where do we go? We left everything to follow him and he's dead. What do we do? I can only imagine what they must have been going through that day. Was Peter even with them? Or was he still off somewhere by himself grieving and weeping what he had done in denying his Lord, especially when he had told the disciples on Thursday evening very clearly and he had told his Lord, I will follow you even if it means death. And he hadn't done it. Where was Thomas? We know that on Sunday evening, Thomas was not with them when they were gathered together. Where's Thomas? What is he doing? What an awful day that must have been for those eleven men. The disciples observing the Sabbath. But the second event that we know that happened on the Sabbath is very different in nature. Shift in your thinking to those disciples, maybe huddled together, shocked, wondering what has happened and what they do next and then go to the religious leaders. The second thing we know that happened on that day, the Sabbath day, was the religious leaders, the appeal for regard at the tomb. Mark's Gospel, excuse me, Matthew's Gospel tells us this, turned with me to Matthew, chapter 27. Matthew, chapter 27, the only account we have of this is found here. Matthew 27, verse 62. The next day, the one after preparation day, what's preparation day? Friday, getting ready for the Sabbath, preparing the home, preparing the meal, preparation days on Friday. The next day, that's Saturday, that's the Sabbath day. The next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to pilot. Okay, this is supposed to be a day of rest and worship for them, but their only concern is to stop any possibility of the body of Jesus being removed. And so they go to pilot, because what they say in verse 63, sir, they said, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, after three days, I will rise again. Do you find that interesting and maybe shocking that the religious leaders remembered Jesus saying he would rise again and the disciples didn't? That's shocking to me. I understand that the disciples have followed Jesus and have been convinced in their minds. He is the king of Israel and they are expecting a kingdom to be set up. And so they're disoriented right now. But the religious leaders remembered that Jesus said he would rise again. And so they're going to do everything they can to prevent what they would think as a mock resurrection being promoted by the disciples. So they go to pilot and they say, we remember what he said, verse 64, so give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Let's at least guard the tomb for the three days until the third day so that what he said would happen can't happen. Otherwise they say his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that they've been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first. The last deception, the story that Jesus has been resurrected, that the disciples would tell that would be worse than the first deception which is Jesus claiming to be the son of God and the Messiah in their minds. That was a deception as well. So they want to prevent that from happening. Look at what happens in verse 65. Take a guard, pilot answered, go make the tomb as secure as you know how. So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. So the Jewish religious leaders are given permission by the Roman authorities to make the tomb site secure and how they do it is by sealing a stone. In the first century most Jewish tombs at least of any size would be covered, the opening to that tomb would be covered by a large round stone and it would be rolled down in front of the opening. But that's not enough for the religious leaders. They want to make sure first of all that the stone is in place but secondly that it's sealed. So no one can tamper with it. Seals would be broken if it's tampered with and it would be obvious. So nobody's going to do that. And thirdly they want a Roman guard, Roman soldiers to guard the tomb. Look at these next three pictures if you will. The first one shows a typical rolling stone tomb of the first century. This is one that's been unearthed by archaeologists, not Jesus' tomb, another one. But you can see a low entrance to the tomb with a huge stone that would cover the face of it. You can see there's a trench here in the front. That stone would be held in place by that trench. The next picture shows an artist representation of this large stone that would be rolled along this trench. Typically in this area right here there would be a groove dug out that would fit the shape of the stone and as the stone rolled down into that it would lock into place if you will. And so it would be fairly easy for someone to move the stone or a few people to move the stone into place but hard to get it out of place once it's locked in. But even that's not enough. They want it sealed. And so the next picture shows one method of sealing grave stones, tomb stones in that day and that would be with wax seals that would be pressed both against the stone and against the face wall face of the tomb. Several of them maybe like this. Because they were just one on the stone, one on the face with a rope in between. But either way if the stone was moved you could tell the seals had been broken. You could tell whether or not the grave has been tampered with. So every effort is made on the part of the religious leaders to make sure that nobody can get the body of Jesus. They are thinking they have now made it impossible for any story of the resurrection to ever come up. It's amazing to me that at this time the religious leaders are thinking quickly, seemingly thinking very well and the disciples are completely flustered and can't think through anything right now. But ah, what doesn't seem to have occurred to these men who seem to be thinking through every possibility and making sure nothing can happen. What doesn't seem to have occurred to these religious leaders is that the story of resurrection, Jesus claim to come alive might actually be true. That doesn't seem to have occurred to them. It doesn't seem to have occurred to them that if it is true he needs no help from his disciples. In no stone and no seals and no Roman guard will be able to keep him in the tomb. That doesn't seem to have occurred to them. It doesn't seem to have occurred to these religious leaders that by making the tomb so secure they will only highlight the miraculous nature of the resurrection. They have now made it impossible for anyone to come steal the body. So when Jesus shows up missing and later shows up alive they are simply highlighting the fact of the resurrection. They're really playing into the hand of God. I'm sure God in heaven is smiling. As these men weave their deceptive scheme thinking how smart we are to make sure nobody can get his body. I'm sure that the father in heaven was just smiling just late a few hours and you will see the disciples huddled in fear confused shocked while the religious leaders are going to their homes on Saturday smug smiles feeling like they have everything under control. The tables are going to be turned in just a few hours. In just a few hours it will be the Pharisees and religious leaders who are scrambling to figure out how to cover up this mess, how to pay off the Roman soldiers that are telling this incredible story about an angel coming and Jesus being alive. How are we going to deal with this situation? How are we going to manage it? And it will be the disciples who now are beginning to be filled with joy at the resurrected Christ. The tables will turn in a few hours. But there is one other event that the gospels record of that Sabbath day. Actually our Saturday it would occur at the end of the Sabbath and this story is in Mark chapter 16 and verse 1. It's this the women purchase spices, the women purchase spices on Saturday just after the Sabbath is ended. Verse 1, Mark 16. When the Sabbath was over Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus body. They bought spices. They would not be able to do that on the Sabbath day, 6 o'clock, Friday, 6 o'clock Saturday. They are about. But as soon as the Sabbath is ended, as soon as Saturday evening comes, they go to finish what they had started on Friday evening. They go to purchase the rest of the spices and begin to prepare them, but it gets dark pretty quickly and they are not able to go to the tomb. They will have to wait till Sunday morning for that. So that finishes up the day Saturday, still a day of darkness, of gloom and despair for all of those who called themselves followers of Jesus. But then we come to Sunday, Sunday morning. The heading of this day could read this. The sun rises as the sun rises. Jesus did not come out of the tomb at sunrise. I don't mean to indicate that. The women went to the tomb at sunrise, actually one gospel tells us that Mary Magdalene left while it was still dark. They arrived at about the time the sun was rising. Jesus was already gone. He was already risen. What I mean is that the sun rises in their hearts. The light begins to dispel the gloom and darkness and despair because the sun of God has risen. So the sun rises as the sun rises. This is Sunday morning and quickly there are four events the gospels tell us of this day. Let me just mention them and the scriptures that describe them. Most of all the women go to the tomb. Mark's gospel, Mark 16, Matthew's gospel, Matthew 28, both describe it. Let me quickly describe it for you. As dawn comes, the women go with their spices to the tomb. They're asking each other on the way. Who will move the stone so that we can get in? They have no idea that they really could face more problems than that. They would typically know that the stone would be rolled over the mouth. They have no idea about it being sealed and they have no idea about the Roman guard. All they know is there's a stone over the opening and we got to get that out of the way somehow before we can get in and finish the preparation process for his body. As they're asking that, Matthew tells the story of an angel coming down from heaven. There is a great earthquake as he comes toward the stone and moves the stone out of place. Did you imagine this scene that Matthew talks about in Matthew 28 verses 2 through 4, where Matthew says that the angel came down and then went to the stone. He evidently landed on the ground a little distance away and walks toward the grave. Can you imagine the Roman soldiers at that moment? There's an earthquake. The angel has appeared. The angel is walking toward the Matthew describes him as being as bright as lightning and as close as being as white as the sun. I wonder if the guards tried to warn him. Ha, who goes there? Something like that. When they realize he's still coming toward them and he's getting brighter as he gets closer or they've never seen anything like this in battle and the Bible says they fell over as dead men. Either fainted on the spot or maybe were supernatural paralyzed by the Lord. He entered incapable of doing anything. The angel walks up to the stone, maybe with just a flip of the finger, rolls it off to the side and then Matthew says he's sad on it. Sad on it. There's something about that picture. I just love. It's almost like the angel is saying, well, they're not here yet. I've got to wait for them. I'll just sit here. And he's just sitting there waiting for the women to come. Mark's Gospel fills in the details of the women arriving after asking that innocent question who will move away the stone. The Bible says in Mark's Gospel that they get there and realize the stone is gone. There is no stone there. And then what happens next, the second event that happens is that Mary immediately runs to tell Peter and John. There are three women according to Mark's Gospel, three women who show up Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome. These three women show up Mary Magdalene immediately when she sees the stone rolled away and evidently she sees enough to know that the tomb is empty. She runs away. The other two women stay there. Mary runs to tell the disciples and evidently finds Peter and John and tells them this is her report. She tells them according to John's Gospel, chapter 20 and verse 2, someone has taken our Lord's body and we don't know where they have put it. There's no thought of resurrection in her mind. She thinks someone is stolen his body. She hasn't grasped yet what has happened. So she tells Peter and John. The third thing the Gospels tell us that happened there at the tomb is the other women enter the tomb and see two angels. The two other women who stayed behind according to Mark 16 verses 5 through 8 and Matthew 28 verses 5 through 8, very similar accounts. They actually step inside the tomb and the Bible says Luke's Gospel, there were two angels inside. Mark focuses on one of them who did the speaking and he is the one who tells them. Don't be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus and the Nazarene who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. And this is something similar to what they would have seen that Sunday morning. This is called the Garden Tune. By the way, this is probably not the place where Jesus was buried, at least archaeologists and historically there's probably a better location. It's covered now by a huge church, the church of the Holy Sepulcher, it's called. It was identified early in the 200s as the place of Jesus' death in burial, but it's probably is the likely place, but it is so ornate, filled with religious trappings that it has no resemblance at all anymore to a first century burial place. This tomb called the Garden Tune and Gordon's Calvary, which is nearby, was discovered in 1879 by a general by the name of Gordon who was looking out from the Wall of Jerusalem, saw a hill that looked like a skull, said, well maybe this was the place. And there was a tomb nearby. It is probably a good representation of what the first century tomb would have been like. So it may not be the historical place, but it's a good picture of what it would have been like. A garden, the ladies walking up toward the tomb realizing that the stone is rolled away, let's get a little closer in this next picture and see the opening of the tomb. You can then the lights a little bit that might help to see this a little bit better. And you can see the channel here that is cut out for the stone that would roll across the front of the tomb, step inside the tomb, and even though it's dark inside, you can tell that off to the sides are these burial chambers. Today they're behind gates, iron bars, but burial chambers, the next picture shows maybe a little bit more how it looked. A slab on each side, these burial chambers would open up first into a large room and then off to the sides would be the actual burial places. And several of them might be there for several family members. Here you see in this one too, one slab here, one slab there. It's on a slab carved out of the rock that Jesus' body would have been placed on. And then as you turn around to walk outside, this is what it would look like from the inside of that garden tomb. Some of you have been inside this tomb as I have and you've seen this sign, he is not here for he is risen. A beautiful reminder of the fact that the tomb, wherever it actually is, that Jesus was in, is now empty. He is not here. He is risen. Those women would see that and would experience that. It's interesting to me that women are the first to receive evidence of the resurrection. And actually the first to witness the resurrected Christ. That's interesting to me because in the first century women were not allowed to serve as witnesses in a court of law, in Jewish courts. And Jesus just turned it upside down. He said, the first people that are going to see that I have risen are women and the first people I'm going to appear to, the first two appearances are to women. So Jesus levels the playing ground here as far as gender is concerned in that way. These women are told to go tell the disciples but they don't. They're too confused and frightened and Mark tells us that they just ran off and didn't tell anybody. The last event that occurs is that Peter, John and Mary Magdalene run to the tomb. Mary Magdalene has gone to get John and Peter and she's told them about what happens. They all three run back to the tomb. John's gospel tells us about this. Peter and John run evidently Mary catches up with them later because when they get there and leave Mary's still at the tomb. John gets there first. He's younger. He can run a little faster but he has to go in. Peter catches up to him. Peter never has to do anything. And so Peter runs right in. This runs right into the tomb and sees that it is is empty. That there's no one there. And interestingly enough, sees the grave cloth lying there and the napkin that was over the head of Jesus neatly folded. There's just an interesting little touch there that before Jesus left, he folded up the napkin, made sure the scene was neat. This is not the scene of a crime. This is not the scene of someone snatching a body. This is a scene of a very deliberate occurrence. That's what Jesus was communicating. I'm in control of the situation. I cleaned up everything in here before I left. So Peter and John see that. The Bible says that John believed, although they did not understand how it tied into the Old Testament scriptures yet, John believed and then they went back to their own place. That is early Sunday morning. And that's where we must conclude our story. Jesus would make five appearances that day to people on the day of His resurrection. He would appear first to Mary Magdalene in the garden at the tomb. Then he would appear to the two women who were going back to their places. He would appear to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He would appear to Peter alone. And then he would appear to the 11 that night in the upper room. Five appearances. And that would begin the process of the disciples understanding what they were experiencing. And what it meant. This much, however, is clear. The gloom and despair of Friday and Saturday is beginning to lift. Because little by little they will come to understand the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Christ means that all of the gloom and despair of their lives up to this point can be gone. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ does the same thing for us today. The gloom and despair of life. If you're without Jesus, you have no future ahead of you. If you do not know Jesus, the only thing that awaits you in eternity is an eternity separated from God in the lake of fire. But the death, barrel and resurrection of Jesus makes all the difference in that. And allows you to know that you can go to heaven if you will trust Him as your Savior. And once you've trusted Him, no matter what you go through in this life, no matter what kind of gloom and despair you face and we all face those times, it all pales when we recognize that someday we will be with Him because He is alive. And we will be in heaven with the resurrected Christ. That is the end of the story. Someday all the gloom and despair will be gone because of Jesus in His resurrection. Would you pray with me? Father, I pray for those here today who may have never trusted Jesus as their Savior. I pray that this day they may realize their need of Christ and come to Him. I pray, Father, for those who, as believers, are in a period of their lives of gloom and darkness and despair, whatever may be causing that family, difficulties or job difficulties or physical problems or whatever may be causing it, help them to realize today that in the resurrected Christ they have hope in heaven where all the gloom and despair will be gone. And it's all because we have a living Savior. We thank you for that today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.