From noon until 3 p.m. the sky was dark. Shortly thereafter, Jesus cried out in anguish, using the very words of Psalm 22:1: My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? Then after a few more minutes, He cried out again and died. At that moment the temple veil split in two, and a centurion who was observing exclaimed, Truly this man was the Son of God.

Note -- The majesty of Jesus' death: There were multiplied ironies in the events of those final hours. As they ridiculed Jesus saying that He had saved others, but now couldn't save himself, they were unaware that He was fully capable of saving Himself, but that if He had, He would not have saved others. He died voluntarily. He had at His disposition thousands of angels that could have rescued Him, but He deliberately chose to lay down His life because He loved us. Jesus had the power to do anything He wanted against His tormentors, but he subdued all desire for revenge and actually prayed for God to forgive those who were treating Him so cruelly (Luke 23:34). By dying as He did, Christ provided the sacrifice that would forgive men's sins. Therefore, the temple veil was torn in two from top to bottom. The veil had blocked access to God's presence--it was a symbol of man's sin. Since Jesus' death atoned for sin, the veil was severed, demonstrating that with sin removed men could once again enter into fellowship with God. Truly, this man was the Son of God!

Jesus' Burial

Read Mark 15:42-47.
Joseph, a prominent Jewish official and secret disciple of Christ (see John 19:38), asked Pilate for permission to bury Jesus' body. He had to act quickly since according to Jewish law He could not bury the body on the Sabbath day, which officially began at sundown. He gathered the corpse up in a sheet and put it in a hole chiseled into the wall of a cave, which served as a typical grave in that era. He closed off the cave by rolling a large rock over the entrance.

Body is Missing!

Read Mark 16:1-8.
A few loyal women had prepared spices and went out to Jesus' tomb early on Sunday morning. They were planning to embalm His body in order to give it a more honorable burial than had been possible in the few minutes that had been available on Friday afternoon. As they walked down to the cave, they thought about how hard it was going to be for them to roll that large rock away from the entrance of the burial cave. When they arrived, however, they saw that the rock had already been removed and the cave was open. Inside, an angel told them that Jesus had arisen and was on His way to Galilee. He asked them to tell the disciples and Peter. The women fled away very frightened.

Note -- Tell the disciples and Peter: The angel told the women to invite the disciples and Peter to meet Jesus in Galilee. Since Peter was himself a disciple, it seems unusual that he would be singled out and receive a special invitation. Perhaps it was because the Lord knew that Peter would no longer feel himself worthy to be counted as a disciple after having denied Him, and therefore, Jesus gave him a special invitation to the meeting. What tenderness the Lord showed!

Jesus Commissions the Disciples

Read Mark 16:9-20.
The disciples had never expected to see Jesus again. They watched Him die and knew about His burial. They were very sad. Because of this, the news of the empty tomb and Jesus' appearances seemed too good to be true. They refused to get their hopes up. Later, when He did appear to them, He rebuked them for being so slow to believe. Then He gave orders for their future work, telling them to go everywhere and preach the gospel to all. He told them what to preach: The one who believes and is baptized will be saved. He gave them signs to confirm their message.

Note -- He that believes and is baptized shall be saved: Jesus set forth the conditions of salvation. He requires faith and baptism. Unfortunately men of our day have tried to eliminate one or the other of these two requirements. Some try to eliminate faith. They teach that infants, who are too young to believe, should be baptized. But Jesus' order was belief first, then baptism. Throughout Scripture only those who believed and repented were considered qualified for baptism (study Acts 2:38, 41; 18:8; John 6:44-45). Others teach salvation by faith only, without baptism. But Jesus clearly said that baptism was a requirement to receive salvation (see John 3:5). In accordance with this command of Jesus, the apostles insisted that water baptism was a prerequisite to receiving forgiveness of sins and the new life in Christ (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21).

The gospel of Mark closes with a note about the results of the great mission Jesus entrusted to the apostles. After He had ascended back to heaven, they went out and began to preach everywhere, just like Jesus told them. The Lord blessed their revelation of the gospel message with signs to confirm it, just as He said He would.