God has spoken in Christ, Hebrews 1:1-3

Today we are beginning a new study in the book of Hebrews.  Hebrews is one of my favorite books of the Bible.  I preached through it years ago, I’m not sure how long ago now.  In fact, I can’t find my old notes.  So I’m approaching it this time with a completely fresh perspective, hopefully one that has been enriched after preaching through the whole New Testament which we just finished with the book of Mark last week.

Many, many years ago, I used to have a part time job on the beach right over there every morning for a few hours. My job, for which I hope I was over qualified, was to chase people off the beach who wanted to walk their dogs.  It was not a very fulfilling job to say the least.  But I was attempting to supplement my income while I was starting this church and that seemed to be something I could do.  The good part of it though was I was able to spend a lot of time talking with the Lord and meditating on his word.  I used to bring my Bible and read it between canine interlopers. And for some reason, as I was reading and praying, I felt moved  to try to memorize the entire book of Hebrews.  

Well, I was unsuccessful.  Ambition alone is not a guarantee of success, I’m afraid. But I did manage to get about as far as chapter 4.  Chapter one is not that tough.  In fact, the first few verses are considered as some of the greatest prose in the Bible. But as you move along, and start encountering all of those Old Testament quotations, which seem to repeat themselves, it can be quite a challenge to keep it all straight in your mind.  And I’m afraid that my mind has been scrambled a few too many times back in the days of my youth. 

Today, I think I would be lucky to even quote the first three verses correctly.  But still, I think there is great benefit to memorizing scripture.  I can’t tell you how often I have called up some phrase or even a complete verse by memory that perfectly fits into a situation that I am experiencing. I think God can use that to speak to you.  And I believe there is a special blessing of God that accompanies memorizing His word.  I would encourage you to make a practice of it as part of your regular devotions.  Psalm 139 says, “your word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” 

I would also encourage you over the next few months to read the book of Hebrews through.  It is a phenomenal sermon that teaches so much doctrine, and connects the story of redemption in the Old Testament with the New Testament in a way that other books of the Bible do not. There are more Old Testament quotations in Hebrews than in any other New Testament book.  About 29 quotations and 53 allusions from the Old Testament.  I believe you will be particularly blessed if you read through this book as we are studying it.  We are going to be in it for a number of weeks, perhaps about a year or so.  So you will hopefully have read it through many times during that time period, and I think you will get a lot more out of the messages. 

Now I could spend the whole time today introducing the book, but I don’t want to do that.  I will say by way of introduction that the author of Hebrews is unknown.  Who the author might be has been the subject of intense debate sense the second century.  Conservative commentators agree that it was probably written around AD 67, before the destruction of the temple, because the author speaks so much of the temple, and he does so without any indication that it has been destroyed.  The temple was destroyed in 70AD, so it would seem from that, as well as from other internal as well as external evidence that it was written before that time.

As to the question of who wrote it, I can only tell you who others have thought was the author. Clement of Alexandria said that Paul wrote it in Hebrew and Luke translated into Greek.  But many commentators believe that the language does not suggest Paul’s style.  It seems to be someone who was educated in classical Greek.  Paul was a Hebrew, and his Greek, by his own admission, was considered as rough. 

Others have suggested that Apollos wrote it, I believe that was Martin Luther’s suggestion.  That sounds intriguing, but no other writings exist from Apollos to compare it to. Barnabas was another very early suggestion.  My favorite, I suppose, would be Luke.  As a doctor, he would have had the classical education, He was a natural born Greek, and He would have been uniquely equipped to the style of argument that was popular with Paul, since he was the constant companion of Paul for many years. But the fact is, we do not know who wrote it.  However, we do know that the book was widely accepted by the earliest of the church fathers as part of the canon of inspired scripture, and thus ultimately authored by the Holy Spirit. 

Now there is much more that can be said in introduction, but I am going to leave that as it stands this morning, and dive into the book.  You can do your own homework and pursue some of the background information further if you want.  But I want to get into what God has said in this book of Hebrews in the short time we have left  this morning.

Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”  But how do we know the truth about God?  Paganism is man determining god as he imagined him.  Virtually all religions, ancient and modern, ascribe to God an invisible nature, at least as far as mere mortals are concerned.  And so recognizing that He is invisible, immortal, they then imagine various attributes of God, according to their own imagination, which is nothing more than superstition.  The point is, unless God chooses to reveal himself to us, we cannot know him.  We may realize certain invisible attributes of God by studying what the creation reveals about it’s maker.  For instance, we might learn a little about the nature of an artist by studying his artwork.  And the greater the amount of art  we have to study, then the more we might infer regarding the artist.  And such is true with God.  Romans 1 tells us that creation itself teaches us certain attributes of God, mainly his eternal nature and that He exists.  Some people stop right there.  They essentially worship nature, rather than the Creator.  And that too is paganism. But even if we have all of creation to study, we will still fall far short in really knowing God, so that we might worship him in truth.  The only way we might really know Him, is if He decides to reveal himself to us.

The author tells us that God spoke in ancient times to the fathers in the prophets, in various times and various ways.  God revealed himself partially, progressively down through the ages, successively adding revelation upon revelation.  Undoubtedly, the greatest father was no less than Adam, who after the fall must have been able to relate to several generations after him the glories of God. Adam actually lived 930 years, within a generation of the time of Noah. And then God spoke through Noah, then to Abraham,  to Moses and then a host of minor prophets, adding revelation upon revelation. God spoke in various ways, through dreams, through a burning bush, through smoke and fire, but always through His prophets. However, for thousands of years, this revelation was still only a partial revealing of God, and of His plan to redeem man from the fall.  There remained a better way, a more complete revelation of God, and that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  God spoke most completely, through Jesus Christ.

What the author of Hebrews is telling us in these opening verses, is that God has chosen to reveal himself, and He revealed Himself in His incarnation in human flesh, who is Jesus Christ.  God has spoken to us in His Son.  John makes the same argument in his gospel in chapter 1 starting in vs 1, identifying the Son as the Word, who was with God in the beginning, who was God, and through whom the world was made, and then who came to the world, revealed in human flesh, and dwelt among us on earth.  It isn’t so much that Jesus brought a message from the Father; He is a message from the Father. The idea is that Jesus is far more than the latest or best prophet. He has revealed something no other prophet could.

Also we should take note that the author says, “in these last days He has spoken to us in His Son…”  Don’t be confused by the phrase, last days.  It’s as if it is a two act play, the first act, and the last act.  Jesus Christ ushered in the last act, or the last days.  God’s word, God’s revelation to man is complete, given to us in these last days.

Notice also, that God does not bother to argue for his own existence.  He simply declares to us that He is.  That He has existed from eternity past.  God does not stoop to defend His existence.  The author simply begins with God’s existence and then extrapolates from that fact; “God, comma, after He spoke to the fathers in the prophets, in many portions and in many ways, in these last days have spoken to us in His Son…” The author presupposes a belief in God, but then what he does is he gives us an argument for believing in Jesus Christ. 

Why?  Because Jesus Christ is the way we come to know God. John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.”  And because Jesus Christ is the means of salvation. John 14:6, “No one comes to the Father but through Me.” So Jesus Christ is the way we come to know truth, and to worship God in spirit.  John 6:63, “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Now there are seven reasons given in these opening three verses that compel us to listen to the Son, and believe that He has the authority to speak the truth of God.  These seven attributes elucidate the greatness and the character and the nature of the Son of God.

The first one is that God has appointed Jesus the heir of all things.  We believe in One God. But we believe the one God subsists in three persons; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The great historic creeds of the Christian Church affirm this. This is what Christians believe the Bible teaches; one God, who exists in three persons. So the Son possesses the nature of the Father; one divine nature in our Godhead, but he’s a different person, and He has a different role.

So we read, “He, the Father, has appointed Him heir of all things.” Heirship rests upon sonship.  Only a son can be an heir. Individuals who are not in the family can receive bequests, but heirship and sonship go together. And, later on in the epistle he will make that very plain. All things are eternally His, because the Father, the first person of the Trinity, has appointed

him heir of all things. So the inheritance of all things belongs to the Son of God, all things are eternally his.  All things belong to Him. He is King of all, Lord of all.

Secondly, all things were made by Him. And in John 1:3 we read “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Worlds not only refers to the planets, to the universe, but also to the ages. The ancient Greek word here translated worlds is aion, from which we get our English word “eons.” It means that Jesus made more than the material world, He also made the very ages – history itself is the creation of the Son of God.

Colossians 1:16 says virtually the same thing; “all things were made through Him and for Him.” So that means all things, all physical things in the universe, and all the history of the ages, is made through Him and for Him.  That means we were made for Christ.  We were made to be the bride of Christ, to have fellowship with Him, to be in communion with Him.  And so it stands to reason that we will not find contentment or fulfillment in life apart from Him.  Some of you here today may see a relationship with God as a hindrance to fulfillment and happiness in life.  But in fact, the scripture says the opposite is true.  We cannot find fulfillment apart from Him because He made us for a relationship with Him. As Paul preached to the Greeks in Acts 17:28 “for in Him we live and move and exist.”

The third attribute of Christ the author says is “And He is the radiance of His glory.” Athanasius, a preacher who lived in the third century said concerning the Light of Christ; “Who does not see, that the brightness cannot be separated from the light, but that it is by nature proper to it and coexistent with it and is not produced after it.” In other words, you cannot separate the source of light from the light it radiates.  We don’t think of the sun as having been created and then given light later on.  Light is inherent to the sun. It’s part of its being. Another early church father, Ambrose said, “Think not that there ever was a moment of time when light existed without radiance.”  So we read here that the Son of God is the radiance of the glory of God. There never was a time in which the glory of God did not have brightness. Jesus is the visible expression of God’s glory.

Jesus himself said of this light in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” John’s gospel says the same thing. John 1:9 “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” And there we have a clear indication that light represents truth and life.  Jesus would say, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.” Light is the wisdom of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, which gives us eternal life.

Fourthly, “He is the exact representation of God’s nature.” He is the very image of the essence of God.  Just as an image on a coin is the exact imprint of the die, so Christ bears the very stamp of God’s nature.  As Jesus himself stated; “I and the Father are one.”  And again He said to Philip, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

What this means is that though God is invisible, a Spirit, we have the image, the exact representation of the invisible God stamped in the earthly flesh of man, that we might know Him as a person.  That we might know His personality, that we might know that He understands our frame, who emphasizes with us, because He became one of us. 

The fifth attribute of Christ is that “He upholds all things by the word of his power.” He is the One who bears all things along, that’s the meaning of the Greek word. He’s the Lord not only of history, but of prophecy. He is the Lord not only of the past, but the future. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is bringing about the completion and fulfillment of God’s plan and prophecy concerning the world.

Col.1:17 says, “by Him all things hold together.” I firmly believe that the only reason this world does not detonate like an atomic bomb is because Jesus Christ holds it together. “By Him we live and breathe and exist.” Scientists have developed something called The Large Hadron Collider which is a 17-mile  underground ring between France and Switzerland.  The purpose of this underground tunnel is that it speeds protons to within a hair's breadth of the speed of light before they crash into each other.  Scientists then comb through the debris field of these micro particles in hopes of finding the source of life in the universe. What they call the God particle.  Well, the Bible tells us the source of life, and that is Jesus Christ.  By Him all things exist and have their being and hold together.  Just think of the billions of dollars that could be used for greater things if they just believed the Bible.

In the sixth attribute, the author moves from the cosmic functions of the Son of God to His personal relationship with mankind.  “He made purification of sins.”  God has now accomplished something that man was unable to do for himself.  After the fall, man inherited a sin nature, which resulted in sin, and sin brought forth death.  God through Christ has provided a divine substitute, to die in our place, that we might be saved.  1John 1:7 says “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins.” Christ has performed the high priestly function of purging away sins, but not as the high priest of Israel did, year after year, but He has made a once for all sacrifice, and sat down at the right hand of God, because His sacrifice was so much better than all the other sacrifices which were done year after year by the earthly high priests. Such a sacrifice speaks beyond the eternal, immortal and potentially aloof attributes of a Holy God, to declare other marvelous attributes of His character, that of His love and mercy towards His people, that He would lay down His life for His friends.

On this Memorial Day holiday, we recognize and remember the sacrifice men and women made for this country in laying down their lives.  How much more should we memorialize the greatest sacrifice of the Son of God, in laying down His life for us.

The seventh attribute we already made mention of, “He has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”  Majesty on high obviously refers to God.  However, it’s not necessarily  a reference to a location.  God’s throne is in heaven, in the spiritual realm, above all other power and authority.  At his right hand denotes the supremacy and exaltation of Christ to the place of authority and favor.  That Christ is seated there speaks to the excellence of His high priestly work, and the fact that His atonement was sufficient and complete and contrasted as so much better than that of the Levitical high priests who continuously stood and made sacrifices again and again.

At the Father’s right hand speaks to His authority, and position, and supremacy, as stated in Eph. 1:20-21 which says God “raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

So the surpassing greatness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is expressed to us in seven affirmations, that we might know that He possesses all the qualifications to be the perfect mediator between God and man.  He is the greater prophet through whom God has spoken His final word, He is the great High Priest who has accomplished man’s reconciliation with God through purification from sin, and He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who ascended to the Father’s right hand, far above all rule and authority.  

What then must our response be to Him?  If we believe in who He is, and what He has accomplished for us, there should be a response of worship and a duty to serve Him.  To have faith in Him, to believe in Him, is to worship Him as Lord God.  To submit to HIs authority over our lives, and live in service to Him.  Romans 12:1-2 tells us what this worship looks like. Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Jesus said that whoever believes in Him would be saved.  Belief or faith in Christ incorporates accepting all that the author of Hebrews has said concerning who Jesus is, and what He came to do.  Believing in Him is trusting in Him, that He can save you, if you will just submit to Him as Lord and God.  Romans 10:8-11 says, "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):  that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

You can receive forgiveness, you can receive righteousness, and you can receive eternal life through believing in Jesus Christ.  God has spoken in HIs Son. Believe in Him and be saved.  

The confirmation of the gospel, Mark 16:9-20

It has been our policy to preach through the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, for many, many years now, even long before we officially became The Beach Fellowship.  I started preaching through the New Testament way back in the day when we were Christian Surfers meeting at Salt Pond.  And so today is a special day, because today is the day when I finish preaching through the entire New Testament.  I haven’t figured out exactly how many years it has taken me, but it’s about 15 or 16 years.  Along the way we also preached through Genesis, the Psalms, most of 1 and 2 Samuel, Daniel, and a few of the minor prophets.  We have preached through Ephesians twice now, and starting next week, we will begin a second tour through the book of Hebrews on Sunday mornings.  

So it is amazing, really, that God has given me the opportunity to preach through the New Testament, and that I stand here today after 16 years, still doing what we started out doing all those years ago.  However, let me say in clarification that preaching through the Bible is not just some academic exercise that helps us to feel superior to other churches which don’t study the Bible.  We preach the Bible because we believe it is the inspired Word of God, which is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, and that it’s doctrines equips the church with everything necessary for life and godliness.  

Mark began this book by calling it a gospel, in ch.1 vs 1.  He now concludes it, in chapter 16, with the Lord Jesus sending His disciples out to preach this very gospel in vs 15.  And we stand before you today preaching this same gospel, as evidence of the power of the gospel, and the eternal purpose of the gospel. 

The gospel simply means the good news of Jesus Christ.  That Jesus was God, revealed in the flesh, who came to bear our sins, to be our substitute, that He was crucified, buried and rose again, and now lives to make intercession for us, and to be with us in HIs Spirit, until He returns even as He was taken up, to claim His church as His bride.  That is the gospel, and those who have believed it, and accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord, have been born again to a new life in Him.

There is a move today in Christianity that no longer really preaches the gospel. They may sound like they still espouse faith in God, but they are teaching a new gospel, which Paul says is not really the gospel at all.  They eliminate all the thorny doctrines like sin and hell and judgment, and just talk about love, which has been reduced to some kind of sentimental euphemism for embracing diversity.  I read recently about a new kind of Christianity that is becoming popular in Colorado, and the traditional church has been replaced by coffee shops and craft beer infused get togethers to talk about social issues.  That’s not the gospel.  

The royal wedding this weekend was yet another example of the popularity of the social gospel.  The Episcopal priest speaking at the wedding was given kudos by the left leaning media for his embracing, socially unifying message of love, which quoted from all sorts of liberal sources, but avoided the true message of the gospel.  Listen, love means that God sent Jesus to be tortured and beaten and nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for your sins and mine.  In spite of what the bishop said that we need to love ourselves, the first and foremost commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul,  mind and strength.  And the only way we can know how to do that, is if we preach His word faithfully, and obey His word.  Jesus said if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  We will keep His word.

Now last week we looked at the first eight verses of chapter 16 concerning the resurrection.  And some of you might notice in your Bible version that the remainder of the chapter is set apart in some way, and there may be notes which say that the following verses are not found in the oldest known manuscripts.  Many Biblical scholars have debated for centuries as to whether or not these verses were actually penned by Mark, or were appended at a later date by various editors.  

I am not a Biblical scholar, nor a Greek language expert.  And there are men on both sides of the aisle that I look up to who take opposing views concerning these last eight verses.  However, I feel a certain reluctance to discount a passage of scripture on the basis of most modern criticisms.  I would tend to think that though there may be problems with this text from certain perspectives such as style or terms used, or older copies versus less older copies, yet I would tend to believe that God has intended these verses to be included in Mark as accurate and reliable.  

It is true that the oldest copies of the Greek manuscripts do not contain these twelve verses, but it is also true that the overwhelming majority of the Greek manuscripts that we have today do contain these verses. And it is also true that two of the earliest church fathers, writing from the beginning of the second century, quote from this passage. So it is clear that, from the very beginning, the church has accepted these twelve verses as authentic, even though there is some dispute today that they may not have come from the hand of Mark.

My personal opinion is that it’s likely that Mark’s original letter continued after verse 8.  Ending at vs8 would be an odd way to end a book, and it’s at odds with the way the other gospel writers ended their books.  But probably something happened to the end of the original manuscript, and the early church fathers wrote a summary of what Mark had written as a way to finish off the book.  It’s also a good possibility that these last 8 verses are original to Mark, but there were other verses that were interspersed in this passage which were lost for some reason or another.  And so what we have sounds a bit disjointed, and seems different stylistically, but it may be due to the fact that some connecting verses were lost. 

Irregardless, many very early Christian writers refer to this passage in their writings, such as Papias, AD100, Justin Martyr, AD 151, Irenaus, AD 180, Hippolytus, AD 190, Vincentius and Augustine also wrote concerning this passage in the around AD 200-250. This shows that the early Christians knew about this passage in the Gospel of Mark and accepted it as genuine.

So we are going to accept it as genuine, as something that the early church accepted as the gospel, and now let’s move on and look at what it says.  There are three divisions of this passage; the first verses, 9-14, deal with the basis of apostolic belief; verses 15 and 16 deal with the commission of apostolic preaching; and the final verses 16-20, deal with the confirmation of the apostolic witness.

Let’s look first at the basis of apostolic belief. In vs 11, Mark emphasizes that initially the apostles, when told of Mary Magdalene’s experience, did not believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.  You will remember at the beginning of the chapter how the women had come to the tomb early in the morning, at the first light of dawn, and found the stone rolled away and saw the angel. The angel told them that Jesus was not there, but He had risen.  But they did not see Jesus then. 

According to John's gospel, Mary Magdalene had gone ahead of the others and, seeing the empty tomb, she ran to tell Peter and John immediately. Evidently she did not hear the angel's explanation. Peter and John both ran to the tomb. Peter went inside and saw the grave clothes lying there still wrapped as though they were around a body, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head was folded and placed aside. This convinced Peter and John that indeed Jesus was risen, but they still had not seen him.

Mary Magdalene returned more slowly to the tomb and as she stood weeping in the garden she saw what she thought was the gardener, she asked him where they had laid the body of Jesus. Jesus spoke her name and she then recognized Jesus. This was the first appearance of the risen Lord to a disciple. He came first to Mary Magdalene. She ran and told the other disciples. But Mark tells us that when Mary told them that Jesus was alive and that she had actually seen him, they did not believe it.

In vs12, Jesus appears to two other disciples on the road to Emmaus. “After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.” Notice that Jesus appeared to them in a different form.  He disguised Himself to them in some way.  Luke 24 tells that as they walked along with Him discussing the things that had recently happened concerning His crucifixion and resurrection,  He began with Moses and the prophets and showed them from the scriptures all the things that referred to Messiah. Later as they sat at table with him and saw his hands as he broke bread, they recognized their crucified Lord. Then He disappeared.

These two disciples came back to Jerusalem immediately and told the eleven what they had seen, but, in Verse 14, Mark says the eleven did not believe them. “Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.”

It’s interesting that the disciples are having such a hard time believing that Jesus had risen from the dead.  They don’t really even want to believe other eyewitnesses.  And yet that is exactly what their own ministry would be founded on.  They were eyewitnesses to HIs majesty, to His miracles, and they would be eyewitnesses to His resurrection and ascension, and so it would be incumbent upon the hearers of the gospel to believe their eyewitness testimony.  Yet they themselves were slow to believe. 

Jesus himself expected the eleven to believe before they saw him. He wanted and expected them to believe the reports of the eyewitnesses who had seen him. They were trustworthy persons and were reporting what they themselves had actually experienced, and that should have been enough to convince these disciples that Jesus was risen from the dead. So concerned is Jesus about this that He rebukes them. Even as He did in the days of His ministry, so now, He, as their living, risen Lord, rebukes them for their unbelief. He takes them to task because they refused to believe those who had seen Him. You can see the importance Jesus attributes to this matter of believing eyewitnesses.

Because that is what one of the pillars our faith is to be founded upon; the testimony of credible witnesses. Paul wrote later that 500 people saw the risen Jesus at one time.  We have reliable testimony. The apostles were reliable witnesses, and we are required to believe their testimony.  When we have adequate, trustworthy witnesses who report to us what they have seen, we are expected to respond with belief. These men saw the risen Lord. They were granted a privilege that we are not granted; but nevertheless, our faith can rest upon solid foundation. Even though we have not seen him, we believe because of the eyewitness accounts recorded in the word. And as Jesus would tell doubting Thomas later who persisted in disbelief, those who do not see and believe will receive a greater blessing.  John 20:29 “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

Next, let’s look at the apostolic commission starting in vs15. And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”  Notice that there are two  main points in the  command which Jesus gives here.  “Go” and “preach.”   Just as the Savior seeks and saves those that are lost, so are we to seek the lost.  To go into the highways and byways and invite the lost into the kingdom of God. To go into our neighborhoods, our communities and preach the gospel.  To go to the ends of the earth and preach the gospel.  Not all of us are called to be pastors, or missionaries, or as in this case, apostles, but we are called to be ambassadors to a lost world, to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ.  Preaching is proclaiming the good news, the news of Christ’s life and death and resurrection through which believing we are saved, converted, changed, and we receive eternal life.

The good news is that the power of evil in your life and mine can be broken! Sin no longer controls us and ruins and robs us of life. The bondage of sin is broken by the power of the resurrection of Jesus. The living Lord Himself lives within us and imparts to our life the power of Christ. This is the good news, and this is the gospel we are to preach. That is what Scripture calls being saved. That is why Jesus said, "He who believes  and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

Notice the order there.  Belief comes first, baptism follows.  Believing is the means of justification, we are justified by faith, which is believing, trusting in the Lord to save.  Then baptism is the evidence of salvation, being obedient to what the Lord says. What Jesus means is that belief ought to be real, and the reality of that inward belief is demonstrated by the outward action of baptism. Only that belief that changes us and converts us is real saving faith, and the way that we can demonstrate it is by being baptized.  In other words, belief is action, not just an intellectual exercise.  It changes your life, and as Jesus was raised to life, so we die to sin and are raised to new life in Him which results in righteousness. That is what baptism symbolizes, new life after dying to sin.

Maybe some of you here today may have never liked the word saved.  But what it means is that we are hopeless and helpless, drowning in our sins and the condemnation of that sin, and the good news is that Jesus Christ has come to rescue us, save us.   The late RC Sproul said, “God doesn’t just throw a life preserver to a drowning person.  He goes to the bottom of the sea, and pulls a corpse from the bottom, takes him up on the bank, breathes into him the breath of life and makes him alive.”  Being saved is being delivered from death, but also being changed from a life held captive to sin, to a new life through the power of Christ in us.

Knowing the unbelief that would face these apostles as they testified to the gospel, the Lord now goes on to give them certain signs which will accompany and encourage them in preaching the gospel. This climate of unbelief is the setting in which Jesus promises these signs in verse 17, "And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; If they pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." 

Now of all the verses in this passage that are problematic, from my perspective these are the most problematic.  And I think it really comes from a popular misunderstanding that what Jesus is saying is that all future believers will experience these signs.  But I think that the context of the passage indicates that Jesus is saying the apostles will exhibit these signs, as a testimony to their witness.  These signs were testimony to the authenticity of the apostles’ message.  God would confirm their word by signs and wonders.  And Paul speaks of that in Second Corinthians 12:12: "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you in all patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.”  Hebrews says the same thing; Heb. 2:3-4 “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

These, then, are the signs of an apostle. They were authenticating signs to accompany those who first went out with the gospel into an unbelieving and hostile world. Consequently, I believe that these apostolic sign gifts expired with the apostles.  The word of God which they have spoken has all the authentication that it needs.  It has stood the test of time.  It has stood the test of thousands of critics through the centuries.  But even more importantly, it has changed millions of lives.  It has proven to be powerful to save millions and millions of people through the centuries.  And furthermore, scripture authenticates scripture.  The scriptures authenticate themselves as you study it and read it.  You find it proves itself over and over.  There is no more need for signs and wonders to authenticate new revelation.  The revelation is complete, and it is in our hands as the Holy Scriptures, the word of God, which was given to us through the agency of the apostles.

So what were these signs?  Well, they would cast out demons.  We see evidence in the scripture that the apostles did this before the ascension of Christ, as well as after Pentecost. They will speak with new tongues.  This was a sign that was fulfilled at Pentecost as everyone heard the gospel in their own language.  And it continued for a time as the gospel reached the Gentiles.  Peter, preaching at Pentecost, says that the new tongues were a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28,  "It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions.”  Peter says in Acts 2:15-16  "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;  but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel.”  So that was fulfilled at Pentecost.  It’s not something that is prophesied for the end of the age as is often taught.  It was a sign of an apostle.

Furthermore, the disciples would have power to survive physical attacks upon their lives. Bitten by a poisonous serpent, they would not die. If they accidentally drank poison, they would not die. They would have power to survive, that the gospel might go out. This would be one of the authenticating signs given to them.  You remember that Paul endured a snake bite when shipwrecked on an island, and he did not die.  And consequently, he was able to share the gospel with the people there. He survived stoning, and also he survived being thrown to the lions. Peter was released from prison.  So God was able to providentially protect the apostles until their mission was finished here on earth.

The fourth sign is power to heal, to lay hands upon the sick, and they will recover.  Acts records many examples of the apostles being able to heal the sick and even raise the dead.  Again, this was to authenticate their message as being from God.

So God gave these authenticating signs to the apostles as confirmation of the word that they were preaching.  And the last paragraph tells us that after the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, the apostles confirmed the power of the gospel by going throughout the world preaching the gospel and God working through them in establishing not only the scriptures, but the universal church.  As Ephesians 2:19 says,  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” 

So Mark closes this gospel of his with the Lord ascending into heaven, living as Lord in the midst of his church, directing its events, planning its strategy, carrying it unto the farthest reaches of the world. And the apostles, scattered throughout the known world of that day, preached this good news, their witness being confirmed by these great signs. They thus laid the foundation of the great building that Paul calls the church, the body of Christ, that has grown through all the centuries since. 

Listen, the gospel has been preached to you today, just as it was 2000 years ago.  As Isaiah the prophet spoke: “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE LORD BEEN REVEALED?” You can receive the good news, believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ, and be saved, receive new life, abundant life.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is able to remake you, and make you into a child of God, if you will just repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  I trust that you will trust Him today, and call upon Him to save you.  The Lord is mighty to save all who come to Him in faith. 

The gospel of the resurrection, Mark 16:1-8

Today we are looking at the last chapter of Mark, particularly the section of scripture in which he records the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  The chapter begins early Sunday morning.  We ended our message last Sunday speaking of the burial that happened after the crucifixion which was on Friday afternoon.  You will remember that Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus were in a hurry to bury Jesus’s body because the Sabbath was quickly approaching.  The Sabbath was counted by the Jews from sundown on Friday, to sundown on Saturday.  We count our days from midnight to midnight.  But without clocks, it was more feasible to count the day as ended at sundown and a new day continuing until sundown the next day.  

During that time, on the Sabbath, Jesus’s body was in the tomb.  If you were here last week, then you may remember that I attempted to describe what may have transpired while Jesus’s body was in the tomb.  1Peter 3:18 tells us “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.”  

Now I am not going to preach that message again.  Once was painful enough, I suppose.  I told my wife later that I thought last week’s message was probably the worst message I ever preached. And I said, “What did you think?” Hoping she might reassure me.  But she said, “Oh, I’m not sure, there have been so many!”  

The point though is that during this dark interval between the cross and the resurrection, though His body was in the tomb, yet Jesus was alive in the Spirit, and as the Apostle’s Creed declares, in His Spirit He descended into Hades.  In some mysterious way, in every respect, Jesus paid in full for our sins through His death.   Someone has well said, that the death of Jesus on the cross was the payment, but the resurrection was the receipt, showing that the payment was perfect in the sight of God the Father.  The fact that Jesus was resurrected is proof that God considered the sacrifice of Jesus as fully acceptable and perfectly fulfilled for our justification.

Now I want to briefly make a few notes on the record of Christ’s resurrection as recorded by Mark.  I don’t feel the need to try to fill in all the blanks in Mark’s account from the other gospels.  I think it’s sufficient to note certain points that he wanted to make concerning the record of the resurrection.  Then I would like to show the relevance of the resurrection.  What does it mean for us?  It must be more than just a historical record.  And I believe that the relevance of the resurrection is central and crucial to  biblical Christianity.  Without it, there is no good news.  

The resurrection is the cornerstone of gospel promise. It is the primary theme of worship and praise because the resurrection is the source of eternal life for believers; because He lives, we live also. Without the resurrection, the cross, the death of Christ, would be meaningless. Without the resurrection, the cross would be powerless. If Christ is not raised, according to 1 Cor.14, then your faith is in vain, the gospel is worthless and you are still in your sins...if Christ is not raised.  So we need to understand the resurrection’s relevance.

And then, finally, I want to show our response to the resurrection.  It’s not enough to simply believe or accept it in some superficial, historical way, but it demands a response.  And that response involves an invitation and a proclamation.

So let’s begin first with the record of the resurrection.  Mark’s account is the briefest of all the gospels.  He begins with the same people he left off with at the end of chapter 15 on Friday evening.  With the women who witnessed the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ.  These women were those who had followed Him from Galilee.  They had ministered to Him during His travels and ministry, perhaps with financial support, and caring for His needs during His preaching.  They supported Him.  And though all had forsaken Him, these women were faithful through the crucifixion, the burial, and now the first at the tomb early Sunday morning.

There is a principle that is taught in 2 Samuel during the time of David’s wars.  Some of the men stayed behind with the baggage while the others went on to fight the battle.  And after the victory, some mean spirited men wanted to keep the spoils from being shared with the ones who stayed behind.  But David wisely made a tradition, established a principle, which said that the ones who stayed behind with the baggage should share as fully in the spoils as those who fought on the front lines.  And that principle remains  true for these women, who were in the background, serving the Lord, and who gave a great service to the Lord, even though it was unheralded.  So much of the important work of the Kingdom is done by people who are out of the limelight, who support the ministry in the background.  But in the consummation of the Kingdom, they will receive the same reward as those who were on the forefront of the battles.  

The next item of note is that it was early on Sunday morning, what was called the first day of the week. You know, this message would seem to be better preached on Easter, when we formally celebrate the resurrection.  But we also celebrate the resurrection every Sunday.  We meet on Sunday because Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week.  Sunday became known as the Lord’s Day.  And since the earliest days of the church, Christians met on the Lord’s Day in worship.  The Sabbath was the day of rest which God instituted for man during the Old Testament times looking forward to the rest from our labor that we would have in Jesus, but with the resurrection of Jesus Christ that was changed to the first day of the week, in celebration of the new life we have in  Jesus Christ.  We are no longer under the law of the Sabbath, as Paul said in Colossians 2:16, “no one is to act as your judge in regards to a Sabbath day.” So the fact that it was early on Sunday morning is important to our theology.

There is another item in the record which bears pointing out, and that is the extremely large stone that the women were aware was blocking their access to Jesus body.  It was beyond their ability to move.  And so, to a certain extent, they went to the tomb in faith that somehow they would be able to access the body.  They probably were unaware that Pilate had commissioned a detachment of soldiers to guard the tomb, and that they had put a seal on it, so that it could not be opened.  But the other gospel’s tell us that God had sent an earthquake and an angel to roll away the stone, so that the soldiers ran away afraid.  

The point that needs to be made, is that Jesus did not need the stone rolled away in order to be able to get out of the tomb.  In John 20, we see Jesus in His risen body walking into a locked and closed up room to visit the disciples.  In His risen body doors and walls did not hinder Him.  So He had  already left the tomb before the stone was rolled away. The angel rolled the stone away so that the disciples could enter and witness that He wasn’t there.

But in that early morning darkness, the thought of the great stone across the door to the tomb must have been a great deterrent to the women’s desire to tend to body of Jesus. They could have given up before they ever even started out.  And what a loss they would have if they had not ventured out in faith, in spite of the perceived obstacles. 

There are a lot of perceived  impediments even today in coming to Christ.  There are all sorts of obstacles that we think hinder us from coming to faith in Christ.  But the lesson here is that we come in faith, in spite of the darkness, in spite of our lack of understanding, but believing that God can remove those obstacles, that He can move those mountains that seem to be impeding us, and when we come in the little faith we have, we will find that God has already provided a way, and our little faith will give way to a greater faith. Psalm 36:9, “In thy light we see light.”  As we walk in faith in the light we have been given, God grants greater light for the path ahead.

Notice also when they entered the tomb they saw an angel sitting at the right side of the tomb.  Mark describes him as a young man in a white robe.  The other gospels tell us it was an angel.  I think Mark is also obviously describing an angel, but in appearance he resembles a young man, though in a glorified state.  The women are amazed, frightened.  Angels are a messenger of God.  That is what the word means, messenger. Hebrews 1:14 tells us concerning angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? And God wants these women to know what has transpired, not to speculate, not to wonder what happened to Jesus.  But to know, by the word of God, that Jesus of Nazareth was no longer in the tomb, but He had risen from the grave, and would go before them to meet them in Galilee. 

So the angel declared that Jesus was risen.  And that they would meet Him in Galilee.  Some of them would in fact see Him later that very day.  But the point is, that the death of Jesus was not the sad end of a tragic tale of a good man.  The resurrection offered hope of a new life, a new relationship with Jesus who lived, to whom death had no power, and because He lived, we might live.  Because He was resurrected, we too have the hope of resurrection.

You know, in a court of law, there is no greater evidence that can be given than that of eyewitness testimony.  A person can be sentenced to death on the basis of two eyewitnesses testimony.  The fact of Jesus’s resurrection is something Paul said was attested to by more than 500 eyewitnesses.  So the credibility of the record of the resurrection stands as a historical fact.  There are many other details of the events surrounding the resurrection that we could review.  Some of those will be discussed next week as we look at the remaining 8 verses.  But for now I would like to leave the record, and move on to the second point, which is the relevance of the resurrection.  What is the meaning of the resurrection, and what significance does it have for me?

First, the resurrection means that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God.  We read in Romans 1:4, (Jesus) “was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  If Jesus was not resurrected, then He was just a man with delusions of glory.  But because He was resurrected, and ascended bodily into heaven, it is evidence that He was who He claimed to be, the Son of God.  And only because He was the Son of God, was His sacrifice acceptable. Because Jesus bore all our sins in His death and because His sin-bearing satisfied God, God gave to us all His righteousness. Justification is God crediting the righteousness of Christ to us, imputing the righteousness of Christ to our account. Because God raised Him from the dead, God was affirming the completeness of His sacrifice for sinners.

Secondly, the resurrection means that we have assurance of our own resurrection: 1Thess. 4:14 says, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” That means that those who are asleep in Jesus, that have died in faith, will be raised from the dead, raised from Paradise to glorification with Christ.  We will be given new bodies, to live in a new heaven and new earth, forever with the Lord. That’s the hope of the resurrection. Because He lives, we live.

Next,  the resurrection teaches us that God has an eternal plan for our lives. The resurrection means that death no longer has any power over us.  Jesus said, “he who believes in Me will never die.”  This life is but a foretaste of what is in store for those who are in Christ.  In the life to come, we will judge angels, we will rule and reign with Christ.  There may be worlds upon worlds out there in the cosmos that God will give to us to reign over.  I don’t know.  Paul said “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard.”  We can’t imagine the life that God has prepared for those who love Him.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul relates our bodies to a seed, which as it dies is put into the ground, and comes up in the resurrection as a new body.  1Cor. 15:42-44 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;  it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;  it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” Vs. 53 “For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 

Fifth, the resurrection means that Jesus has a continuing ministry: Hebrews 7:25 says, “He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.”  We have a great high priest, positioned at the right hand of God, who ever lives to make intercession for us.  We have an advocate in the heavens, a mediator between God and man.  He who gave His life for us, how will He not freely give us all good things that we need?  That’s the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ who ever lives. 

6, The resurrection means that Christianity and our God are unique and completely different than other world religions.  There is no other religion which claims that their God became man, who died for their sins and rose from the dead, so that He ever lives to help them and minister eternal life to them.  

7, The resurrection proves that though the world considered Jesus as a common criminal, worthy of death, God considered Jesus as the righteous substitute who took our sins upon Himself, to bear the penalty of our sin.  As I said earlier, the death of Jesus on the cross was the payment, but the resurrection was the receipt, showing that the payment was perfect and complete in the sight of God the Father.

Now let’s consider the last point I want to make in this sermon, and that is the response to the resurrection.  It is not enough to hear the facts of the resurrection, to learn the doctrines of the resurrection, but it is also necessary to respond to the resurrection.  It is the climatic conclusion to the gospel which demands a response from all who hear it.  And so we see in the passage two aspects to the response, first an invitation, and then a proclamation on the part of those who have accepted the invitation.  

First, let’s consider the invitation.  As spoken through the angel, the women received a message from Jesus they had to deliver. He says, “Go and tell the disciples…” We might think of this message as an invitation, because through this message the disciples were invited to meet with Jesus.  The angel says in vs7 "But go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.'"

This illustrates that the invitations of Jesus are invitations based on grace. The disciples had completely failed Jesus. He had every right to be done with them, but in grace He extended this kind invitation to them.  None of us have an invitation from God based on our own worthiness, but on HIs worthiness.  He is worthy of our devotion because He is faithful to love us to the end, to love us even when we desert Him, and to call us back to fellowship with Him.  God wants complete fellowship with us.  That is why we were created.  The fall broke that fellowship.  The resurrection restores that life with God that we were designed to have.  But it is in the form of an invitation to come to Him, to believe in Him and trust Him with our very lives.

This invitation illustrates for us that the promises of Jesus are always fulfilled on His part. He said that He would meet them in Galilee and according to John 21:1 He did just that.  And the Lord has given us many gracious promises as well. He says if we believe in Him, then one day we will see Him in glory, and having seen Him as He is, we will be like Him.  Jesus not only prophesied concerning His own death, but He also promised His resurrection.  “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  He fulfilled His promise, so that we might be certain that He will fulfill HIs promises to us.

Jesus’s invitation shows us that Jesus want’s to reveal Himself more fully to us.  The angel said, “He is going before you into Galilee, there you shall see Him.”  The main objective was to see Him, for Jesus to reveal Himself to His people.  And the main goal of our faith is that one day we will see Him face to face.  And as a result of that great experience of seeing our Lord in all of His glory, we will be changed to be like Him.  I can’t imagine what that will look like.  But we know that He keeps His promises.  As we were made in His image, in HIs likeness in the first creation, then how much more so will we be like Him in the new creation, when He makes all things new.

When Jesus invites us He always remembers His promises. “As He said to you,” the angel added to the invitation. What Jesus says, He will do, and He can never fail in any promise.  I would ask you today, have you ever accepted Jesus invitation?  He has promised life, forgiveness, peace, joy, eternal life to those who believe in Him.  But if you never accept the invitation, if you never act on it, then you will remain dead in your sins. Jesus has extended to you a personal invitation, to be saved, to be forgiven, to receive eternal life, based on repentance from sin, and faith in Him.  Have you responded?  

Then for those who have responded in faith, there is one more aspect to that response, and that is to go and tell, to proclaim the good news. Until He returns that is our job one, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.  People are perishing all over the world, without hope, and Jesus provides the antidote.  But He wants us to be the ones to administer it.  

Mark says “and they said nothing to anyone:” This does not mean that they made no report of the resurrection because we know plainly from the other gospel accounts that they did (Mark 16:11 and Luke 24:9). What he probably means is that as they left the scene of the empty tomb, they did not immediately do what they were told because of the fear and trembling that they felt.  Maybe it means that they did not go home and tell their families or neighbors at first, because of the amazement that overwhelmed them.  But we know eventually that they did tell the disciples.  And gradually word spread about the resurrection of Jesus, so that as Paul reported, at one point more than 500 people gathered to see the risen Savior. 

We too have been given a mandate to go and tell.  But I’m afraid we too are often amazed and fearful and trembling.  The sad thing is, that we aren’t afraid because we have seen an angel, we aren’t trembling because we have witnessed the power of God in resurrection.  But we are afraid because of men, and what they might say about us, or think about us.  

I pray that we might be more like David, who said in Psalm 56:11, “In God I have put my trust, I will not be afraid, what can man do to me?”  If we really believe in the power of the resurrection, then we have no reason to fear man.  If we really trust in the power of God to raise men from the dead, then we have no reason to be afraid.  We can be bold because we know the truth that leads to salvation.  We have the antidote that a dying world is in dire need of.  I pray that we will not keep to ourselves what God has done for the benefit of the world.  Let’s go forth with joy and confidence that we have the good news of salvation, and may the God who raised Jesus with power from the grave go before us.