To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom. Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–8 3. Unto whom, etc He addeth this, that he…
3. Unto whom, etc He addeth this, that he might make the resurrection to be believed, as a thing most necessary to be known, and without the which the whole gospel falleth flat to the ground, neither remaineth there any more faith. And that I may omit to speak of other discommodities that come by being ignorant of the resurrection of Christ, the gospel loseth his whole authority, unless we know and be also fully persuaded that Christ being alive, speaketh unto us from the heavens. Whereunto Luke hath chiefest respect in this place. Therefore, that the truth hereof might not be called in question, he saith that it was proved by many signs and tokens. Those which Erasmus, following an old interpreter, doth call arguments, I have translated proofs. For Aristotle doth call that τεκμηριον, in the first book of his Rhetorics, which is necessary in signs. This is, therefore, that which I said before, that Christ did make manifest his resurrection unto his apostles by evident tokens, which did serve instead of necessary proofs, lest they should doubt of the same. Furthermore, he doth not reckon up those tokens and signs, saving only that he saith, that Christ did appear unto them about the space of a month and one-half oftentimes. If he had but once appeared unto them, it might have been somewhat suspicious, but in showing himself so often unto them, he dissolveth all doubts which might arise in their minds, and by this means, also, he putteth away the reproach of the ignorance which he said was in the apostles, lest it discredit their preaching.
He intreateth of the kingdom of God He telleth us again that the apostles themselves were well taught before such time as they took upon them to teach others; therefore, whatsoever things they uttered and brought to light, either by word or by writing, touching the kingdom of God, they are those speeches which Christ himself uttered. And hereby doth he briefly set down the end of the doctrine of the gospel; namely, that God may reign in us. Regeneration is the beginning of this kingdom, and the end thereof is blessed immortality; the middle proceedings are in a more ample going forward and increase of regeneration. But that this thing may appear more evidently, we must first note, that we are born, and that we live aliens and strangers from the kingdom of God, until such time as God doth fashion us again unto a new life. Therefore, we may properly set the world, the flesh, and whatsoever is in man’s nature against the kingdom of God, as contrary to it. For the natural man is wholly occupied about the things of this world, and he seeketh felicity here; in the mean season, we are as it were banished from God, and he likewise from us; but Christ, by the preaching of the gospel, doth lift us up unto the meditation of the life to come. And to the end he may the better bring this to pass, he reformeth all our earthly affections, and so having striped us out of the vices of our flesh, he separateth us from the world. And, like as eternal death is prepared for all those which live after the flesh, so in as much as the inward man is renewed in us, that we may go forward in the spiritual life, we draw nearer unto the perfection of the kingdom of God; which is the society of the glory of God. Therefore, God will reign in and amongst us now, that he may at length make us partakers of his kingdom. Hereby we gather that Christ did principally intreat of the corruption of mankind; of the tyranny of sin, whose bond-slaves we are; of the curse and guiltiness of eternal death, whereunto we all are subject, and also of the means to obtain salvation; of the remission of sins; of the denying of the flesh; of spiritual righteousness; of hope of eternal life, and of like such things. And if we will be rightly instructed in Christianity, we must apply our studies to these things.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–7 Christ did not straightway ascend into heaven after his…
Christ did not straightway ascend into heaven after his resurrection: because he would thoroughly prove his resurrection: and with his presence confirm his Apostles in the doctrine, which they had heard.
He calleth those infallible tokens, which are otherwise [termed] necessary: now in that Christ spake, and walked, and ate, and was felt of many, these are sure signs and tokens that he truly rose again.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–8 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after…
3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Ver. 3. Speaking of the things] Those that are leaving the world should leave wholesome counsel to those that survive them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–8 To whom, i.e. the apostles, he showed himself alive…
To whom, i.e. the apostles, he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs; eating, drinking, speaking, walking with them; nay, showing them his very wounds, and permitting them to be touched; God suffering Thomas’s infidelity to contribute to the strengthening of our faith.
Being seen of them forty days; not continually, but upon occasion as he pleased; it was so long from his resurrection to his ascension; and the same space in which God showed himself unto Moses in Mount Sinai. So long also he was pleased to stay with them, that he might more abundantly testify the truth of his humanity, and of his resurrection.
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And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; either his kingdom in heaven, the church triumphant or his kingdom on earth, the church militant; what future bliss and happiness he was going to prepare, and what means they ought to use towards the obtaining of it.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 8 Observe, 1. The time which our Lord spent here…
Observe, 1. The time which our Lord spent here upon earth, between his resurrection and ascension; it was forty days; Christ would not presently ascend into heaven, as soon as he was risen, but thought fit to stay some time with his disciples, to confirm their faith in the belief of his resurrection, and to satisfy them that it was he himself, their Lord and Master, that died for them, that was indeed risen and now appeared to them; He was seen of them forty days.
Observe, 2. What our Saviour did in that forty days stay upon earth: He shewed himself alive unto his disciples, appearing sometimes to them, and giving them many infallible proofs of the verity of his resurrection, by eating, drinking, talking, and conversing with them, by shewing his wounds to them, and submitting himself to be touched and handled by them. Not that Christ’s conversation with his disciples, in this his exalted state after his resurrection, was so frequent and familiar, as it was before his death, when he was in a state of humiliation: and accordingly we never read, I think, that Christ ever lodged or continued all night with his disciples, after he was risen from the grave. But he conversed with them only upon occasion, as he pleased himself, and when he pleased.
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Observe, 3. What our Saviour said, as well as what he did, in this intervening time betwixt his resurrection and ascension, being forty days; He spake to his disciples of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God;
That is, 1. Of the things pertaining to his church militant, or the kingdom of grace here on earth, how he would have his church planted and propagated by the apostles doctrine, guided and governed by their discipline;
Or, 2. By the kingdom of God, may be understood the church triumphant, or the kingdom of glory in heaven; what perfect bliss and happiness he was now going ot prepare for them in the presence of his Father.
Where note, That Christ’s kingdom is purely spiritual; that Christ’s spiritual kingdom is his church: and the preaching of the gospel is the great instrumental mean for the erecting of the kingdom of grace, and enlarging of the kingdom of glory.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v6 In Jerusalem Christ, by his angel, had appointed his…
In Jerusalem Christ, by his angel, had appointed his disciples to meet him in Galilee; there he appointed them to meet him in Jerusalem again, such a day. Thus he would try their obedience, and it was found ready and cheerful; they came together, as he appointed them, to be the witnesses of his ascension, of which we have here an account. Observe,
I. The question they asked him at this interview. They came together to him, as those that had consulted one another about it, and concurred in the question nemine contradicente - unanimously; they came in a body, and put it to him as the sense of the house, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Two ways this may be taken: -
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1. "Surely thou wilt not at all restore it to the present rulers of Israel, the chief priests and the elders, that put thee to death, and, to compass that design, tamely gave up the kingdom to Caesar, and owned themselves his subjects. What! Shall those that hate and persecute thee and us be trusted with power? This be far from thee." Or rather,
2. "Surely thou wilt now restore it to the Jewish nation, as far as it will submit to thee as their king." Now two things were amiss in this question: -
(1.) Their expectation of the thing itself. They thought Christ would restore the kingdom to Israel, that is, that he would make the nation of the Jews as great and considerable among the nations as it was in the days of David and Solomon, of Asa and Jehoshaphat; that, as Shiloh, he would restore the sceptre to Judah, and the lawgiver; whereas Christ came to set up his own kingdom, and that a kingdom of heaven, not to restore the kingdom to Israel, an earthly kingdom. See here, [1.] How apt even good men are to place the happiness of the church too much in external pomp and power; as if Israel could not be glorious unless the kingdom were restored to it, nor Christ's disciples honoured unless they were peers of the realm; whereas we are told to expect the cross in this world, and to wait for the kingdom in the other world. [2.] How apt we are to retain what we have imbibed, and how hard it is to get over the prejudices of education. The disciples, having sucked in this notion with their milk that the Messiah was to be a temporal prince, were long before they could be brought to have any idea of his kingdom as spiritual. [3.] How naturally we are biassed in favour of our own people. They thought God would have no kingdom in the world unless it were restored to Israel; whereas the kingdoms of this world were to become his, in whom he would be glorified, whether Israel should sink or swim. [4.] How apt we are to misunderstand scripture - to understand that literally which is spoken figuratively, and to expound scripture by our schemes, whereas we ought to form our schemes by the scriptures. But, when the Spirit shall be poured out from on high, our mistakes will be rectified, as the apostles' soon after were.
(2.) Their enquiry concerning the time of it: "Lord, wilt thou do it at this time? Now that thou hast called us together is it for this purpose, that proper measures may be concerted for the restoring of the kingdom to Israel? Surely there cannot be a more favourable juncture than this." Now herein they missed their mark, [1.] That they were inquisitive into that which their Master had never directed nor encouraged them to enquire into. [2.] That they were impatient for the setting up of that kingdom in which they promised themselves so great a share, and would anticipate the divine counsels. Christ had told them that they should sit on thrones (Luk 22:30), and now nothing will serve them but they must be in the throne immediately, and cannot stay the time; whereas he that believeth doth not make haste, but is satisfied that God's time is the best time.
II. The check which Christ gave to this question, like that which he had a little before given to Peter's enquiry concerning John, What is that to thee? Act 1:7, It is not for you to know the times and seasons. He does not contradict their expectation that the kingdom would be restored to Israel, because that mistake would soon be rectified by the pouring out of the Spirit, after which they never had any more thoughts of the temporal kingdom; and also because there is a sense of the expectation which is true, the setting up of the gospel kingdom in the world; and their mistake of the promise shall not make it of no effect; but he checks their enquiry after the time.
1. The knowledge of this is not allowed to them: It is not for you to know, and therefore it is not for you to ask. (1.) Christ is now parting from them, and parts in love; and yet he gives them this rebuke, which is intended for a caution to his church in all ages, to take heed of splitting upon the rock which was fatal to our first parents - an inordinate desire of forbidden knowledge, and intruding into things which we have not seen because God has not shown them. Nescire velle quae magister maximus docere non vult, erudita inscitia est - It is folly to covet to be wise above what is written, and wisdom to be content to be no wiser. (2.) Christ had given his disciples a great deal of knowledge above others (to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God), and had promised them his Spirit, to teach them more; now, lest they should be puffed up with the abundance of the revelations, he here lets them understand that there were some things which it was not for them to know. We shall see how little reason we have to be proud of our knowledge when we consider how many things we are ignorant of. (3.) Christ had given his disciples instructions sufficient for the discharge of their duty, both before his death and since his resurrection, and in this knowledge he will have them to be satisfied; for it is enough for a Christian, in whom vain curiosity is a corrupt humour, to be mortified, and not gratified. (4.) Christ had himself told his disciples the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and had promised that the Spirit should show them things to come concerning it, Joh 16:13. He had likewise given them signs of the times, which it was their duty to observe, and a sin to overlook, Mat 24:33; Mat 16:3. But they must not expect nor desire to know either all the particulars of future events or the exact times of them. It is good for us to be kept in the dark, and left at uncertainty concerning the times and moments (as Dr. Hammond reads it) of future events concerning the church, as well as concerning ourselves, - concerning all the periods of time and the final period of it, as well as concerning the period of our own time.
Prudens futuri temporis exitum
Caliginosa nocte premit Deus -
But Jove, in goodness ever wise,
Hath hid, in clouds of thickest night,
All that in future prospect lies
Beyond the ken of mortal sight.
- Hor.
As to the times and seasons of the year, we know, in general, there will be summer and winter counterchanged, but we know not particularly which day will be fair or which foul, either in summer or in winter; so, as to our affairs in this world, when it is a summer-time of prosperity, that we may not be secure, we are told there will come a wintertime of trouble; and in that winter, that we may not despond and despair, we are assured that summer will return; but what this or that particular day will bring forth we cannot tell, but must accommodate ourselves to it, whatever it is, and make the best of it.
2. The knowledge of it is reserved to God as his prerogative; it is what the Father hath put in his own power; it is hid with him. None besides can reveal the times and seasons to come. Known unto God are all his works, but not to us, Act 15:18. It is in his power, and in his only, to declare the end from the beginning; and by this he proves himself to be God, Isa 46:10. "And though he did think fit sometimes to let the Old Testament prophets know the times and the seasons (as of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt four hundred years, and in Babylon seventy years), yet he has not fit to let you know the times and seasons, no not just how long it shall be before Jerusalem be destroyed, though you be so well assured of the thing itself. He hath not said that he will not give you to know something more than you do of the times and seasons;" he did so afterwards to his servant John; "but he has put it in his own power to do it or not, as he thinks fit;" and what is in that New Testament prophecy discovered concerning the times and the seasons is so dark, and hard to be understood, that, when we come to apply it, it concerns us to remember this work, that it is not for us to be positive in determining the times and the seasons. Buxtorf mentions a saying of the rabbin concerning the coming of the Messiah: Rumpatur spiritus eorum qui supputant tempora - Perish the men who calculate the time.
III. He appoints them their work, and with authority assures them of an ability to go on with it, and of success in it. "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons - this would do you no good; but know this (Act 1:8) that you shall receive a spiritual power, by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon you, and shall not receive it in vain, for you shall be witnesses unto me and my glory; and your testimony shall not be in vain, for it shall be received here in Jerusalem, in the country about, and all the world over," Act 1:8. If Christ make us serviceable to his honour in our own day and generation, let this be enough for us, and let not us perplex ourselves about times and seasons to come. Christ here tells them,
1. That their work should be honourable and glorious: You shall be witnesses unto me. (1.) They shall proclaim him king, and publish those truths to the world by which his kingdom should be set up, and he would rule. They must openly and solemnly preach his gospel to the world. (2.) They shall prove this, shall confirm their testimony, not as witnesses do, with an oath, but with the divine seal of miracles and supernatural gifts: You shall be martyrs to me, or my martyrs, as some copies read it; for they attested the truth of the gospel with their sufferings, even unto death.
2. That their power for this work should be sufficient. They had not strength of their own for it, nor wisdom nor courage enough; they were naturally of the weak and foolish things of the world; they durst not appear as witnesses for Christ upon his trial, neither as yet were they able. "But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you" (so it may be read), "shall be animated and actuated by a better spirit than your own; you shall have power to preach the gospel, and to prove it out of the scriptures of the Old Testament" (which, when they were filled with the Holy Ghost, they did to admiration, Act 18:28), "and to confirm it both by miracles and by sufferings." Note, Christ's witnesses shall receive power for that work to which he calls them; those whom he employs in his service he will qualify for it, and will bear them out in it.
3. That their influence should be great and very extensive: "You shall be witnesses for Christ, and shall carry his cause," (1.) "In Jerusalem; there you must begin, and many there will receive your testimony; and those that do not will be left inexcusable." (2.) "Your light shall thence shine throughout all Judea, where before you have laboured in vain." (3.) "Thence you shall proceed to Samaria, though at your first mission you were forbidden to preach in any of the cities of the Samaritans." (4.) "Your usefulness shall reach to the uttermost part of the earth, and you shall be blessings to the whole world."
IV. Having left these instructions with them, he leaves them (Act 1:9): When he had spoken these things, and had said all that he had to say, he blessed them (so we were told, Luk 24:50); and while they beheld him, and had their eye fixed upon him, receiving his blessing, he was gradually taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. We have here Christ's ascending on high; not fetched away, as Elijah was, with a chariot of fire and horses of fire, but rising to heaven, as he rose from the grave, purely by his own power, his body being now, as the bodies of the saints will be at the resurrection, a spiritual body, and raised in power and incorruption. Observe, 1. He began his ascension in the sight of his disciples, even while they beheld. They did not see him come up out of the grave, because they might see him after he had risen, which would be satisfaction enough; but they saw him go up towards heaven, and had actually their eye upon him with so much care and earnestness of mind that they could not be deceived. It is probable that he did not fly swiftly up, but moved upwards gently, for the further satisfaction of his disciples. 2. He vanished out of their sight, in a cloud, either a thick cloud, for God said that he would dwell in the thick darkness; or a bright cloud, to signify the splendour of his glorious body. It was a bright cloud that overshadowed him in his transfiguration, and most probably this was so, Mat 17:5. This cloud received him, it is probable, when he had gone about as far from the earth as the clouds generally are; yet it was not such a spreading cloud as we commonly see, but such as just served to enclose him. Now he made the clouds his chariot, Psa 104:3. God had often come down in a cloud; now he went up in one. Dr. Hammond thinks that the clouds receiving him here were the angels receiving him; for the appearance of angels is ordinarily described by a cloud, comparing Exo 25:22 with Lev 16:2. By the clouds there is a sort of communication kept up between the upper and lower world; in them the vapours are sent up from the earth, and the dews sent down from heaven. Fitly therefore does he ascend in a cloud who is the Mediator between God and man, by whom God's mercies come down upon us and our prayers come up to him. This was the last that was seen of him. The eyes of a great many witnesses followed him into the cloud; and, if we would know what became of him then, we may find (Dan 7:13), That one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him in the clouds as he came near before him.
V. The disciples, when he had gone out of their sight, yet still continued looking up stedfastly to heaven (Act 1:10), and this longer than it was fit they should; and why so? 1. Perhaps they hoped that Christ would presently come back to them again, to restore the kingdom to Israel, and were loth to believe they should now part with him for good and all; so much did they still dote upon his bodily presence, though he had told them that it was expedient for them that he should go away. or, they looked after him, as doubting whether he might not be dropped, as the sons of the prophets thought concerning Elijah (Kg2 2:16), and so they might have him again. 2. Perhaps they expected to see some change in the visible heavens now upon Christ's ascension, that either the sun should be ashamed or the moon confounded (Isa 24:23), as being out-shone by his lustre; or, rather, that they should show some sign of joy and triumph; or perhaps they promised themselves a sight of the glory of the invisible heavens, upon their opening to receive him. Christ had told them that hereafter they should see heaven opened (Joh 1:51), and why should not they expect it now?
VI. Two angels appeared to them, and delivered them a seasonable message from God. There was a world of angels ready to receive our Redeemer, now that he made his public entry into the Jerusalem above: we may suppose these two loth to be absent then; yet, to show how much Christ had at heart the concerns of his church on earth, he sent back to his disciples two of those that came to meet him, who appear as two men in white apparel, bright and glittering; for they know, according to the duty of their place, that they are really serving Christ when they are ministering to his servants on earth. Now we are told what the angels said to them, 1. To check their curiosity: You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? He calls them men of Galilee, to put them in mind of the rock out of which they were hewn. Christ had put a great honour upon them, in making them his ambassadors; but they must remember that they are men, earthen vessels, and men of Galilee, illiterate men, looked upon with disdain. Now, say they, "Why stand you here, like Galileans, rude and unpolished men, gazing up into heaven? What would you see? You have seen all that you were called together to see, and why do you look any further? Why stand you gazing, as men frightened and perplexed, as men astonished and at their wits' end?" Christ's disciples should never stand at a gaze, because they have a sure rule to go by, and a sure foundation to build upon. 2. To confirm their faith concerning Christ's second coming. Their Master had often told them of this, and the angels are sent at this time seasonably to put them in mind of it: "This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, and whom you are looking thus long after, wishing you had him with you again, is not gone for ever; for there is a day appointed in which he will come in like manner thence, as you have seen him go thither, and you must not expect him back till that appointed day." (1.) "This same Jesus shall come again in his own person, clothed with a glorious body; this same Jesus, who came once to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, will appear a second time without sin (Heb 9:26, Heb 9:28), who came once in disgrace to be judged, will come again in glory to judge. The same Jesus who has given you your charge will come again to call you to an account how you have performed your trust; he, and not another," Job 19:27. (2.) "He shall come in like manner. He is gone away in a cloud, and attended with angels; and, behold, he comes in the clouds, and with him an innumerable company of angels! He is gone up with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet (Psa 47:5), and he will descend from heaven with a shout and with the trump of God, Th1 4:16. You have now lost the sight of him in the clouds and in the air; and whither he is gone you cannot follow him now, but shall then, when you shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." When we stand gazing and trifling, the consideration of our Master's second coming should quicken and awaken us; and, when we stand gazing and trembling, the consideration of it should comfort and encourage us.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–8 To whom also he showed himself alive after his…
To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion,.... That is, after his sufferings and death; for that he suffered many things, and at last death itself, is certain from the acknowledgment of the Jews themselves, who own, that they put him to death on the passover eve (d); as well as from the accounts of the evangelists; and from the soldiers not breaking his legs, when the rest that were crucified with him were broken, because he was already dead; and from his "ricardium" being pierced with a spear, from whence blood and water sprung, after which it was impossible he should be alive; and from the testimony of the centurion who watched him, to whom Pilate sent to know if he was dead, and how long he had been dead; and from his being buried, and lying in the grave so long as he did: and yet after, and not withstanding this, "he showed himself alive"; he raised himself from the dead, and hereby declared himself to be the Son of God with power, which cannot be said of others; there were others that were alive after death, but not by their own power; as the widow of Sarepta's son, the daughter of Jairus, Lazarus, and the widow of Nain's son; but these did not "show themselves alive", as Christ did, who appeared often to his apostles: for after he had first appeared to Mary Magdalene, he showed himself to the two disciples going to Emmaus; then to ten of them, Thomas being absent; after that to them all, Thomas being present, when he convinced him of the truth of his resurrection; after that he appeared to seven of the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and then to all the apostles; and to five hundred brethren at once on a mountain in Galilee; and once to James alone, and to them all again when he was parted from them and went up to heaven; and so they must be proper and sufficient witnesses of his resurrection: and this evidence of his being alive, he gave to them, by many infallible proofs; or by many signs and tokens, and which were most sure and unquestionable arguments of his being alive; as his eating and drinking with them, walking and talking with them in a free and familiar manner, showing them his hands and his feet, and side, that they might see the scars which the nails and spear had made; and which were not only a proof that he was risen again, but risen again in the same body in which he suffered; and that they might feel and handle him, and know that he was not a spirit, a phantom, a mere apparition, but was really risen and alive: being seen of them forty days; not that he was seen by them for forty days together continually, but at certain times, within the space of forty days; for between his first and last appearance, many others intervening, such a length of time run out; so that it was not a single and sudden appearance that surprised them; but there were many of them, and a distance between them, and this for a considerable term of time; hence they had opportunity of reflecting upon these appearances, and of satisfying themselves of the truth of things. This number of "forty days" is a remarkable one in Scripture. The flood was forty days upon the earth; and so long Moses was in the mount with God; such a number of days the spies were searching the land of Canaan; so many days Goliath presented himself to the armies of Israel; and so long a time Elijah went in the strength of the meat the angel provided for him; and for such a length of time the prophet Ezekiel was to bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; and such a term of time was given out by Jonah for the destruction of Nineveh; and so many days Christ fasted, and was tempted in the wilderness. The Jews pretend (e), that forty days before Jesus was put to death he was led forth, and a crier went before him, declaring, that whoever would, had liberty to testify to his innocence if they could, but no man appeared for him: but this is false; the truth of the matter is, that for forty days after his resurrection he showed himself to his disciples, and by proving the truth of his resurrection, he proved his own innocence and uprightness. If the testimony of Rabbenu Hakadosh, as cited by Galatinus, could be depended on, the Jews had a notion of this forty days' conversation of the Messiah with his disciples, after his resurrection; who say (f),
"the Messiah, after his resurrection, shall converse with the righteous, and they shall hear his precepts "forty days", answerable to those forty days in which he shall be in the wilderness to afflict his soul, before they shall kill him; and these being finished, he shall ascend to heaven, and sit at the right hand of God, as it is said, Psa 110:1.
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But this seems rather to be the pious fraud of some Christian, than the words of a Jew: however, they do say (g), that "the days of the Messiah are "forty days", as it is said, Psa 95:10 "forty years long was I grieved"; or, as they interpret it, "shall I be grieved with this generation":
intimating, that the generation of the Messiah, and of the wilderness, would be much alike, and equally grieving to God, and reckoning a day for a year, as the Lord did with that generation, Num 14:33. These forty days Christ was with his disciples, may be an emblem of the forty years which were to run out from his death, to his coming again to take vengeance on the Jewish nation; for so long time was there from thence to the destruction of Jerusalem. And Christ was not only seen of the disciples at certain seasons during this space of time, but he was also heard by them: for it follows,
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God; the kingdom of the Messiah, the Gospel dispensation; concerning the doctrines of the Gospel they were to preach, and the ordinances of it they were to administer; concerning the church of God, the nature, order, and officers of it, and the laws and rules by which it should be governed; concerning the kingdom of grace, what it consists of, and wherein it lies; and of the kingdom of glory, of meetness for it, his own grace, and of the right unto it, his own justifying righteousness: some of these things they might have before but very little knowledge of; and may be these are the things he had to say to them, and which, till now, they could not bear; and being no more to be with them in person, he instructs them in them,
(d) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1. (e) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 43. 1. (f) Gale Razeya apud Galatin. de Arcan. Cathol. ver. l. 8. c. 23. (g) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3–8 Being seen by them forty days - That is,…
Being seen by them forty days - That is, many times during that space. And speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God - Which was the sum of all his discourses with them before his passion also.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–8 Verse 3. To whom - he showed himself alive…
Verse 3. To whom - he showed himself alive - by many infallible proofs] πολλοιςτεκμηριοις; by many proofs of such a nature, and connected with such circumstances, as to render them indubitable; for this is the import of the Greek word τεκμηριον. The proofs were such as these:
1. Appearing to several different persons at different times.
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2. His eating and drinking with them.
3. His meeting them in Galilee according to his own appointment.
4. His subjecting his body to be touched and handled by them.
5. His instructing them in the nature and doctrines of his kingdom.
6. His appearing to upwards of five hundred persons at once, 1Co 15:6. And,
7. Continuing these public manifestations of himself for forty days.
The several appearances of Jesus Christ, during the forty days of his sojourning with his disciples, between his resurrection and ascension, are thus enumerated by Bishop Pearce: The first was to Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, Mt 28:1-9. The second, to the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, Lu 24:15. The third, to Simon Peter, Lu 24:34. The fourth, to ten of the apostles, Thomas being absent, Lu 24:36, and Joh 20:19. (All these four appearances took place on the day of his resurrection.) The fifth was to the eleven disciples, Thomas being then with them, Joh 20:26. The sixth, to seven of the apostles in Galilee, at the sea of Tiberias, Joh 21:4. The seventh, to James, 1Co 15:7, most probably in Jerusalem, and when Jesus gave an order for all his apostles to assemble together, as in Ac 1:4. The eighth, when they were assembled together, and when he led them unto Bethany, Lu 24:50, from whence he ascended to heaven. But See Clarke on Joh 21:14, for farther particulars.
Pertaining to the kingdom of God] Whatever concerned the doctrine, discipline, and establishment of the Christian Church.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 Act 1:4-5. Being assembled together with them — Namely,…
Act 1:4-5. Being assembled together with them — Namely, at Jerusalem, to which place they had gone to prepare themselves for the feast of pentecost, or rather, in obedience to Christ’s command, who, after he had met them in Galilee, had appointed them to meet him there, that he might spend his last days on earth in that once holy city, doing this last honour to the place where God had chosen to dwell, and where the most solemn ordinances of his worship had been administered. He commanded that they should wait for the promise of the Father — That is, for the accomplishment of the promise made by the Father, to send his Holy Spirit upon the disciples of the Messiah. See note on Luk 24:49. Which, saith he, ye have heard of me — Often and lately. See Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7. For John baptized with water only, when he was sent to call men to repentance; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost — There is a nobler baptism prepared for you, and which you shall receive from me, to furnish you for the great work to which I have commissioned you, of preaching repentance and remission of sins in my name; and which baptism you shall receive not many days hence — He does not tell them how many, because he would have them to keep themselves every day in a state of mind fit to receive it, a disposition of humility, desire, and expectation of the blessing. It was a great honour which Christ did John now, in not only quoting his words, but making this great blessing of the Spirit, soon to be given, to be the accomplishment of them. Thus he confirmed the word of his servants, Isa 44:26 : but Christ can do more than any of his ministers. It is an honour to them to be employed in dispensing the means of grace, but it is his prerogative to give the Spirit of grace. Now this gift of the Holy Ghost, thus promised, thus prophesied of, thus waited for, is that which the apostles received ten days after, namely, at the approaching pentecost, as is recorded in the next chapter. Several other scriptures speak of the gift of the Holy Ghost to ordinary believers; this speaks of that particular power which, by the Holy Ghost, the first preachers of the gospel, and planters of the church, were endowed with, enabling them infallibly to relate to that age, and record to posterity, the doctrine of Christ, and the proofs of it: so that by virtue of this promise, and the performance of it, we receive the New Testament as of divine inspiration, and venture our souls upon it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–8 He showed himself - The resurrection of Jesus was…
He showed himself - The resurrection of Jesus was the great fact on which the truth of the gospel was to be established. Hence, the sacred writers so often refer to it, and establish it by so many arguments. As the fact of his resurrection lay at the foundation of all that Luke was about to record in his history, it was of importance that he should state clearly the sum of the evidence of it in the beginning of his work.
After his passion - After he suffered, referring particularly to his death as the consummation of his sufferings. The word “passion” with us means commonly excitement or agitation of mind, as love, hope, fear, anger, etc. The original means “after he suffered.” The word “passion,” applied to the Saviour, denotes his last sufferings. Thus, in the Litany of the Episcopal Church, it is beautifully said, “By thine agony and bloody sweat; by thy cross and passion, good Lord, deliver us.” The Greek word of the same derivation is rendered sufferings in 1Pe 1:11; 1Pe 4:13; Col 1:24.
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By many infallible proofs - The word rendered here “infallible proofs” does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. In Greek authors it denotes an infallible sign or argument by which anything can be certainly known (Schleusner). Here it means the same - evidence that he was alive which could not deceive, or in which they could not be mistaken. That evidence consisted in his eating with them, conversing with them, meeting them at various times and places, working miracles Joh 21:6-7, and uniformly showing himself to be the same friend with whom they had been familiar for more than three years. This evidence was infallible:
(1) Because it was to them unexpected. They had manifestly not believed that he would rise again, Joh 20:25; Luk 24:19-24. There was, therefore, no delusion resulting from any expectation of seeing him, or from a design to impose on people.
(2) It was impossible that they could have been deceived in relation to one with whom they had been familiar for more than three years. No people in the possession of reason could be made to believe that they really saw, talked with, and ate with, a friend whom they had known so long and familiarly, unless it was real.
(3) There were enough of them to avoid the possibility of deception. Though it might be pretended that one man could be imposed on, yet it could not be that an imposition could be practiced for forty days on eleven men, who were all at first incredulous.
(4) He was with them sufficient time to give evidence of his personal identity. It might be pretended, if they had seen him but once, that they were deceived. But they saw him often, and for the space of more than a month.
(5) They saw him in various places and at times in which there could be no deception. If they had pretended that they saw him rise, or saw him at twilight in the morning when he rose, it might have been said that they were deluded by something that was merely the result of imagination. It might have been said that, expecting to see him rise, their hopes, in the agitated state of their minds, deceived them, and that they only fancied that they saw him. But it is not pretended by the sacred writers that they saw him rise. An impostor “would have affirmed this, and would not have omitted it.” But the sacred writers affirmed that they saw him after he was risen; when they were free from agitation; when they could judge coolly; in Jerusalem; in their own company when at worship; when journeying to Emmaus; when in Galilee; when he went with them to Mount Olivet; and when he ascended to heaven: and how could they have been deceived in this?
(6) He appeared to them as he had always done, as a friend, companion, and benefactor; he ate with them, performed a miracle before them, was engaged in the same work as he was before he suffered, renewed the same promise of the Holy Spirit, and gave them his commands respecting the work which he had died to establish, and the work which he required them to do - carrying out the same purposes and plans which he had before he died. In all these circumstances it was impossible that they should be deceived.
Being seen of them forty days - There are no less than thirteen different appearances of Jesus to his disciples recorded. For an account of them, see the notes at the end of the gospel of Matthew.
Speaking to them ... - He was not only seen by them, but he continued the same topics of discourse as before his sufferings; thus showing that he was the same person that had suffered, and that his heart was still intent on the same great work. And as his heart was occupied with the same purposes which endued his attention before he suffered, we are taught by this that we should aim at the same great work in all the circumstances of our being. Afflictions, persecutions, and the prospect of death never turned him from his great plan; nor should they be allowed to divert our minds from the great work which God has given us to do.
The things pertaining to the kingdom of God - For an explanation of this phrase, the kingdom of God, see the notes on Mat 3:2. The meaning is, Jesus gave them instructions about the organization, spread, and edification of his church.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3–6 Appearing, &c. Why did he not appear to all,…
Appearing, &c. Why did he not appear to all, but only to his disciples? Because to many of them, who did not know the mystery, he would have seemed a phantom. For if the disciples themselves were diffident, and terrified, and required to touch him with their hands, how would others have been affected? But we know from their miracles, the truth of the resurrection, which is made evident to all succeeding generations. Perhaps the apostles did not perform miracles. How then was the world converted? This is a fact which cannot be denied, and that it should have been brought about by twelve poor illiterate fishermen, without miracles, would be the greatest of all miracles, far beyond the reach of all human means. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. i. chap. 1. on Acts.) --- "And speaking of things pertaining to the kingdom of God," as we read in the Greek, and in the Protestant version, that is, pertaining to the Church, which is the kingdom of God, Greek: ta peri tes basileias tou theou, which plainly makes for unwritten tradition. (Estius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v4 CHAPTER Act_1:4-26
FIRST SECTION
ANTECEDENTS OF THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH
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CHAPTER Act_1:4-26
A. THE ASCENSION OF JESUS AN THE LAST INSTRUCTIONS, COMMANDMENTS, AND PROMISES ADDRESSED BY HIM TO THE APOSTLES. (Mar_16:19 ff.; Luk_24:48 ff.)
CHAPTER Act_1:4-11
Contents:—The last meeting of Jesus and his disciples; the command that they should remain in Jerusalem; the promise of the baptism with the Holy Ghost; the declaration that the Apostles, without knowing the time of the appearance of the kingdom of God, should be witnesses of Jesus, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth; the visible ascension of Jesus, and the testimony of the angels that he would come again visibly.
4And, being assembled together with them,2[he] commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he,ye have heard of me. 5For John truly [omit truly, μὲν] baptized with water; butye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6When they therefore were come together, [They who had come together now (οὖν)] they [om. they] asked3of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to [the people of] Israel? 7And [But, δὲ] he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons [periods or points of time], which the Father hath put in [determinedin accordance with] his own power [authority], 8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you4: and ye shall be witnesses unto me [my witnesses]5both in Jerusalem and in all6Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermostpart [end] of the earth. 9And when he had spoken these things, while theybeheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up [departed], behold, two men stood by them in hite apparel [garments]Act_7:11 Which [Who] also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into [towards] heaven? this same [omit same] Jesus, which [who] is taken up from you into heaven, shall so [will, ἐλεν́σεται] come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Act_1:4. a. Here, again, Luke specifies neither the time nor the place of the meeting; the latter, as we subsequently learn, Act_1:12, was Mount Olivet. The times of the several appearances of the Lord mentioned in Luke’s Gospel, Luke 24, cannot be defined with entire precision, and the same remark applies to the time of the present meeting; we may infer from Act_1:2 ff., that it occurred on the fortieth day after the resurrection, provided that Act_1:4 and Act_1:6 both speak of the same meeting. The latter view has been controverted by Olshausen, who appeals to the parallel passage, Luk_24:49 ff., where the command that the disciples should tarry in Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Spirit, seems to precede the final meeting in the order of time. This argument has, however, but little force, since the passage, Luk_24:49, is obviously a very brief summary of the last words of Jesus; and, besides, even if we should adopt Olshausen’s view, the two passages, Luk_24:49 ff., and Act_1:4 ff., would not be found to be strictly parallel; indeed, Act_1:6 leads most naturally to the conclusion that the conversation occurred at one and the same meeting.
b. Being assembled together.—This final meeting of Jesus and his apostles is distinguished from all the others which occurred after the resurrection, by the circumstance that on this occasion the Lord desired the presence of all his apostles. The word σνναλιζόμενος signifies, it is true, not only, in an active sense, a gathering together of others, but also, in the middle voice, a coming together of ourselves: still, it indicates both the presence of all who were expected, and also the deep significance of this interview, for no term of the same class is applied to the other appearances of the risen Lord. The solemnity and significance of this meeting are not derived simply from the circumstance that it was the last of all, or that on this occasion the apostles should be witnesses of his glorious assumption, but are specially due to the fact that he now revealed his last will and intentions.
c. Commanded them.—The last commandment given by the Lord to the apostles directed them to await the gift of the Holy Ghost in Jerusalem. It could not be obeyed without the exercise of self-denial on their part. For if they had yielded to a natural sentiment, which doubtless influenced them, they would have withdrawn from Jerusalem, and thus retired from the presence of men whom they dreaded, as well as have, in a certain measure, escaped their own painful recollections of the sufferings of the Lord, and of their previous unfaithfulness and faintheartedness. But it was the will of God that the law should go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isa_2:1-3)—that the foundation of his Messianic kingdom should be laid on this holy mountain—that, on the spot in which enmity against the Lord’s Anointed had assumed the most awful form, the superior power of grace might be revealed—and, that there the glory of the name of Christ should be displayed in the most triumphant manner by the effusion of the Spirit, by the conversion of thousands, and by signs and wonders.
d. The promise.—With this command, which was oppressive to the feelings of the disciples as men, a special promise, of preminent value, was immediately connected. For after the Redeemer who had been promised to the fathers, had come, the greatest and most blessed promise which remained, and which is now on the eve of being fulfilled, referred to the outpouring of the Spirit. Jesus terms it the promise of the Father, because God the Father had promised the gift of the Spirit through the prophets under the old covenant, e.g. Isa_44:3; Joe_2:28 ff.; etc. And in this connection Jesus reminds the disciples of his own words: here there is a transition from the indirect to the direct form of expression [which the English translators indicate by inserting saith he; see, for other instances, Luk_5:14; Act_17:3; Act_23:22, and for examples in Greek writers, Winer: Gr., N. T. § 63.2.—Tr.]. The Lord’s allusion cannot, however, be to his words recorded in Luk_24:49, since his last conversation with the disciples is also there reported, but rather to passages like Luk_12:11-12, and to the discourses found in John’s Gospel, John 14–16. The latter circumstance, viz.: that one of the Synoptists seems to recognize the existence of the Johanneic discourses, is worthy of special attention.—This promise of a full and complete baptism of the Spirit is in perfect harmony with the partial communication of the Spirit, which had already occurred, Luk_9:55; Joh_20:22.
Act_1:5. a. Baptized with the Holy Ghost.—The gift of the Spirit is here termed a Baptism, and is thus characterized as one of most abundant fulness, and as a submersion in a purifying and life-giving element. The term and the image are both derived from the water-baptism of John, but not without an additional allusion to the witness which John the Baptist bore (Luk_3:16). The only difference which is found in the language of these passages consists in the circumstance that when John foretold the baptism with the Spirit, he described it as an act of Christ, which is not expressly confirmed in the present passage, since the exigencies of the case did not require the mention of the divine Person from whom the baptism with the Spirit would proceed, but only an assurance of the fact itself.
b. Not many days hence.—This statement of the time is wisely so framed as to produce both a joyful “hasting unto,” and also a “looking for” in faith (2Pe_3:12), and thus to exercise the faith of the disciples.
Act_1:6. The question proposed by the assembled apostles, was called forth by the Lord’s own words. They ask concerning the time, as he had referred to the near approach of the time of their baptism with the Spirit; they ask concerning the kingdom, as he had repeatedly spoken to them, after his resurrection, of the kingdom of God, Act_1:3. They were also influenced by his reference to the approaching outpouring of the Spirit, which they were the more ready to connect with their conceptions of the Messianic kingdom, as his resurrection had re-animated the most exalted hopes in their souls. Hence they ask: “Lord, dost thou at this time establish the kingdom for (the people of) Israel?” All the ardor of patriotic men, to whom the liberty, the grandeur, and the glory of their nation were very dear, manifests itself in this question, combined with the devout hope that all the divine promises which had been given to the people of God, would be fulfilled. The kingdom which is the object of their hope, is a kingdom of Israel, a theocratic kingdom, deriving its existence and reality from the Messiah, and intended to give liberty, greatness and dominion to the people of Israel, who were at the time oppressed by a heavy yoke. The apostles believe that they are almost authorized by the words now pronounced by the Lord, to hope for an early restoration of this kingdom.—The interpretation of the question in the following sense: Wilt thou then restore the kingdom to the Jews who crucified thee? (Light-foot)—cannot, in our day, need a special refutation.
Act_1:7. It is not for you, etc.—The answer of the Lord, which has been frequently, and, indeed, in some cases, grossly, misinterpreted, exhibits as much divine wisdom as human tenderness; it is intended rather to instruct than to rebuke. He does not deny them the privilege of asking, but only the right to know the times or the seasons which the father, who alone possesses sovereign power, has appointed. The Son guards the royal prerogative—the divine reservation—the exclusive rights of the Father. It is, besides, instructive to notice the distinction which is indicated by Jesus between χρόνοι and καιροί; they are periods and epochs (seasons of greater and less duration, respectively), during which certain acts and purposes of God are accomplished; the knowledge of both, which are closely connected, is withheld not only from men in general, but even from the apostles also. The latter may be enlightened servants of God, and yet be as little competent to answer questions concerning the time of any of the developments of the kingdom of God as were the prophets of the old covenant, 1Pe_1:11. J. A. Bengel, it is true, supposed that even if it was not given to the apostles to know the times, it did not thence necessarily follow that such knowledge would not be given to others of a later day—that, in the divine economy, revelation was progressive—and that truths were made known in the Apocalypse of John, which were at this earlier period still hidden from the apostles. This excellent man, however, in whom, in many respects, a gift of prophecy dwelt, still made shipwreck concerning his calculations of the times and the seasons founded on the Apocalypse, and has thus furnished another striking proof that the words of Christ still abide: “It is not fitting that you should know periods or points of time.” [The author of the Gnomon had been led by his calculations, which he modestly submitted to the examination of competent judges, to assign the year 1836 as the commencement of the Millennium. Tr.]. So far, then, the Redeemer spoke only of the time, which constituted the chief point in the question of the apostles. As to the fact itself, the coming of the kingdom, and as to Israel’s privilege with respect to the latter, they entertained no doubt; and the Lord was so far from disapproving of such an expectation, that he rather confirmed it by declaring that the Father had fixed the times. Now we know that neither a period nor an epoch can be affirmed concerning an event which is only imaginary.—Those interpreters have altogether mistaken the sense, who maintain that Jesus here entirely rejects the conceptions entertained by his apostles respecting the Messianic kingdom, for this is by no means the case. He did not deny that either their expectation of the appearance on earth of his glorious kingdom in its reality, or their hope of the glorious future which that kingdom opened to the people of Israel, was well founded; he simply subdued their eager curiosity respecting the time, and directed their attention to the practical duties which they were to perform at the present period.
Act_1:8. But ye shall receive power.—While it was not given to the apostles to know the times of future events, the duty to act or work at the present time was assigned to them; they also received the assurance that they should be qualified for their work by the Holy Ghost, who would come upon them. They “shall be witnesses,” i.e., they shall not merely bear witness but be witnesses in their own persons, and the divine power which is promised is itself the pledge of the truth of the promise. They shall be witnesses for Jesus with respect to his Person—their vocation itself is a witness. And where? In Jerusalem … the earth.—The apostles are directed to abide in Jerusalem and await the Holy Ghost; it was needful that their witness should be heard first of all in that city. But as the stone which is cast into the water creates circles which continually expand, so the apostolic witness concerning Jesus, first offered in Jerusalem as the central point, and in its vicinity, is designed to extend its influence continually, until it reaches the extreme boundaries of the earth. The term ἐσχάτον τῆς γῆςdoes not designate the limits of any country, as, for instance, those of the Holy Land, but the farthest points of the whole earth. The Son of man has a heart which beats for all mankind, even if his own nation lies nearest to it—even if salvation is to proceed from the Jews, and the word of the Lord is to go forth from Jerusalem (Joh_4:22; Isa_2:3). The characteristic feature of universality which belongs to Christianity, or the divine purpose to offer grace to all mankind in Christ, accords both with the historical prerogative of Israel in the economy of God, and also with the law of gradation or the necessity of an advance from a lower to a higher degree.—That Act_1:8 both contains the general theme of the whole book of the Acts, and also involves the principle according to which the materials have been arranged, is shown in the Introduction, § 4.
Act_1:9. And when he had spoken, etc.—Immediately after the Lord had spoken words of such deep import, embracing the whole earth, all mankind, and the whole succeeding course of Christian history, as if a celestial perspective were presented, his own ascension followed. No other passage of the Scriptures exhibits this event so fully and distinctly as the present. The ascension consisted of two parts: the Lord was, first, visibly taken up, so that the apostles could follow him for a short time with their eyes as he rose on high; then a cloud (probably a bright cloud, Mat_17:5) passing beneath received him, and thus removed him from their view (ν̓πέλαβεν).
Act_1:10-11. And while they looked, etc.—They were still steadfastly gazing toward heaven after the disappearance of the Lord, when already two men stood by them. That these were unquestionably angels, appears from the following three facts: the suddenness of their appearance, for no one had seen them approach; then, their white, shining apparel—a visible representation of celestial purity and holiness; lastly, the tidings which they brought to the disciples, being a message sent from heaven to the earth. For these heavenly messengers were appointed not merely to comfort and encourage the disciples by their appearance, but also to proclaim a certain truth (αῖ καὶ εὶ͂πον). This truth is twofold, including both a question and a promise. The question (“Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?”) gently rebukes the contemplative, inactive (ἑστήκατε) sadness and longing of the disciples, whose glances and thoughts were still directed upwards, as if they wished that it were possible to hasten after their Lord, and abide in his presence; their vocation, on the contrary, consisted, not in gazing inactively in the direction whither he went, but in zealously and vigorously doing his work on earth. The promise which the angels are commissioned to give, refers to the visible return of Jesus; it is precisely this prospect which encourages all “that love the appearing” [2Ti_4:8] of the Lord, to do his will with diligence and zeal.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The promise of the Holy Ghost is the most important communication which the Lord made to his apostles immediately before his ascension. There is a divine consistency in this course, since the love of God the Father, as well the grace of the Son and his redeeming work, alike refer to the gift of the Holy Ghost, and are consummated by it. The Holy Ghost is the absolute and perfect unity in the inner life of the triune God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost is the highest point in the progressive series of divine revelations. When the eternal Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us, God came near to men in a wonderful manner; but the most intimate communion between God and men occurs in the Holy Ghost. The incarnation of God is the union of God with the human race in the Person of the one Mediator; it is a new, a holy, a more exalted beginning of the race in the second Adam; the outpouring of the Spirit is the union of God immediately with all the individual human souls that receive the Spirit unto themselves. The sinful race of men needs a purification and a deliverance from sin and guilt, on the one hand, and a new life, on the other, as well as an elevation to God, all of which can proceed from God alone. Christ, the God-Man, who was made sin for us [2Co_5:21], has finished the world of reconciliation, assumed the sins of the world, and taken them away; but he is, besides, the way, the truth and the life, and by him we come to the Father. And it is the Holy Ghost from whom both our purification and our new and divine life proceed. These truths are involved in the conception of a “baptism with the Holy Ghost” which the Redeemer, while alluding to the water-baptism of John, here announces; for as in the material world water has the two-fold effect of cleansing and recreating or vivifying, so the baptism with the Holy Ghost has a two-fold operation: it purifies the soul, and also infuses into it divine life and power (Act_1:8).
2. The kingdom of God is one of those fundamental conceptions or truths which pervade the word of God, particularly the New Testament. A kingdom of God has existed ever since God has created and governed the world, but it has passed through different periods, experienced various developments, and exhibited manifold forms. When the apostles proposed the question in Act_1:6, they thought of the kingdom of glory. Jesus withheld from them and from us a knowledge only of the time, but did not leave the fact itself involved in doubt. Not only the Scriptures of the Old, but also many weighty passages of the New Testament, establish the truth that Israel may look forward to a future condition which is full of promise, and to a certain prerogative in the kingdom of God. But it is a very different question whether we are competent to define in an intelligent manner the character, the extent, and the various relations of this future privilege of Israel. That question is not answered affirmatively by the manner in which Christ deals with the interrogation of his disciples,—his significant silence on the one hand, and, on the other, his weighty testimony respecting the fact itself. It is not without a deep meaning that he calls their attention (and our own also) to the present, direct, and practical vocation in the kingdom of grace; that vocation, which in its holy, comprehensive and honorable character, should now preëminently occupy their thoughts, authorizes them to be the Lord’s witnesses to the ends of the earth. It unquestionably exposes the Lord’s servants to many a painful conflict. The kingdom of grace often passes, in accordance with the divine dispensation, under the cross, and its motto is: Succumbing conducts to victory. The witness is often required to become a martyr, and, indeed, both conceptions are connected with the word μάρτνρρες. But the most vigorous growth of the kingdom of Christ is frequently seen precisely under the cross.
3. The Ascension of Jesus is both the glorious termination of his terrestrial, and also the glorious commencement of his celestial life. It was, partly, a visible, partly, an invisible, process. The gradual ascent of the Lord, until a cloud received him, was visible; but the Lord’s actual reception into heaven itself, or the true ἀνάληψις into the glory of heaven, was invisible. The fact itself was announced by the angels (Act_1:11), and had also been foretold by the Lord previously to his sufferings. (Joh_14:2 ff.) He had himself repeatedly appeared to his disciples during the forty days which succeeded his resurrection, but on every occasion he had vanished out of their sight as suddenly as he had appeared; comp. Luk_24:31. But when he finally parted from the assembled apostles, he permitted their glance to dwell distinctly and continuously on his ascent to heaven; thus, they who were appointed to be his eye-witnesses, were perfectly assured by the testimony of their senses, as far as such could be given, that he no more belonged to the earth or abode on it, but had, when all was finished, gone to the Father from whom he had come. And, indeed, Jesus as man ascended to heaven; it was the same Jesus who had died on the cross and risen from the grave that, on this last occasion, assembled with his disciples, and then ascended.
4. The ascension of Christ and his second coming are to be viewed in their combination; they are connected in the most intimate manner in the message brought by the angels. The same Christ who went to heaven, will hereafter return; he who comes to judge the living and the dead, is the Son of man, the Crucified One, the same who was wounded for us, who was dead, but is now alive forevermore (Joh_5:27; Rev_1:18, and comp. Act_1:13). The heavenly messengers bear witness to a threefold truth; He will return; he will return as the same; he will return in like manner as he went, that is, visibly and in glory. The angels make no allusion to the precise time of his coming, even as he himself had declared that the times and seasons were secrets belonging to the Father alone.
5. The interval between the two events, the ascension and the return of Christ, constitutes that whole period of time during which the history of the apostles and of the entire Church, runs its course. During this interval the Lord reigns at the right hand of the Father, unitedly with the Father; but he reigns in the midst of his enemies also. When the eye of faith glances upward to that glory in which the Crucified One now sits enthroned, and when Christian hope looks forward to his return, new strength and joy are imparted to the believing heart.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Act_1:4. a. And, being assembled together with them.—Before Christ can avail himself of the services of teachers in gathering men unto himself, he first gathers those teachers themselves under the wings of his grace, so that, after they are warmed and penetrated by his love, they may minister to him. Let him who is not gathered with others unto Christ, by no means assume the sacred office. (Apost. Past.).
b. Commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise.—The true disciple does not wilfully withdraw from his post, but waits until the Lord commands him to depart, even if those among whom he must labor, should resemble the occupants of the den of thieves in Jerusalem (Ibid.). Remember, O my soul, the weighty saying: “Go, when Jesus calls thee; hasten, when he draws thee; pause, when he restrains thee.”—The burden imposed by the command is alleviated for the disciples by the precious pentecostal promise connected with it. The yoke of the law is made easy and light by the Gospel. (Leonhardi and Spiegelhauer).
c. Wait for the promise of the Father.—No one is permitted to preach prematurely, before the day of Pentecost, else would he act in his own name, and the Lord would say: ‘I have not sent thee.’ A pentecostal shower must precede every sermon, in order that the latter may operate effectually and awaken men. (Gossner.).—The Holy Spirit promised by the Father is the Spirit of adoption. (Besser.).
Act_1:5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.—After Jesus had finished his work, having been baptized with water and with blood, the promise of John could be fulfilled: “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost.” Luk_3:16. (Besser.).—The measure in which the Lord grants his Spirit to his servants is proportioned to the work in which he employs them. He had previously imparted the Holy Ghost to his disciples, (Joh_20:22), but now promises that he will grant the Spirit in a still fuller measure. O that we would receive and retain the gift with more devout earnestness! Then would an ever increasing measure be surely given to us [Joh_3:34]. (Apost. Past.).—Not many days hence.—Christ does not specify the day and the hour with respect to his kingdom. He desires that his people shall watch, pray, and wait. The believer is spiritually educated by patient expectation; but his heart is encouraged when he hears such words as these: “Not many days hence”—“a little while”—“behold, I come quickly.” (Leonh. and Spiegelh.).
Act_1:6. Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?—Although we well know that the kingdom of Christ always exhibits its most vigorous growth under the cross, and thus acquires subsequently increased glory, we are, nevertheless, inclined by nature to wish for tidings of its external prosperity and splendor, rather than of those trials which usually promote its growth so efficiently. (Apost. Past.).—At the same time, the sentiments which the apostles express in the question cannot be said to be of the class of those which prevailed among carnal Jews. They had been assured that, being baptized with the Holy Ghost, they should receive the promise of the Father. Hence they looked forward with joyful hope to Israel’s entire redemption; the peace of heart which they enjoyed would be imparted to their nation; and the kingdom, the blessedness of which they already enjoyed in spirit, would, as they trusted, be revealed in all its might and splendor. (Besser).
Act_1:7-8.—It is not for you to know the times or the seasons—; but ye shall receive power.—The question of the disciples exhibited certain commendable features, such as a longing for the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven—a presentiment in their souls that great events were on the eve of occurring—and a recognition of the truth that now, when the King was ascending his heavenly throne, the power of his kingdom on earth must necessarily be revealed. The feature of the question which could not receive the Lord’s approbation was solely the impatience on the part of the disciples, which it betrayed; they eagerly desire to know the time and the hour; they presume to inquire respecting the manner, the place and the time of the coming of the kingdom of God, instead of humbly intrusting the Lord’s work to his own care, and of fulfilling their personal duties in meekness of spirit. That impatience the Lord mildly reduces to silence by uttering the words: It is not for you to know; of those personal duties of the disciples the encouraging promise reminds them: Ye shall receive power.—That power is designed to make them agents in hastening the approach of the time and the hour of the Messiah’s kingdom on earth.—No better remedy for a morbid tendency to indulge in unprofitable speculations can be found, than a spirited course of action on the part of an individual, both in his religious and in his secular life; such a procedure will not only enable him to dismiss painful and importunate questions, but also conduct him to a practical solution of his difficulties.—Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.—No region is so desolate and unpromising, that, when the Lord sends a messenger to it, and the messenger goes forth at His command and in the power of His Spirit, such witness should not produce fruit. (Ap. Past.).—Jerusalem, the place in which the Spirit was first received, was designed to be likewise the place in which the witness of the Spirit should first be heard; the land of promise [Heb_11:9] was designed to offer the first congenial soil to the promise which is itself the fulness of spiritual blessings. Samaria, the missionary field, “white already to harvest” (Joh_4:35), is mentioned by the Lord as a region intermediate between Judea and the countries of the Gentiles. The uttermost part of the earth may possibly indicate Rome, for that capital of the world represented all the known nations of the earth. We shall find that the arrangement of the contents of the Acts strictly conforms to this arrangement of the witnesses. (Besser).
Act_1:9. While they beheld, he was taken up.—The interest and the affections of a large proportion of those who are styled Christians, are absorbed by the affairs of this transitory life; they seek after earthly objects, and give little or no heed to the fact that Christ has ascended on high. Here the Holy Ghost interposes and proclaims that Christ did not remain on earth, but ascended to heaven, so that while we dwell here below in the body, we may, nevertheless, lift up our hearts and thoughts on high, and not permit ourselves to be overcharged with cares of this life [Luk_21:34]. According to the rule which every Christian must adopt, the body and the old Adam may be occupied with temporal things, but the heart must seek spiritual and eternal treasures, even as Paul says: “Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” Col_3:1. (Luther).—Christ, who ascended to heaven, is truly the Lord both of counsel and of action—the living principle of the history of the apostles. (Besser).—A cloud received him out of their sight.—A visible cloud received the visible presence of Jesus, but other clouds were advancing, of which we read thus in Isa_45:8 : “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.” A cloud of witnesses (Heb_12:1) was ordered to diffuse a spiritual rain over the thirsty earth. (Ap. Past.).—Thus the clouds above us and around us are visible witnesses of the invisible Saviour, and like a light veil conceal the eternal High Priest from our bodily eyes. But as surely as the clouds are not only above us, but also around and among us, so surely is He who is enthroned behind the clouds, also among his people. (Williger).
Act_1:10. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven—behold, two men stood by them.—So, too, the servants of Jesus, in an especial manner, should fix their eyes and hearts on Him, in all their purposes and acts, in their struggles and their sorrows; then will the glance of Jesus meet their own; for while he dwelleth on high, he humbleth himself to behold the things that are below. (Psa_113:5-6). How faithful the Saviour is! He is scarcely removed from the sight of his disciples, before he sends two of his heavenly messengers in order to cheer them; it was a pledge that his great promise concerning the mission of the Spirit should be fulfilled (Ap. Past.).—The two men in white apparel, clothed in brilliant festive garments (Mar_16:5), and the men of Galilee, who are unknown or despised on earth, but well known in heaven, and mentioned with honor for the sake of Him who was called a Galilean [Luk_23:6], are now intimately united; a Mahanaim [Gen_32:2], a double encampment of angels and of men—the holy Church—is now established on earth. (Besser).
Act_1:11. a. Ye men of Galilee.—After the Galilean Jesus occupied the throne at the right hand of God, no title of honor could be conferred on his disciples more glorious than the one which they here received. (Leonh. and Spieg.).—Why stand ye gazing up into heaven?—This language reminds us of the Easter-sermon of the angels: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” [Luk_24:5]. (Besser).—The rapture with which the servants of Jesus gaze on his glory (and also their painful longing to be at home with him), can never justify inaction on their part, or forgetfulness of their office and calling. The joy of the Lord is designed to be their strength [Neh_8:10], when they labor in behalf of the souls of others. (Ap. Past.).—The ascension of Jesus has opened a way in which we can follow him to heaven. (Starke).
b. This same Jesus—shall so come.—“Occupy till I come!” (Luk_19:13). It is this commission, and no other, which his servants who are intrusted with the talent of the Spirit, are commanded to fulfil. He shall come—such alone are the words of the angels when they impart comfort and hope to the apostles, and the Church confesses the same hope, in simplicity of faith, in the second Article [of The Creed: “From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Tr.]. (Besser).—Truly, he will come in like manner as he went into heaven; his glorified wounds, the marks of his humiliation, will shine forth on that day in the sight of his people and of all the world; then will his people be comforted, seeing that their Saviour has “obtained eternal redemption” [Heb_9:12] for them; but unbelievers and all the enemies of his cross will be filled with terror; they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and all shall mourn on earth. [Zec_12:10 ff.]. (Leonh. and Spieg.).
On the whole section.—The hope of the righteous man: it is, I. An exercise in obedience; II. The fruit of faith; III. A duty which is converted into gladness (Pro_10:28). (Lechler).—Not depart from Jerusalem, Act_1:4.—The duty of all faithful servants of Jesus to act as witnesses, especially in calamitous times: I. It imposes a difficult task; II. It is attended with an exalted promise.—The gift of the Holy Ghost, a baptism with the Holy Ghost, in so far as the Spirit, I. Cleanses the soul, as water cleanses the body; and, II. Recreates and strengthens the soul, as the bath renews the bodily strength. (Lechler).—Lord, when wilt thou restore thy kingdom? This question, which presents itself to the minds of disciples even in our day, is, I. An authorized question; when it proceeds from (a) a well-established faith, which awaits the coming of the Lord’s kingdom; (b) compassionate love, which desires the salvation of the world; (c) holy sorrow, produced by the distress of the times. But it is, II. An unauthorized question; when it proceeds from (a) a carnal impatience, which desires that the kingdom of God should come with observation [Luk_17:20]; (b) spiritual presumption, which attempts to ascertain that which the Father hath put in his own power, or reserved for himself; (c) religious sloth, which gazes at the clouds with folded arms, while the great vocation of all requires them to work diligently for the kingdom of God.—The true remedy for spiritual presumption: I. An humble waiting for the hour of the Lord; II. Alacrity and diligence in performing the duties of our particular calling.—The kingdom of God in its different aspects: I. Under the cross; II. In its heavenly glory. (Lechler).—Christ, our King: I. Wearing, first, a crown of thorns; II. Afterwards, a crown of glory (id.).—Faithfulness in that which is least, the pathway to greatness in heaven. (id.).—Christianity, viewed as a call to men to become witnesses: as such, it requires, I. Experience; II. Assurance of faith; III. Veracity; IV. Fidelity and perseverance, (id.).—Ye shall be witnesses unto me! Such is our vocation: I. In its glory—witnesses of the exalted King; II. In its lowliness—witnesses unto Him alone, not unto or for ourselves; III. With its trials—witnesses of the Lord in a hostile world; IV. With its promises—“power from on high,” [Act_1:8; Luk_24:49].—The power of the Holy Ghost: I. Our need of it; II. The manner in which it is received. (Lechler).—The Ascension of Jesus: viewed as, I. The glorification of Jesus; II. The glorification of our human nature: III. The glorification of the whole earth. (Kapff.).—With what sentiments do we now look on our ascending Lord? I. With deep gratitude for the gifts and promises which he has left behind; II. With wonder and joy, awakened by the glory attending his departure; III. With a blessed hope of his return, which he has promised. (Westermeyer.).—In what manner are we to look upward toward our ascended Lord? I. By diligently searching his word; II. By earnestly seeking those things which are above; III. By a strong desire that he should draw us unto himself. (Starke).—Whither does the ascension of the Lord direct our glance? I. To the work which he finished—the blessings of which we are to extend to others; II. To heaven—into which he was taken up, and where he has prepared a place for us [Joh_14:2]; III. To his second coming unto judgment—which we are to await with a devout and submissive spirit. (Langbein).—The true mode of looking upward to our exalted Saviour: it consists, I. In a correct understanding of the importance of the ascension, namely, (a) the word concerning the kingdom, (b) the power of the Holy Ghost, (c) the visible event as an emblem of the truth that Christ lives forever; II. In a proper use of the legacy of our exalted Lord; (a) a proper application of the word concerning the kingdom, and reverence for the privilege of being admitted into it, (b) sanctification in the Holy Ghost, (c) joyful expectation of the return of the Lord. (Harless).—The results of the ascension of our Lord; he has ascended to heaven, in order, I. That we may have our conversation in heaven; II. That we may have peace on earth; III. That we may receive the gifts which will enable us to follow him. (Petri).—The promises of the Redeemer at his departure: I. “Lo, I am with you alway” [Mat_28:20]. He is with us (a) in the Scriptures, (b) in the holy affections of our souls, (c) in the persons of those who bear his image. II. “This Jesus shall so come.” Even now He is already come again unto judgment, in so far as good and evil men are (a) alikemade known or characterized by him, (b) separated, and (c) conducted to the places respectively assigned to them. (Schleiermacher.)
Footnotes:
[2]Act_1:4.—The reading συναλιζόμενος is sufficiently sustained by nearly all the MSS. [by A. (B. e sil), C. D. E. and Codex Sinaiticus], in contradistinction from συναλισκόμενος in Cod. D. or συναυλιζόμενος in Theodoret; the last is recommended by Griesbach. [The marginal rendering (Wiclif, 1380; Rheims, 1580): eating together with him, is an ancient explanation of the textus receptus, συναλιζόμενος, and is adopted in the Vulgate, convescens; it has been rejected as erroneous by the most eminent modern interpreters, except Meyer.—Tr.]
[3]Act_1:6.—Lachmann, Tischendorf and others, have correctly preferred the simple form ἠρώτων [found in A. B. C. (original) and Cod. Sin.], to the compound ἐπηρώτων, which is a correction of the former, in Cod. C. [Alford retains ἐπηρ. with C. (second correction) D. E.—Tr.]
[4]Act_1:8. a.—[The marginal rendering: the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, (found also in the Vulg. virtutem supervenientis Spiritus sancti), is regarded by the best writers (Winer: Gram. N. T. § 19. 2), as less accurate than the version (Cranmer, 1539,) presented in the text.—Tr.]
[5]Act_1:8. b.—μου in A. B. C. D. [and Cod. Sin.] is better supported than μοι in E.
[6]Act_1:8. c.—ἐν before πάσῃ [as in text. rec.], is undoubtedly spurious; it is wanting in A. and D., and was inserted in C. by a later hand. [Ἐν is found also in B. E. and Cod. Sin., but is dropped by Lach. Tisch. and Alf.—Tr.]
[7]Act_1:10.—The plural ἐσθήσεσι λευκαῖς is to be preferred to the sing. ἔσθῆτι λευκῇ [of text. rec.]; the former was the original reading in Cod. C., but was changed into the singular by a later hand. [Alford regards the singular as the better reading; it is found in D. E., but Lach. and Tisch. adopt the plural with A. B. Cod. Sin., Vulg.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–8 showed himself alive--As the author is about to tell…
showed himself alive--As the author is about to tell us that "the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" was the great burden of apostolic preaching, so the subject is here filly introduced by an allusion to the primary evidence on which that great fact rests, the repeated and undeniable manifestations of Himself in the body to the assembled disciples, who, instead of being predisposed to believe it, had to be overpowered by the resistless evidence of their own senses, and were slow of yielding even to this (Mar 16:14).
after his passion--or, suffering. This primary sense of the word "passion" has fallen into disuse; but it is nobly consecrated in the phraseology of the Church to express the Redeemer's final endurances.
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seen of them forty days--This important specification of time occurs here only.
speaking of--rather "speaking."
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God--till now only in germ, but soon to take visible form; the earliest and the latest burden of His teaching on earth.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3–8 3. Showed himself alive—Gloriously and repeatedly displayed himself in…
3. Showed himself alive—Gloriously and repeatedly displayed himself in his resurrection nature.
Infallible proofs—As Christ is the great miracle, so in him the resurrection is the central miracle apparent to men; and it was important, therefore, that this miracle should be sustained by infallible proofs. The evangelists record nine appearances of Jesus. In regard to Jesus’ risen body, see note on Luk_24:36.
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Forty days—Compare note on Luk_24:44-45.
Between the Passover (when Christ was crucified) and the Pentecost were, inclusive, fifty days; during forty of which the various showings of himself took place, and the remaining ten days were the those days of Act_1:15. Forty, seventy, and one hundred and twenty are the three primal sacred numbers multiplied by the decimal. See on Act_1:15. Forty days according to Wordsworth, on this passage, is the period indicating “a probation before some great event;” that is, the completion of some preparatory stage. Such was the fact with Moses before the giving of the law, Exo_24:18; Exo_34:28; Deu_9:9; Deu_10:10; with Hebrew spies, Num_13:25; Num_14:34; with Elias, 1Ki_19:8; with Nineveh, Jon_3:4. And as the purification by the presentation of a male child in the temple required a period of forty days, so forty days was Jesus’ probation before he was presented, Luk_2:22; forty days his probationary temptation, Mar_1:13; and forty days his earthly resurrection stage before ascension. And this last forty days were the apostolic probation before the Pentecostal preparatories commenced.
Things pertaining—Doubtless fully and clearly as their advancement in knowledge allowed, yet not so successfully but that they asked the unwise question in Act_1:6.
Kingdom of God—Not that a large body of new teachings was given, but the kingdom of God was the topic of all he did say.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–8 3. after his passion] Literally, after he had suffered.
3. after his passion] Literally, after he had suffered.
by many infallible proofs] The adjective here has no representative in the original. The Greek word signifies some sign or token manifest to the senses, as opposed to evidence given by witnesses. The word infallible has been used in the A. V. to bring out this signification. It is better to omit it. The proofs here meant are Christ’s speaking, walking and eating with His disciples on several occasions after His resurrection, and giving to Thomas and the rest the clearest demonstration that He was with them in the same real body as before His death, and not in appearance only (Luk_24:39; Luk_24:43; Joh_20:27; Joh_21:13). As the verity of the Resurrection would be the basis of all the Apostolic preaching, it was necessary that such clear proofs as these should be given by Christ to the twelve who were to be His witnesses.
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being seen of them forty days] Better, appearing unto them by the space of forty days. Christ was not continuously with the disciples, but shewed Himself to them frequently at intervals during the forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension. The period of forty days is only mentioned here, and it has been alleged as a discrepancy between the Gospel of St Luke and the Acts that the former (Luke 24) represents the Ascension as taking place on the same day as the Resurrection. It needs very little examination to disperse such an idea. The two disciples there mentioned (Luk_24:13) were at Emmaus “towards evening” on the day of Christ’s resurrection; they returned to Jerusalem that night and told what they had seen. But after this has been stated the chapter is broken up at Luk_24:36 (which a comparison with John (Joh_20:26-28) shews to be an account of what took place eight days after the Resurrection), and at v. 44 and v. 50, into three distinct sections with no necessary marks of time to unite them, and in the midst of the whole we are told that Christ opened the mind of His disciples that they might understand the Scriptures. No reasonable person would conclude that all this was done in one day. Beside which the objectors prove too much, for according to their reasoning the Ascension must have taken place at night after the two disciples had come again to Jerusalem from Emmaus.
the kingdom of God] This expression is found most frequently in the last three Evangelists, St Matthew’s form being “the kingdom of heaven.” It has several significations, but here, as in Mar_1:14, it includes the whole Christian dispensation, its message, progress and economy. Some traces of the nature of these communications in the forty days we find in the Gospels. The disciples were sent as Christ Himself was sent (Joh_20:21), their understandings were opened that they might understand the Scriptures (Luk_24:45); the extent of their commission was set before them, as well as the solemn issues of their work (Mar_16:15-16), and to that was added the promise of their Lord’s constant presence (Mat_28:20).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–8 (3) After his passion.—Literally, after He had suffered. The…
(3) After his passion.—Literally, after He had suffered. The English somewhat anticipates the later special sense of “passion.”
By many infallible proofs.—There is no adjective in the Greek answering to “infallible,” but the noun is one which was used by writers on rhetoric (e.g., Aristotle, Rhet. i. 2) for proofs that carried certainty of conviction with them, as contrasted with those that were only probable or circumstantial. No other New Testament writer uses it.
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Being seen of them forty days.—St. Luke uses a peculiar and unusual word (it occurs twice in the LXX.: 1Ki_8:8, and Tob_12:19) for “being seen,” perhaps with the wish to imply that the presence was not continuous, and that our Lord was seen only at intervals. This may be noted as the only passage which gives the time between the Resurrection and the Ascension. It had its counterpart in the forty days of the Temptation in the wilderness (Luk_4:2), as that had had in the earlier histories of Moses (Exo_24:18; Deu_9:9; Deu_9:18) and Elijah (1Ki_19:8). There was a certain symbolic fitness in the time of triumph on earth coinciding with that of special conflict. If we ask what was the character, if one may so speak, of our Lord’s risen life between His manifestation to the disciples, the history of the earlier forty days in part suggests the answer. Then, as before, the life was, we may believe, one of solitude and communion with His Father, no longer tried and tempted, as it had then been, by contact with the power of evil—a life of intercession, such as that which uttered itself in the great prayer of John 17. Where the days and nights were spent we can only reverently conjecture. Analogy suggests the desert places and mountain heights or Galilee (Luk_4:42; Luk_6:12). The mention of Bethany in Luk_24:50, and of the Mount of Olives in Act_1:12, makes it probable that Gethsemane may have been one of the scenes that witnessed the joy of the victory, as it had witnessed before the agony of the conflict.
The things pertaining to the kingdom of God.—This implies, it is obvious, much unrecorded teaching. What is recorded points (1) to the true interpretation of the prophecies of the Messiah (Luk_24:27; Luk_24:44-45); (2) to the extension of the mission of the disciples to the whole Gentile world, and their admission to the Kingdom by baptism (Mat_28:19); (3) to the promises of supernatural powers and divine protection (Mar_16:15-18); (4) to that of His own perpetual presence with His Church (Mat_28:20).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–8 Proofs for infallible proofs, A.V; appearing unto them for…
Proofs for infallible proofs, A.V; appearing unto them for seen of, A.V; concerning for pertaining to, A.V The addition of the words by many proofs makes it necessary to understand the words allowed himself (paresthsen eJauton) in the sense which it bears both in classic and Scriptural Greek, of proved or demon-strafed: "To whom he gave distinct proofs of his being alive after his passion;" the proofs follow being "seen of them" for forty days at intervals, talking with them, and (ver. 9) "being taken up while they were looking." Doubtless, too, he had in his mind those other proofs which he records in Act_10:41, and those referred to by St. Paul. (1Co_15:5-8) For this sense of paristhmi, see Act_24:13, "to rove:" and Lysias"s "Oration against Eratosthenes" (p. 125), where the almost identical phrase occurs which we have here, jAmfotera tauta polloiv tekmhrioiv parasthsw, "I will prove both these things by many certain proofs." The A.V rendering, "infallible proofs," was quite justified. Stephanus says, "De certo et indubitato signo dicitur apud Rhetoricos" ("Thesaurus," 9216); and the technical meaning of tekmhrion in Aristotle is a "demonstrative proof," as opposed to a shmeion, which leaves room for doubt; and in medical writers, which is important as regards St. Luke, the tekmhrion is the "infallible symptom." St. Luke, by the use of the word here, undoubtedly meant to express the certainty of the conclusion based on those proofs. Appearing unto them. The Greek ojptanomenov, corresponding to the fanerwqeiv of the Epistle of Barnabas, cap. 15., only occurs in the New Testament in this place. In the Septuagint of, 1Ki_8:8 it is used of the staves of the ark within the veil, which "were not seen without." The idea intended to be conveyed, both by the use of this verb and by the use of dia (by the space of) is that our Lord was not with the apostles always, as he was before the Resurrection, but that he came and again disappeared (St. Chrysostom). They were fleeting appearances spread over forty days. The nearly related substantive, ojptasia, means "a vision," and is frequently used by Luk_1:22 Luk_24:23. It is also found in 2Co_12:1. Concerning the kingdom of God; a subject which had deeply engaged their thoughts, (Luk_19:11) and on which it was most needful that they should now be fully instructed, that they might teach others. (Act_20:25)
The risen Jesus.
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whom he also showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing unto them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.
I THE WITNESSES.
1. Prepared and trained for the work. Not shown to all, but to those who could look at the miracle in its spiritual aspect, who could see the fulfillment of God"s Word.
2. The certain knowledge of Christ"s resurrection a solemn responsibility which all were not able to bear. "Nothing secret but that it may come abroad. Not to the wise of this world, who know not how to use Divine secrets, but to the babes in disposition, simple, humble, self-forgetful, waiting on God.
3. The main work of Christ"s servants is witnessing, not theorizing; not building up ecclesiastical structures; not seeking dominion over the faith of others; but "showing forth" the great facts. Our, preaching should be of the nature of witnessing. "Add to our seal that God is true. Although apostles had distinct duties as leaders and founders of the visible Church, they share with all the Lord"s people the office of witnesses. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord." See to it that we speak as those who "know the certainty of the things.
II THE PROOFS. The Resurrection must be proved infallibly (tekmhrioiv); that is, beyond all reasonable doubt. We must build on a foundation of fact and testimony. Our first teachers must be those who could say that they had tasted, handled, felt of the Word of Life. (1Jn_1:1-4) Now the proofs were:
1. Appearances of the risen Jesus, thirteen in number, in various circumstances, to different kinds of witnesses, and with amply sufficient tests of reality.
2. Coincidence of the facts with-the words of our Lord himself and the promises of the Old Testament.
3. Distinction of the signs and proofs of the Resurrection from any other facts; from the possible misapprehensions or illusions of disciples. It was unexpected; proved against unbelief; with growing assurance; and with concurrence of many sincere and faithful men who knew their responsibility as witnesses.
4. Jesus showed himself alive after his resurrection. The fact to which apostles testified was not the mystery of the Resurrection itself, but the simple fact that Jesus was alive. No one saw him rise, but they saw him after he was risen. They might mistake what occurred at the sepulcher; they could make no mistake in talking with a living man, handling him, eating with him, and that for forty days and on many occasions, in one another"s presence. Necessity that we should set the proof of the Resurrection and risen life of Jesus first and foremost in our defense of Christianity. It is the key-stone of the arch.
III THE GLORY OF GOD IN THE FACE OF JESUS CHRIST. The forty days and their influence on the first disciples, and through them on all future ages.
1. The personal presence of Jesus lifted up into a more glorious fact. The infirmities gone. The fact of his victory shining in his face. The influence of his condescension; the risen Jesus still the Friend and Companion of his people. The expectation of his return to heaven: "I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God". (Joh_20:17) The effect on Thomas: "My Lord and my God!" The necessity that disciples should cease to "know Christ after the flesh." Henceforth they felt his presence spiritually.
2. Forty days of special instruction "concerning the kingdom of God." The history which follows corrects the view sometimes put forward that the risen Savior imparted to his apostles any body of ecclesiastical laws. Had they received them they would certainly have referred to them. He spoke of the kingdom itself, which is not meat and drink, not external ordinances and regulations, not creeds and shibboleths; but "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." He called to remembrance what he had preached. He opened their understandings to the meaning of the Old Testament. He corrected their worldly views. He showed them the relation of the gospel facts to the kingdom; that is, that he could reign by the power of these facts. "The Messiah ought to suffer, and to enter into his glory." He led them back to Calvary with new faith before he took them to Olivet. Jesus was a Teacher to the last. He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. R.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER
The world"s supreme question to the front.
of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." We hold in our hands, in these words, the key, not of a brief section of this chapter and this book alone, but rather of a very long stretch of time, and an immensely important and absorbingly interesting stretch of the world"s history. Matters of the deepest and most touching individual interest, like all the charming incident of the four Gospels, must yield, we are here tacitly reminded yield both in time and in high equity also to those of collective, of national, of universal interest. All the capacity of Old Testament history, abounding in monographs of thrilling human import, long led the way onward to this development. And now it might be said the crisis had arrived. All that even Jesus himself had done and taught before "his passion" is to be called only a beginning. He had done, indeed, unnumbered benefits to unnumbered persons. He had taught unnumbered lessons of wisdom and goodness to unnumbered persons. And he had been a light, a wonder, a glory, to a nation. But now, after his passion and resurrection, on to his ascension, his work shows as though cast in larger mould. Its character speaks comprehension beyond what it formerly did. And this is its simple, grand, motto things pertaining to the kingdom of God." We have here
I THE MANIFEST INSTALLATION, LONG AWAITED, OF THE ONE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF THE WORLD. Henceforth the question that shall be to the front for the whole world is "the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God and the Church of Christ are not, indeed, identities. But they stand in most real correlation. The just analogy of the relation that holds between them is that of the perfect type, the original model to the faithful copy a copy ever realizing greater faithfulness of resemblance. For this supreme installation, now come with so little of ceremony, at so unexpected a time, in so unexpected and modest a way, the world had waited thousands of years, while "kings and prophets" had been on the watch-tower. These had died with "hope deferred," but in many cases with faith never stronger than in that dying hour. But further, during the last thirty-three years, since in strangest consent a heavenly band of angels, and certain shepherds, and certain "wise men of the East," and a certain very unwise king, Herod, struck to the heart cowardly, had seemed to set them going, wave after wave of excited expectation and of suspense had swayed to and fro the hearts of multitudes. The expectation and the suspense were just now put to rest, and it should be a satisfied rest, for "this time," to be soon superseded by an untold period of hard work and severe conflict. During the past thirty-three years, this kingdom had been foreshadowed among a thousand things "done" and "taught" that seemed of nearer import, by
1. The distinct preaching of John the Baptist (Mat_3:1) and of Jesus Christ himself. (Mat_4:17)
2. The introduction of it into the model prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples, "Thy kingdom come Thine is the kingdom.
3. The many parables of Jesus, of which "the kingdom of God" or "the kingdom of heaven" was the subject.
4. The missionary tours of the twelve disciples (Mat_10:7, Mat_10:8) and of the seventy. (Luk_10:9)
5. The detached observations made by Jesus, having the kingdom as their subject (Luk_17:20; Joh_18:33-37) But now, during so special aperiod as the forty days, this subject things pertaining to the kingdom of God is spoken of as the characteristic and discriminating theme of Christ"s discourse and instruction to the apostles. The inference is plain.
II THE INDICATIONS OF THE AUGUST CRISIS, WHEN THE MOST ARDUOUS WORK, MOST ENNOBLING PRIVILEGE, MOST TREMENDOUS RESPONSIBILITY, WERE DEVOLVED ON HUMAN AGENTS. And two things are specially to be noted at this amazing juncture.
1. The carrying on of the work of Christ on earth, in the establishing and propagating of the kingdom of God, is given into the hands of men. We know nothing like all which Jesus said to his apostles during these "forty days." Probably we do not know even all the occasions on which he appeared to them and instructed them. But there can be no doubt that there was one reason, and only one chief reason, why the theme of Christ"s conversation or discourse was what we are here told it was. The reason this, that the apostles should now be prepared, both in heart and hand, to undertake the lead of the great work, as they had never Before been prepared, probably not even to the conceiving of such a thing.
2. The carrying on of that work, now devolved or about immediately to be devolved on the servants by the Master, is for so we are irresistibly led to concludenot prescribed too closely, is not provided for in anything approaching literal detail. Christ spoke of the things pertaining to" the kingdom of God. One inevitably imagines that under this description principles were imparted possibly enough information savoring of the character of revelation. These would be lighted up and warmed by the presence of gracious promise and stirring glimpses of the above and of the future. Yet, all as inevitably, one is impressed with the conviction that even that poor earthly judgment of those poor earthly men, who had so often slipped and failed even under the eye of the Master, was not fettered, hampered, overpowered by the severity of binding detail. We seem to see Jesus doing at that germinal time what the history of the Church clearly enough shows he ever has done since, throwing himself and his own expensive work and grand sacrifice alike on the love and the judgment of his servants! It is a marvelous thought of work and honor devolved on men! Nor could it be easy to find either a more stirring or inspiring stimulus both of love and of wisdom"s best efforts. The conjunction of the trust Christ offers to repose practically, not on our hearts" love alone, but even on our fallible discretion, illustrates the height of his surpassing grace to us, in the very gracefulness of the grace.
III THE SUGGESTIONS OF THE SOURCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM THAT UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES WOULD BE REQUIRED. He who "spake" to loving disciples, friends, servants, and who instructed them now, would by the very act, often repeated before his passion," but now (it is impossible to refrain from the word) with increased sanctity after his resurrection, ensure their memory, and their grateful memory, of himself. These he would make his own more surely than the child hallows more and more the memory of the father; more surely than the pupil never conquers, nor wishes nor tries to conquer, the reverence he used to feel to a teacher, whom he once pictured as possessed of all knowledge. To him who gives the grace of conversion, we look instinctively for that of sanctification; as to those who give us life, we instinctively, unconsciously look for the support and rearing of that life. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," were words, we may rest assured, not heard exactly for the first time in the rapt moments of the literal Ascension! We are also immediately informed that Christ emphatically directed his disciples, now hanging on his lips, to look for and wait for the Holy Spirit, one of whose main offices was and ever is to bring to remembrance the things already spoken by Christ. Until, then, "God is all in all," and the mediatorial reign of Christ is resigned, he is our one Hope and Trust. He is the Giver of light, knowledge, love. He is the one only Head of his Church. He the Savior and the King of men, who now so condescendingly "showed himself alive" to the apostles, "after his passion, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. B.
Sensible proofs of Christ"s resurrection.
The resurrection of our Lord is declared to have been a literal and historical fact, of which satisfactory proofs could be given such proofs as men are accustomed to accept. Here it is stated that our Lord "showed himself alive;" that he "appeared -unto the disciples" (see Revised Version), that the proofs he offered of his restored life were "infallible," as well as "numerous; i.e. they were not merely "probable," or "circumstantial," they were such as naturally and properly carried conviction. The disciples were not deluded or deceived; they acted as reasonable men, and accepted the fact of the Resurrection because convinced by adequate proofs. But when the historical fact is thus fully assured, we must be prepared to receive the further fact which our Lord"s ascension declares, viz. that his resurrection was essentially a spiritual resurrection. We have in it the assurance that he himself, the spiritual person, Jesus, lived; we have but the formal part of the truth before us when we say that his body was restored to life. The bodily manifestations during the forty days were necessary, in order to give the disciples and us such proofs as they and we can apprehend, of the real continuance of the life of Jesus himself; through these sensible proofs our minds grasp the fact that he ever liveth." The spiritual" cannot be apprehended by us save by the help of figure, body, and form; and our Lord"s whole life on the earth is a gracious bringing home to our carnal minds of spiritual truths and realities by sensible appearances and deeds and words. Luke briefly declares the sufficiency of the proofs of the Resurrection. Each point may be illustrated and enforced by the facts detailed in the Gospels, and by the summary given in 1Co 15.
I THE TIME COVERED BY THE PROOFS WAS PROLONGED. It was forty days. Any sudden and passing manifestation of Christ might be explained as a mental delusion or a ghostly vision. The time, in this case, gave sufficient opportunity for testing the veritableness of Christ"s restored life. Spirit-manifestations never remain for forty days.
II THE OCCASIONS ON WHICH THE PROOFS WERE GIVEN WERE MANY, For them see Paul"s summary. (1Co 15) Some were given at Jerusalem; others in Galilee; others, again, at Olivet. Some on the shore; others on the mountain; others, again, in the house. Some with the sound of voice which all recognized; others with the showing of the crucifixion marks; others with the sharing of bodily food; and yet others with the signs of the old miraculous power. Impress the force that lies in cumulative evidence.
III THE WITNESSES WHO TESTIFY TO THE PROOFS WERE VARIOUS. Individual men may be selected, such as the skeptical Thomas, or the questioning Philip, and the value of their testimony may be shown. But equally important is the witness of Peter"s intensity and John"s insight. Add the evidence of the women, and that of "five hundred" disciples, to the majority of whom personal appeal could be made when Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Show what a stream of witnesses. They "crowd the court." Was ever any fact more adequately assured by sober testimony and sensible proofs, such as ought to carry conviction?
IV THE SUBJECT OF CHRIST"S TEACHING IN THE FORTY DAYS WAS THE SAME. The importance of this continuity needs to be carefully shown. Jesus resumed his work, carried it on from the point where he left off, completing his personal instructions to his disciples, with precise adaptation to his new relations as the risen and ascending Lord, and to their new duty as the preachers of his gospel to the world. Really in this lies the best proof of the Resurrection. Impress the security of the foundation fact on which the gospel rests. Christ "is risen," and our preaching is "not vain. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 8 To whom also He showed Himself alive after His…
Act_1:3
To whom also He showed Himself alive after His Passion.
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He rose again from the dead
I. The fact itself, or the notion of a resurrection in general. Admitting the power and providence of God, there can be nothing in it repugnant to reason, or incredible.
1. To raise a dead man to life surpasses the power of any creature; but no reason can be assigned why it should be beyond the Divine power; since the doing it involves no contradiction. He that first inspired the soul into the body, may surely be supposed capable of reuniting them.
2. Nor was it apparently in its design unworthy of God, or inconsistent with His holy will: for the ends thereof, such as were pretended by its attesters, were--
(1) Important.
(2) Good.
(3) Reasonable.
II. The witnesses.
1. General considerations:
(1) As to their number, it was not one or two, but many, who conspired in asserting it.
(2) They were no strangers to Jesus, but persons by long conversation familiarly acquainted with Him.
(3) They did aver themselves to be eye or ear-witnesses of the matter, as fully informed about it as senses could make them.
(4) The chief of these witnesses, the apostles themselves, were at first so far from being credulous in this matter, that they took it for a fiction, gave no credence thereto, and were at last with difficulty persuaded of it.
(5) On these grounds they boldly and concurrently aver the fact: they spake the Word of God with boldness: and with great power gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Which things being weighed, it appears impossible that the attesters of this fact, supposing them in their wits and senses, could be ignorant therein, or mistaken about it.
2. The character of the witnesses.
(1) They were persons who did (with denunciation of Gods heavy judgments on the contrary practice) preach and press earnestly all kinds of goodness, sincerity, modesty, and equity, as main points of that religion which by this testimony they confirmed.
(2) Their practice was answerable to their doctrine, being exemplary in all sorts of virtue and sincerity, whereby they did in effect conciliate much respect and authority to their words: the life they led was not the life of wicked impostors, but worthy of the divinest men; fit to carry on the best design.
(3) They were:persons of good sense; very wise and prudent; not in the way of worldly or fleshly wisdom, to compass projects of gain or pleasure to themselves; but endued with a wisdom far more excellent, and suitable to the characters they sustained.
(4) As to their purposes in this case: profit, honour, pleasure, or any worldly advantage they could not have in view; for they willingly abandoned all those things, for the sake of this very testimony incurring loss, disgrace, and pain.
(5) And all such afflictions, as they knowingly exposed themselves to them, they did endure with contentedness and joy.
(6) Whence it is evident enough that the satisfaction of their conscience, and expectation of future reward from God for the discharge of their duty, was all the argument that induced them to undertake this attestation, all the reason that could support them in it; neither of which could be consistent with the resolved maintenance of a falsehood.
(7) And how is it conceivable that such persons should be bewitched with so passionate an affection toward a man, who died as a malefactor, that merely for his sake, or rather a vain opinion about him, they should with such obstinacy defy all the world, with its persecutions, and the punishment of hell itself.
(8) Again, we may consider these witnesses to have been persons very unlikely to devise such a plot, very unfit to undertake it, very unable to manage and carry it through.
III. Their testimony.
1. How could such a cheat, if contrived, have so easily prospered,. and obtained so wonderful a progress?
2. The matter of their testimony, and its drift, were very implausible, such as no impostors would be likely to forge, and no hearers, without great evidence of truth, be ready to admit.
3. One would indeed think that this report, had it been false, might easily have been disproved and quashed; they who were mightily concerned, and as eagerly disposed to confute it, wanting no means of doing it.
4. As also this testimony had no human power to sustain it, so it used no sleight to convey itself into the persuasions of men it craved no blind faith: it dared all adversaries and powers to withstand it, relying on the patronage of heaven alone.
5. Furthermore, the thing itself, had it been counterfeit, was adapted to fall of itself; the witnesses clashing together, or relenting for their crime. The advice of Gamaliel on this point had much reason in it.
6. He then who doubts the sincerity of this testimony, or rejects it as incredible, must instead of it admit stronger incredibilities.
7. To these things we may add that God Himself did signally countenance and ratify this testimony, by extraordinary powers and graces conferred on the avowers thereof, as well as by a wonderful success bestowed on them. (F. Barrow, D. D.)
Christ risen, yet not ascended
There is a strong disposition to reverence that which has been connected with the great and good. If the wood of the true Cross had been preserved, few could look upon it but with the deepest interest. It is remarkable, however, that we have few relics of Christs days; while the museums of all civilised lands are filled with well-authenticated fragments from Greece, Rome, Babylon, Egypt. God has wisely ordered this to check the tendency to superstition and idolatry. But can no good use be made of this law of our nature? Our Church has judged that there can, and she teaches us not to seek for relics, but to remember events in Christs life, and then leads our thoughts to the instruction they convey.
I. How, or in what form, did our Lord show Himself after His passion? There was evidently some change in His body and some difference in His manner of appearing. He ate, indeed, with His disciples, yet not as one who needed food, but only to convince them of His corporeal existence. He does not seem to have lived with them familiarly as He bad before done, but came to them occasionally; and the forms of expression intimate something miraculous. He showed Himself as one was invisibly present, but, at will revealing Himself, like the sun shining from a cloud. Then, He vanished out of their sight. At other times He would come when the doors were bolted. The disciples regarded Him far otherwise than in His former state. Their accustomed free intercourse was changed for the deepest reverence. All questions concerning the nature of Christs body must remain unanswered till we know for ourselves what a spiritual and glorified body is.
II. Where? Chiefly in Galilee. There had been the favoured scene of His earthly ministry, and there His followers were most numerous. With what intense interest must those lowly followers have flocked together when the summons was to meet their risen Lord! He offers to meet us in His sacraments, house, word, prayer, yet how carelessly we regard the summons I He has carried the same loving, compassionate spirit with Him to heaven, and we may share with His disciples in His Divine consolations, if we seek them aright.
III. For what purpose. To speak of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, i.e., His Church. They had been hitherto very dull, and Christ in these meetings gave them fuller instructions. It is probable that we have the substance of our Lords conversations in the Acts and Epistles, for in these they would naturally embody and carry out their Masters directions. It is also very likely that many of the customs of the primitive Church were nothing more than our Lords instructions reduced to practice. Hence we see the importance of appealing, for our own guidance, to primitive usage. If, for instance, we find immediately after the apostles times, that infants were baptised, and nothing to oppose this in the New Testament, we might be strengthened in our conclusions, that this was a practice settled by our Lord Himself. How many points there are in civil law which are decided by such an appeal to established usage, and are not found in any written code! Many points, however, upon which our Lord dwelt in these interviews, are recorded. He promised to send them the Comforter, etc.
IV. Its certainty. By many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days. Our faith and hopes rest then on infallible proofs. And the certainty of the gospel increases the guilt and danger of those who neglect it. Are you living as if you believed it true? (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)
Many infallible proofs.
Sense evidence given of Christs resurrection
As the faith of the Church depends on the Resurrection God has given ample evidence of the fact. But He gave none other than that which appeals to the senses--the only way of proving any fact. Even our Maker could not give us better evidence without changing radically our nature. Observe how this bears on the Romish dogma of transubstantiation. The pillar on which that rests is the assumption that the senses deceive and cannot be trusted. But this assumption would leave the Resurrection incapable of proofs. Either the evidence of the senses is a valid proof of a fact or it is not. If it is transubstantiation is false; if it is not the Resurrection is unproved. The very same evidence which proves that Christ has risen proves also that the bread and wine are not changed into Christs body and blood. Thus the Roman apostasy cannot sustain its fundamental superstition without destroying the proof that the Redeemer has risen. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
Being seen of them forty days.--
The forty days
I. For the Lord. The period of--
1. The Sabbath rest after the completion of His work of redemption.
2. The last care of the Shepherd for His disciples.
3. The joyful expectation of His approaching exaltation.
II. For the Disciples. The period of--
1. The last blessed intercourse with their Divine Master.
2. Quiet communion with their own heart (Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?).
3. Earnest preparation for their apostolic mission.
III. For us. An emblem of--
1. The blessed life of faith with Christ in God, concealed from the world (Corinthians 3:3).
2. The blessed work of love in the hearts of our friends in looking forward to our approaching separation.
3. The expectation of hope of our heavenly perfection. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
The forty days
Mark,
I. How careful our Saviour was to have the fact of His resurrection certified to His disciples beyond the possibility of doubt. Strictly speaking, one meeting was enough. But proofs were multiplied, as His visits were repeated. They grew familiar with His look and aspect; heard Him talk, etc.; and after all this, they could never suppose that a vision had been imposed upon them. The positiveness with which they always spoke on this subject was an important element in their preaching, and it was their Lords purpose to build them up in a confidence which should never be shaken. Through the forty days a work of education was going on the fruits of which were seen in the next forty years.
II. This period was not one of uninterrupted intercourse, but of brief meetings, followed sore-times by days, or possibly weeks, of separation. Very graciously the Lord condescended to His friends, very blessed were these seasons when they came, but there was not the companionship of former days. Now Christ stood forth in His proper character as the Divine Mediator, to whom all power was committed in heaven and earth. The apostles had to learn this truth, and act upon it. Their approaches to the Mercy-seat, while bold, were to be marked with that solemn reverence without which all worship is a mockery.
III. Time was given to teach the apostles much of their Lords will, and to send them forth well equipped for their future work.
1. Particular directions given from time to time. They were to tarry at Jerusalem, where, judging from past experience, they would sow their seed as upon a rock, and peril their lives for nought. From that centre light was to radiate over the wide surface of this fallen world.,
2. Special gifts were promised to them for their work and power from on high.
3. Mistakes and prejudices were corrected.
4. The great truth was enforced, explained, anti illustrated, that their Lords death was the worlds life.
Learn--
1. A lesson of patience. Think what was before Him, and how contentedly He waited for it. No hasting to His crown till all was ready. We may well suppose that there was eagerness on the part of the heavenly hosts. Their harps were ready strung, and the song was on their lips, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, etc. But their King has work to do in this lower world; and the march of triumph must be deferred. Let us then not only put up with our crosses, but wait patiently for the good things to come. What we sow in faith we shall reap one day; and Gods harvest-time is the best. We long to see the Church advancing faster in her march of triumph, to see Christs name more honoured among ourselves. Let us not wish less fervently, but let us wait more humbly. Centuries rolled away before the Son of God was manifested, and many more may come and go before He shall come back again in glory. Ten thousand unconscious agents in different lands are doing His work, and fulfilling His pleasure.
2. To think of Christ as the apostles thought of Him. They knew Him well before as the human Friend, but now as the Divine Redeemer. In both characters may we think of Him as ascended to His throne, and realise His presence with ourselves! You must not so degrade the Saviour as to think of Him only as the worlds great Prophet, or as the perfect Pattern; nor in your attempts to exalt Him, lose sight of the truth that He carried His human nature with Him to heaven. Such an High Priest became us, etc. (J. Hampden Gurney, M. A.)
The best proof of Christs resurrection
The best proof of Christs resurrection is a living Church, which itself is walking in a new life, and drawing life from Him who hath overcome death. (Christlieb.)
The identification of the risen Christ
Luke, the writer of our twofold gospel of the resurrection, was a physician, who would have been inclined and able to sift the evidences of our Lords bodily presence and identity among His followers. The longest and best accounts of Christs return to earth, except those of John, are by a medical expert. Special past events were referred to by the Lord, which were familiar to the disciples, such as the baptism of John. Stanley carried a boy back up the Congo who had been taken from there when quite small. Coming into the vicinity of the dwelling place of his tribe, a canoe rowed out to meet the steamer. In the boat the lad recognised his elder brother, but the latter was sceptical, and cried, Give me some sign that I may know you. The boy who had been away answered at once, Do you remember the crocodile? His scar is there on your right arm. So Christ to His disciples gave many proofs. His lines of thought and speech during His forty days residence among them were in the familiar phrase of the past, such as the things concerning the kingdom of God. There might have been good evidences of Jesuss resurrection if He had appeared in China or under the Southern Cross or in the clearings of the Danubian forests. Had He gone there after He came from the grave, by the by the tidings would have reached the outer world of some strange and illustrious personage who manifested Himself at one place and another, just as a comet is reported in the sky. Yet we should always be grateful that the Lord showed Himself alive to those apostles whom He had chosen. There was the possibility of verification which we so often ask for. (W. R. Campbell.)
The forty days
A host of reasons suggest themselves as to why He should at once enter into His glory.
I. Earth at best could have been but a very dreary home for Him who had come from the paradise of God. For Him, the high King of Glory, we could find no fit entertainment. What society was there for Him, the all-wise? Thou hast given Thy life, O Lord, O glorious Son of God. Thou canst give no more. And where upon this guilty earth is any rest for Thee now since that dreadful Cross has cast its shadow over all the land!
II. Then Christ Himself longed for rest. He who dwelt in the bosom of the Father was an exile here.
III. Then, again, there waited for Christ His great triumph, that to which He has looked forward during all His life-work, finding in it strength and consolation. For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross, despising the shame.
IV. Delay would be worse than unfitting. If His reign means the worlds salvation, gifts for men, the proclaiming of the gospel with the power of the Holy Ghost, dare He linger still upon earth? No, it is not human, this delay, Not our thought nor our way is this. It is all Divine--just like our blessed Lord. This lingering for the forty days is the crowning proof of His tender regard for His little flock. He who had laid down His life for them is loath to leave them. He must tarry with them till He has made them feel that He is just the same friendly, brotherly Jesus that He has ever been, caring for them in their work, watching them with a yearning pity, stooping to kindle a fire for their warmth and to cook the fish for their meal, and then to bid them come and dine.
V. Then again, these days were the necessary preparation for the ascension. A very tender and beautiful upleading of the disciples. Then with this exalted vision of their glorious Lord filling all their soul they went back to Jerusalem. Now they were able worthily to celebrate the Ascension. They returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Now all the familiar songs of triumphs come in to tell of the coronation of the King. Now they heard the rapturous anthem of the angels, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. So we must know Him. And thus does He seek to lead us in our weakness and dimness of faith into the knowledge of Himself. So day by day does He lead us on our way, ordering our steps that life may make more room for Him, and that He may give us Himself as our salvation and our strength. (M. G. Pearse.)
Forty days with Jesus
Men now-a-days yearn for a repetition of Pentecost without the trouble of preparing for it. The text teaches that that must be preceded by prolonged communion with Jesus.
I. This communion gave the disciples the full persuasion that Christ was the Son of God. They held such a thought before, but the crucifixion had shaken it. The resurrection however restored it and the forty days intercourse confirmed it. No Pentecost without the mastering conviction that Jesus is the Son of God with power.
II. Along with these great thoughts of Christs Godhead the intercourse brought the most delightful consciousness that Jesus was still their brother. He called them by that name, and demonstrated his Brotherhood by many infallible proofs. The realisation of this relationship by love-begetting certitude of Christs presence is necessary to Pentecost. The Holy Spirit simply gives us power to bear witness to facts of which we are sure.
III. The character of this intercourse.
1. It was discriminating. Christ dealt with each man as each required Peter, Thomas, John, etc.
2. It was self-discovering. Unsuspected faults were revealed and hearts were moved to self-renunciation.
3. It was educational.
4. It was encouraging. Knowing what we do of the disciples Pentecost would have been an impossibility before the forty days. So now we all need to be dealt with one by one, to know ourselves, to be humbled, taught, and inspired.
IV. The Subject Dwelt Upon. The kingdom of God--its spirituality, glory, universality, final triumph. This was the matter which they had by the Spirits inspiration to preach. Hence they must know about it from the King. Hence Christ must fire our minds with the same thought before the Spirit can fire our hearts to proclaim it. (J. P. Gledstone.)
After the resurrection
I. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but He had forgotten nothing--neither the places, the dear familiar shores, the roads, the mountain paths, the lake, and the hills, the hallowed spots of His life-work. Now, as to the persons, Martha and Mary, and Peter, and the other disciples, were not only still remembered, but still loved. It will be so with us when we also come back from the mysterious regions of the grave. The present life will he something more than a dream. It will be a living reality.
II. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but His love remained the same. It will be the same with us. When we have crossed to the other side, we shall still bear with us the fond remembrances of past love. The affections will not be destroyed.
III. Jesus had come back from the mysterious change, but His physical nature remained. And His human nature was visible, tangible, capable of taking food. Our physical powers will, in a certain manner, remain with us after death. There will be conversation and action in the same way as at present. Wherein, then, will be the change? Our human bodies will not be destroyed, but they will be changed. We may gather some particulars from the resurrection of our Lord.
1. It will be the same body fully developed. It is evident to all that our human bodies are cramped and dwarfed by circumstances. They are but elementary, imperfect organisations. If they were perfect they would not change. If they were perfect they could not deteriorate. If perfect they could not die. That they are undeveloped is observable from the capacities which they possess. How strong and mighty the body may become! What we call maturity of character is in reality only its commencement. With regard to the body, take its power of progression, limited to, say, four miles an hour--a rate which would require millions of years to reach the nearest star. The same body will have all its powers fully developed to their utmost capacity.
2. It will be the same body rendered immaterial. (Homilist.)
The significance of the forty days
The period is a significant space of time in Scripture, and is frequently allotted as a term of probation before some great event which concerned Gods kingdom. For forty days and forty nights rain was sent upon the earth as the prelude to the Deluge. Before the giving of the law Moses was in the Mount forty days and forty nights; and when after the destruction of the first tables, the law was renewed again, Moses was with the Lord forty days and nights. The same space of time was spent by the spies who were sent forth to survey Canaan the type of the spiritual inheritance of the people of God. For forty days and nights Elijah journeyed before he came by Divine direction to Horeb the Mount of God. The time of probation and repentance given to Nineveh was a like space of time. When we come to the New Testament we note the same phenomenon. Forty days after His birth our Lord was presented in the Temple. Before He entered on the work of His ministry after His baptism He was forty days tempted in the wilderness. So now He abode on earth forty days before His ascension. What significancy there may be in the number we are not informed: the recurrence, however, of this space of time, usually in connection with events of extraordinary importance, would lead us to believe that there is a mystery in the number. Nor is this diminished when in parallelism with the forty days wandering (Num_14:33-34) Jerusalem had its forty years of trial and space for repentance after the Crucifixion;and not until that period had been accomplished was it destroyed by the Romans. For forty days during which He showed Himself alive they were obdurate, and forty years afterwards each day for a year came the destruction of the nation. (J. Lightfoot, D. D.)
The Epiphanies of the forty days
1. To Mary Magdalene (Mar_16:1-20.; Joh_20:1-31.)
2. To the women who had first visited the sepulchre, by whom the disciples were summoned to meet Christ in Galilee (Mat_28:1-10).
3. To Peter (Luk_24:33-35; 1Co_15:5).
4. To Cleophas and another on the way to Emmaus (Mar_16:12; Luk_24:13-32).
5. To the eleven in the absence of Thomas, at Jerusalem (Luk_24:36-43; Joh_20:19-25).
6. Eight days afterwards to the disciples, Thomas being present (Mar_16:14; Joh_20:26-29; 1Co_15:6).
7. To certain of the disciples when fishing on the lake of Galilee (Joh_21:1-24).
8. To James (1Co_15:7).
9. To the apostles, and probably the whole body of disciples on a certain mountain in Galilee (1Co_15:6).
10. On the morning of the ascension (Luk_24:43-51, and text). Speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
I. Of the Church militant--the kingdom of God on earth.
1. Its governance.
2. The means of its extension.
II. Of the Church triumphant--the kingdom of God in heaven.
1. Its glories.
2. Themeans of obtaining them. (W. Denton, M. A.)
The kingdom of God
1.Its Founder (verse 1).
2. Its laws (verse 2).
3. Its privilege, the personal presence of the Holy Spirit (verses 4, 5).
4. Its extent, the whole world (verse 8).
5. Its King, a risen and ascended Saviour (verse 9).
6. Its hope, a returning Christ.
The conversations of the great forty days
Let us reflect for a little on the characteristics of Christs risen appearances to His disciples. I note then in the first place that they were intermittent, and not continuous--here and there, to Mary Magdalene at one time; to the disciples journeying to Emmaus, to the assembled twelve, to five hundred brethren at one, at other times. In one place in the Gospel narrative we read that our Lord replied thus to a section of His adversaries: In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven. Now we often read of angelic appearances in Holy Scripture, in the Old and New Testament alike. We read too of appearances of Old Testament saints, as of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration. And they are all like these of our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection. They are sudden, independent of time or space or material barriers, and yet are visible and tangible though glorified. Such in Genesis was Abrahams vision of angels at the tent door, when they did eat and drink with him.
I. Now let us here notice the naturalness of this query concerning the restoration of the kingdom. The apostles evidently shared the national aspirations of the Jews at that time. We can scarcely realise or understand the force and naturalness of this question, Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? as put by these Galilean peasants till one takes up Archbishop Laurences translation of the book of Enoch, and sees how this eager expectation dominated every other feeling in the Jewish mind of that period, and was burned into the very secrets of their existence by the tyranny of Roman rule. They were thinking simply of such a kingdom as the book of Enoch foretold. This very point seems to us one of the special and most striking evidences for the inspiration and supernatural direction of the writers of the New Testament. Their natural, purely human, and national conception of the kingdom of God was one thing their final, their divinely taught and inspired conception of that kingdom is quite another thing. Some persons maintain that Christianity in its doctrines, organisation, and discipline was but the outcome of natural forces working in the world at that epoch. But take this doctrine alone, My kingdom is not of this world, announced by Christ before Pilate, and impressed upon the apostles by revelation after revelation, and experience after experience, which they only very gradually assimilated and understood. Where did it come from? How was it the outcome of natural forces? The whole tendency of Jewish thought was in the opposite direction. Nationalism of the most narrow, particular, and limited kind was the predominant idea, specially among those Galilean provincials who furnished the vast majority of the earliest disciples of Jesus Christ. How could men like them have developed the idea of the Catholic Church, boundless as the earth itself, limited by no hereditary or fleshly bonds, and trammelled by no circumstances of race, climate, or kindred? The magnificence of the idea, the grandeur of the conception, is the truest and most sufficient evidence of the divinity of its origin. If this higher knowledge, this nobler conception, this spiritualised ideal, came not from God, whence did it come? I do not think we can press this point of the catholicity and universality of the Christian idea and the Christian society too far. We cannot possibly make too much of it. There were undoubtedly Christian elements, or elements whence Christian ideas were developed, prevalent in the current Judaism of the day. But it was not among these, or such as these, that the catholic ideas of the gospel took their rise.
II. In this passage again there lies hidden the wisest practical teaching for the Church of all ages. We have warnings against the folly which seeks to unravel the future and penetrate the veil of darkness by which our God in mercy shrouds the unknown. We have taught us the benefits which attend the uncertainties of our Lords return and of the end of this present dispensation. It is not for you to know times or seasons.
1. The wisdom of the Divine answer will best be seen if we take the matter thus, and suppose our Lord to have responded to the apostolic appeal fixing some definite date for the winding-up of mans probation state, and for that manifestation of the sons of God which will take place at His appearing and His kingdom. Our Lord, in fixing upon some such definite date, must have chosen one that was either near at hand or else one that was removed far off into the distant future. In either of these cases He must have defeated the great object of the Divine society which He was founding. That object was simply this, to teach men how to lead the life of God amid the children of men. The Christian religion has indeed sometimes been taunted with being an unpractical religion. But is this the case? Has Christianity proved itself unpractical? If so, what has placed Christendom at the head of civilisation? Compare Christendom and India from the simply practical point of view, and which can show the better record?
2. Our Lords answer to His apostles was couched in words suited to develop this practical aspect of His religion. It refused to minister to mere human curiosity, and left men uncertain as to the time of His return, that they might be fruitful workers in the great field of life. And now behold what ill results would have followed had He acted otherwise! The Master in fact says, It is not well for you to know the times or seasons, because such knowledge would strike at the root of practical Christianity. Uncertainty as to the time of the end is the most healthful state for the followers of Christ.
3. There are in the New Testament, taken as a whole, two contrasted lines of prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ. If in one place the Lord Jesus speaks as if the date of His coming were fixed for His own generation and age, Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled, in the very same context He indicates that it is only after a long time that the Lord of the servants will return, to take account of their dealings with the property entrusted to them. Suppose Christ had responded to the spirit of the apostolic query, Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? and fixed the precise date of His coming? He would in that case have altogether defeated the great end of His own work and labour. Suppose He had fixed it a thousand years from the time of His ascension. Then indeed the doctrine of Christs second coming would have lost all personal and practical power over the lives of the generation of Christians then living, or who should live during the hundreds of years which were to elapse till the date appointed. The day of their death, the uncertainty of life, these would be the inspiring motives to activity and devotion felt by the early Christians; while, as a matter of fact, St. Paul never appeals to either of them, but ever appeals to the coming of Christ and His appearing to judgment as the motives to Christian zeal and diligence. But a more serious danger in any such prediction lurks behind. What would have been the result of any such precise prophecy upon the minds of the Christians who lived close to the time of its fulfilment? It would have at once defeated the great end of the Christian religion, as we have already defined it. The near approach of the great final catastrophe would have completely paralysed all exertion, and turned the members of Christs Church into idle, useless, unpractical religionists. We all know how the near approach of any great event, how the presence of any great excitement, hinders lifes daily work.
4. Again and again has history verified and amp]y justified the wisdom of the Masters reply, It is not for you to know times or seasons. It was justified in apostolic experience. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a commentary on our Lords teaching in this passage. The language of St. Paul completely justifies our line of argument. He tells us that the spirits of the Thessalonians had been upset, the natural result of a great expectation had been experienced as we might humanly have predicted. The beginning of the second chapter of his Second Epistle proves this: Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present. See here how he dwells on mental perturbation as the result of high-strung expectation; and that is bad, for mental peace, not mental disturbance, is the portion of Christs people.
III. Christ, after He had reproved the spirit of vain curiosity which strikes at the root of all practical effort, then indicates the source of their strength and the sphere of its activity. Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you. (G. T. Stokes, D. D.)
Christs conception of His kingdom
His thought and teaching concerning the kingdom was manifestly different from theirs. Their idea was narrow, small, and limited to Israel after the flesh, while His idea was large, and universally included all peoples, nations, and languages. It is always difficult for us to rise out of our own narrow limitations, and take in Gods great thoughts and purposes. This narrowness of mind on our part is always obtruding itself on Gods great thoughts; indeed, they are higher than ours as the heavens are higher than the earth. Gods thoughts and purposes of mercy have in them a wideness like the wideness of the sea, while ours are bounded by local surroundings. As we come into a closer and more intimate fellowship with Jesus, we shall also come into a larger and more godlike view of things, both in heaven and earth.
Things pertaining to the kingdom of God
Now that Jesus was about to depart, it might reasonably be expected that His parting instructions would be concerning that kingdom which He was to rule as the Invisible Head, and they were to administer as the visible agents.
I. The Church Of Christ is a Kingdom. With Christ and His apostles it was never less. Christ did not come as an ecclesiastic to found a new sect, nor as a philosopher to construct a new school of thought, nor as a democratic leader to form a new social club or to draw up a new social programme. He came as a sovereign to establish a new Kingdom of Truth, of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Hence the apostles felt that they had more to do than to secure a place for Christianity side by side with Judaism and Paganism--they claimed universal sovereign supremacy. Hence, again, they had no philosophy to set over against the school of Hillel or the school of Aristotle. True they reasoned, but that was only because the kingdom rested on a rational and not on a military basis, and its subjects were to be won by the force of persuasion and not by the force of arms. And hence lastly the apostles entered into no revolutionary plots, nor asked any man to rise above or turn aside from the secular occupation; but told slave and governor alike to abide in the callings wherein they were called as servants of the Lord Christ. Note
1. The grandeur of this conception. Sects, systems, programmes are all limited, and one after another pass away. Christians are citizens of a commonwealth which transcends space and outlives time. Compared with the dignity of the Christian that of the proudest autocrat is mean. Here all subjects are royal. The divine right of kings, a myth elsewhere, is a reality here. Christ hath made us kings and priests unto God.
2. The responsibility.
Noblesse oblige
Kings by virtue of their office are under an obligation to live royally. Let us then walk worthy of Him who hath called us to His kingdom and glory.
II. The things pertaining to this Kingdom.
1. The King. Christ Jesus. God and man who occupies the throne because He became obedient to the death of the Cross (Php_2:1-30.).
2. The means of entrance into this kingdom--the new birth (Joh_3:1-36.)
3. The conditions of continuance in the kingdom.
(1) Loyalty to the King.
(2) Love to our fellow subjects.
(3) Endeavours to extend the boundaries of the realm.
4. The glorious prospects of the kingdom. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God, etc. He shall reign from sea to sea, etc. (J. W. Burn.)
The unfolding of the Divine kingdom throughout the ages
The patriarchal, the Jewish, and the Christian dispensations, are evidently but the unfolding of one general plan. In the first we see the folded bud; in the second the expanded leaf; in the third the blossom and the fruit. And now, how sublime the idea of a religion thus commencing in the earliest dawn of time; holding on its way through all the revolutions of kingdoms and the vicissitudes of the race; receiving new forms, but always identical in spirit; and, finally, expanding and embracing in one great brotherhood the whole family of man! Who can doubt that such a religion was from God? (Mark Hopkins.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v6 Chapter 2
Chapter 2
THE CONVERSATIONS OF THE GREAT FORTY DAYS.
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{Act_1:6-9}
THE conversations and intercourse between our Lord and His apostles during the forty days which elapsed from the resurrection to the ascension must have been of intensest interest, yet, like so much that we should esteem interesting concerning the heroes of Scripture and their lives, these things are wrapped round with thickest darkness. We get a glimpse of the risen Christ here and there. We are told He was conversing with His disciples touching the things concerning the kingdom of God. And then we are practically referred to the Acts of the Apostles if we wish to know what topics His resurrection discourses dealt with. And when we do, so refer to the Acts we find that His disciples moved along the line of Christian development with steps sure, unfaltering, and decided, because they doubtless felt themselves nerved by the well-remembered directions, the conscious guidance of the Eternal Son of God, vouchsafed in the commandments given by Him in the power of the Holy Ghost.
Let us reflect for a little on the characteristics of Christs risen appearances to His disciples. I note then in the first place that they were intermittent, and not continuous, - here and there, to Mary Magdalene at one time; to the disciples journeying to Emmaus, to the assembled twelve, to five hundred brethren at once, at other times. Such were the manifestations of our Lord; and some may feel inclined to cavil at them, and ask, Why did. He not dwell continuously and perpetually with His disciples as before His resurrection? And yet, reading our narrative in the light of other scriptures, we might expect the resurrection appearances of Christ to have been of this description. In one place in the Gospel narrative we read that our Lord replied thus to a section of His adversaries: "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as angels in heaven." Now we often read of angelic appearances in Holy Scripture, in the Old and New Testament alike. We read too of appearances of Old Testament saints, as of Moses and Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration. And they are all like those of our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection. They are sudden, independent of time or space or material barriers, and yet are visible and tangible though glorified. Such in Genesis was Abrahams vision of angels at the tent door, when they did eat and drink with him.
Such was Lots vision of angels who came and lodged with him in wicked Sodom. Such was Peters vision when an angel released him, guided him through the intricate mazes of Jerusalems streets; and such were Christs appearances when, as on this occasion, His disciples, now accustomed to His risen and glorified form, tested Him as of old with the question, "Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"
I. Now let us here notice the naturalness of this query concerning the restoration of the kingdom. The Apostles evidently shared the national aspirations of the Jews at that time. A large number of books have come to light of late years, which show what a keen expectation of the Messiahs kingdom and His triumph over the Romans existed at the time, and prior to the time, of our Saviour. The book of Enoch, discovered one hundred years ago in Abyssinia, and translated into English in the beginning of the present century, was written a century at least before the Incarnation. The book of Jubilees was written in Palestine about the time of our Lords birth; the Psalter of Solomon dates from the same period. All these works give us clearest glimpses into the inner mind, the religious tone, of the Jewish nation at that time. The pious unsophisticated people of Galilee were daily expecting the establishment of the Messianic kingdom; but the kingdom they expected was no spiritual institution, it was simply an earthly scene of material glory, where the Jews would once again be exalted above all surrounding nations, and the hated invader expelled from the fair plains of Israel. We can scarcely realise or understand the force and naturalness of this question, "Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" as put by these Galilean peasants till one takes up Archbishop Laurences translation of the book of Enoch, and sees how this eager expectation dominated every other feeling in the Jewish mind of that period, and was burned into the very secrets of their existence by the tyranny of Roman rule. Thus, let us take the forty-seventh chapter of the book of Enoch, which may very possibly have been in the thoughts of the Apostles as they presented this query to their Lord. In that chapter we read the following words, attributed unto Enoch: "There I beheld the Ancient of Days, whose head was like white wool; and with Him another, whose countenance resembled that of man. His countenance was full of grace, like that of one of the holy angels. Then I inquired of one of the angels who went with me, and who showed me every secret thing concerning this Son of Man, who He was, whence He was, and why He accompanied the Ancient of Days. He answered and said to me, This is the Son of Man, to whom righteousness belongs, with whom righteousness has dwelt, and who will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed. For the Lord of Spirits has chosen Him, and His portion has surpassed all before the Lord of Spirits in everlasting uprightness. This Son of Man whom thou beholdest shall raise up kings and the mighty from their couches, and the powerful from their thrones; shall loosen the bridles of the powerful, and break in pieces the teeth of sinners. He shall hurl kings from their thrones and their dominions, because they will not exalt and praise Him, nor humble themselves before Him, by whom their kingdoms were granted to them. The countenance likewise of the mighty shall He cast down, filling them with confusion. Darkness shall be their habitation, and worms shall be their bed; nor from that their bed shall they hope to be again raised, because they exalted not the Name of the Lord of Spirits." This is one specimen of the Messianic expectations, which were just then worked up to fever pitch among the Galileans especially, and were ever leading them to burst out into bloody rebellion against the power of the Romans. We might multiply, such quotations fourfold did our space permit. This one extract must suffice to show the tone and quality of the religious literature upon which the souls of the Apostles had fed and been sustained, when they proposed this query, "Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" They were thinking simply of such a kingdom as the book of Enoch foretold.
This very point seems to us one of the special and most striking evidences for the inspiration and supernatural direction of the writers of the New Testament. Their natural, purely human, and national conception of the kingdom of God was one thing; their final, their divinely taught and inspired conception of that kingdom is quite another thing. I cannot see how, upon any ground of mere human experience or human development, the Apostles could have risen from the gross, material conceptions of the book of Enoch, wherein the kingdom of the Messiah would have simply been a purified, reformed, and exalted copy of the Roman Empire of that day, to the spiritual and truly catholic idea of a kingdom not of this world, which ruled over spirits rather than over bodies. Some persons maintain that Christianity in its doctrines, organisation, and discipline was but the outcome of natural forces working in the world at that epoch. But take this doctrine alone, "My kingdom is not of this world," announced by Christ before Pilate, and impressed upon the Apostles by revelation after revelation, and experience after experience, which they only very gradually assimilated and understood. Where did it come from? How was it the outcome of natural forces? The whole tendency of Jewish thought was in the opposite direction. Nationalism of the most narrow, particular, and limited kind was the predominant idea, specially among those Galilean provincials who furnished the vast majority of the earliest disciples of Jesus Christ. Our minds have been so steeped in the principles of Christian liberalism, we have been so thoroughly taught the rejection of race-prejudice, that we can scarcely realise the narrow and limited ideas which must have ruled the minds of the first Christians, and therefore we miss the full force of this argument for the Divine character of the Christian religion. A Roman Catholic peasant from Connaught, an Ulster Orangeman, a Celtic Presbyterian Highlander, none of these will take a wide, tolerant, generous view of religion. They view the question through their own narrow provincial spectacles. And yet any one of them would have been broad, liberal, and comprehensive when contrasted with the tone and thought of the Galilean provincials of our Lords day. They lived lonely, solitary lives, away from the din, the pressure, and the business of daily life; they knew nothing of what the great outside world was thinking and doing; they fed their spirits on the glories of the past, and had no room in their gloomy fanaticism for aught that was liberal and truly spiritual. How could men like them have developed the idea of the Catholic Church, boundless as the earth itself, limited by no hereditary or fleshly bonds, and trammelled by no circumstances of race, climate, or kindred? The magnificence of the idea, the grandeur of the conception, is the truest and most sufficient evidence of the divinity of its origin. "In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female," the rapt expression of an inspired and illuminated Apostle, when compared with this query, "Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" the darkened utterance of carnal and uninspired minds groping after truth, furnishes to the thinking soul the clearest evidence of the presence of a supernatural power, of a Divine enlightenment, vouchsafed to the Apostles upon the Day of Pentecost. If this higher knowledge, this nobler conception, this spiritualised ideal, came not from God, whence did it come?
I do not think we can press this point of the catholicity and universality of the Christian idea and the Christian society too far. We cannot possibly make too much of it. There were undoubtedly Christian elements, or elements whence Christian ideas were developed, prevalent in the current Judaism of the day. Many a clause of the Lords Prayer and of the Sermon on the Mount can be paralleled almost word for word from the Jewish teachers and writings of the times immediately preceding our Lord. There was nothing in Christ of that petty vanity of little minds which craves after complete originality, and which will be nothing if not completely new. He was indeed the wise and the good householder, who brought forth out of His treasures things old as well as things new: Many a teacher and thinker, like Philo, whose ideas had been broadened by the Divine training of banishment and enforced exile in Alexandria or in Asia Minor, had risen to nobler and wider views than were current in Palestine. But it was not among these, or such as these, that the catholic ideas of the gospel took their rise. Christianity took its rise among men whose ideas, whose national aspirations, whose religious hopes, were of the narrowest and most limited kind; and yet, amid such surroundings and planted in such a soil, Christianity assumed at once a world-wide mission, rejected at once and peremptorily all mere Judaic exclusiveness, and claimed for itself the widest scope and development. The universality of the Gospel message, the comprehensive, all-embracing character of the Gospel teaching, as set forth in our Lords parting words, is, we conclude, an ample evidence of its Divine and superhuman origin.
II. In this passage again there lies hidden the wisest practical teaching for the Church of all ages. We have warnings against the folly which seeks to unravel the future and penetrate that veil of darkness by which our God in mercy shrouds the unknown. We have taught us the benefits which attend the uncertainties of our Lords return and of the end of this present dispensation. "It is not for you to know times or seasons." Let us endeavour to work out this point, together with the manifold illustrations of it which the history of the Church affords.
(a) The wisdom of the Divine answer will best be seen if we take the matter thus, and suppose our Lord to have responded, to the apostolic appeal fixing some definite date for the winding-up of mans probation state, and for that manifestation of the sons of God which will take place at His appearing and His kingdom. Our Lord, in fixing upon some such definite date, must have chosen one that, was either near at hand or else one that was removed far off into the distant future. In either of these cases He must have defeated the great object of the Divine society which He was founding. That object was simply this, to teach men how to lead the life of God amid the children of men. The Christian religion has indeed sometimes been taunted with being an unpractical religion, turning mens eyes and attention from the pressing business and interests of daily life to a far-away spiritual state with which man has nothing to do, at least for the present. But is this the case? Has Christianity proved itself unpractical? If so, what has placed Christendom at the head of civilisation? The tendencies of great principles are best shown in the actions of vast masses. Individuals may be better or worse than their creeds, but if we wish to see the average result of doctrines we must take their adherents in the mass and inquire as to their effect on them. Here, then, is-where we may triumph. The religions of Greece and of Rome are identical in principle, and even in their deities, with the paganism of India, as the investigations of comparative historians have abundantly shown. Compare Christendom and India from the simply practical point of view, and which can show the better record? The paganism of India, Persia, and Western Asia was the parent of the paganism of Greece and Rome. The child has passed away and given place to a noble and spiritual religion, while the parent still remains. And now what is the result? Can the boldest deny that while barbarism, decay, and death reign over the realms of Asiatic paganism, though starting with every advantage upon its side, concerning the religion of the Cross, which is taunted with being an unpractical religion, and concerning that religion alone, can it be said in the language of the rapt Jewish seer, "Wheresoever the waters of that river have come, behold there is life," and that the fair plains, and crowded cities, and the massive material development and civilisation of Europe and of America alike proclaim the truth, that Christianity has the promise of the life which now is as well as of that which is to come?
(b) Our Lords answer to His Apostles was couched in words suited to develop this practical aspect of His religion. It refused to minister to mere human curiosity, and left men uncertain as to the time of His return, that they might be fruitful workers in the great field of life. And now behold what ill results would have followed had He acted otherwise! The Master in fact says, It is not well for you to know the times or seasons, because such knowledge would strike at the root of practical Christianity. Uncertainty as to the time of the end is the most healthful state for the followers of Christ. Christ holds out the prospect of His own return for a twofold purpose: first, to comfort His people under the daily troubles of life -"Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I will say, Rejoice. Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand"; "Whatever our hope or joy or crown of glorying, are not even ye, before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming"; "If we believe that Jesus Christ died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" - these and dozens of other passages, which will recur in a moment toevery student of St. Pauls writings, prove the power to comfort and sustain exercised by the doctrine of Christs second coming. But there was another and still more powerful influence exercised by this doctrine. It stirred men up to perpetual watchfulness and untiring care. "Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour"; "Therefore be ye also ready, for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh"; "The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light,"-these and many a similar exhortation of the Master and of his chosen Apostles alike, indicate to us that another great object of this doctrine was to keep Christians perpetually alive with an intense anxiety and a sleepless watchfulness directed towards the person and appearing of Christ. The construction of the gospel narrative shows this.
(c) There are in the New Testament, taken as a whole, two contrasted lines of prophecy concerning the Second Coming of Christ. If in one place the Lord Jesus speaks as if the date of His coming were fixed for His own generation and age, "Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled," in the very same context He indicates that it is only after a long time that the Lord of the servants will return, to take account of their dealings with the property entrusted to them. If St. Paul in one place seems to indicate to the Thessalonians the speedy appearing of Christ and the end of the dispensation, in another epistle he corrects such a misapprehension of his meaning. If the Revelation of St. John in one place represents the awful Figure who moves amid the Churches, watching their works and spying out their secret sins, as saying, "Behold, I come quickly," the same book pictures a long panorama of events, extending over vast spaces of time, destined yet to elapse before the revelation of the city of God and the final triumph of the saints. The doctrine of Christs second appearing is like many another doctrine in the New Testament. Like the doctrine of Gods election, which is undoubtedly there, and yet side by side with election appears as really and truly the doctrine of mans free will; like the doctrine of Gods eternal and almighty love, side by side with which appears the existence of a personal devil, and of an abounding iniquity and sorrow which seems to contradict this doctrine; like the doctrine of the Godhead itself, where the Unity of the Divine Nature is most clearly taught, yet side by side therewith appears the manifold personality of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as existing in that Nature; - so too is it in the case of the doctrine of Christs Second Coming. We have a twofold antinomy. In one line of prophecy we have depicted the nearness and suddenness of Christs appearing; in another line we behold that tremendous event thrown into the dim and distant future. And what is the result upon the human mind of such opposite views? It is a healthy, useful, practical result. We are taught the certainty of the event, and the uncertainty of the time of that event; so that hope is stirred, comfort ministered, and watchfulness evoked. We can see this more clearly by imagining the opposite. Suppose Christ had responded to the spirit of the apostolic query, "Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" and fixed the precise date of His coming? He would in that case have altogether defeated the great end of His own work and labour. Suppose He had fixed it a thousand years from the time of His Ascension. Then indeed the doctrine of Christs Second Coming would have lost all personal and practical power over the lives of the generation of Christians then living, or who should live during the hundreds of years which were to elapse till the date appointed. The day of their death, the uncertainty of life, these would be the inspiring motives to activity and devotion felt by the early Christians; while, as a matter of fact, St. Paul never appeals to either of them, but ever appeals to the coming of Christ and His appearing to judgment as the motives to Christian zeal and diligence. But a more serious danger in any such prediction lurks behind. What would have been the result of any such precise prophecy upon the minds of the Christians who lived close to the time of its fulfilment? It would have at once defeated the great end of the Christian religion, as we have already defined it. The near approach of the great final catastrophe would have completely paralysed all exertion, and turned the members of Christs Church into idle, useless, unpractical religionists. We all know how the near approach of any great event, how the presence of any great excitement, hinders lifes daily work. A great joy or a great sorrow, either of them is utterly inconsistent with tranquil thought, with steady labour, with persistent and profitable exertions. The expectation-of some tremendous change, whether it be for happiness or misery, creates such a flutter in the spirit that steady application is simply out of the question. So would it have been in our supposed case. As the time fixed for the appearance of our Lord drew nigh, all work, business, labour, the manifold engagements of life, the rearing of families, the culture of the ground, the development of trade and commerce, would be considered a grand impertinence, and mans powers and mans life would be prostrated in view of the approaching catastrophe.
(d) Again and again has history verified and amply justified the wisdom of the Masters reply, "It is not for you to know times or seasons." It was justified in apostolic experience. The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians is a commentary on our Lords teaching in this passage. The Christians of Thessalonica imbibed the notion from St. Pauls words that Christs appearance to judgment was at hand. Perhaps St. Pauls words in his first Epistle led them into the mistake. The Apostle was not infallible on all questions..He was richly inspired, but he knew nothing of the future save what was expressly revealed, and beyond such express revelations he could only surmise and guess like other men. The Thessalonians, however, were led by him to expect the immediate appearance of Christ, and the result was just what I have depicted. The transcendent event, which they thought impending, paralysed exertion, destroyed honest and useful labour, scandalised the gospel cause, and compelled St. Paul to use the sternest, sharpest words of censure and rebuke. The language of St. Paul completely justifies our line of argument. He tells us that the spirits of the Thessalonians had been upset, the natural result of a great expectation had been experienced as we might humanly have predicted. The beginning of the second chapter of his Second Epistle proves this: "Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is present." See here how he dwells on mental perturbation as the result of high-strung expectation; and that is bad, for mental peace, not mental disturbance, is the portion of Christs people. Then again he indicates another result of which we have spoken as natural under such circumstances. Idleness and its long train of vices had followed hard upon the mental strain which found place for a time at Thessalonica, and so in the third chapter of the Epistle he writes, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly"; and then he defines the disorderliness of which he complains, "For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busy-bodies." Or, to put the matter in a concise shape, and interpret St. Paul into modern language, the expectation of the near approach of the judgment and the personal appearing of Christ had upset the spirits of the Thessalonians; it had so fluttered them they could not attend to ordinary business. Human nature then asserted itself. Idleness resulted from the mental disturbance. Idleness begot gossip, disorder, and scandals. The idlers indeed professed that they ceased from labour in order to give their whole attention to devotion. But St. Paul knew that there was no incompatibility between work and prayer, while he was convinced there was the closest union between idleness and sin. Idleness put on an appearance of great spirituality, but St. Paul effectually met the difficulty. He knew that an idler, no matter how spiritual he pretended to be, must eat, and so he strikes at the root of such mock religion by laying down, "If any will not work, neither let him eat,"- a good healthy practical rule, which soon restored the moral and spiritual tone of the Macedonian Church to its normal condition.
(e) The experiences of Thessalonica have been often repeated down through the ages till we come to our own day. I remember a curious instance that I once read of exactly the same spirit, and exactly the same method of cure, as St. Paul used, in the case of an Egyptian monastery in the fifth century. The monks were then divided into two classes. There were monks who laboured diligently and usefully in communities, and there were others who lived idle lives as solitaries, pretending to a spirituality too great to permit them to engage in secular pursuits. A solitary one day entered a monastery presided over by a wise abbot. He found the monks all diligently employed, and, addressing them from his superior standpoint, said, "Labour not for the meat that perisheth." "That is very good, brother," said the abbot. "Take our brother away to his cell," he said to one of his attendants, who left him there to meditate. Nature, after a time, began to assert its sway, and the solitary became hungry. He heard the signal for the midday meal, and wondered that no man came to summon him. Time passed, and the evening meal was announced, and yet no invitation came. At last the solitary left his cell and proceeded in search of food, when the wise abbot impressed on him the Pauline rule that it was quite possible to unite work and worship, labouring for the bread that perisheth while feeding on the bread that is eternal.
The tenth century again verified the wisdom of the Divine denial to reveal the future, or fix a date for Christs second coming. The year 1000 was regarded in the century immediately preceding it as the limit of the worlds existence and the date of Christs appearing. The belief in this view spread all over Europe, and the result was just the same as at Thessalonica. Men abandoned all work, they left their families to starve, and thought the one great object worth living for was devotion and preparation for their impending change. And the result was widespread misery, famine, disease, and death, while, instead of working any beneficial change upon society at large, the terror through which men had passed brought about, when the dreaded time had gone by, a reaction towards carelessness and vice, all the greater from the self-denial which they had practised for a time. And as it was in the earlier ages so has it been in later times. The people of London were, in the middle of the last century, deluded into a belief that on a certain day the Lord would appear to judgment, with the result that the business of London was suspended for the time. The lives of John Wesley and his fellow-evangelists tell us how diligently they seized the opportunity of preaching repentance and preparation for the coming of Christ, though they shared not the belief in the prediction which gained them their audience. While again in the present century there was a widespread opinion about the year 1830 that the coming of Christ was at hand. It was the time when the Irvingite and Darbyite bodies sprang into existence, in which systems the near approach of the Second Coming forms an important element. Men then thought that it was a mere matter of day or weeks, and in consequence they acted just like the Thessalonians. In their ardour their minds were upset, their business and families neglected, and, as far as in them lay, the work of life and of civilisation was utterly destroyed. While when again we come to later times experience has taught that no men have been more profitless and unpractical Christians than the numbers, by no means inconsiderable, who have spent their lives in vain attempts to fix new for this year, and again for that day, the exact time when the Son of Man should appear. The wisest Christians have acted otherwise. It is told of a foreign bishop, eminent for his sanctity and for the wise guidance which he could give in the spiritual life, that he was once engaged in playing a game of bowls. One of the bystanders was of a critical disposition, and was scandalised at the frivolity of the bishops occupation, so much beneath the dignity, as it was thought, of his character. "If Christ was to appear the next moment, what would you do?" he asked the bishop. "I would make the next stroke the best possible one," was the wise mans reply. And the reply involved the true principle which the Lord Himself by His refusal to gratify the Apostles curiosity desired to impress on His people. The uncertainty of the time of Christs coming, combined with the certainty of the event itself, should stir us up to intensity of purpose, to earnestness of life, to a hallowed enthusiasm to do thoroughly every lawful deed, to think thoroughly every lawful thought, conscious that in so doing we are fulfilling, the will and work of the great Judge Himself. Blessed indeed shall be those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find so doing.
III. Christ, after He had reproved the spirit of vain curiosity which strikes at the root of all practical effort, then indicates the source of their strength and the sphere of its activity. "Ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you." They were wanting then, as yet, in power, and the Holy Ghost was to supply the want. Intellect, talent, eloquence, wit, all these things are Gods gifts, but they are not the source of spiritual power. A man may possess them one and all, and yet be lacking in that spiritual power which came upon the Apostles through the descent of the Spirit. And the sphere of their appointed activity is designated for them. Just as in the earliest days Of Christs public ministry He spake words indicative of the universal spirit of the gospel, and prophesied of a time when men from the east and west should come and sit down in the kingdom of God, while the children of the kingdom should be cast out, so, too, one of His few recorded resurrection sayings now indicates the same: "Ye shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Jerusalem, Judaea, - the Apostles were to begin their great practical life of witnessing at home, but they were not to stay there. Samaria was next to have its opportunity, and so we shall find it to have been the case; and then, working from home as centre, the uttermost parts of the earth, a distant Spain from Paul, and a distant India from Thomas, and a barbarous Scythia from Andrew, and a frigid, ocean-girt Britain from a Joseph of Arimathaea, were to learn tidings of the new life in Christ.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv3–8 3. To whom he shewed himself alive. He is…
3. To whom he shewed himself alive. He is a living Savior. Otherwise he could no more be a Savior than Socrates, Buddha, or any other sage. After his passion. Suffering on the cross. Seen of them forty days. At various times during forty days. Eleven appearances are recorded. There were probably others. Pertaining to the kingdom of God. His church, about to be established on the earth.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v6 Act_1:6. When they were come together.—(The Sinaitic codex omits…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_1:6. When they were come together.—(The Sinaitic codex omits together.) This was not the meeting referred to in Act_1:4, but the last interview recorded in Luk_24:36-53, which began in Jerusalem and ended near Bethany. Wilt, rather dost Thou? εἰ introducing a direct question, “which is contrary to classical usage, though not uncommon in the N.T. and the LXX.” (Hackett). The kingdom to Israel shows that as yet the expectations of the apostles had not passed beyond the bounds of their own nation.
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Act_1:7. Put, set, fixed, or appointed in His own power—i.e., in the sovereign exercise of it. Compare Mat_24:36, and 1Th_5:1.
Act_1:8. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.—Literally, the Holy Ghost having come upon you. This should be the source of their power. “Before the Ascension the disciples were led through the Spirit as a transcendent power standing over them; first with the Pentecostal event does He become an immanent principle” (Holtzmann). Witnesses unto Me should be My witnesses, the reading μου being preferable to μοι. Compare Luk_24:48. In Jerusalem, etc., gives a hint about the plan of the book.
Act_1:9. When He had spoken, rather saying these things, and while they beheld, or they behold, He was taken, or was raised up into the air, but not yet into heaven, ἐπήρθη being different from ἀνελήφθη (Act_1:2) and ὑπέλαβεν, received up from under.
Act_1:10. The two men who stood or were standing by them in white apparel or garments were angels, as in Mar_16:5; Luk_24:4; Joh_20:12.
Act_1:11. In like manner signified that Christ’s return would be in the air and visible. Compare Mar_14:62; Luk_21:27; Rev_1:7.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_1:6-11
The Ascension; or, the Exaltation of the Church’s Head
I. The attendant circumstances.—
1. The place. Olivet. This agrees with the statement of Luke (Luk_24:50), that the scene of the “taking up” was near Bethany, and contradicts not the account of Mark (Act_16:14-19), which seems to, but really does not, indicate as the point of departure the upper room in Jerusalem, in which Christ had appeared to His disciples as they sat at meat. The words “so that” (Mar_16:19) refer not necessarily to the immediately preceding conversation, but to the “speaking” in general of the Lord with His disciples during the forty days. (Compare Weiss, The Life of Christ, iii. 408, E. T.)
2. The time. The last of the forty days, the day of the Bethany manifestation, which, however, was not the interview enjoyed by the ten (Joh_20:19; compare Luk_24:36-49), but that granted to all the apostles (1Co_15:7), which most likely happened in Jerusalem on the evening of the fortieth day. In this case the journey to Bethany would be performed during night, and the ascension accomplished in the early morning, at the dawning of the day.
3. The spectators. The eleven. That others besides them should have witnessed the departure was not necessary, since to them alone, as His ambassadors, was about to be committed the task of witnessing both concerning and for Him. But that others along with them were in the upper room when Christ came to lead them forth is the natural deduction—others from whom they were withdrawn, who were left behind (compare Gen_22:5; 2Ki_2:6), and to whom they returned (see Act_1:13) when the sublime spectacle was over.
II. The supernatural phenomenon.—
1. The antecedent conversation.
(1) The curious question, “Lord! dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Surprising that the apostles, after three years’ training in the school of Christ, after the tragic event of the crucifixion, after the transcendent experience of the resurrection, and after listening to the risen Christ’s exposition of the things concerning the kingdom, should have still clung to the idea of a temporal monarchy. Yet neither unnatural nor difficult to understand when one remembers how full the air then was of materialistic and carnal conceptions of the coming Messianic kingdoms, how the apostles from their youthful days had drunk in these ideas and practically lived upon them, and how invincible, even in good men, early prejudice is.
(2) The discouraging reply. Leaving their mistaken notions to be corrected by the Holy Ghost (Joh_16:13), the risen Christ assured them their wisdom lay in not endeavouring beforehand to know times and seasons in connection with the kingdom—a hint to students of prophecy; that times and seasons were solely within the ken of the Father who had appointed these in the sovereign exercise of His own authority (Deu_29:29); and that their special task would be that of witnessing for Christ, beginning at Jerusalem (Luk_24:47), but progressing “to the uttermost parts of the earth”—light upon the mission of the gospel.
(3) The comforting assurance. Great and arduous as the work of witness-bearing would unquestionably prove, they would not be left for its execution to their own unaided strength, but, by the Holy Ghost about to come upon them, would be endowed with power sufficient to meet every emergency that might arise in their sacred calling—a word of consolation to Christians in every sphere, but especially to preachers and missionaries
2. The immediate exaltation.
(1) He was taken up, raised into the air, immediately after He had ceased speaking, and while the apostles were looking at Him in wondering adoration. Luke (Luk_24:50-51) describes Him at the moment as lifting up His hands and blessing them, and as in the act of stepping back and being parted from them.
(2) A cloud received Him out of their sight, folding round Him like a fleecy garment. “He maketh the clouds His chariot” (Psa_104:3). Imagination may picture the upward path of the ascending king. Scripture leaves that unpainted, and confines itself to state the unadorned fact that He was taken up,” that “He passed through the heavens” (Heb_4:10; 1Pe_3:22), that He “took His seat at the right hand of God” (Col_3:1; Heb_11:12).
3. The subsequent vision. Two men in white apparel stood beside the apostles as they looked steadfastly into heaven. Not Moses and Elias (Ewald), who had talked with Christ on the Transfiguration Mount, else Luke would have named them as he does in the Gospel, but two angels, probably the two who had figured at the resurrection (Luk_24:4; Joh_20:12).
(1) Reproving the heaven-gazers, thereby reminding them their duty henceforth would be not so much contemplation as action, these celestial monitors
(2) comforted them with the assurance that Christ would in like manner return as they had seen Him depart, thereby confirming Christ’s promise that He would come again (Mat_16:27; Luk_9:26; Joh_14:3), and
(3) directed them to look for His future appearing (Php_3:20; 1Th_1:10; Heb_9:28).
III. The doctrinal interpretation.—
1. What the Ascension signified to Christ.—
(1) The termination of His earthly humiliation and the commencement of His heavenly glory.
(2) The conclusion of His redeeming work and its formal acceptance as well as reward by His Father.
(3) The cessation of His direct visible activity on the earth, and the inauguration of His indirect and invisible working from heaven and through the Spirit.
2. What the Ascension signified to the apostles.
(1) The certainty of Christ’s resurrection. If Christ visibly withdrew from the earth He must have really risen from the dead.
(2) The confirmation of their faith in Christ’s Messiahship and Divinity. This followed as a consequence from their faith in His resurrection.
(3) The verification of Christ’s authority as a Teacher, Christ having before the Crucifixion announced that the Son of man should ascend up to where He had been before (Joh_6:62). When the apostles beheld this prediction fulfilled, they must have reasoned that in like manner all His other promises would be Yea and Amen! And in particular that His word about the Holy Ghost would not fail.
(4) The necessity of henceforth knowing Christ no more after the flesh. This probably was the import of His word to Mary—“Touch Me not! for I am not yet ascended” (Joh_20:17).
(5) The certainty that they would ultimately follow whither He had gone. This had been promised at the supper table (Joh_14:3). When, therefore, they saw Christ exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high, they would no longer fear, if they ever feared, that He might not be able to implement His loving word concerning and gracious purpose toward them.
3. What the Ascension signified in the world.
(1) The trustworthy character of Christ’s redeeming work. His exaltation supplied proof that He was able to save unto the uttermost all that came unto God through Him (Heb_7:25).
(2) Christ’s supremacy over all things and persons on earth. This was an unavoidable deduction from Christ’s investiture with all power in heaven and on earth (Mat_28:18; Joh_13:3). If Christ had “gone into heaven, angels, authorities, and powers being made subject unto Him” (1Pe_3:22), one might rest assured that all things on earth had likewise been placed beneath His feet (Eph_1:22), so that henceforth He should be Lord of both the living and the dead (Rom_14:9).
(3) The certainty that Christ would eventually conquer His foes. “He must reign till He hath put all His enemies under His feet” (1Co_15:25; compare Heb_10:12-13).
Learn.—
1. The title Christ has to be worshipped (Php_2:10-11).
2. The duty of seeking those things which are above (Col_3:1).
3. The propriety of looking for Christ’s return (Tit_2:13).
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_1:6. A Questionable Question.—“Lord, dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom?”
I. Authorised.—When dictated by:
1. Shows faith, which expects the kingdom.
2. Tender love, which wishes the salvation of the world.
3. Holy grief, which feels for the miseries of the times.
II. Unauthorised.—When prompted by:
1. Carnal impatience, which wishes to see the kingdom of God coming with external show.
2. Spiritual curiosity, which will pry into what the Father hath reserved for Himself.
3. Pious indolence, which with folded hands looks at the clouds instead of working for the kingdom of God in the calling entrusted to it.—Gerok.
Act_1:7. Not for Man to know Times and Seasons.
I. A reasonable restriction.—Considering:
1. That the Father hath arranged these in the exercise of His own sovereign authority;
2. That in other realms besides that of religion man’s capacity to forecast the future is limited; and
3. That a knowledge of the times and seasons might act injuriously on man.
II. A beneficial arrangement.—As tending:
1. To inspire humility, teaching man that some subjects are beyond his ken.
2. To repress curiosity, which is always prone to overstep the bounds of what is legitimate.
3. To cultivate submission, directing man to leave secret affairs in the hands of the Father.
4. To discipline faith, training it to believe that He doeth all things well.
Act_1:8. Christ’s Witnesses.—Christians in their several spheres and capacities should be testifiers:
I. Of the facts of Christ’s history.—Of His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, to those who are ignorant of these.
II. Of the doctrines of His Gospel.—Of His vicarious sacrifice for sin, His free offer of forgiveness, and His gift of the Holy Spirit to believers, to such as are in need of these.
III. Of the character and destiny of His Church.—Of its spiritual nature, holy calling, and ultimate victory over the world, to those who are outside its pale.
The Christian’s vocation.
I. Its glory.—Witnesses of the Exalted King, His witnesses.
II. Its lowliness.—Only His witnesses, nothing more.
III. Its sufferings.—Witnesses of the Lord in a hostile world.
IV. Its promise.—Strength from above.—Gerok.
Power for Service.
I. In what it consists.—The indwelling of the Holy Ghost. Whence the power is
1. Supernatural in its character;
2. Natural in its operations, employing man’s ordinary faculties; and
3. Adequate in its measure, meeting all the necessities of those who serve.
II. From whom it comes.—From the Father as its source, and from Christ as its dispenser. Hence to be sought from these alone by:
1. Obedient waiting (Act_1:4);
2. Earnest praying (Act_1:14, Act_2:1); and
3. Humble self-emptying.
III. To whom it is given.—
1. To those who are chosen, as the Apostles were by Christ.
2. To those who surrender themselves unreservedly for Christ’s service.
3. To those who believingly wait for the heavenly gift.
IV. For what it is granted.—To enable its recipients to witness for Christ. This the Holy Ghost does by witnessing for Christ in them. Without the Spirit’s help no words of apostle, prophet, evangelist, or preacher could efficiently testify for Christ—i.e., testify in such a way as to savingly reach the hearts and consciences of hearers.
Pentecostal Power.—Let us look at this pentecostal power and see some of its characteristics and conditions. What is it?
1. First, it is the power of religious earnestness. Half-hearted religion is no religion at all. God wants the whole heart or none. Earnestness is working at religion, not playing at it. Earnestness makes religion one’s chief business. It goes at it as men dig for gold in the mountains, determined to have it if it is there. That was the way with these first disciples. They knew the power existed and was meant for them. So they were going to have it. They would meet God’s conditions.
2. Pentecostal power is the power of union. In union there is strength. In division or separation there is weakness. Again and again are we told that those one hundred and twenty disciples were all in that upper room—not one hundred and nineteen, but one hundred and twenty. All there, and all with one accord. The heat generated fused all hearts into one. Did you ever see the hard, cold pieces of iron melt and flow together in the furnace? Then the moulder can make what he pleases out of the molten mass. The lack of union destroys the power of the human body or of the Christian Church. Think how a few church members who never unite in prayer and work with the rest shear the Church of strength.
3. Pentecostal power is the power to witness for Christ. Christianity is a religion that advances by means of testimony; and only so. Where no one speaks for it, it dies. Imagine Peter spending a week or a month without mentioning the name of Jesus. Imagine groups of the disciples meeting and talking about the weather, the crops, politics, or finances, and not saying a solitary word about their ascended Lord. True, holy living is good testimony for Christ. Without it talk is mere hypocrisy. But true, also, that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, but when the heart is as full of Jesus as were the hearts of the first disciples, the tongue reveals the fact. How many Christians are tongue-tied!
4. Again, Pentecostal power is the power of the Word of God. Have you noticed at Pentecost what a reasoner, what an expositor, what an orator Peter became? Have you observed how his eloquence burned its way into the hearts of his auditors? What gave him that power to move men? Read over his address, and you will find nothing there you can explain by the ordinary rules of rhetoric or canons of secular eloquence. It is the plainest kind of a speech. Did you ever know an earnest student of God’s Word that did not grow in piety? Did you ever know a Church that fed on God’s Word that did not have something like Pentecostal power? Did you ever know that power to come where the Divine Word was not honoured?
5. Pentecostal power was the power of prayer.
6. There are many other characteristics of this Pentecostal power. It is the power of a complete consecration, the power of an indomitable courage, the power of spiritual concentration, the power to win souls to Jesus Christ. But they are all summed up in this, it is the power of the Holy Ghost—the power of human hearts when taken possession of by the Divine Spirit. Will there be any mistaking this power? Will there be any doubt what has happened to us when we are filled with the Holy Ghost? Did any one ever try to make you believe that a kerosene lamp or a gas-jet or even an electric light was the spring or summer sun? Could electric lights enough be manufactured to make the earth put forth her buds, and flowers, and fruits? Oh, how easily the sun awakens the sleeping forces of nature, and clothes the earth with verdure! What transformations when the sun goes to work! And what transformations when the Holy Ghost descends! Are the resources of the Holy Spirit limited? Is He not infinite? Are not all things possible with God? We have waited six thousand years for steam and electricity; but these forces existed even in Eden, and might have been used if we had only known how. We have waited two thousand years since Christ for the promised conversion of the world. The power to bring it about exists. It is possessed by the Holy Ghost. It is Pentecostal power. Shall we have it? Have it now? Or wait another two thousand years, while the world rolls on in iniquity and generation after generation passes on into hell?—F. P. Berry.
Act_1:9. The Ascension of Christ and its Lessons.
I. The doctrine of the Ascension of our Lord holds a foremost place in apostolic teaching.—“The doctrine of the Resurrection, apart from the doctrine of the Ascension, would have been a mutilated fragment, for the natural question would arise, not for one, but for every age: If Jesus of Nazareth has risen from the dead, where is He?”
II. The Ascension of our Lord meant His withdrawal from this earthly scene.—“The Book of the Acts does not describe our Saviour as ascending through infinite space. It simply describes Him as removed from off this earthly ball, and then a cloud shutting Him out from view, Christ passed into the inner and unseen universe wherein He now dwells.”
III. The Ascension of our Lord was a fitting and natural termination of Christ’s ministry.—“The departure of the eternal King was like His first approach, a part of a scheme which forms one united and harmonious whole. The Incarnation and Ascension were necessarily related the one to the other.”
IV. The Ascension of our Lord was a necessary completion and finish to His earthly work.—“For some reasons secret from us, but hidden in the awful depths of that Being who is the beginning and the end, the source and condition of all created existence, the return of Christ to the bosom of the Father was absolutely necessary before the outpouring of the Divine Spirit of Life and Love could take place.
V. The Ascension of our Lord rendered Christ an ideal object of worship for the whole human race.—The Ascension of Jesus Christ was absolutely necessary to equip the Church for its universal mission, by withdrawing the bodily presence of Christ into that unseen region which bears no special relation to any terrestrial locality, but is the common destiny, the true fatherland of all the sons of God.
VI. The Ascension of our Lord glorified humanity as humanity, and ennobled man simply as man.—“The Ascension thus transformed life by adding a new dignity to life and to life’s duties. From the beginning Christianity declared to all the dignity and glory of human nature in itself. Much of modern speculation tends to debase and belittle the human body.… The doctrine of evolution, to say the least, has not an elevating influence upon the masses.… The doctrine of the Ascension teaches men a higher and nobler view.”—G. T. Stokes, D.D.
The Ascension of Christ.—What it meant.
I. A continuation of the redemptive work of Christ.—Without it the kingdom of God would have been but a divine dream. So long as the apostles were under Christ’s visible guidance they could not dissociate His kingdom from the empire of physical conquest which had so long been the vision of Jewish passions and prejudices. “Not until they could no longer speak to Christ face to face did a purer faith draw them within the sweep of God’s redemptive purpose, and open their eyes to the invisible kingdom of truth and justice, of love and moral beauty.”
II. A revelation of the unity of life.—“Instead of being a parting it was a drawing near of the Lord in a higher and mightier fellowship with man, in a more fruitful and comprehensive relationship.” “He was taken from the sight of His disciples that He might come into touch with all the springs of human thought and action.”
III. An enlargement of Christ’s personal influence.—“Death does not change but intensifies human relationships. Death is the gate through which the soul of the disciple ascends with Christ to larger life and more blessed influences.” “Moses and Paul are greater forces in human society now than they ever dreamed of being while in the flesh. The influence of Calvin increases not only in power but in purity with each succeeding generation.” So with Christ, whose ascension was “an uplifting and glorifying of all human life.”—George D. Herron, D.D.
The Ascension of Jesus.
I. The conclusion of the appearances of the Risen One in the past.
II. The counterpart of His future return.
III. The point of entrance for His present sovereignty.—Bornemann.
Taken up; or, Views of the Ascension. Christ ascended into heaven.
I. As a servant, to receive His reward. Having finished His Father’s work He ascended to receive His stipulated recompense (Heb_12:2).
II. As a Son into His Father’s bosom. Out of this having come, into this He delighted to return (Joh_17:5).
III. As a High Priest, to intercede for His people. Having offered Himself once for all as a sacrifice, He passed into the heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for them for whom He shed His blood (Heb_9:24).
IV. As a King, to sit upon His throne. As appointed mediator He is Lord of all (Act_10:36).
The Ascension of Christ a Necessity.
I. Because the polluted earth was not suited as an abode for the glorified Body of the Redeemer.—Heaven was its appropriate sphere of existence. Before it could tabernacle again in this world, the new heavens and the new earth must be introduced.
II. Because an essential part of His priestly office was to be exercised in Heaven.”—“What the high priest did in the earthly temple it was necessary for the High Priest of our profession to do in the temple made without hands in the heavens.”
III. Because it was necessary that redemption should not only be acquired but applied.—“Men if left to themselves would have remained in their sins, and Christ would have died in vain.” To avert this the Holy Ghost required to be given, and heaven was the place whence the Holy Spirit could be outpoured.
IV. Because Heaven itself required to be prepared for His people.—Hence Christ said, “I go to prepare a place for you,” etc. (Joh_14:2-3).—Charles Hodge, D.D.
The Visible Ascension.
I. The most befitting, and naturally to be expected attestation of Christ’s heavenly origin (Joh_3:13; Joh_6:62; Joh_16:28).
II. The final and most evident—for the first witnesses indispensable—exhibition of the truth that the kingdom of Jesus should be established by the Spirit from heaven.
III. The most assuring guarantee of Christ’s heavenly power.
IV. The strongest pledge of His future visible return.—Stier.
Clouds that conceal Christ.
I. Clouds of vapour conceal His glorious form from the eyes of sense.
II. Clouds of ignorance conceal His image from the eyes of the understanding.
III. Clouds of unbelief conceal His grace from the eyes of the heart.
IV. Clouds of sin conceal His presence from the eyes even of faith.
Act_1:11. Why stand we gazing into heaven? Because we see—
I. Jesus crowned with glory and honour (Heb_2:9).
II. Humanity glorified in Him (Heb_4:15).
III. Redemption fully completed by Him (Php_2:9).
IV. The whole creation in future recovered by Him (Rev_11:15).—Oosterzee.
The Second Coming of Christ.
I. Personal.—The same Lord Jesus.
II. Visible.—In like manner as ye beheld Him going.
III. Glorious.—On the clouds of heaven.
IV. Certain.—He shall come.
Act_1:9-11. Was Christ’s Ascension a visible phenomenon?
I. Against this the following considerations are commonly urged:
1. Scientific. The idea of a “local” heaven beyond the atmospheric firmament and out in the depths of space has been rendered inconceivable by modern astronomy. But without admitting that heaven cannot possibly be a place, all that the Ascension as narrated in Scripture involves is merely a visible withdrawal beyond the limits of this sensible sphere.
2. Theological. “The proper Christian faith conception of the present exaltation of Jesus Christ is not dependent on that external ascension which is reported in the Acts, the last not being for the Christian faith essential, and fundamental, while the first is (Bornemann). A statement such as this, however, is incorrect, since without a visible bodily ascension, not only would the doctrine of Christ’s bodily resurrection be insecure, but the doctrine of Christ’s mediatorship would be imperilled (see Heb_4:14-16).
3. Critical.
(1) The account of Luke (Act_24:20), which seems to place the Ascension at or near Bethany, fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, whereas Acts represents it as having occurred only five or six furlongs from the city. See this difficulty met in Critical Remarks and Homiletical Analysis. Of course, if the reading which omits “and was carried up into heaven” be adopted, the difficulty vanishes.
(2) The representation in Mark (Act_16:19-20), which places (or appears to place) the Ascension immediately after the interview with the eleven as they sat at meat. But not to insist upon the incongruity of representing Christ as vanishing through heavens from a dining-room and at night, there is no more necessity for supposing that Christ immediately went from the chamber and ascended than there is for thinking that the apostles rose from their seats at the banquet and went forth to preach.
(3) The silence of Matthew
(28), which at least suggests that he did not know of any such occurrence as Luke and Mark report. But Matthew may have simply regarded the Ascension as lying beyond the scope of his Gospel history, or may have regarded it as directly implied in the Saviour’s promise, “Lo! I am with you always,” etc., “since it could not have been unknown to any Christian at that time, that Christ was no longer with His people ‘in the flesh,’ but had ascended to heaven” (Ebrard, Gospel History, § 102).
II. For this the undermentioned arguments should be weighed.
1. Scientific. There can be nothing scientifically impossible in the idea of Christ ascending into heaven, since Christ’s body had already undergone a transformation of which science can take no cognisance.
2. Theological. If Christ actually rose from the grave in a bodily form, a visible departure from earth would seem to be necessary to avert the suspicion that He may again have died.
3. Critical. The concurrent testimony of the Gospel and Epistle writers is too strong to be set aside. Compare Mar_16:19; Luk_24:50-51; Eph_4:8; Eph_4:10; 1Ti_3:16; Heb_4:14; Heb_6:20; Heb_7:26; Heb_9:12; 1Pe_1:22; 1Pe_3:22. (See Whitelaw’s How is the Divinity of Jesus depicted? Part iii., Chap. I.)
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7, 8 3. I am so sorry that nothing has been…
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
3. I am so sorry that nothing has been elaborately revealed appertaining to the precious ministry of our Lord with His apostles during the forty days of His glorified sojourn upon the earth between His resurrection and ascension. It is merely here stated that He spent the time “speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.” Doubtless this explains the thrilling enthusiasm of apostolic preaching relative to the coming kingdom, and their incessant buoyant expectancy of their Lord’s return on the throne of His Millennial glory during their personal ministry. The kingdom of God is the Divine government. It was predominant in Eden, suffering total eclipse in the Fall. It was partially restored among the antediluvians, received a great impetus in the flood, flashed along the patriarchal ages, thundered out from Sinai, was predicted by the old prophets, preached by John the Baptist, our Savior and His apostles, and, during the Gospel dispensation, is to be heralded to all the nations on the face of the whole earth, calling out the elect and preparing them for the Lord’s glorious coming, when He will be crowned King of all nations and reign from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, “and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 7, 8
Acts
THE ASCENSION
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THE FORTY DAYS
Act 1:3.
The forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension have distinctly marked characteristics. They are unlike to the period before them in many respects, but completely similar in others; they have a preparatory character throughout; they all bear on the future work of the disciples, and hearten them for the time when they should be left alone.
The words of the text give us their leading features. They bring out-
I. Their evidential value, as confirming the fact of the Resurrection.
‘He showed Himself alive after His passion by . . . proofs.’
By sight, repeated, to individuals, to companies, to Mary in her solitary sadness, to Peter the penitent, to the two on the road to Emmaus. At all hours: in the evening when the doors were shut; in the morning; in grey twilight; in daytime on the road. At many places-in houses, out of doors.
The signs of true corporeity-the sight, the eating.
The signs of bodily identity,-’Reach hither thy hand.’ ‘He showed them His hands and His side.’
Was this the glorified body?
The affirmative answer is usually rested on the facts that He was not known by Mary or the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and that He came into the upper room when the doors were shut. But the force of these facts is broken by remembering that Mary saw nothing about Him unlike other men, but supposed Him to be the gardener-which puts the idea of a glorified body out of the question, and leaves us to suppose that she was full of weeping indifference to any one.
Then as to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke carefully tells us that the reason why they did not know Him was in them and not in Him-that it was ‘because their eyes were holden,’ not because His body was changed.
And as to His coming when the doors were shut, why should not that be like the other miracles, when ‘He conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in the place,’ and when He walked on the waters?
There cannot then be anything decidedly built on these facts, and the considerations on the other side are very strong. Surely the whole drift of the narrative goes in the direction of representing Christ’s ‘glory’ as beginning with His Ascension, and consequently the ‘body of His glory’ as being then assumed. Further, the argument of 1Co 15:1 - 1Co 15:58 goes on the assumption that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,’ that is, that the material corporeity is incongruous with, and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of that future life, and, by parity of reasoning, that the spiritual body, which is to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory, is incongruous with, and incapable of entrance into, the conditions of this earthly life. As is the environment, so must be the ‘body’ that is at home in it.
Further, the facts of our Lord’s eating and drinking after His Resurrection are not easily reconcilable with the contention that He was then invested with the glorified body.
We must, then, think of transfiguration, rather than of resurrection only, as the way by which He passed into the heavens. He ‘slept’ but woke, and, as He ascended, was ‘changed.’
II. The renewal of the old bond by the tokens of His unchanged disposition.
Recall the many beautiful links with the past: the message to Peter; that to Mary; ‘Tell My brethren,’ ‘He was known in breaking of bread,’ ‘Peace be with you!’ {repetition from Joh 17:1 - Joh 17:26}, the miraculous draught of fishes, and the meal and conversation afterwards, recalling the miracle at the beginning of the closer association of the four Apostles of the first rank with their Lord. The forty days revealed the old heart, the old tenderness. He remembers all the past. He sends a message to the penitent; He renews to the faithful the former gift of ‘peace.’
How precious all this is as a revelation of the impotence of death in regard to Him and us! It assures us of the perpetuity of His love. He showed Himself after His passion as the same old Self, the same old tender Lover. His appearances then prepare us for the last vision of Him in the Apocalypse, in which we see His perpetual humanity, His perpetual tenderness, and hear Him saying: ‘I am . . . the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore.’
These forty days assure us of the narrow limits of the power of death. Love lives through death, memory lives through it. Christ has lived through it and comes up from the grave, serene and tender, with unruffled peace, with all the old tones of tenderness in the voice that said ‘Mary!’ So may we be sure that through death and after it we shall live and be ourselves. We, too, shall show ourselves alive after we have experienced the superficial change of death.
III. The change in Christ’s relations to the disciples and to the world. ‘Appearing unto them by the space of forty days.’
The words mark a contrast to Christ’s former constant intercourse with the disciples. This is occasional; He appears at intervals during the forty days. He comes amongst them and disappears. He is seen again in the morning light by the lake-side and goes away. He tells them to come and meet Him in Galilee. That intermittent presence prepared the disciples for His departure. It was painful and educative. It carried out His own word, ‘And now I am no more in the world.’
We observe in the disciples traces of a deeper awe. They say little. ‘Master!’ ‘My Lord and my God!’ ‘None durst ask Him, Who art Thou?’ Even Peter ventures only on ‘Lord, Thou knowest all things,’ and on one flash of the old familiarity: ‘What shall this man do?’ John, who recalls very touchingly, in that appendix to his Gospel, the blessed time when he leaned on Jesus’ breast at supper, now only humbly follows, while the others sit still and awed, by that strange fire on the banks of the lonely lake.
A clearer vision of the Lord on their parts, a deeper sense of who He is, make them assume more of the attitude of worshippers, though not less that of friends. And He can no more dwell with them, and go in and out among them.
As for the world-’It seeth Me no more, but ye see Me.’ He was ‘seen of them,’ not of others. There is no more appeal to the people, no more teaching, no more standing in the Temple. Why is this? Is it not the commentary on His own word on the Cross, ‘It is finished!’ marking most distinctly that His work on earth was ended when He died, and so confirming that conception of His earthly mission which sees its culmination and centre of power in the Cross?
IV. Instruction and prophecy for the future.
The preparation of the disciples for their future work and condition was a chief purpose of the forty days. Jesus spoke ‘of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.’ He also ‘gave commandments to the Apostles.’
Note how much there is, in His conversations with them-
1. Of opening to them the Scriptures. ‘Christ must needs suffer,’ etc.
2. Of lessons for their future, thus fitting them for their task.
3. Mark how this transitional period taught them that His going away was not to be sorrow and loss, but joy and gain, ‘Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended.’
Our present relation to the ascended Lord is as much an advance on that of the disciples to the risen Lord, as that was on their relation to Him during His earthly life. They had more real communion with Him when, with opened hearts, they heard Him interpret the Scriptures concerning Himself, and fell at His feet crying ‘My Lord and my God!’ though they saw Him but for short seasons and at intervals, than when day by day they were with Him and knew Him not. As they grew in love and ripened in knowledge, they knew Him better and better.
For us, too, these forty days are full of blessed lessons, teaching us that real communion with Jesus is attained by faith in Him, and that He is still working in and for us, and is still present with us. The joy with which the disciples saw Him ascend should live on in us as we think of Him enthroned. The hope that the angels’ message lit up in their hearts should burn in ours. The benediction which the Risen Lord uttered on those who have not seen and yet have believed falls in double measure on those who, though now they see Him not, yet believing rejoice in Jesus with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv3–8 3. As our author is about to present the…
3. As our author is about to present the apostles testifying to the resurrection of Jesus, he sees proper, in his introduction, to state briefly the ground of the qualifications for this testimony. He does this in the remainder of the paragraph of which we have already quoted a part: (3) “ To whom, also, he presented himself alive, after his suffering, by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” From the concluding chapters of the former narrative, we learn more particularly the nature and number of these infallible proofs. These, having been fully stated by himself and others, are not here repeated. We learn here, however, a fact not there related: that the space from the resurrection to the ascension was forty days.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 being assembled Or, eating with them.
being assembled Or, eating with them.
ye have heard Or, heard from me.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v6 The final promise of the Holy Spirit:
The final promise of the Holy Spirit:
v. 6. When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
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v. 7. And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power.
v. 8. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
When Jesus referred to the nearness of the great revelation of the Spirit’s gifts, the disciples, whose hopes of some form of temporal kingdom under the leadership of Christ had been revealed since His resurrection, thought that He was referring to this blissful consummation of their hopes. Those that had come together therefore, most likely in Jerusalem, put the question to the Lord: At this time wilt Thou restore the kingdom unto Israel? Their minds had returned entirely to the earthly, carnal understanding. They understood the prophecies of old as well as the promises of the Lord of the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, to be accomplished by the utter annihilation of the enemies of God and the complete victory for the Jews. Their foolish thoughts were not effectually dispelled until the Spirit of Pentecost was shed forth upon them. Although the question of the disciples had been put in all sincerity and sobriety, it argued for a remarkable lack of proper understanding after all the patient teaching of Jesus. His answer, therefore, in a way is a reproof. For He refers them to the real Messianic kingdom, to the future Kingdom of Glory, which will see the full revelation of Christ’s majesty before the eyes of all men, very comforting to those that are to partake of this bliss with their Redeemer. Jesus here guards the royal prerogative, the exclusive rights of the Father. It is not the business of the disciples to know the times and the seasons, critical and otherwise, which are controlled by the exclusive authority and power of the Father. That most critical time and hour above all, which will decide the fate of mankind, is not theirs to inquire for. Note: Whatever pertains to the revelation of God’s majesty should not be a subject of anxious thought for the Christians: both the government of the world and the Church and the revelation of the future glory are in His hands, to be revealed at His time. Jesus rather reminds the apostles that they will receive, will be given power, strength, which they should exert and put forth in the great duties of their calling. This power would be imparted to them when the Holy Ghost would come down upon them. The power to be effective witnesses for Christ is evidently meant. Filled with this strength from above, the disciples should bear witness, should tell what they had seen and heard of Christ, whose message they were to proclaim and who was to be the content of their message. In Jerusalem their work was to begin, but not to be confined to that city. In ever-widening circles their influence should extend, by virtue of the power given them through the Holy Ghost, throughout Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the world. There is neither limit nor boundary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Note: The believers to this day have the same call and the same promise, but must observe also the same command, to be witnesses of Christ, of His salvation, to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This event happened during the 40 days that Jesus appeared to his followers after he had risen from the dead.
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General Information:
Here the word "he" refers to Jesus. Except where otherwise noted, the word "you" in the book of Acts is plural. (See: Forms of You)
When he was meeting together with them
"When Jesus was meeting together with his apostles"
the promise of the Father
This is a reference to the Holy Spirit. AT: "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father promised to send" (See: Metonymy)
about which, he said
If you translated the previous phrase to include the words "Holy Spirit," you can change the word "which" to "whom." AT: "about whom Jesus said"
John indeed baptized with water ... baptized in the Holy Spirit
Jesus contrasts how John baptized people in water with how God would baptize believers in the Holy Spirit.
John indeed baptized with water
"John indeed baptized people with water"
you shall be baptized
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will baptize you" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Jerusalem
promise
God the Father
John (the Baptist)
baptize
Holy Spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 4, 5, 6, 8 1:3 he proved to them in many ways that…
1:3 he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive: The Gospels describe the evidence for Christ’s resurrection: Jesus’ tomb was empty (Luke 24:3-4), his grave clothes were undisturbed (John 20:3-9), and many people saw him (see Matt 28; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-53; John 20:11–21:23; 1 Cor 15:3-8). Jesus appeared to the apostles in part to overcome their doubt (Matt 28:17; Luke 24:17-24, 38, 41; John 20:27; see Mark 16:14) • The Kingdom of God was the central theme of Jesus’ teaching (see Acts 1:6-8; Matt 4:17; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.