Evening star., 1928-04-07

Marks record of the fact of the res
direction omits many details that have
been reported by the other evangelists
In their gospels. His omission Of details
impresses the reader with the genuine
ness of the narrative and the reality of
the facts related When Jesus suffered
In accordance with His prediction, that
was considered in last weeks lesson, and
in ftilfillment of prophecy, the hopes of
His disciples were buried with Him in
His tomb. The women. whose love for
the Master prompted them to follow Jo-
seph of Arimathaea when he took the
Lords body from the cross. wound
Him In the linen cloth and laid Him
in the tomb" so that they knew the
location of the burial place of Jesus,
There could be no question concerning
Christ's death upon the cross and His
burial before the Jewish Sabbath began.
In the five different narratives of the
resurrection we cannot find any record
of the disciples restlesSness and hope
less despair, because Jesus had died and
been buried, that they had experienced
during that Sabbath, when all their an
ticipations, hopes and ambitions had
been crushed and destroyed by the cru
cifixion of their beloved Master. They
did not know that His enemies, recall
ing Christ's prediction OF His resur-
rection, had placed a guard at the
Lords tomb and had sealed the stone
rolled TO close His burial place. If they
had remembered the prophecies of Je-
sus, who had staked His mission upon
His resurrection, they would not have
remained respondent, disheartened and
discouraged In their gloom and dense
darkness. Inspired by their intense
love. the women, moved by resistless
impulse. carrying spices that they might
anoint the Masters body, had started
for the, tomb without considering how
they could secure an entrance into the
tomb. They were considering who
would roll away for them the stone.
which by its huge size served both as
a door and lock. when, looking up, they
discovered that 1t had been rolled away.
Investigating the Empty Tomb.
The women. who had demonstrated
their loyalty by standing by the cross
until they had witnessed the removal Of
the Lords body and His burial. did not
understand how their difficulty was
solved, although Matthew tells us. They
did not hesitate to enter the tomb,
where they had seen them carry the
body of Jesus. The sun had risen, so
that through the opening OF the tomb
its rays illuminated the place where
they had seen them place the body Of
the Master. It Is evident that they
were surprised by not seeing the Lords
body wrapped In a cloth and seeing
the young man, sitting upon the right
side. arrayed In white robe" They
were amazed TO find that the sepulcher
was emptied of its dead. They were
frightened at the vision they saw OF the
angel, who appeared to be young man.
They had no idea what had occurred
and were surprised by the divine an
noancement Of ChriSt's triumph over
death.
In all of our trials, troubles and trlb-
ulation We may be sure that our HeaF-
enly Father has some of His messengers
watching over US. They long to I'LL US
with faith and hope, just as one Of
them did the women whose love for
Christ brought them the first Easter
morning to the empty tomb, with the
message that He had risen. They re-
called to the trembling women the Mas
ter's prophecies of His resurrection and
committed unto them the duty of in-
forming the disciples and Peter, who
had not recovered from the grief and
sorrow experienced because he had de-
MED the Lord three times. More than
any of the rest, Peter needed that mes
sage Of the Masters victory over death
The empty tomb testified to His resur-
rection. proving beyond question that
death had been defeated and that Jesus
was the Lord of life. It encouraged
them TO look forward to meeting Him in
Galilee, where they were assured that
they would see Him as He had prom
ised. MARK. xiv.28)
Almost overwhelmed by their expert