Mark 16

 After the Sabbath, early the next morning of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and other women, went to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body with oils, and they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. Inside the tomb, they were "alarmed" when they saw a man in a white robe who told them not to be alarmed. "You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go tell His disciples...that He is going before you into Galilee: there you will see Him, as He said to you."

And they left there trembling and amazed.

Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first. She had gone to tell the disciples, but they did not believe. Jesus also appeared to two men on the road, and they also told the others, but they did not believe them either. Then He appeared to the eleven and rebuked them for their hardened hearts when they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 

He told them to "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but He who does not believe will be condemned." Then Jesus gave power to those of the apostles.

Finally, after speaking to His disciples, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father. And the disciples went out and preached the Word, and the Lord worked with them, "confirming the Word through accompanying signs."

COMMENTARY

I did not know this until now, that verses 9-20 of chapter 16, may have been written and added later. In many cases, those verses are omitted in some texts, but in my John MacArthur Study Bible and in McGee's commentary, they are there with reference to the controversy. 

It is helpful to read the other gospels to cross reference the empty tomb and resurrection to understand the order of events. We know the women were the first to go to the tomb, while the disciples hunkered down and mourned together. When the women arrived at the tomb, they were instructed to go tell the disciples what the angel said. Jesus said He would meet them in Galilee, and Matthew wrote about that meeting. Jesus also met with the two men walking on the road to Emmaus, and Luke's gospel includes that account. Jesus did command His disciples to go into the world and preach the good news, which we know they did that, too.

Regarding Jesus' words "He who believes and is baptized will be saved..." means those who believe will be saved, because Jesus also stated that those who do not believe are condemned. Baptism is not a condition for salvation. It is what believers do to profess their faith. (see John 3:36)

The signs that Jesus gave to His disciples were for those early ministries of the apostles; sign gifts are no longer present today or necessary, particularly because we have the Word of God to read for ourselves. When the disciples brought the Word to every creature, "...the Lord did work with them and confirmed the Word with signs which they performed."

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