Seeking The Living Among the Dead

1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8 And they remembered his words, 9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.

Background

The Bible is an Eastern book, not a Western book.

If we’re going to understand it, we must understand it in the context of the geography of Israel, the Jewish religion, and Hebrew culture.

The women in this story were not acting abnormally in coming back to the tomb.

They were not so unusually overcome with grief that they could not stay away from the Lord’s place of burial.

They were behaving as the family of the someone who had just died normally would have in Hebrew culture.

For 7 days after a person died, the family would come anoint the body afresh, and say prayers on behalf of the deceased.

They would enter the tomb, refresh the perfumes and spices, pray.

The Structure of the Tomb

Infographic of the Akeldama Tomb Here

Describe the chambers.

Only about 10 -15% of tombs had rounded stones to seal the door.

Bodies were laid in the upper chamber for 1 year.

Since the tombs were carved into limestone, the bodies only needed a year to decompose completely, so that only the bones remained.

Picture of an Ossuary

1 year after the body was laid in the upper chamber of the tomb, the family would return, place the bones into an ossuary, and place the ossuary in the lower chamber in an alcove designed to hold them.

The Stone Rolled Away

Mark 16:3

Mark 16:3–4 KJV 1900

3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

The women were coming to perform the family duties for the crucified Christ.

On their way to the tomb, they wonder about very practical, very ordinary things.

The stone is large, who will move it for us?

Picture of the round stone.

This is believed to be the stone that was placed in front of Jesus’ tomb to seal it.

It’s very difficult to determine how large the stone is from this picture.

Picture of the women coming out of the tomb.

From this picture you can see several women coming out of the tomb that Christ was believed to have been laid in.

Notice that they can easily walk in and out of the tomb while standing fully.

The stone in the previous picture needed to be large enough to cover and seal this door, which seems to be at least 5 feet tall.

Seeking the Living

Your Past is Dead

There are some things in our past that you can’t change.

You can’t rewrite history or undo the things that you’ve done.

It’s time to move on from those things.

If you are in Christ those old mistakes and the old life style is dead and gone.

You need to leave it that way.

You need to come out of the tomb, and leave those things there.

If you are alive in Christ, He has purchased the atonement for those things.

They are under the blood, and you are alive.

Stop revisiting the regrets that you’ve been carrying around with you.

You need to stop seeking the you that is alive unto Christ among the bones of your past.

Come Out From Among Them

Some of you have been seeking peace and you can’t seem to find it.

You’ve tried everything the experts say is supposed to help you relax and be at peace.

You may have tried religion.

You may have tried Yoga or some of meditation.

Maybe you’ve even tried to just make up your mind to be a better person.

Nothing seems to work.

Can I tell you dear friend that nothing is going to work.

Your conscience is going to continue to eat at you until you find peace with God.

The problem that you’re having is that you’re looking for the keys of life among the dead answers of the world’s system.

You can’t have inner peace until you have peace with God.

You’re not alone in this.

There are millions of people all across the world that are looking for fulfillment and peace.

The trouble that you’re having is that peace comes through being caught up in a cause that’s greater than ‘self’.

The only way to have peace with God is through the the person of Jesus Christ.

He must raise you to a newness of life or there isn’t any life in you.

If you would find Christ, you will find Him here, in the church, and in the pages of Scripture.

In order to find peace you must stop seeking the living among the dead.

Closing

Whether you’re carrying around the bones of past regret or you’re unsaved and have been looking for peace where there is none to be found, the good news is that you can remedy those things this morning.

You don’t have to live under the shadow of doubt, depression, or regret anymore.

Turn to Christ.

Remember that He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

Won’t you let Him make you whole this morning?

If you don’t know Him as savior or you’re not sure if you do, won’t you run to Him this morning.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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