Victory Over Death - Mark Chapter 16

Day 19 – Mark Chapter 16

Promise: The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. –Isaiah 58:11

The Lord loves us and as part of that, promises our care. Categorize the care that God takes for us as described in this verse.

Read Chapter 16.

The closing verse of chapter 15 and the opening verses of chapter 16 mention the same women who had been following Jesus. What characteristics of a follower of Jesus do you see manifest in them through these acts?

What deterrents did the women not allow to hinder them in going to the tomb?

The angel at the tomb says, ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!’ Why use thus title which seems to contrast so starkly to the subsequent announcement?

The angel tells the women to look for themselves at the place where Jesus was laid. Why would he encourage this?

The angel also names Peter specifically in the admonishment to tell the disciples the word he has given them. Why would Peter be named specifically?

Verses 11 and 13 state that the disciples did not believe the eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. Review verses 8:31-32, 9:30-32, 10:33-34. The disciples then see Jesus and believe. Jesus rebukes them for ‘hard and dry hearts’, as the Greek says. Consider why the disciples may not have believed the others’ testimonies.

Jesus commissions the disciples in verses 15-18. What does the instruction involve?

Verse 19 says that Jesus was ‘taken up into heaven.’ How is it that the disciples seem to have believed this more readily than the initial accounts of the resurrection?

The closing verse of Mark indicates the success of the disciples in the commission. According to the verse, what might explain their great success?

Application: ‘He is risen! He is not here,’ the angel said. Jesus died, was buried, rose, and appeared to others. Do you believe in his resurrection and that it gives us victory over death? Do you believe that he has reconciled you to God the Father through his death as atonement for sins?

Some Bibles note that the earlier versions of the book of Mark do not include Mark Chapter 16:9-20. Given that the do not contradict the accounts in the other three Gospels and complete the account of Jesus’ physical life on earth, they are included here for questions.