Mark 16 - Doubt ends as faith triumphs

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In the end we serve God better if we are less important

MARK 16:1   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.

The Saturday sabbath was over and three women came to anoint the dead body of Jesus.

The seven church ages are represented by the seven-branched candlestick.

The first church age had the apostolic truth.

Jesus, as the Word of God, stands in the middle of the seven church ages. This is represented by the flame of the central candle stick.

Then the truth was lost over the next three church ages until it died in the awful Dark Ages.

EVIL means moving away from belief in the New Testament.

EVIL has to be turned around to form LIVE.

So LIVE means moving back to the beliefs of the first church.

God's great difficulty was to resurrect the truth because once humans have believed in error for a long time, they really struggle to change their thinking.

Then came the next three church ages, numbers 5, 6, and 7, which are most important as that is when the truth was to be restored back to the beliefs of the first church age.

These three church ages represent the resurrection of the Truth out of the dirt and the death of the Dark Ages. This was going to be a very difficult process as church traditions had thoroughly brainwashed the church-goers. People depend on their churches for safety and refuse to believe that there are any faults in their church. They cannot accept that their church leader could be wrong.

The complacent churches feel that they have need of nothing and completely reject the idea that they need Scriptural correction. Restoring the church to the apostolic truth of the first church age is thus very contrary to our natural human opinions. God alone can grant us grace to see the truth provided we have a deep-seated love for Scripture.

The three women that Mark mentions represent the church during these last three church ages of restoration.

What is interesting is the third woman called Salome. Only Mark mentions her.

Thus, she is a very unimportant person that Mark chooses to represent the third age of restoration of the truth. Mark is thus telling us that in the end, the truth will be found by unimportant people.

The apostle John was caught up to Heaven and saw Jesus on the throne, surrounded by four beasts which are the four manifestations of the Holy Spirit that protected the church during the seven church ages.

REVELATION 4:2   And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

REVELATION 4:6   And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

:7   And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

The second Gospel is the Gospel of Mark, and he puts an emphasis on the second beast, the Calf that grows into a strong Ox or Servant in order to learn how to serve God.

Basically, Mark is emphasizing what we need to learn in order to serve God.

Thus, the seventh church age is very ironic at the end, at the time of the New Testament resurrection.

Those who serve God best are the unknown individuals.

MARK 16:2   And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

As the sun rose, they were ready to perform their duty to anoint a dead body.

But the rising of the sun actually represents the resurrection of the Lord.

MARK 16:3   And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

The problem with serving God is that the difficulties are bigger than what we can overcome in our own strength.

As a result, we cannot rely on our own strength. We need help.

MARK 16:4   And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

To their surprise, the stone was already rolled away.

They had come early to serve God. But they discovered to their shock that God was earlier than them and He had solved what to them was a very great problem.

That is why important people are not important. God solves the problems for the unimportant people who serve Him.

One angel represents the end time Gentile prophet

At the time of the resurrection, there was another shock for them. There was no corpse, just an empty tomb. Their whole world turned upside down. Nothing was like they thought it would be.

We do not serve God by continuing with our church traditions.

We have to adapt to changing circumstances. God is changing what He wants us to do in service to Him.

We must search the Scriptures for clues.

ISAIAH 55:8    For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

We must learn to expect the unexpected. God's ways are not our ways.

MARK 16:5   And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

The tomb had a right and a left side.

The one young man, representing brother Branham, had the right or correct understanding of the mysteries of the Word of God for the last church age.

Mark deals mainly with the Gentile church and leaves out details that pertain to the 144000 Jews in great Tribulation. That is why Mark does not mention the second angel.

Two angels will come to the Jews in the end, but there will only be one end-time angel or prophet-messenger to the Gentiles.

The other side was left for another messenger to the Jews who had left the Gospel 2000 years ago.

Matthew and Mark see one angel at the tomb, which symbolizes the Gentile church that has one messenger-prophet William Branham to reveal the mysteries of the Word of God.

(Luke and John put more emphasis on the Jews, and that is why they speak of two angels).

“A young man.” The spiritual "children" near the end-time have to be turned to the apostolic fathers of the first church age by this Gentile prophet, William Branham.

(Luke and John see two angels, which symbolize the two prophets, Moses and Elijah, who guide the Jews back to Messiah in great Tribulation.)

MALACHI 4:5   Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

The day of the Lord is the terrible 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

MALACHI 4:6   And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The curse is something that lingers, the deadly radioactivity of the atomic and nuclear missiles in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

Elijah has to do two things.

The Jewish man coming in the spirit of Elijah was John the Baptist. He had to turn the unbelieving Jewish fathers to the faith of their children, Jesus, and the apostles. They established the foundation for the Gentile church in the first church age.

Then the apostles, who were initially the children, grew up to become the fathers of the early church, which became a mainly Gentile church. Their apostolic truth was lost in the Dark Ages.

Near the end, just before the 3.5 years of great Tribulation, a Gentile prophet in the spirit of Elijah will have to restore the spiritual Gentile children back to the beliefs of their apostolic fathers.

John the Baptist could not do both tasks.

John could only perform the first half of Malachi 4:6. Turning the disobedient Jewish fathers to their obedient children.
LUKE 1:17   And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias,

to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,

and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

MATTHEW 17:11   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

John did not restore. He brought a new water baptism that was unknown in the Old Testament. He introduced Messiah. That was a brand new experience for the Jews. John also stayed away from the Temple, which was the centre of Jewish worship.

John denied being Elijah because he knew the prophecy of Malachi involved two men, not just himself.

JOHN 1:21   And they asked him, What then?

Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not.

Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

John was 2000 years away from the nuclear curse of radioactivity.

That also means that there must be another Elijah-prophet to the Gentiles just before great Tribulation starts.

“Affrighted.” Fearful of the price that has to be paid for daring to disbelieve the churches and recognize the faults of the churches.

MARK 16:6   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.

Rejection and condemnation are the main weapons whereby the Devil attacks the true believers. But there is no need to fear as the stimulation of revelation excites our hearts. We have the privilege of understanding God’s deep truths that have been hidden for centuries.

Nazareth is a Greek translation of two Hebrew words.

“Nazara” means Truth.

“Netzeret” means the Place of the Branching Forth.

Combined, these two Hebrew words mean “the Place of the Branching Forth of the Truth.”

This is translated into the Greek word “Nazareth”.

REVELATION 1:13   And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man,

The central candlestick represented the first church age that had the apostolic truth.

The Gospel branched out from here to first get lost and then to be restored during seven church ages.

If we are to serve God properly, then the last or seventh church age must be restored back to the first church age. If we do anything differently from what is written in the New Testament, then we are not on the right track.

Jesus as the Word of God must always be first

Peter failed miserably when he denied Jesus three times.

But the angel mentions Peter's name to show that he has been forgiven.

That is the lesson of service. Success is built on failure to remind us humans that we are always dependent on Jesus. Left to ourselves, we will get it wrong.

MARK 16:7   But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

The angel told them to follow Jesus as He goes ahead.

In other words, everything that we believe must be followed through the Word of God.

We must follow brother Branham's quotes through the Scripture and thus prove what he was saying from Scripture.

MARK 16:8   And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

There was great fear at the time of the resurrection of Jesus.

This is a warning to us that the New Testament saints will also resurrect during a turbulent time when people will be scared to talk about the Bible truth.

AMOS 6:10   Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

Trinity has so taken over the church that people are scared to think of Jesus being Almighty God. Thus they believe in three People being one God. That ends with God having no name because you cannot find one name for three People.

Less important people first learned of the resurrection

MARK 16:9   Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

Mary Magdalene as a woman represented the church over a time period of 2000 years. The church will go through the stages of seven church ages. In each age there will be different challenges from the demonic powers who rule the world and seek to undermine and infiltrate the church. In each age, God will have to cast these evil spirits out of the church. Our main enemy at the last church age is the spirit of deception and all its numerous alternative truths that are unscriptural.

MARK 16:10   And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

This is interesting. An individual saw the resurrected Christ but the disciples refused to believe her. They preferred to indulge in a great show of emotional grief. This was impressive to see but it was a complete waste of time.

MARK 16:11   And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

To make matters worse, they were so wrapped up in their unnecessary grief that it actually stopped them from believing the truth.

This is a warning to us. When the resurrection of the New Testament saints occurs, most people will not believe that it has happened.

The group of disciples would only believe if Jesus Himself spoke to them. They did not believe that Jesus would ignore them, the important disciples, and show Himself to a woman.

We are warned that when the resurrection of the New Testament saints occurs, it will be witnessed by individuals, not churches.

In the end, the focus is on individuals and not church groups.

MARK 16:12   After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

The emphasis had been on the city of Jerusalem. When Simon of Cyrene came out of the country into the city, then he had to help Jesus when Jesus was being killed.

Now two men, who Mark does not name in order to show how unimportant we humans are in the service of God, left the important city and went into the less important country. Then the resurrected Jesus joined them for a long talk as He explained His ministry from the lives of the Old Testament prophets. It was important that these two men understood the hidden mysteries of the Old Testament.

This means that at the time of the resurrection of the New Testament saints, unimportant individuals will understand the revealed mysteries of the Word.

Jesus, at the time of the resurrection, spoke to unnamed men who were in the country. That does not make those men sound important at all.

Jesus appeared to them in the form of a stranger that they did not recognize.

At the resurrection of the New Testament saints, they will appear as strangers to those individuals who are not regarded as being important. They will only be recognized if we are sufficiently restored to the New Testament faith of the apostles in order to understand what they are talking about.

MARK 16:13   And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

The unimportant individuals told the group of disciples (representing a church) and the disciples in the group could not believe that Jesus had not come to them first. So their group-importance made them unable to recognize the truth that had been given to these two individuals.

Jesus comes to the disciples and rebukes them

MARK 16:14   Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

The disciples had not believed the individuals who had seen the resurrected Christ at His First Coming.

This indicates that the same thing will happen as His Second Coming approaches.

Jesus rebukes them for their hardness of heart caused by self-importance. They really thought that Jesus would come to their group first. And when Jesus dealt first with individuals, the group-dominated disciples refused to believe these individuals.

At the time of the resurrection, individuals will see the truth before the groups (churches) can recognize the truth because Jesus stands outside the churches at the end.

The Gospel is now for everyone and every nation

MARK 16:15   And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

“Every creature”. There is no nationalism nor tribalism in the Gospel.

There are no racial barriers. Everyone has an equal right to hear the truth.

The truth has to go out to the ends of the earth. Today, that is achieved by the internet. The truth on a website can be picked up as data everywhere.

The internet is the most effective way of spreading the truth.

The Russian-Ukraine war encouraged Elon Musk to develop satellite links to more remote areas. Thus, believers in more remote areas can now find internet sites that explain the revealed Bible truths.

Our aim should now be to get the revealed mysteries onto the internet so that anyone, anywhere, can learn the truth.

Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

In order to get back to the beliefs of the apostles of the first church age, we must baptize like they did.

MARK 16:16   He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The first step was repentance which saved a person from hell.

We must baptize the way the apostles did in the New Testament.

The second step was baptism which always happened in the name of Jesus. This revealed the mystery that Jesus was Father above the Jews, Son with the Jews as Emmanuel (God with us), and Holy Ghost in His church.

Peter was the great fisherman. On the Day of Pentecost he pulled in the Jews with the Holy Ghost baptism. Water baptism in the name of Jesus meant that their views on the Godhead were correct. They knew the name of Almighty God.

(Lord and Christ are unique titles. Jesus is the name. But we need at least one of the titles to show which Jesus we are talking about. Other men could also have the name of Jesus)

ACTS 2:38    Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Philip went to Samaria.
ACTS 8:12   But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

No mention of in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
ACTS 8:14   Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

ACTS 8:15    Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

:16   (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

Peter then pulled in the Samaritans because they already had the right water baptism.

Paul introduced the same water baptism to the Gentiles of Ephesus.

ACTS 19:1   And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

ACTS 19:5   When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

This knowledge of the Godhead, that Jesus is Almighty God, would save the church from the deception of Trinity that was going to lead millions astray, starting with the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. Knowledge of the Godhead would start to separate the Bride or wise virgins from the foolish church virgins. In the end, this would help the Bride to be saved from great Tribulation which follows the seventh church age. The foolish virgins would baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost as they have been fooled into believing that three titles are a name.

But look what Jesus said about water baptism.
MATTHEW 28:19   Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

:20   Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Twice Jesus speaks of teaching. Why this repetition? Jesus is emphasizing an important point.

We need to know the one name of the God Who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

In those days of the Old Testament, the Father was called Jehovah or the unpronounceable JHVH or YHWH. But God was never called God the Father in the Old Testament.

These names are never repeated in the New Testament.

I TIMOTHY 3:16   And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh,

COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

MATTHEW 1:23   Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,

God with us.

In the Old Testament, God was manifest above the Jews as a Pillar of Fire or Cloud.

In the Gospels, God was manifest with the Jews as the Man Jesus.

The Bible never says "God the Son."

The supernatural Spirit indwelled the Man Jesus and God took on the human name Jesus.

God only became "God the Father" when He was able to indwell the human "Son of God."

JOHN 14:16   And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

:17   Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

:18   I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

So Jesus is the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth.

In the rest of the New Testament, God was manifest in His church.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost means God manifest above the Jews, with the Jews, and in the church.

Jesus is manifest in the hearts of His believers.

But if we do not believe that Jesus is our personal Saviour then we are doomed. Not believing that the King James Bible is infallible as the Absolute Truth also dooms the people to being thrown into great Tribulation.

MARK 16:17   And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

Believers would always have access to the power of God.

Pentecostal power was established by speaking with tongues and casting out demons.

MARK 16:18   They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

God unleashed great power on the early church. If they were poisoned, the poison would have no effect on them. All manner of sickness would be cured through prayer. Incredible testimonies accompanied the first church age of the apostles.

This supernatural Pentecostal power is still available today for those who believe.

MARK 16:19   So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

Jesus gave the apostles their final instructions, and then He ascended up to heaven.

The right hand of God symbolizes the power of God.

MATTHEW 26:64   Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

EXODUS 15:6   Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

The spreading of the Gospel would be caused by the power of God as He backed up the efforts of the apostles.

MARK 16:20   And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

The apostles recognized no man-made limits. They preached everywhere.

The preaching of the Bible was backed up by the supernatural power of God.

The two essential features of the Gospel were the Truth of Scripture and the amazing power of God.

That way, the focus was on Jesus as the Word of God, not on some man. The great men pointed the people to the power of Christ and the authority of the Scriptures, not to themselves.

The weakness of the church would be when people wanted to draw attention to themselves.