Aleph One wrote:
If the spirit of Christ left the body of Jesus as he died on the cross then why would his body disappear from the tomb later before the resurrection appearances?
I'm more or less with John T on this one. I think the answer to your question is in 1 Cor. 15:35-54:
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else ... So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body ...
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
And in Php. 3:20-21:
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
So Jesus' body was transformed into a spiritual body, in the way that a seed is transformed into a plant. This is why there was no body left behind in the tomb -it had been transformed into a spiritual body.
I don't get the impression that "the spirit of Christ left the body of Jesus as he died on the cross" in Mark. Unless I'm missing something, all I see is that Jesus cited something from Psalm 22 and then "breathed his last."
Mk. 15:33-37:
At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
And since Jesus' body was taken down and placed in a tomb, I'm thinking it must have been transformed into a spiritual body when it was inside the tomb.
You know in spite of all you gained, you still have to stand out in the pouring rain.