He Has Risen

MEMORY VERSE: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” —I Peter 1:3

MARK 15:42 – 16:7

JOSEPH of Arimathea was probably a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. “He was a good man, and a just,” and did not consent to the death of Jesus. He was waiting for the kingdom of God, his hopes for the kingdom probably being based on the promises of the Old Testament. The record does not show that he was a disciple of Jesus, but many students of the Word have thought that he was a secret believer who lacked the courage to openly espouse the cause of the Nazarene.—Luke 23:50,51

However, when Jesus was crucified Joseph took courage, and we are told that he “went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus” He must have been a man of some prominence and authority in Israel, else he could not have gained an audience with Pilate so readily; nor did Pilate hesitate to turn the body of Jesus over to Joseph.

Nicodemus, another member of the Sanhedrin, and who had visited Jesus by night, joined with Joseph in the burial of Jesus. He “brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.”—John 19:39,40

Joseph had a tomb “hewn out of a rock,” a tomb in which no one had ever been buried. There they put Jesus “and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.” Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses “beheld where he was laid,” these two, and the mother of James, and Salome, procured spices to further embalm the Master’s body, “and very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”

But they did not have to wonder about this very long, for they discovered that the stone had already been rolled away. They entered the sepulchre, and “saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.”

This young man—an angel, really, materialized as a man—said to the women, “Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.” Peter, it will be recalled, had opposed Jesus in his voluntary surrender to his enemies, and had denied his Master. How considerate that he should be singled out as one who should be specially notified of the resurrection! This would help Peter to reorient his thinking concerning the Master’s death, and to realize that, after all, it had not been a mistake.

All the disciples of Jesus at that time were perplexed over the death of Jesus. While walking to Emmaus, two of the disciples were met by the resurrected Jesus, whom they did not at once recognize. Explaining the cause of their sadness, they said to him, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.” (Luke 24:21) They could not understand how one who had been crucified could accomplish deliverance for Israel from their Roman yoke of bondage.

Our memory verse reminds us of this wonderful revival of hope. In it Peter speaks of our being “begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” True, every dedicated follower of the Master is begotten by the Holy Spirit and becomes a “new creature” in Christ Jesus. But for those early disciples there was that special revival of faith and hope which came to them through Jesus’ resurrection. They realized then that their inheritance was not to be with restored Israel, but one that was “reserved in heaven.”—I Pet. 1:14

QUESTIONS

Who were Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus?

Who were early at the tomb the morning after the Sabbath?

What did the resurrection of Jesus mean to the disciples?

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