Mark 16:4
But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large.
But when they looked up
This phrase marks a pivotal moment of realization and discovery. The Greek word for "looked up" is "anablepo," which implies not just a physical act of looking, but a lifting of the eyes with expectation or hope. In the context of the resurrection narrative, this signifies a transition from despair to the dawning of new understanding. The women who came to the tomb were initially burdened with grief, but their act of looking up symbolizes a shift from earthly sorrow to heavenly revelation.

they saw
The Greek word "theoreo" is used here, which means to behold or to perceive with understanding. This is more than a casual glance; it is an observation that leads to insight. In the context of the resurrection, this seeing is a moment of divine revelation. The women are witnesses to the miraculous, and their testimony becomes foundational to the Christian faith. This act of seeing is a call to all believers to open their eyes to the works of God in their lives.

that the stone had been rolled away
The stone, in Greek "lithos," was a significant barrier, both physically and symbolically. It represented the finality of death and the impossibility of human effort to overcome it. The fact that it "had been rolled away" (Greek "apokulio") indicates divine intervention. This action is a powerful testament to God's sovereignty and the fulfillment of Jesus' promise of resurrection. The removal of the stone signifies the removal of the barrier between humanity and God, made possible through Christ's victory over death.

even though it was extremely large
The description of the stone as "extremely large" emphasizes the miraculous nature of its removal. The Greek word "megas" is used, which denotes something great in size or importance. This detail underscores the power of God, who can overcome any obstacle, no matter how insurmountable it may seem. Historically, such stones were used to seal tombs securely, making the resurrection event even more extraordinary. This serves as a reminder to believers that no problem is too great for God to handle, and His power is made perfect in our weakness.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The Women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome)
These women were followers of Jesus who came to the tomb to anoint His body with spices after the Sabbath.

2. The Tomb
The burial place of Jesus, which was sealed with a large stone. It is the focal point of the resurrection account.

3. The Stone
A large stone that was rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb, symbolizing the finality of death and the barrier between life and death.

4. The Resurrection Morning
The event of Jesus rising from the dead, which is the cornerstone of Christian faith, signifying victory over sin and death.
Teaching Points
The Power of God
The removal of the stone demonstrates God's power over physical and spiritual barriers. Just as the stone was rolled away, God can remove obstacles in our lives.

Faith in the Unexpected
The women expected to find a sealed tomb, yet they found it open. This teaches us to trust God even when circumstances seem insurmountable.

The Reality of the Resurrection
The open tomb is a testament to the reality of Jesus' resurrection, which is the foundation of Christian hope and eternal life.

Witness to the Miraculous
The women were the first witnesses to the resurrection, highlighting the role of believers to testify to God's work in the world.

Overcoming Fear with Faith
The large stone could have been a source of fear or doubt, but its removal shows that faith can overcome fear and lead to witnessing God's miracles.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does the removal of the stone symbolize in your personal spiritual journey, and how can you apply this symbolism to overcome challenges in your life?

2. How does the consistency of the resurrection account across the Gospels strengthen your faith in the reliability of Scripture?

3. In what ways can you be a witness to the power of the resurrection in your community, similar to how the women were witnesses to the empty tomb?

4. Reflect on a time when God removed a significant barrier in your life. How did this experience impact your faith and trust in Him?

5. How can the resurrection of Jesus inspire you to live a life of hope and victory over sin and death, as described in 1 Corinthians 15:4?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 28:2-4
This passage describes the angel of the Lord rolling back the stone and the guards being terrified, providing additional context to the miraculous nature of the stone being moved.

John 20:1
This verse also recounts Mary Magdalene's discovery of the stone rolled away, emphasizing the consistency of the resurrection account across the Gospels.

1 Corinthians 15:4
Paul affirms that Christ was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, connecting the resurrection event to the fulfillment of prophecy.
Angels in GravesJames Vaughan, M. A.Mark 16:1-8
Hope in DeathA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
Jesus RisenG. M. Boynton.Mark 16:1-8
Love's TenacityA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
Love's TributeA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
Moral Strength in WomenJ. E. Johnson.Mark 16:1-8
Reunion After the ResurrectionA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
Songs in the NightA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
The Holy Sepulchre -- Authenticity of the SiteCanon Liddon.Mark 16:1-8
The Holy Sepulchre -- its Appearance NowCanon Liddon.Mark 16:1-8
The Holy Sepulchre -- its Interest to ChristiansCanon Liddon.Mark 16:1-8
The Import of DeathA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
The Joy of EasterJ. A. Seiss, D. D.Mark 16:1-8
The Mission of the Holy WomenCanon Liddon.Mark 16:1-8
The Sabbath Before the Resurrection of ChristDr. Deems.Mark 16:1-8
The SepulcherE. Johnson Mark 16:1-8
The Stone of Death Rolled AwayA. J. Parry.Mark 16:1-8
Resurrection ProofsA.F. Muir Mark 16:1-14
An Eventful DayJ.J. Given Mark 16:1-18
The ResurrectionR. Green Mark 16:1-18
Courage RewardedBishop Hacker.Mark 16:3-4
Difficulties are PhantomsDr. Talmage.Mark 16:3-4
Difficulties RemovedG. A. Calhoun.Mark 16:3-4
Empty SepulchresDr. Deems.Mark 16:3-4
Fear Exaggerating DangerMark 16:3-4
Help from AboveDean Boys.Mark 16:3-4
Hindrances RemovedJ. M. Blackie, LL. B.Mark 16:3-4
How to Deal with DifficultiesMark 16:3-4
Imaginary DifficultiesD. Rowlands, B. A.Mark 16:3-4
Love Takes Us to JesusDr. Deems.Mark 16:3-4
Love Works for FaithDr. Deems.Mark 16:3-4
Needless FearsGeorge Moore.Mark 16:3-4
Sunshine in a Shady PlaceGeorge T. Coster.Mark 16:3-4
Symbol of the ResurrectionBurritt.Mark 16:3-4
The Death unto SinR. W. Evans, M. A.Mark 16:3-4
The Opened SepulchreG. R. Leavitt.Mark 16:3-4
The Power of the ResurrectionBishop Thorold.Mark 16:3-4
The Question of the Bereaved Heart AnsweredBishop Stevens.Mark 16:3-4
The Rolled StoneM. Faber.Mark 16:3-4
The Stone Rolled AwayA. Rowland Mark 16:3, 4
The Stone was Rolled Away. -- the Door UnlockedAnon.Mark 16:3-4
Who Shall Roll Us Away the Stone?A.F. Muir Mark 16:3, 4
People
James, Jesus, Mary, Peter, Salome
Places
Galilee, Jerusalem, Nazareth
Topics
Already, Although, Big, Exceeding, Extremely, Immense, Large, Rolled, Size, Stone
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Mark 16:1-5

     4366   stones

Mark 16:1-6

     2012   Christ, authority

Mark 16:1-7

     7930   Lord's Day, the

Mark 16:1-8

     1436   reality
     2421   gospel, historical foundation

Mark 16:1-11

     5745   women

Mark 16:1-14

     2555   Christ, resurrection appearances

Mark 16:2-4

     4354   rock

Mark 16:2-6

     9311   resurrection, of Christ

Mark 16:4-6

     6704   peace, divine NT

Library
The World-Wide Commission
'Every creature.'--Mark xvi. 15. The missionary enterprise has been put on many bases. People do not like commandments, but yet it is a great relief and strength to come back to one, and answer all questions with 'He bids me!' Now, these words of our Lord open up the whole subject of the Universality of Christianity. I. The divine audacity of Christianity. Take the scene. A mere handful of men, whether 'the twelve' or 'the five hundred brethren' is immaterial. How they must have recoiled when they
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Enthroned Christ
'So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.'--Mark xvi. 19. How strangely calm and brief is this record of so stupendous an event! Do these sparing and reverent words sound to you like the product of devout imagination, embellishing with legend the facts of history? To me their very restrainedness, calmness, matter-of-factness, if I may so call it, are a strong guarantee that they are the utterance of an eyewitness, who verily saw
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Perpetual Youth
'And entering Into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment.'--Mark xvi. 5. Many great truths concerning Christ's death, and its worth to higher orders of being, are taught by the presence of that angel form, clad in the whiteness of his own God-given purity, sitting in restful contemplation in the dark house where the body of Jesus had lain. 'Which things the angels desire to look into.' Many precious lessons of consolation and hope, too, lie
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Love's Triumph Over Sin
'Tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before yon into Galilee.--Mark xvi, 7. This prevailing tradition of Christian antiquity ascribes this Gospel to John Mark, sister's son to Barnabas, and affirms that in composing it he was in some sense the 'interpreter' of the Apostle Peter. Some confirmation of this alleged connection between the Evangelist and the Apostle may be gathered from the fact that the former is mentioned by the latter as with him when he wrote his First Epistle. And, in the
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Incredulous Disciples
'And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. 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. 6. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Angel in the Tomb
'They saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were aifrighted. 6. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here; behold the place where they laid Him.'--Mark xvi. 5,6. Each of the four Evangelists tells the story of the Resurrection from his own special point of view. None of them has any record of the actual fact, because no eye saw it. Before the earthquake and the angelic descent,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christ Crowned, the Fact
"When God sought a King for His people of old, He went to the fields to find him; A shepherd was he, with his crook and his lute And a following flock behind him. "O love of the sheep, O joy of the lute, And the sling and the stone for battle; A shepherd was King, the giant was naught, And the enemy driven like cattle. "When God looked to tell of His good will to men, And the Shepherd-King's son whom He gave them; To shepherds, made meek a-caring for sheep, He told of a Christ sent to save them.
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

Baptismal Regeneration
Our Lord having thus given us an insight into the character of the persons whom he has chosen to proclaim his truth, then goes on to deliver to the chosen champions, their commission for the Holy War. I pray you mark the words with solemn care. He sums up in a few words the whole of their work, and at the same time foretells the result of it, telling them that some would doubtless believe and so be saved, and some on the other hand would not believe and would most certainly, therefore, be damned,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 10: 1864

Unbelievers Upbraided
On Thursday Evening, June 8th, 1876. "He . . . upbraided them with their unbelief."--Mark 16:14. I SHALL not dwell so much upon this particular instance of the disciples' unbelief as upon the fact that the Lord Jesus upbraided them because of it. This action of his shows us the way in which unbelief is to be treated by us. As our loving Saviour felt it to be right rather to upbraid than to console, he taught us that on some occasions, unbelief should be treated with severity rather than with condolence.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 50: 1904

Sermon for Ascension Day
This third sermon on the Ascension tells us how man ought continually to follow after Christ, as He has walked before us for three and thirty years, passing through manifold and great sufferings, before He returned unto His Father. Mark xvi. 19.--"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." AFTER the Son of God, Jesus Christ, had eaten with His disciples upon the Mount of Olives, and reproved them, that they had been so long time
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

The Necessity of Faith for Justification
1. THE LUTHERAN HERESY VS. THE TEACHING OF THE CHURCH.--The Protestant Reformers, notably Luther and Calvin, did not deny that justification is wrought by faith, but they defined justifying faith in a manner altogether foreign to the mind of the Church. a) They distinguished three kinds of faith: (1) belief in the existence of God and the historical fact that Christ has come on earth, suffered, and ascended (fides historica); (2) the sort of trust which is required for exercising the gift of miracles
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

Fifth Appearance of Jesus.
(Jerusalem. Sunday Evening) ^B Mark XVI. 14; ^C Luke XXIV. 36-43; ^D John XX. 19-25. ^b 14 And afterward ^c as they spake these things [while the two from Emmaus were telling their story] , ^b he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; ^d 19 When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus ^c himself ^d came and stood in the midst, ^c of them, and saith unto them, Peace
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Third and Fourth Appearances of Jesus.
(Sunday Afternoon.) ^B Mark XVI. 12, 13; ^C Luke XXIV. 13-35; ^E I. Cor. XV. 5. ^b 12 And after these things he was manifested in another form [i. e., another manner] unto two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country. ^c 13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus [Several sites have been suggested, but the village of Emmaus has not yet been identified beyond dispute. Its location is probably marked by the ruins called el Kubeibeh, which lies northwest
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Ascension.
(Olivet, Between Jerusalem and Bethany.) ^B Mark XVI. 19, 20; ^C Luke XXIV. 50-53; ^E Acts I. 9-12. ^b 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, ^e 9 And when he had said these things, ^c he led them out until they were over against Bethany: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them [it is significant that our Lord's gesture, when last seen of men, was one of blessing], and ^e as they were looking, he was taken
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Obedience to the Last Command
Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations.' --Matt. 28:19. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'--Mark 16:15. #8216;As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so send I them into the world' -- John 17:18; 20:21. Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be My witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth.'--Acts 1:8. All these words breathe nothing less than the spirit of world conquest. All the nations,' all the world,'
Andrew Murray—The School of Obedience

Baptism, a Divinely Appointed Means of Grace.
When we inquire into the benefits and blessings which the Word of God connects with baptism, we must be careful to obtain the true sense and necessary meaning of its declarations. It is not enough to pick out an isolated passage or two, give them a sense of our own, and forthwith build on them a theory or doctrine. In this way the Holy Scriptures have been made to teach and support the gravest errors and most dangerous heresies. In this way, many persons "wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction."
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

Of the Places of Burial.
There were more common and more noble sepulchres. The common were in public burying-places, as it is with us: but they were without the city. "And through that place was no current of waters to be made; through it was to be no public way; cattle were not to feed there, nor was wood to be gathered from thence." "Nor was it lawful to walk among the sepulchres with phylacteries fastened to their heads, nor with the book of the law hanging at their arm." Some sepulchres were extraordinary; that is, in
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Baptism.
Literature. The commentaries on Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 3:5; Acts 2:38; 8:13, 16, 18, 37; Rom. 6:4; Gal. 3:27; Tit. 3:5; 1 Pet 3:21. G. J. Vossius: De Baptismo Disputationes XX. Amsterdam, 1648. W. Wall (Episcopalian): The History of Infant Baptism (a very learned work), first published in London, 1705, 2 vols., best edition by H. Cotton, Oxford, 1836, 4 vols., and 1862, 2 vols., together with Gale's (Baptist)Reflections and Wall's Defense. A Latin translation by Schlosser appeared, vol. I.,
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I

Christ Risen
"And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. And very early on the first day of the week, they come to the tomb when the sun was risen. And they were saying among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the tomb? and looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back: for it was exceeding great. And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, arrayed in
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

The Ascension
"So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen." MARK 16:19-20 (R.V.) WE have reached the close of the great Gospel of the energies of Jesus, His toils, His manner, His searching gaze, His noble indignation, His love of children, the consuming zeal by virtue of which He was not more truly the
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

Of Baptism.
1. Baptism defined. Its primary object. This consists of three things. 1. To attest the forgiveness of sins. 2. Passages of Scripture proving the forgiveness of sins. 3. Forgiveness not only of past but also of future sins. This no encouragement to license in sin. 4 Refutation of those who share forgiveness between Baptism and Repentance. 5 Second thing in Baptism--viz. to teach that we are ingrafted into Christ for mortification and newness of life. 6. Third thing in Baptism--viz. to teach us that
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Dispute with Whitefield
1741. Sunday, February 1.--A private letter, written to me by Mr. Whitefield, was printed without either his leave or mine, and a great numbers of copies were given to our people, both at the door and in the Foundry itself. Having procured one of them, I related (after preaching) the naked fact to the congregation and told them, "I will do just what I believe Mr. Whitefield would, were he here himself." Upon which I tore it in pieces before them all. Everyone who had received it, did the same. So
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

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