Class Lesson August 11, 2013

Hey Gang,


This Sunday we continue in our series on God's Story with Jesus is Crucified and Raised. Last week’s passages from Matthew and John showed God the Son coming to earth as the fulfillment of God’s perfect plan. Jesus came to show us love, to redeem us, and to show us how to live out our redemption and love. This week we skip approximately 33 years to reveal Jesus’ death and resurrection. In those 33 years, Jesus chose to fully obey God. He showed us how to love God with our lives. Jesus was fully human but is also God. He showed God’s power over the body when He healed the blind, the lame and the ill. He proved God’s supremacy over nature when He calmed seas and walked on water. Jesus demonstrated God’s omnipotence over death when He brought the dead back to life. Lazarus is one example. Jesus proved God’s compassion when He loved the lonely, touched the leper, wept with those in mourning. Jesus even demonstrated God’s authority over evil when He cast out demons and silenced them. 

The climax of the Story, Jesus’ death and resurrection, is the centerpiece that gives meaning to all the rest of the Story. 

Only God can rise from death never to die again. Jesus’ death and resurrection changed all of history and all of eternity. We can’t believe it without it changing us every day. Jesus was a good person, a great teacher, a miracle-worker, and most importantly, God the Savior. 





The lessons in this series are:

1. June 2 - God Begins the Story
2. June 9 - God Chooses a People
3. June 16 - God Delivers His People
4. June 23 - God Instructs His People
5. June 30 - God Dwells Among His People
6. July 7 - God Establishes a Kingdom for His People
7. July 14 - God Disciplines His People
8. July 21 - God Restores His People
9. July 28 - God Promises the Messiah
10. August 4 - God Sends His Son
11. August 11 - Jesus Is Crucified and Raised
12. August 18 - Jesus Commissions His Church
13. August 25 - God Completes the Story

“I’ll never be the same again.”

Hopefully you’ve had that thought before. Maybe when you first saw the Grand Canyon or when you held your new born child for the first time or maybe it was when you changed from the job you thought you’d have forever.

Sometimes we know life-altering times are coming; sometimes they sneak up on us. Whatever the moment was for you, it becomes a turning point for everything that’s regular to you in life. The old has gone and the new had come. The way things were will never be the same again. You see things from a different point of view, you have a new appreciation for life itself - you have changed.

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Your religion cannot save you. Your church will not save you. What you have become does not save you. What you do will not save you.

The Bible makes it very clear that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel apart from good works, keeping the law, religion, traditions, or rituals. Ephesians 2:8-10.

This is the most important part of God's entire Story! 

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

As Jesus hung on the cross, darkness came over the land at noon. At 3p.m., Jesus cried out to God and died. At His death the curtain in the temple split from top to bottom. All that the Roman centurion observed led him to confess that Jesus really was God’s Son. Subsequently, when women went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint His body, they found the stone had been rolled away from the tomb’s entrance. An angel sitting inside told them Jesus had been resurrected and instructed them to go and tell His disciples. Years later, Paul provided an explanation of the importance of the resurrection of Jesus. 

I. JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED – MARK 15:33-39

The Death of Jesus

33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 35 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Look, He’s calling for Elijah!” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a reed, offered Him a drink, and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take Him down!” 37 But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. 38 Then the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, “This man really was God’s Son!” 

Jesus had amassed quite a group of followers during His earthly ministry. Some had chosen to leave (John 6:66) but many stayed with Him (John 17:12). Though Jesus had encountered opposition from the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, they likely thought He was untouchable, for He had always managed to dodge their traps (John 8:6) or simply walk away from their grasp (Luke 4:29-30). But now He had been arrested, tried (illegally), and sentenced to death within a span of a few hours. Those who followed Him surely despaired watching Him dying on the cross.



Think about a time in your life when you thought all hope was gone. How did you respond?

• I firmly believe that in every situation, no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship, and strength and peace of mind that can lead us to a place higher than where we were before. -Andy Griffith

The entire land groaned at the death of God’s Son (see v. 33). Jesus was hung at around 9 a.m. (Mark 15:25), gasping for breath because of the crucifixion process. He was bleeding from the beatings as well as the spikes holding Him to the cross. At around noon, darkness fell on the earth, lasting for three hours.



What do you think raced through the minds of those near this scene when darkness fell? How might those who knew nothing of His death have explained it?



Jesus facing the separation from God to atone for sin, yet demonstrating faith in His Father by quoting from Psalm 22 – which you should stop and read right now – cried out to Him in Aramaic. Some nearby misinterpreted His prayer, thinking He was calling for Elijah. Looking for another miraculous appearance from the Prophet of Old (Mark 9:4), they gave Jesus a drink to prolong His life and watched for Elijah to appear.



Instead, the Son of God died on the cross. The thick sanctuary curtain was torn from top to bottom – indicating the tearing of garments by God Himself. Matthew tells us that the earth shook, the rocks split, and many holy people who had died were raised to life, appearing in Jerusalem (27:51-53). Just as Jesus had warned, the earth had cried out (Luke 19:40). A Roman commander standing nearby realized at that very moment that Jesus was exactly who He said He was.



The Roman Centurion obviously told someone – or everyone – nearby that he believed in Jesus as Savior, or Mark would not have recorded it. His life was changed by Jesus (It would never be the same). Though others would have thought him a fool, he told the truth. Christians today are called to tell others of Jesus through a life defined by God.


What caused darkness to fall for three hours in the middle of the day? Had God forsaken Jesus? How does the darkness prove He had not? What are some visible reminders of God’s power in our world today?

• Jesus’ suffering and impending death led God to cast darkness upon the entire earth. What do you think went through the minds of the men and women watching the crucifixion when darkness overcame them at noon? Some may have tried to explain it away with a scientific explanation, some may have considered it an odd weather phenomenon, and some may have wondered: What have we done to anger God?
• God did not forsake Jesus; that Jesus quoted from Psalm 22 proves He had confidence in God and depended on His promises. Jesus was referring to the passage as a whole, which expressed confidence that God would deliver His loved ones from trouble.
• The darkness proved that God was not indifferent to Jesus’ sufferings; He was causing even the sun to mourn for the loss of His Son.
• Jesus was nailed to the cross at nine in the morning (15:25). For three hours He writhed in agony as on-lookers yelled insults at Him and religious leaders mocked Him. Almost as if nature joined in the bleakness of those gruesome hours, darkness enveloped the whole land. Darkness often symbolized evil – had evil triumphed? To those present, the darkness would have been foreboding and ominous. In earlier parts of God’s Story, darkness portended divine judgment as the three days of darkness preceded the death of the Egyptian’s firstborn (Ex. 10:21-23) or Amos’ description of the Day of the Lord as a day of darkness and not light (Amos 5:18-20).

What did Jesus say and what did it mean? (Have someone read Psalm 22)

• Jesus quoted the opening words of Psalm 22:1. Jesus’ death was painfully physical and emotional. He continued with His painful sacrifice fueled by love for you and me.
• At three, Jesus quoted Scripture! The passage is Psalm 22:1. The crucial interpretive issue is why Jesus quoted this passage at this time. At face value, we might argue in His humanity, Jesus felt forsaken or abandoned by God. He had never sinned, yet He died between two criminals (Mark 15:27). Some have cited that God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil (Hab. 1:13) to contend God had forsaken Jesus because He had the world’s sins upon Him on the cross. Another view focuses on Psalm 22 in its entirety. The psalm begins with the words Jesus quoted on the cross. The psalm recounts the torments of an unnamed individual. In the midst of ghastly details, the individual maintains faith in the Lord. At one point in the midst of agony, the psalmist declared, “He did not hide His face from him but listened when he cried to Him for help” (Ps. 22:24b). Every Christian should read this psalm in its entirety. Believers will be astonished at how many parallels exist between Psalm 22 and Jesus’ death. Jesus was referring to the passage as a whole. Think of a time in your on life that you trusted God to see you through a difficult time but still struggled with the feeling that He was not present in your life.
• Psalm 22, a Psalm written by King David, is dramatic and unusual in a number of ways. To many it appears to describe the crucifixion of Yeshua (Jesus) in great detail, even speaking of the piercing of his hands and feet. Because crucifixion was not heard of when King David wrote this Psalm, and was not invented until centuries later, this makes the prophecy found in Psalm 22 particularly remarkable. Others, however, have claimed that this Psalm speaks of the sufferings of David when he was pursued by King Saul. Who then is right?

How did the curtain tear upon Jesus’ death?

• The tearing of the curtain from top to bottom reveals that God Himself tore it. This tearing symbolizes the end of the Old Testament system of sacrificing animals to cover sin. It also indicates salvation was available to any who would come to faith in Jesus.
• At three in the afternoon, even as the sour wine was offered to Jesus, He let out a loud cry and breathed His last. Three in the afternoon was an important time for Jews. In the temple, the evening sacrifices were being made. That Friday, something else happened: the curtain of the sanctuary was split. Jesus’ death coincided with the splitting curtain, symbolizing three things:

1. The way of access to God had been opened by Jesus’ death. Jesus, not the temple priesthood, would bring access to God’s throne (Heb. 4:14-16).
2. The temple-based sacrificial system expired (9:8-15).
3. The ruined curtain foreshadowed the destruction of the whole temple some 40 years later at the hands of the Romans.

How did the death of Jesus open the access to God and forgiveness of sins?

• With a certainty, Jesus, the Christ, died on the cross.
• Jesus’ death made it possible for every person to have unhindered access to God.
• The witness from the cross is that Jesus is the Son of God.
• How did Jesus’ last breath bring people to God? A Roman centurion standing near Jesus at His death believed that Jesus was God’s Son. Each time you look in a mirror today, ask, “What do I reveal to others about God by the way I do the easy and hard of life? How can I make that message more accurate?”
• How did the centurion realize Jesus was God’s Son in the way that He died?
• The Roman Centurion obviously told someone – or everyone, nearby that he believed in Jesus as Savior, or Mark wouldn’t have recorded it. His life was changed by Jesus.
• Jesus’ loud cry in verse 37 indicated that He didn’t die slowly of suffocation as most crucified do. Instead, He willingly gave up His life for His Father’s will.
• The centurion standing opposite of Jesus’ cross, proclaimed, “This man really was God’s Son.” The centurion led 100 soldiers. His job that Friday was to oversee the crucifixion of three prisoners. He was a Gentile. His confession foreshadowed many other Gentiles discovering Jesus.

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS: In Mark 8:34, Jesus said, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” In the crucifixion scene, we see what happened when a condemned man took up his cross: He lost His life.

Which of the following statements most closely identifies how you take up your cross?

• ‡ I choose God’s way over my own.
• ‡ I quiet down and wait to tell my story when someone needs to talk.
• ‡ I give up the right to win.
• ‡ I do the hard thing even if people jeer at me, or worse, don’t even notice.
• ‡ I stop bragging about being a Christian and start serving like Jesus does.
• ‡ I do the right thing, not the expedient thing.
• ‡ ________________________________________________________

How is God calling YOU to take up your cross and follow Him? 

II. JESUS WAS RESURRECTED – MARK 16:1-7
Resurrection Morning

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so they could go and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at sunrise. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?” 4 Looking up, they observed that the stone—which was very large—had been rolled away. 5 When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; they were amazed and alarmed. 6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been resurrected! He is not here! See the place where they put Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you.’”
Surely you’ve found yourself murmuring what the women may have been thinking as they approached the tomb on Resurrection Morning: “What are we doing here?” “We’re so unprepared!” But Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were devoted enough to their Lord that they were willing to look like fools or to find themselves arrested. They chose to respect properly the body of the Man who had changed their lives forever.



How does this action taken by the women demonstrate their love for Jesus? How do you pay respects to someone deceased whom you love?



The women may have expected any number of people when they got to the tomb: Joseph who owned the tomb, perhaps a guard or two, or maybe even the apostles. What they were not expecting was an open tomb with an angel sitting near it. According to their reaction (“they were amazed and alarmed”), they responded just as we would have.



When was the last time you were amazed and alarmed at the power of God? How did you respond to it?



Their question of who would roll away the stone had been answered by God Himself. Matthew’s Gospel explains that as the angel came down and rolled away the stone, a violent earthquake shook the ground nearby (Matt. 28:2). The terror-inducing sight undoubtedly caused the women to fear, but God comforted them with the words of the very angel that had made them panic.



Describe a time God’s presence in your life made you both petrified and comforted.



The angel’s good news likely made their hearts race even more than the shock when they first arrived. The angel instructed them to witness the empty tomb for themselves and then go tell about it. Not only was Jesus alive, but they would see Him! Imagine how the murmuring, worry, and concern of the women gave way to delight, laughter, and thrill as they raced back to the disciples.



The women who came to the tomb worked together. Like them, you need other believers around you to strengthen you when you feel weak, to encourage you when you’re down, and to accompany you as you obey God. In what areas are you connected to your local body? How can you cultivate inter-generational friendships?


What do we learn about the three women in verses 16:1-3?

• The women were devoted to Jesus, willing to take risks to honor the body of Jesus.
• Jesus died, but His death was not the end of God’s Story. Mark related what happened that weekend. When the Sabbath was over, sundown on Saturday, three of Jesus’ followers, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, so they could … anoint Him. The aromatic spices were used to offset the stench of decaying bodies. To anoint the body with spices was an act of devotion.
• On their way, the women engaged in an understandable conversation. They had seen Jesus placed in the tomb and the massive stone rolled in place to seal the tomb. To protect the corpse from tomb raiders, it was sealed with a round stone rolled in a trench to block the entrance to the tomb. Many examples of such tombs exist in Israel today. Thus the women questioned one another, “Who will roll away the stone?”

I CAN ONLY IMAGINE: Different Gospel writers highlight different details of how the women responded to Jesus’ resurrection: They fell at His feet and worshiped Him in Matthew 28:10; they trembled and were bewildered in Mark 16:8, and they remembered His words in Luke 24:7-8. Just as we go through a wide range of responses at any traumatic experience, we should find ourselves responding to the truth of Jesus in a variety of ways.


How did you first respond to Jesus? How has your response changed over the years?


How does your current way of living show your response to Jesus?

• Realize this passage is the focal point of the entire Bible; it’s the ultimate good news.
• Accept that there’s no way we can know and believe Jesus rose from the dead and not let it change us and how we live.

Did the women expect to find Jesus’ body when they arrived at the tomb?

• God knew the concern of the women of how to roll away the stone; He had already taken care to roll it away by sending the angel. God demonstrated His ability to know the women’s concerns, His power to move any obstacle, and His desire to prove to them that Jesus was alive.
• When they arrived at the tomb, they discovered the stone had been rolled away. When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a long white robe. He was an angelic messenger, present to convey divine truth (Matt. 28:5). The women were amazed and alarmed. The divine message consisted of four parts:

1. He acknowledged the women’s mission – You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene.”
2. He identified Jesus as the One “who was crucified.”
3. He announced, “He has been resurrected! He is not here!
4. The final part of the message was a directive. They were to go and tell His disciples.

Why was Peter mentioned specifically?

• Peter, who had betrayed Jesus, was likely dealing with intense guilt and regret. Peter had emerged as the lead disciple in various episodes throughout Mark’s gospel. Understandably, Jesus would want Peter to come for reconciliation and to lead in the mission to the world.
• According to early tradition, John Mark was with Peter in Rome when the great apostle was about to face his own crucifixion. In those final days, Peter shared his memoirs of Jesus. As Peter talked, Mark wrote. The result was the Gospel of Mark, perhaps the earliest of the four Gospel accounts.

What does the resurrection of Jesus reveal?

• Jesus lives!
• That Jesus died and rose again is evidence that He is the Son of God, not a mere man.
• The living Jesus makes Himself known to those who follow Him and obey His instructions.
• All who follow Jesus, the Christ, are to go and tell others the good news of the gospel.
• Only God can raise someone from death so that person never dies again; so Jesus is fully God in that He raised Himself.

How did you first respond to Jesus? How has your response changed over the years?


How does your current way of living show your response to Jesus?


What does the resurrection of Jesus reveal? 

III. JESUS IS THE REASON FOR FAITH – 1CORINTHIANS 15:17-19

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Therefore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.


Sadly, most of us have possessed something that once held great value but now can’t be used. Maybe it was your grandmother’s gravy bowl that cracked or a cherished musical instrument left out of the case that broke. Whatever happened, you resolved to take better care of the things that matter. You wrap your heirlooms in soft cloth; you put your keepsakes in a safe deposit box at the bank, and you store fragile photos in albums. The same reasoning prods us to keep up with repairs on our houses and perform regular maintenance on our vehicles: they’re worthy of preservation.


There’s a difference between preserving something and putting it on a shelf never to be used. Explain.


How valuable is your faith? In what ways are you preserving it without mothballing it? Paul’s statement to the Corinthians is straightforward: our faith is worthless unless Jesus was raised from the dead. It seems harsh, and some would disagree. They might say, “No! Even if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, He was still a good teacher who demonstrated the honest way to live.” But that’s like someone saying of your grandmother’s cracked bowl, “It’s no big deal! You can still set it out as a centerpiece!” but you want to serve gravy in it like she did. You want it to fulfill its purpose.


Only God can conquer death. Why does that matter? How can you cherish that and live in light of it?


The resurrection is a central evidence that God exists. Jesus rose from death never to die again. Over 500 witnesses verified it (15:6).


Paul said that not only is our faith worthless, but so is the faith of every believer before us who died believing he or she was saved through faith in Jesus. Paul concludes the thought with the statement that we are worthy of pity if Jesus isn’t really risen. This verse would argue that we are deceived and deluded, worthy of pity, if Christ’s resurrection didn’t really happen.


Is the resurrection of Christ as important to you as it was to Paul? If not, how should your behavior change in accordance with the implications of Christ’s resurrection? Why does it matter that God can conquer death?


At the top of each page of your prayer journal this week, write the words, “Jesus died and rose again. Because of that …” As you spend time in prayer and Bible Study this week, consider, “How did I live today based on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection? How did others see the truth of Christ’s saving love in my life?”


Paul wrote 1 Corinthians between A.D. 54-56 from Ephesus during his third missionary journey. He addressed a variety of problems and issues Corinthian believers faced. In chapter 15, Paul wanted to clarify for them the gospel (15:1);

1. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (v. 3)

2. He was buried (v. 4)

3. He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (v. 4b)



Why is our faith worthless if Jesus has not been raised?

• The validity of Christian faith stands on the historicity of Jesus’ substitutionary death and resurrection. The resurrection gives meaning to who Jesus is and the significance of the crucifixion. The resurrection of Jesus is essential to the forgiveness of sins. The resurrection of Jesus is the assurance of a meaningful future life in eternity.
• Our faith is worthless without Jesus’ resurrection because Jesus had promised that He would rise again (Mark 10:33-34). Therefore, for Him to be the all-knowing, sin-free Son of God, it had to happen. Also, unless Jesus has power over death, we have no hope of eternity with Him.

In spite of Paul’s earlier teaching, some Corinthians were saying, “There is no resurrection of the dead” (v.12), a denial of a general resurrection. But Paul proclaimed that Jesus was “the firstborn from the dead” (Col.1:18). If resurrection were not a reality, neither could Jesus have been raised from the dead. If Christ has not been raised (1 Cor. 15:13-19):

1. Christian proclamation is without foundation v. 14a
2. The Corinthians’ faith is without foundation v. 14b
3. The apostles would be “false witnesses about God” since they testified God had raised up Jesus v. 15
4. Believers’ faith would be “worthless” v.17a
5. Believers’ would still be in their sins v. 17b
6. The dead in Christ “perished” permanently v. 18
7. Christians would be the most pitiable people on earth if their hope is limited to this life alone v. 19

How can we know if we truly believe Jesus was crucified and raised?

• Our lives will be radically changed. We will choose Jesus over every other teaching or idea. We will take risks in order to obey. We will listen to His voice even if it seems crazy. And we will pour our time and energy into His kingdom.

The resurrection is central evidence that God exists. Jesus rose from death never to die again. Over 500 witnesses verified it (15:6). Paul said that not only is our faith worthless, but so is the faith of every believer before us who died believing he or she was saved through faith in Jesus. Is the resurrection of Christ as important to you as it was to Paul?


Ask yourself this question, do I live each day based on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection? Do people see the truth of Christ’s saving love in my life?

• Believing the resurrection of Jesus gives us all we need to live for Him.
• We live and speak the truth of His life every day.
• We should live out each day to affirm Christ’s resurrection.
• Follow Jesus as guide for every aspect of life.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ have been described as the centerpiece of God’s Story. From the beginning, God was moving toward this point to create a people who would bring glory to His name and through whom He would fulfill His purpose. The reality of the future rests in the forgiveness of sin made possible by the atoning death of Jesus and the promise of hope that comes from the reality of His resurrection.

Prayer of Commitment

I praise You, the One who died that we might die to sin and who lives that we might live eternally. Amen.

Hope to see you on Sunday!

In His Love,

David & Susan