The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1913-03-19
Sunday School Notes
Side Lights on Next Sundays Lesson
for Teachers and Pupils.
Edited by Charles K. Meyers

March 23-The Empty Tomb. Gas
ter Lesson) Mark 16, iii.
We have today the most gladstone
lesson of the whole bible, for it tells
us of the resurrection of Jesus from
the dead and gives us the absolute
assurance of our living after physical
DEATH
In the days of Jesus it was the Gus
tom to embalm the bodies of the dead
1t will be remembered that in the
years of the power of Egypt the way
was known by which the bodies of the
dead could be made to keep shape,
and some of them are found to this
day. While it was not the thought
of the friends of Jesus to preserve his
body from ever decaying, yet in their
love for Him they wished to do every
thing possible to render Him respect.
1t will be remembered that His death
took place not long before the Jewish
Sabbath, and that it required haste
to place His body in the tomb, in
the short hours prior to the begin
ming of the time when to touch body
was considered sinful according to
their customs.
1t was because of the placing of the
body away without the usual care, that
induced Mary Magdalene, Mary the
mother of James, Salone to haste so
early in the morning to the tomb with
their sweet spices that they might an
noint the body of their beloved one,
as beftted the affection they felt for
Him. On the way they bethought
themselves that a great stone had
been placed before the tomb and that
with their own strength they could
not move it away.
Great was their surprise and joy to
find this stone rolled away, and they
made haste to enter the tomb to reach
their beloved Jesus, or to find what
had happened to Him. Entering they
saw an angel in the form of man
who spoke to them saying, Fear not,
ye,. for know that We seek Jesus,
which was crucifed. He is not here;
the place where the Lord lay" The
angel further told them to make haste
to tell the disciples that Christ had
risen, and that He would meet them
in Galilee as He had also told them
while with them before His death.
Of the truth of the rising of Jesus
from the dead there can be no doubt.
His followers proclaimed it near and
far, Immediately. 1t was a fact of
such public notoriety that the fiercest
enemies of the new religion did not
pretend to deny it. He was seen Of
very many people, talked and ate with
His disciples, and in time they saw
Him ascend into heaven at which time
there was the positive assurance given
that He would at some future time
come back again. OF course, one can,
if they wish, say the entire bible is
untrue, but l do not believe that
thought comes to the mind of any
reader of this column.
The great apostle Paul came right
to the heart of the Importance of the
resurrection of Jesus to us when he
said that if Christ did not rise then
our hope of Immortality is gone. We
are simply animals, born to suffer
and die and with death passing etern-
ally out of consciousness. There is
no middle ground on which to stand,
Jesus said, Because l live, We shall
live Also" and also IF any man
liveth and believeth in me he shall
never die and l will raise him up at
the last day" Further he said, 81 am
the resurrection and the life" Until
He came and thus spoke, the entire
world had been in doubt as to there
being life after physical death. 1t
will be remembered that the leading
Jews were divided into two classes,
Pharisees and Sadducees, the former
believing in a future life and the lat
ter denying, and these men were in the
best position to be informed of any.
The great Apostle Paul sets out the
Importance of the resurrection of
Jesus clearly in the 18th chapter of